20/20 Piece On Consumer Vigilantism
We just got off the phone with Polly Kreisman, 20/20 producer and former investigative consumer reporter with her own segment on WB11, Polly Wants An Answer. Polly wants to interview us for a story she's putting together about consumers sharing recorded audio and video online to "out" bad customer service experiences. She needs 4 or 5 examples for the piece. Some of our favorites include:
Vincent Ferrari cancelling AOL
Brian Finklestein's sleepy Comcast tech
David Berlind getting a refund from T-Mobile hotspot
What are we leaving out? What are your faves?
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Comments:
Oozinator is a classic but as the piece will revolve around consumer uploaded documentations.
" Polly wants an answer? " Good god.... Where do they come up with this stuff?
Here in Boston we have a guy named David Wayde who does a consumer segment called "Wade a minute."
This is all MUCH worse than Jon Stossel's "Gimme a break" which I'm sure was the start of it all... and Joh Stossel is SUCH a dumbass too...
What about the "Yours is a Very Bad Hotel" Powerpoint? It's not video or audio...but it is sparkly in it's snarkiness.
TV: Brain food for idiots.
Here's one for you that just happened to me. I just got off the phone with DishNetwork. Here's some brief history and what happened next. In Feb 06, I moved from Utah to Ohio. Last Feb, when I called Dishnetwork to cancel my service the service representative asked me if I would like to suspend my service. He told me that I could suspend it up to six months and once I get to my new location I could call Dishnetwork with my new address if I wanted the service turned back on. On 3 Aug 06 I was billed $5.31 and on 3 Sep 06 I was billed $48.99. This surprised me because I have never requested Dishnetwork service in Ohio so I called customer service and asked for a refund. I was told that I could not get a refund because I agreed to suspend my service and that it would be automatically turned on after six months. I do not recall being told that it would automatically be turned on after six months. I only recall that it would be turned on if I called Dishnetwork requesting resumption of service. Since I never called I should not be charged for a service I never received. It is wrong to charge me for a service I did not receive and I expect a full refund. So I called customer service rep MVH and to make a long story short, the lady I talked to told me I had a verbal agreement to turn my service on after six months. I told her that the agreement was only valid if I called, or how else would they know where to turn my service on? Dishnetwork's actions are wrong and possibly illegal since they're charging me for a service they did not provide. After arguing for 15 minutes with the lady I asked to speak to her supervisor. The lady said sure and put me on hold but after five minutes the line went dead. I find it incredible Dishnetwork won't refund my money but even worse is the customer service I received. What recourse do I have?
you would think that companies would use their own recordings of bad customers in response...
99.999999 out of 100 those "bad customers" are because they are fed up with the shtichk they have been given by the CSRs and can't get anywhere - like AOL.
What about those past stories of the brooklyn camera stores and them ripping off Thomas Hawk. Remember the messages they left on his answering machine?
My ongoing problem is one which could potentially affect anyone who buys into the New York Life Insurance Company's slogan: "The company You Keep". New York Life sent $12,000 from my husband's life insurance policy to his brother w/ no permission from my husband or from me, owner and beneficiary of the policies. At the time I was making interest payments on these socalled loans, unaware of the fact that very little of the money loaned was legitimate. When I asked New York Life they did investigate and actually located the cancelled checks, which had been sent to my crooked brother-in-law's house, right to his address. New York Life sent me copies of these checks. I thought that the company would restore the policies to their original value after NYL admitted its mistake. I was very wrong. The company continued to bill me for interest on these loans. I finally reached the point where I couldn't continue to pay. Next New York Life told me that the company would report an income gain for me of approximately $12,000 for 2005. They carried out the threat. Now I have been informed that $8,000 will be reported for 2006. Of course, I have received none of this money. I can easily see how this mistake happened as New York Life requires no proof of a caller's identy in requesting loans on policies. This is not "The Company You Keep".
Carol Slaughter carolsclyde@yahoo.com
While it's not necessarily bad customer service, you could bring up the Oozinator saga. It's a product that was clearly designed with "other" aesthetic intentions, and the information on the product or its marketing was not very forthcoming from the manufacturer when you dealt with them.