Welcome, internet, to The Consumerist, the latest title from Gawker Media. The Consumerist loves to shop, and is reconciled to utilities, but hates paying for shoddy products, inhumane customer support, and half-assed service.
Each week The Consumerist will guide you through the delinquencies of retail and service organizations. The Consumerist will highlight the persistent, shameless boners of modern consumerism — and the latest hot deals, discounts, and freebies around.
Join us. You’ll tell us when you’ve been royally screwed by yet another company, and we’ll channel your rage. Together we will storm the revolving doors of faceless corporations to call them naughty words for genitals, and they will begin to fear us.
The Consumerist. Capitalism is broken. We’ll help you fix it.
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I have been without phone service for 5 days. I notified Verizon about this problem and they assured me my lines would be repaired by the following day at 9 pm. In the meantime they are forwarding my calls to my cell phone for which of course I am picking up the tab for all the extra minutes incurred. Several days, phone calls and broken promises later I am still without phone service. I have spoken to supervisor who basically repeat the same thing over and over which is basically they will do nothing. They plan on reimbursing us for days we lost but not the additional expense to my cell phone. They informed us this outage is only affecting 7 household which tells me that since the problem is minor there is no rush to repair this problem. For me, I have to make a personal decision whether to take my phone with me which I need for my business thereby leaving my family without a phone in the event of an emergency, they would be out of luck.
I recently ordered a toilet seat from Renovator’s Supply in Millers’ Falls, Ma. I have ordered from this company over the years with no problems at all. I have the exact toilet seat that I ordered at this time that I had purchased prior to this on my toilet now. The reason I was ordering a new one was because the feet under the seat had broken and I could not find replacement plastic feet so I decided to order a whole new seat. I placed my order online for an elongated dark oak seat and had no problems placing the order. I received the order a short time later and the seat was damaged, it was the correct item and color but was scratched and nicked. I called Renovators to report my damaged merchandise and request a replacement. I was told I had to report the damage claim to UPS myself, which I could not understand being that I had ordered the product from them and not UPS. I was told that was their policy and so I called UPS myself. UPS also stated that it was strange that I had to call myself but that different companies have different policies. I was told to hold onto the damaged merchandise for five days and then dispose of it if no one from UPS has come to pick it up. Having a business I deal with UPS on a daily basis and I put in damage claims for my customers and give them the same instructions I was given by UPS, so I completely understood the instructions given to me. Five business days later I disposed of the damaged merchandise and I received the new toilet seat in the mail, when I opened I immediately noticed that it was the wrong color. It was much lighter than the one ordered and received damaged and also much lighter than the one I currently have on my toilet seat now. I once again called to report the problem and was told I had to send the seat back at my cost in order to have it replaced. The woman at the company told me that I received the correct merchandise and that the color differs from seat to seat. I explained to her that perhaps it was mispacked and that this seat was not the seat I ordered. She then asked me to take digital pictures of the seat and send them to her, which I thought she was kidding when she asked me. I have never been asked as a consumer to have to do so much work to get the merchandised that I ordered and was charged for. I told her I wanted to speak with a supervisor and was given another number to call. I called and spoke to a very apologetic and polite person. I stated to him the problem and asked him to send me a call tag for the seat he apologized again and said he would send it. The next morning I received an email from that same supervisor saying he tried to contact me to let me know that I would not be receiving a call tag because the company policy is that and I quote “The toilet seat in stock was compared to the web site photo and was within acceptable/reasonable similarity.” I once again called and tried to explain that obviously the wrong item was in the packaging and said to the supervisor that I am not blaming your company for me receiving the wrong item I just want to get the right toilet seat. I was once again told I would not receive a call tag. Well needless to say I am very upset at how I was treated and I vow to tell everyone how I was treated over this situation. I am in complete and utter shock that I was treated this way over a $6.00 call tag. I also contacted my UPS representative and let him know how I was treated. I am sending this letter to the better business bureau along with the attached email I was sent. I am also sending this to the papers in both NJ and NY and the local help centers at ABC, NBC, and CBS. I am also posting it on the consumer beware sites on the internet. The worst part about this whole situation is not even about me. The supervisor that I spoke to first that was so nice and understanding lost his job over this. So please do not buy from this company!!!!!
Viewsonic gave me the bird!
On February 2005 I purchased a new Viewsonic LCD TV model N3200W. I bought Viewsonic because I knew the brand and their sets were a bit more affordable than the Sony, Sharp and other well-known brands also for sale from the same vendor. They were not the cheapest either, somewhere in the middle of the price range, the fact that this particular set had detachable speakers which made the unit a perfect fit in my wall unit was good enough to sway me. All good and well till about 2 weeks ago when the TV would just “lock-up” and freeze for lack of a better description: After about 1 or 2 hours on, the image would disappear giving way to vertical bars of different colors, at this time the remote would not operate the TV so I unplugged it, waited a few minutes, plugged it again and nothing, no video, no sound, the power button pressed on or off did not do anything. Ok, I waited longer before plugging it again and finally I had video and sound. Picture was Ok so I thought maybe the unit had overheated, a one time thing, and for the next two weeks or so it performed the way it was supposed to, till two days ago when the proverbial you know what, hit the fan! Same lock-up and freeze, much longer wait to regain video, but when the image did appear it was breaking up, graining extremely, looking as though cheap glitter was being thrown at the screen. No amount of picture adjustment could fix this problem. I looked up the manual and Viewsonic’s FAQ in its site and found no good answers so I decided to give them a call.
What a disaster!! I knew before placing the call that my unit was out of warranty about 8 months but still the way they handled the issue was absolutely horrendous. Never mind the fact that I was now looking at an $1800.00 paper-weight, this Company and its employees made no effort whatsoever to even attempt to help me for a fee or no-charge. There were no offers to exchange or upgrade at a reduced cost, no “we are sorry this happened to you, what can we do to remedy this”, nothing, just a blank: it is out of warranty “and you are SOL”(in quotes is mine). Requests to speak to supervisors were denied, the excuse being that they were in meetings. I was told to call a service center in California and they would give me a quote for the repair. I found this amusing, how will they tell me what is wrong with the set over the phone, clear across the country? Later I found out that service center is the only one Viewsonic recognizes, the other alternative as the Viewsonic’s rep told me, is to look in the local yellow pages. How pathetic is this? One service center for the entire US for the junk from Viewsonic.
Needless to say never again will I touch anything Viewsonic, in my opinion their TVs are junk and the service after the sale is worse. What a terrible waste of money and what a sad and pitiful way to handle service at cost or no cost after the sale.
OK, so my problem is with cellular one. they are my cell phone provider and i’ve been a customer there for AT LEAST 7 years and have never complained about anything. like how i can’t get calls at my house, which is like 10 minutes from 2 differet cell one stores, or how i drop at least 1 call a day, or how it’s staticy when it rains. all of these problems have just occured within the last year so i’ve just been counting down the days til the end of my contract. well the other day my phone quit working. i can only talk on it when it’s on speaker phone, otherwise i can’t hear the person on the other end. i talked to one of the cell one guys and he said the speaker was busted and that although it was a manufacturing defect it was no longer covered because i’ve had the phone for over a year. so his solution to me was either buy a new phone at full cost or resign with them to get a new free or lower priced phone. i said i would not be with them once my contract was up and that it was crazy that he couldn’t do anything fom me. he said the only other thing i could do would be find someone with an old phone and put my SIM card in that. nice solution, thanks for your help. i hate them. i think that if you have someone that’s been your customer for so long you should really try to help them. does anyone have any suggestions as to who i should get as a new cell phone provider?
On September 26, 2006 I purchased a laptop computer (TOS M115S3094 Toshiba Satellite 14.1″ Widescreen Notebook PC (M115-S3094) from Circuit City .com for Pickup in the Westbury store location. I paid 749.99 plus tax for the lap top computer. That following Sunday Oct 1 The same computer was advertised for Sale in the circuit city sale circular for 599.00 dollars 150.00 cheaper than what I paid for it. On Tues Evening Oct 3 I emailed Circuit City asking that they credit me the difference as they state on their website as well as in their store. Wed Morning I received a tearse reply that they will not price match my purchase i had bought it on line. (I ordered it to be reserved @ the Westbury location so I would Not have to wait on line when i got their. I paid for the Computer In the westbury store when I arrived!) I emailed them back telling them this On Wed Oct 4 telLing them that Best Buy (their Competitor) Had the SAME computer on sale as well for 599.99 (no rebate EITHER) and your policy states that you will match the competion and beat them by 10%. At this time the Item was available in Best buy as Well as IN Circuit Citys Massapequa store for pickup.I sent them the link to prove this! I received an Email back Thursday stating that they were NOT going to match the price as Both companies were sold out of the item and I could not purchase it for that price. I could of On Wed as well as on Tues when i first contacted them. All i orginally wanted was a Refund of the $150 as the same store I bought the computer in put it on sale 5 days after I purchased it. I would of even taken a store credit , BUT NOW after all the aggravation I have been given from them I want my 150 PLUS the 10% difference that they state in thire policy refunded to me as a credit to my charge. I had spoken to someone in Corporate named Reggie who hung the phone up on me rather than assist me in this.
October 2005 I went to my local Sears and chose a Kenmore refrigerator/freezer. Everything appeared fine until July 2006. Everything in the freezer had thawed completely and had to be thrown out. A call to Sears and the trouble began!
I scheduled an appointment for the afternoon explaining that my boyfriend works graveyard shift and I would appreciate the last visit of the day. No problem I am told. The day before comes and they have scheduled me for the morning! I called and spoke with the tech who agreed to come in the afternoon.
The tech came and after about two hours told me that the freon had leaked out DUE TO A FACTORY DEFECT and that he could not determine where the leak was. He would have to order and replace several parts. We stood in my kitchen and scheduled the appointment for a day my boyfriend & I would have off work. We scheduled for first appt of the morning.
(PS just to show that the techs don’t give a darn about customers-I could not find my dog’s bowl that was moved and called the tech’s cell phone to ask what he did with the bowl-that was in July and I am still waiting for him to return that call-just plain inconsiderate!)
Of course Sears rescheduled the appt and made it for afternoon. When I received the confirmation call saying it was for the afternoon I called and the tech soon called me. It was 10:41 am and he said he would be at my home in 40 minutes. Four hours later at 2:30 he had neither shown up nor called. I called his supervisor and she agreed that it was unacceptable. A whole day I missed work with no apology nor any reimbursement from Sears.
I was scheduled for another day to be first appt of the day and I got up at 6 am and waited and waited. The automated call said the tech would come between 7:30-9 am. At 9:20 I called and was told that the tech had called and there was nobody home. I was sitting there the whole time! I did not receive a message there was no entry on my caller i.d. The tech DIDNOT call me and I wanted them to demand to see his cell phone records as there is no way he called me. Even if he had and I had been outside or in the bathroom why no message? (but he didn’t and I am willing to get my phone records from the phone company to prove it but there would be no reprimand or anything so why bother?)
So that was the third day of work I missed for nothing. Meanwhile the parts had been ordered and sent to my house so I had to keep three large packages in my tiny one bedroom house for over a month. This is not a good policy at all. Why should a customer suffer because they paid good money for a shoddy product???
A woman came to my home at the end of September. She was in the kitchen for a couple of hours. She came out finally and told me she was not qualified to do this repair and someone certified in something she was not certified in would have to come.
One more day of missed wages for me and still no working refrigerator.
The “expert” comes and is in my kitchen for a couple of hours. He tells me this is unrepairable and that a decision would have to be made as to whether I would receive a new unit. WHAT??? I paid over $800 for something and a decision had to be made whether to replace it?
Now mind you every step of the way I called Sears and was transferred from person to person from phone number to phone number, anything so that the person from Sears on the other end could get me off their phone.
I have spoken to over 200 people at Sears and I have even been given numbers to call that were disconnected.
I have spoken to corporate to every possible number at Sears. Finally today I got someone to tell me that I would finally receive my refrigerator around October 25 2006. I would not accept that. I wanted my money back.
They refuse to give me the money back. I am so frustrated with Sears.
Now mind you my 70 year old mother and my father who died in 2001 have shopped at Sears since at least 1960. As a matter of fact two refrigerators were purchased on my Mother’s Sears card one for her and one for me.
When I was a child we shopped at Sears for everything from underwear and school clothes to appliances, Craftsman tools, and Winnie the Pooh who was everywhere at Sears back in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
This experience has ensured that nobody from our famil will ever shop at Sears again. Not me, my boyfriend, my Mother, my two sisters, their husbands, my brother, his wife, all the aunts, uncles and cousins and every single who I have spoken to about this since July when the fiasco started.
I have missed days of work; lost hours on the phone with incompetents who obviously do not care about the people whose money they are taking.
Here it is two weeks short of one year that Sears has had the money and I have nothing. And apparantly unless I sue I am just screwed by Sears and nobody cares.
I still do not have anything to keep my food cold. I live in a rural area and the nearest grocery store is 12 miles away. When I expressed my frustration and anger at having paid over $800 for a fridge and still have no cold food Judy clerk # 51540 at One Source said “That’s not our fault. You are the one who chose to live out there.”
I could not believe my ears! To treat customers in this manner is unacceptable.
I have not yet addressed the fact that I have lost several hundreds dollars worth of food in this whole fiasco.
So I was rewarded for my loyalty to Sears by losing several hundreds of dollars of food, by losing several days and again several hundreds of dollars of wages. I have paid over $800 for something that I still (only a few weeks short of one year since original purchase) do not have.
I have been very reasonable. Since July I have only had refrigeration for 2 weeks and it is now almost mid October. Were I to sue Sears in small claims court I would win hands down.
I want my money back.
The last tech that was here tore up the fridge and left it that way with parts strewn all over my kitchen. I piled them on top of it. When the guys came to get the fridge he commented how rude the tech was to tear up the fridge and leave it like that.
Just a few days after Sears picked up my fridge my Mom, who had paid for it, received a letter from Sears where someone had changed her first name to “Widow”. I am sure this is because of my many conversaions with people from Sears where I said I used to go to Sears with my now dead father. I am outraged they would do this!
Now my check is “in the mail” and I am told I should receive it around October 23. I am not holding my breath.
This whole situation is a disgrace for Sears, for consumers and a sad statement on the way corporations treat the consumers that provide them with their profits, stock options, benefits, and golden umbrella stands.
I will post this on every complaint website I can find and I will also send a copy of it to Aylwin Lewis the CEO of Sears.
I recently had a really horrifying experience with wal mart online.On october 17th my stepdaughters bicycle was stolen from her job at bolling airforce base.Knowing she needed it to get to work I ordered her a bicycle at walmart online .Half an hour later she called to say they had recoverewd her bike and I immediatly went online and cancelled the bike ,I then called to make sure that it was not going to ship to her and was told that everything was taken care of.
What I wasn’t told was that while the bike had been cancelled ,the hold on my money was not.I had purchased it using my visa Debit card and they would not release my money even though they knew the bike was no longer on order.I found this out when two days later I saw a $105.00 charge on my account for unavailable funds.The bank was charging me 35 bucks every time a debit withdrawl couldnt go through because of Walmarts hold on my money.Thayevening the bank put through a 3 way call to walmart and the manager on durty said he would fax a release the next morning. He didnt!
The following day there was an additional $70.00 charge as even more charges were bouncing .between the $173.00 that wal mart was holding and the $175.00 the bank was taking for the unavailable funds charges My accout was out of controll.
This went on through thr weekend and into the following monday and the bank made two more three way calls where walmart promised to fax a release.Which they never did!
By monday there were $210.00 in bank fee’s to go with the $173.00 that Walmart still had not returned.It wasn’t until I broke down in tears and was a crying wreck that the manager at my bank,removed the banks charges and finally on the 24th when the hold was legally to end on its own did it finally stop.
I will never again order anything from Walmart and I’m not ever going there again .How can a company take my money, give me nothing but grief in return and think they are doing business.This was the most frustrating and upsetting week of my life all because I placed and cancelled an order within 30 minutes.Shame on you Walmart!
Careful COMCAST IS STEALING YOUR MONEY using On Demand Tricks
– Comcast changed their On Demand menus to default to the “BUY” button. So when you go to view the information about a movie the BUY button automatically is highlighted. They then removed the confirmation message. So if you accidently hit OK to return instead you immmediately purchase the movie whether you wanted to or not.
– When I called Comcast to complain they told me that there is no way to change it back so BUY is not the default. They also said that they never had a comfirmation message. But that is a lie. They used to advertise that you would never be able to purchase a movie by mistake. Now they count on it.
Revenues must be down so they figure they will cheat money out of us!!! I would rather go to Verizon cable.
FREE MAGAZINES NOT FREE !!!!—Consumers beware that those FREE trial magazine offers that retailers like F.Y.E. and Books A Million try to shove down your throat when you pay with your purchase with your CREDIT CARD are a SCAM. These retailers gather kick backs from marketing companies for you CREDIT CARD info that you WAIVER for you free magazines. With all the recent security breeches of CREDIT CARD information who would want to risk it for a Magazine? Sure they are free but don’t forget to cancel before the date or you’ll have a huge bill on your CREDIT CARD plus your CREDIT CARD info being traded around to market you all kind of other things. I hear that the employees of these retailers are required to fill a quota of these offers to retain their jobs!! Take honest people and make CON Artists and Scamers out of them. BEWARE!!!!
don’t buy mitsubishi electronics. i purchased a mitsubishi big screen projector television in february 2005. By July 2006, five months past the twelve month warranty, it stopped working. I still have a bill for the t.v. so you can imagine my frustation. i’ve been going back and forth with the company for months. if the life of the t.v. is as long as the warranty, or shortly thereafter, consumers should be made aware of that fact. if the t.v. had faulty parts, the company should assume the responsibilty of the repair. after i make a major purchase for thousands of dollars, i would like to get my monies worth.
Midwest Express Airlines outright cancelled my flight to KS on Christmas Day – 6 weeks prior to my travel date offering no comparable alternative flights. I had a 6 AM flight and they were offering 2:30 PM/5 PM and later. I had made this reservation in mid July. When I contacted Midwest Express Airlines to complain, Customer Relations wrote back and basically said in response – too bad/no guarantees.
I called Dry Master Carpet Cleaners, who i found in our telephone book, to clean 4 rms, stairs and hallway, $120.00, boy what a steal, that was a steal alright, they was supposed to be professional, even move furniture, one young man came to the house(21 yrs old) he had the house done in less than 30 min, my husband was really surprise, he said that it, the yound man said you get what you pay for, boy was he not kidding, when the floors dry they were still very dirt, i called her back and arranged another visit this time switching from dry cleaning to steam cleaning, he bet his first time by 21 mins i was actually watching the clock, beause he was to be there at 10:00, i took the morning off from work and was making sure i had enough time to get there, he arrived at 10:41 and was finished by 11:00, boy was i hot, his carpet cleaner was a giant wet vac, i was total ripe off and i want everyone to know, they are dry master carpet cleaners out of wilmington, n.c, they came all the way to v.a to steal, my floors are still dirt,
Debit Cards-
For all of you who don’t realize it, debit cards in general, are a bad idea. You shouldn’t use your debit card to make any purchases, as authorization holds are not dropped as easily, and chargebacks for unauthorized purchases are more difficult as well. Stick to plain credit cards, and pay it off each month, it’s easier and safer.
and to don0328; the magazine subscriptions that places offer are free unless you do not cancel them. You cannot blame companies like F.Y.E. and Books A Million for you not reading contracts that you sign. And every retail company has it’s quotas on something, companies like circuit city and best buy have quotas on replacement contracts, because they’re huge money makers for the company, are they wrong as well?
I think we all have a right to feel “put out” by anything that anyone asks us to do. But, there’s an awful lot of wasted energy in feeling put out by someone asking to see your receipt. Think about it. It’s all about distrust. You provide your credit card because the cashier cannot trust that you’ve got an account and are good for it. They run an authorization on the card because the store cannot trust that the piece of plastic is real and tied to an account in good standing. They print a receipt because they know that it is physical proof of purchase. All of this is done before you get to the dreaded receipt-checker. Why are you OK with the other “inconveniences” up to that point? Because you are used to it.
As for those of you stating that you’re being treated like a suspected shoplifter, I beg to differ. Asking to look at your receipt is not a strip search or accusation. That’s all in your head.
Recently my brother passed away unexpectedly. My mother had a cellular phone with Nextel listed in her name, but it was my brother’s phone. When she called Nextel to cancel the phone, Nextel refused to cancel the phone without her paying the $200.oo cancellation fee. She offered to send them a copy of the death cerificate, and brought to their attention there has been no activity on the phone since his death, she also explained that she had to pay for the funeral expenses and could not afford the pay the fee, they instead told her she had to keep the phone for 4 months until his contract expired. She is now forced to keep, and pay for the phone until March.
Wirecracker is a total scam. Based on an ad i saw on craigslist and and their website, I decided to give wirecracker a try. That was back around September 1. It is now December 1st and I have t-mobile and a collection agent after me, because wirecracker never did anything. I have sent about 35 emails to wirecracker and today when I went to make my twice weekly call, their number is disconnected and their website is gone. three months later, wirecracker stole my $50, 2 phones that I sent them and i am left with a $247 bill from t-mobile and a collection agent after me for the first time in my life. Don’t use them! Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Okay, I have been dealing with GATEWAY for two years now trying to get my piece of crap computer replaced. My wonderful husband purchased me a GATEWAY M520X Laptop with all the bells and whistles plus all the accidental coverage and warranties you could purchase. About six months later I began having problems with the computer and the power connection and USB ports so I sent it in to be repaired. I got my computer back and have had nothing but trouble with it since then. Here is the letter my husband and I wrote to the corporation in an attempt to get something more done with this computer
13 June 2006
Gateway Inc.
610 Gateway Dr.
N.Sioux City SD 57049
Attention: ERT
Dear Sir or Madam:
I have been a Gateway customer for many years. My family has purchased four computers from Gateway because we have always had good faith in your company. So, when my wife went back to school and needed a computer of her own I had no qualms about purchasing another Gateway computer. However, I am now feeling that I made a mistake in doing so.
In November of 2004, I purchased a Gateway DS M520X serial #1101103938 from your company. Beyond purchasing the computer, I also paid extra for the “4yr Accidental Damage TPP Warranty” and other warranty protection to protect our investment. In March, my wife who uses this computer as a Graduate student and a teacher, was giving a presentation at school when she the computer began smoking from the back where the ac adapter plugs into the computer. In a panic, she went to see what she could do to stop the smoking, and tripped over her power cords pulling the computer off the podium and cracking the LCD screen. With the good warranty coverage that I purchased with this notebook, I had no reason to worry, I was sure Gateway would stand by its warranty protection as they had in the past. This is where the nightmare began.
My wife made the original service call on the computer. She explained her problems to the technician. The technician then proceeded to argue with my wife that the computer did not have the accidentally warranty coverage. Once she magically found this coverage (only after my wife got on the Gateway website and looked it up herself) the technician then had to be told the situation another four times before finally telling my wife to “just send it in”. The technician then tried to hang up on my wife without giving her a service number. My wife finally got a service number and the service technician hung up.
Extremely dissatisfied by Gateway’s customer service my wife called back to and asked to speak with a supervisor. She was then informed that she could not speak to a supervisor unless the person she was talking to deemed the problem important. She explained her situation to the gentleman on the phone and he did not deem this problem worthy of a supervisor’s time. He did however check on the service number she had been given and found that it was not a valid service number. Now irate, my wife got a new service number and shipped her computer to the company.
After about two weeks, the computer was delivered to our house. Upon opening the package, my wife and I found that the LCD screen was not repaired. Without the screen being repaired, we were unable to check if the computer had been fixed internally. Thoroughly disgusted, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I called Gateway to find out what was going on and was given a story that my wife had called and told them to send the computer back without repairing the screen. Why would anyone call and ask for a broken computer to be shipped back to them? The computer was useless to me. After dealing with several people I finally managed to talk to a supervisor, Erik #CA127, arranged so that Gateway would ship me out a box and cover the cost of shipping. When I received the box, I packed up the computer and sent it back to Gateway.
Once again, I received my computer a few weeks later. This time the screen had been fixed. When we first powered the computer up and error message appeared. My wife followed the directions of the error message and got the computer to boot, as the computer was loading my wife noticed that when the Gateway screen flashed up it now showed that it was running a Celeron D processor. This was a bit appalling since we had paid extra for the Pentium 4 processor. After the computer fully loaded, my wife went to check her email and such. About ten minutes into working on the computer it froze up, it would not restart with “CTRL+ALT+DEL,” so she had to power it down. She tried to restart the computer and it flashed the Gateway screen and the Windows XP screen and then went black. Again, I made another phone call to Gateway. My first issue being that the wrong processor had been put in my computer and the second that it would not even work. I spoke with a technician who walked my wife through some checks to see if she could get the system up and also had a good laugh at our expense. This time Gateway arranges the repairs to be made at our residence. A new processor and motherboard were shipped to a technician and the technician showed up on May 9, 2006 to make the repairs. After replacing the old components with the newly shipped ones, the computer still will not work. It has what the technician refers to as “no pulse.” The technician calls into Gateway and the Gateway service tech says that we have to send the computer back in and that Gateway will not cover the cost. Shocked at hearing this my wife makes yet another call to Gateway. This time a service technician named Dave #CA753 transfers her to a supervisor, Matias #CA902. Matias did some research and spoke with the escalations department. They informed him that there is no “RP Chassis” available for this computer model, so they sent out another motherboard, another processor, and another LCD screen to the same technician as before. The technician arrived on May 17, 2006 and replaced the components all over again. However, the computer still would not work, “No Pulse.” The technician called into Gateway again to find out what to do. My wife spoke to the technician who told her once again to send the computer back in. Infuriated my wife asked to speak with a supervisor, Vincent FP188. Vincent told her that he would look into things and get back to her the next day. He called and I spoke with him personally, he stated that he wanted the computer sent back to Gateway. After all these problems, I told him I did not want this computer sent out for repair. I would like a replacement. At this time, Vincent said that Gateway no longer makes this particular model, so I requested that the unit be replaced with a comparable unit. After making this statement I was the line went dead. I assume I was hung up on, because Vincent made no effort to call me back to rectify the situation. A few days later, my wife received a call from Matias. He had spoken with the escalation department again and they denied his request for a replacement computer to be issued. Matias informed my wife that a box was already on its way to our house and that the computer would once again have to be sent out. The computer was sent out to Gateway on May 30, 2006.
On June 6, 2006, we received the computer back from Gateway. Everything appeared to be in working order. My wife turned it on to make sure everything was working right and then shut it down at placed it back in the box until she had time to begin loading the appropriate software she needed. Two days later, she began installing her firewall and antivirus program, and Microsoft Office 2003. These programs loaded with no problems. Microsoft Automatic Updates began updating Windows XP. After the Windows XP updates finished installing my wife shut the computer down so that we could go to the store. Later that night she started up her computer so that she could begin transferring information from my computer to hers. The system began to boot up normally but when it finished loading there was only a blue Gateway background, no Windows XP components. She made a call to technical support hoping that the problem was something simple that could easily be rectified with help from a technician. She spoke with Laura #CA1678. Laura had my wife boot the computer in safe mode, but the same error occurred. Laura then asked my wife to get her original startup CD so that she might be able to troubleshoot using it. My wife opened her CD-Rom drive to take out Microsoft Office 2003, when she did this the screen was covered in stripes that followed the motion of the CD-Rom door opening. When the CD-Rom drive was shut, the screen flashed white. Laura told my wife to try shutting the computer down. My wife tried using CTRL+ALT+DEL, but this did not work. She tried to shut it down manually but it would not shut down. That is when she noticed that the POWER button had moved out of place. Once again, we would have to send the computer in for service. My wife told Laura that she wanted a box sent out to us and the cost of shipping covered. Laura could not get approval for a box at this time and told my wife that someone would call her the next day to let her know if approval had been give. My wife did not receive a call from anyone the next day. On Monday, May 12, 2006, my wife received a call from Robert CA-083, he said he was a supervisor and that he had approved the box and it would be sent out that day. My wife questioned him as to what would be done to rectify the situation and he told her that because this was a different problem not related to the other problems that had occurred that the unit would only be repaired. My wife explained to him that this problem was related to the other problems we had had because something had to have happened while the unit was at Gateway being taken apart and then put back together. This problem was a result of sloppy work. Once again, my wife was told that nothing else could be done and that there was no choice but to send the computer in for service.
This problem had been going on since early March 2006. It is now half way into June. My wife had been without her computer for about three months. After all the time I have spent trying to get my computer fixed, not to mention the inconvenience this has caused my wife in her schooling and her job, I would like to see this situation resolved. I am not trying to get a free computer; I am just trying to get what is owed to me. I purchased your product and warranties in good faith, had I know that I would have to deal with a situation like this I would have purchased from a different company. In order to rectify this situation I would like this computer replaced with a computer equal to or better than the one I purchased. I would like the same warranties to cover the new computer with the starting date beginning at the time the new system is shipped. My hope is to resolve this issue without having to take things to the next level.
A company’s reputation is built on its product and customer care. Your telephone customer service is a joke; your customers are given the run around and have few options when it comes to handling problems. Your product quality is fair, but often overlooked because of the great coverage offered. Unfortunately, the coverage is not what it is presented as at the time of purchase. You should not offer warranties and coverage terms that you are unwilling to satisfy. I feel like I have had to fight every step of the way to get this computer fixed. The amount of time and stress this had put both my wife and I through is unacceptable. I am very disappointed with the treatment my wife and I have received. I once had great faith in the Gateway Corporation, but that faith has been lost and will be very hard to regain. I feel that a company that cannot stand behind its product, warranties, and customer service, is not a company I want to deal with. I hope this situation will be rectified soon. Please feel free to contact my wife or me at any time.
Thank you for your time,
Mr. & Mrs. XXXX
The response we received from this letter was unbelievable. A woman calls us and tells us that if she had received the letter sooner she would have replaced the computer but since it is being repaired and shipped back she couldn’t do anymore but offer us a fifty dollar credit to be used at the GATEWAY website. Fifty dollars? They had my computer for months; I had no computer to do my homework with or to use for work. When I got the “repaired” computer back for the last time it had problems from the beginning. The power would flicker off at the slightest bump or movement of the computer and the wireless internet connection would be intermittent. My husband called and spoke with the generous woman who offered us the fifty dollars and she said that this wasn’t her problem it was a new problem, call support. Great! Well, I don’t have time to call support and deal with their shit and be without a computer again!!! I am in the middle of college working for my teaching credentials AND my masters degree, I CANNOT be without a computer!! So I have dealt with this bullshit for the last few months. Trying to make sure the computer doesn’t get moved while I am using it so that I don’t lose my work. Well I have stung it out as long as I can. Now it has reached the completely useless point. It will not do anything! The constant power problems must have fried something…and yes I do use a surge protector, but that is not where the problem is. I can no longer use it. I am in the middle of finals and will soon be starting a new semester of classes. I don’t know what to do! Why isn’t this problem fixed under the LEMON LAW??? PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE someone give me some advice as to what to do! I cannot afford to spend another $2500 dollars on a computer, when this one should work, or be replaced per my warranty and accidental coverage. I HATE GATEWAY!!!
Thank you,
MAD AS HELL AT GATEWAY
Not so much an actual complaint as a GRIPE. Just want to vent a little as I know the following is common practice.
I was grocery shopping at a store that has a 5th Third Bank outlet at the store. Ran into a friend who was trying to cash A FIFTH THIRD MONEY ORDER for $100.00 . She didn’t have an account and they charge $8.00 if you don’t. I signed second party for her because I have an account. I grumbled a little to the teller that I could understand if it was an US BANK or FIRST FINANCIAL BANK but this money order although it was a different branch WAS drawn on thier bank. Being it was thier bank they can know almost emediatly if it was ligit. GEESH! LIke I said just wanted to vent. Wish they would change the rules and honor thier money orders without chargeing because if the buyer didn’t have an account either there would have been a $3.00 charge on the front end also. DOUBLE WHAMMY!
Office Depot has the WORST customer service I have delt with in a long time. I ordered some of their sale items for christmas presents that were supposedly shipped on 12/9 and to be delivered 12/12. this never happened. The customer service rep said that it was a third party order and she would put in a request for them to call me back to tell me the problem. I got a voicemail (that i could hardly understand) saying that they sent an email to the third party to find out what happened. I called back and they had no new information. When I asked to speak to a manager…after waiting on hold for her…i had to re-explain the situation because she wasn’t briefed. Finally she told me that my stuff was backordered and that was delaying shipment and that she didn’t know why anyone else didn’t read that to me. Frustrated, I cancelled my order. The customer service was useless. There was no service.
USE STAPLES INSTEAD OF OFFICE DEPOT. The prices are usually the same or better and they have FANTASTIC customer service. They made a shipping mistake with my order and send me $40 of Staples dollars to make up for it. Much better to deal with.
SHOP NBC sucks…
I purchased a computer from the above shopping network channel with the belief of getting what was being advertise on TV…. NOT SO! Be carefull of home shopping networks because they advertise one thing and send you another.
To bad… there isn’t good business anymore!
Thanks,
RRA
This is the second night in a row that I have been on hold for more than an hour waiting to make an appointment for service with Time Warner Service. Every three to months I have to call TWC because my $125.00 cable service is problematic. For whatever reason, the picture becomes distorted, breaking the images up into pixel like images.
I am appalled that a company this size can treat their customers like this. They are out there buying up various cable companies when they can not take care of their existing customers.
We are paying consumers need for this problem to be exposed, and remedied. The first call, I was on hold for 17 minutes, and the automated attendant disconnected me. I called back, and after a 47 minute wait, I was transferred to a customer survey interactive poll. Finally, I called back and held on “while their continuing loop, say “we are very sorry you are still on hold, thank you for your patience and we are looking forward to servicing you”. Which is a lie, because my cable bill has tripled, so they should be able to hire sufficient customer care agents to assist customers. I finally gave up on my last attempt after holding for an additional 26 minutes. I never did get through. Tonight, I have been on hold continuously since 10:10pm, and it is currently 11:09pm.
I am considering taping and recording this injustice and sending to my local TV News Channel Consumers division. This me this is criminal, they are collecting my money, I can not watch TV, yet I can not get service.
Please publish my complaint.
M. L. Randolph
West Hills, CA 91304
My parents, weary from having undergone surgery, needed to change their travel plans on medical grounds. As the primary carrier, UAL agreed to change the travel plans for both the UAL and Sri Lankan Airlines (a code share partner of UAL and a memeber of The Star Alliance). They were to fly from Omaha, NE to Colombo, Sri Lanka, starting on the 30th of July 2006. Everthing went fine with the first leg of the flight from Omaha to Los Angeles, but when they went to check in for the flight from Los Angeles to Singapore, UAL refused to honor their tickets, claiming that the tickets have not been approved, authorized and authenticated. My father had argued with them that UAL did not have a problem with the first leg of the flight and how the tickets had magically become invalid. Without recourse and being in the middle of their journey, they were forced to purchase new tickets at a cost of $1000 to fly to Singapore. UAL’s code share partner, Srilankan Airlines did the same in Singapore, claiming that new tickets have to be purchased at a cost of US $1860 for them to complete the last leg of the journey. The total cost for the flight was $2860 for both of them, which is the price of 2 round trip tickets. Since the middle of October 2006, I have written 3 letters to UAL, requesting them to do the right thing, which is to either refund the money or to give them 2 new round trip tickets. UAL has refused to do either, instead sending us 2 coupons, valued at $300 each. The last letter I received mentioned that they have re-visited my concerns but, the UAL policy dosent permit them to respond with the “genorosity” that I had anticipated, and that they had forwarded my “valuable” feedback to the “appropriate management team.” I patiently waited for a response from the “appropriate managment team” for well over a month, wihout a response. I started this blog to tell my story to the rest of the world, so that others can see how serious UAL is about their customer service.
The complete version of this story at http://evilunitedairlines.blogspot.com/
Worthless Warranty !!! Tired of looking thru foggy windows. I purchased a new house in 1998. It came with Weathervane windows. In the past month, 2 of my windows have lost their seal. I have a warranty certificate that says Weathervane guarantees the windows for life. The company refuses to honor the warranty, the certificate is not worth the paper it’s printed on. I am out of pocket for pane replacement, a few hundred dollars. DO NOT PURCHASE WEATHERVANE WINDOWS. THE COMPANY IS CROOKED.Patricia.