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Your search for “EECB” produced “405” results
Lenovo Has My Defective Computer, Isn't Returning My Calls
By Laura Northrup on May 17, 2012 12:30 PM
20 Comments
Bethany's Lenovo laptop computer is pretty nice. At least, it is when it's around. It keeps taking extended vacations at Lenovo's repair depot, to the point that she had to buy another computer in order to get through finals and computerless life in general. After they held on to her machine for three weeks, she finally asked for a refund instead of getting the evidently defective computer back. That's when they stopped returning her calls. More »
(Cea.)
Stuck In Mexico Without Any Bags Thanks To Gate-Checked Carryon
By Laura Northrup on May 7, 2012 8:00 AM
42 Comments
Edwin's wife flew to Mexico last week, toting only her carry-on luggage. United Airlines personnel made her gate-check the suitcase, telling her that it was too big and that she would definitely get it back when she landed. She hasn't seen her suitcase since, and suspects it might have been stolen. United, as of yesterday, refused to give Edwin or Mrs. Edwin any answers. More »
(.:AR:.)
EECB Strikes Lenovo, Gets Customer New Laptop
By Laura Northrup on May 1, 2012 10:30 AM
6 Comments
Patricia's refurbished laptop from Lenovo could have used more refurbishment. It had a scratched webcam and an unbearably rattly disc drive, and she didn't find this acceptable for a device that she had just purchased. So she tackled the issue using a time-honored consumer technique: the executive e-mail carpet bomb. Lenovo's Executive Relations team heard her plea, and sent her a new computer to replace her refurbished one. More »
Verizon Charges You Extra $700 For Returning A Phone
By Laura Northrup on April 25, 2012 12:30 PM
28 Comments
Ron is a longtime, loyal Verizon Wireless customer. Things were going quite well until he returned a new phone recently. This phone was somehow never logged in at the warehouse, and Verizon keeps piling equipment fees on Ron's account. Now his service has been shut off, which is bad news for him and for his patients: he's a doctor and on call. He has FedEx tracking info indicating that he sent the phone back, but Verizon didn't record it on their end. More »
With Sidekick G4, T-Mobile Casts Me Into Smartphone Replacement Purgatory
By Laura Northrup on April 23, 2012 9:00 AM
25 Comments
Sara really loved her HTC G1 from T-Mobile, and bought the similar-ish Samsung Sidekick 4G as a replacement when its years of loyal service ended. The new phone has not been so loyal. It locks up, won't respond to the touchscreen, and periodically wipes its memory card for no clear reason. Sure, she could back up the memory card content elsewhere, but the non-operational phone is a real problem. Now she's on her third replacement. T-Mobile is happy to send her a replacement, but she doesn't want a fifth phone that will inevitably have the same problems. Sara, welcome to smartphone replacement purgatory! More »
(afagen)
United Takes Your Miles To Upgrade Stranger's Reservation
By Laura Northrup on April 17, 2012 9:00 AM
14 Comments
It was incredibly generous of Wes to use his own frequent flyer miles to upgrade a random stranger's reservation to Business Class. At least, it would have been if that's what he had meant to do. He had called up to upgrade his wife's reservation, and it seems that a typo in the confirmation number meant that someone else got the upgrade, and no one knows how Wes can get his miles back. More »
Dell Tech Support Manager: 'Sell Your Computer, Buy Something Not Made By Dell'
By Laura Northrup on April 4, 2012 8:00 AM
89 Comments
Andrew had a beautiful and relatively modest dream as a teen. He wanted to own an Alienware gaming computer. When he became an adult, he was able to achieve that dream by purchasing a M14x laptop. There was no happy ending for the man and his computer, though. It has needed to be sent back to Dell five times already. He bought it in August. Of 2011. He hasn't even owned it for a whole year yet. More »
Verizon Upgrades My Smartphone, Downgrades My Data Plan
By Laura Northrup on March 9, 2012 8:00 AM
52 Comments
At the end of last year, Christopher and his girlfriend upgraded their Verizon phones to a pair of lovely matching Samsung Galaxy Nexuses. They've both had Verizon data plans long enough that they're grandfathered in to unlimited data, and Christopher has unlimited international data as well. Or.... he did. After the upgrade, his unlimited plan is gone, the employee who turned it off has (apparently) fled the country, and no one at corporate or the local Verizon store knows how to get it back. More »
The 2012 Valentine's Day Garden Of Discontent
By Laura Northrup on February 15, 2012 9:30 AM
92 Comments
On Valentine's Day, we are expected to show loved ones how much they mean to us by giving them dead plants. For extra style points, we pay strangers to bring these dead plants to the recipient for us. However, florists are unfathomably busy on Valentine's Day. So busy that we almost feel bad criticizing when things go wrong. Almost. The Consumerist's annual Valentine's Day Garden of Discontent is a collection of flower or gift deliveries that aren't what the recipient had in mind. Such as calling your fiancée a whore. More »
(lymang)
Time Warner Cable Is Really Anxious To See You Go
By Laura Northrup on January 27, 2012 11:34 AM
30 Comments
Jack has been a customer of Time Warner Cable for a long time, what with the virtual monopoly in his town and all. He never really had any complaints until he was getting ready for his upcoming move. He dutifully called in a week and a half before the move, so his TV/Internet/phone package would be turned off at his current home, and installation set up at the new place. So, naturally, they turned off all three services at his current place the very next day. He complained, and they turned them back on. Then a Time Warner rep called up to "fix" the problem, flipping a switch to turn off all of the services. Again. More »
(nffcnnr)
EECB To Amazon's Jeff Bezos Results In A Very Happy Ending
By Mary Beth Quirk on January 19, 2012 3:00 PM
34 Comments
The first step in resolving a customer service issue isn't to email the CEO of a company, but if nothing else works, why not? Lia used Consumerist's Executive Email Carpet Bomb listings to get in touch with Jeff Bezos of Amazon and lo and behold, success! More »
EECB To AT&T Succeeds Where Small Claims Court Fails
By Chris Morran on January 4, 2012 5:00 PM
66 Comments
Consumerist reader Judy has three young daughters, all of whom have Samsung Impression phones, many of which have failed over the last year or so and needed to be replaced by AT&T. So when the holiday times rolled around, Judy wanted to upgrade her kids' regular ol', buggy cell phones with iPhone 4S smartphones. She'd hoped that AT&T would see the benefit in allowing her to upgrade early and get a head start on paying them more money. Alas, the Death Star did not see the wisdom in her way of thinking. More »
EECB Scores Hit On T-Mobile, Saves Customer $400 Charge For Phone UPS Lost
By Laura Northrup on December 30, 2011 11:30 AM
12 Comments
When Jeffrey received his replacement smartphone from T-Mobile, he packed up his old one, used the enclosed prepaid UPS label, and dispatched it using a UPS drop box. From there, the phone disappeared. One customer service rep after another assured him that the lost phone situation would be resolved...and then a $300 charge for the phone appeared on his bill. It was time to escalate. It was time to use a powerful tool he learned about from this very site: the executive e-mail carpet bomb. More »
FedEx Thinks This Is An Appropriate Place To Leave A Package
By Chris Morran on December 20, 2011 11:31 AM
84 Comments
Consumerist reader Tim was a bit annoyed when he got an e-mail saying a delivery from FedEx had been left at his doorstep. But that was nothing compared to what the FedEx driver did to his next door neighbor. More »
Can Owning A Cat Void Your HP Warranty?
By Laura Northrup on December 9, 2011 2:30 PM
136 Comments
Chris sent his HP Elitebook in for repair, only to learn that he had done something to void the warranty, and it wouldn't be repaired. What was his heinous offense against technology? He owns a cat, and there's fur inside the computer, causing HP to declare his computer a "biological hazard" and send it back un-repaired. He sent along photos that HP took of his disassembled computer and used to make the case that his computer wasn't repairable. More »
EECB Gets Dell's Attention, Better Computer Shipped Overnight
By Laura Northrup on December 8, 2011 9:00 AM
8 Comments
The Dell Inspiron 2305 is a slick-looking all-in-one touchscreen desktop computer. The one Mike received wasn't as fun to live with as it was to look at, though. He had his computer replaced once, but the replacement had video card problems that led it to freeze. Frustrated, he lobbed an executive e-mail carpet bomb at Dell higher-ups, and it was effective. Very effective. Soon, Dell overnighted a similar but more expensive computer to Mike's house. More »
Call T-Mobile Customer Service And Reality Will Shift Beneath Your Feet
By Laura Northrup on November 16, 2011 9:00 AM
70 Comments
At what point is a company responsible for the things that its customer service reps tell customers? Gus got a new T-Mobile smartphone on an unlimited plan, then took a job in the oil industry that requires him to travel out of the country frequently. While he could have a company phone, he's still under contract. He chose to keep his T-Mobile plan with a company subsidy, and not pay an early termination fee. When he called T-Mobile to find out how much roaming in Colombia would cost with his plan, the startling answer was that he wouldn't have to pay any roaming fees at all. He quadruple-checked this with the customer service rep, who confirmed it. But he should have just hung up and broken through the walls of reality to reach another rep, who would have told him something entirely different. More »
Best Buy Sells You Appliances, Then Sells Them To Someone Else
By Laura Northrup on November 2, 2011 9:00 AM
97 Comments
John got a great deal on a floor-model washer and dryer unit at Best Buy. But he wasn't the only one. After he completed the purchase, Best Buy sold the units out to another customer, delivering them to the other purchaser before reaching John. That's a simple enough error that could have been easily fixed by, say, offering a significant discount on another set of the same model. But that's not possible at this Best Buy. More »
(dooley)
Verizon Promises Deal To Get You To Stay, Then Pretends It Didn't
By Laura Northrup on October 12, 2011 9:30 AM
46 Comments
To keep Andrew from jumping ship to Sprint for cheaper service, the retentions team at Verizon Wireless did its job: they offered him an amazing deal. He could get a $20 data credit per month on each of his smartphone lines as part of an unpublicized promotion. Who wouldn't take that deal? Unfortunately, it turns out that "unpublicized" now means "Verizon pretends that it doesn't exist." Andrew's not the only one who was promised this deal, and he's going to fight for it. More »
T-Mobile Charges $5 For Every Failed Call From Cruise Ship
By Laura Northrup on September 29, 2011 12:30 PM
44 Comments
Kayla left her phone off and safely stowed away during her Caribbean cruise, where it couldn't run up roaming charges high enough to ruin any vacation. When she learned that there had been a minor earthquake and a hurricane back home, she decided to eat the roaming charges and pay the high per-minute prices to check in with her loved ones. Everyone else on the ship evidently had the same idea, and it was difficult to get a call through. When her bill came, Kayla learned the hard way that T-Mobile, at least, imposes that $4.99 per minute roaming charge on calls that don't complete. More »
