Consumerist
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Tips
Consumers Speak: Spicybrown.com Rocks
We're really going to have to change our tagline to "Consumers suck up". We've receive yet another excellent endorsement for a company's customer service... this time, online t-shirt retailer Spicybrown.com, who sell a variety of Japanohydrocephalia-brand merchandise. Also, the adorable Tofu robot t-shirt to the left! More » -
Complaints
Commentors Point / Counterpoint: Attitude Relevance in Good Customer Service
In response to a recent post in which we posited that a customer's attitude when dealing with a CSR was important when trying to guarantee good service from the pallid, hateful peons of your local call service center, our comments section experienced a flurry of seven responses, arguing whether or not it made a lick of difference. Here's a couple of the more interesting ones. More » -
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Executive Funds $500,000 Booze-Fueled Rampage
It turns out that our loathed, stinky arch-nemesis Wal-Mart doesn't merely steal the souls of the self-respecting working Joe (not to mention the serenity of America's picturesque highway suburbs). It also steals from itself. More » -
Advertising
Advertising Gone Wrong: What Rhymes with 'Shoah?'
A tip for the future ad sales teams of the newspaper Landeszeitung Luneburg: When running an article commemorating the 61st anniversary of the Red Army's liberation of the concentration camp at Auschwitz, try not to also run an advertising from a German energy company with the tagline "E.ON provides today for the gas of tomorrow." More » -
Customer Service
CSR of the Week: Zachary Byron Helm
We are delighted to have been contacted by Zachary Byron Helm [pictured], the mohawked warrior of T-Mobile's customer service, whose picture we posted just last week. More » -
Complaints
Consumers Speak: iSold Your Stuff on eBay, But All You Got Was This Lousy Experience
Reader Ben P. writes with his horrible experiences with the Southern California 'we sell your stuff on eBay' chain, iSold.I've sold items on eBay several times before, and while it's a bit of a hassle, it never overwhelmed me. Late last year though, during a move, I had multiple items I thought would sell well on eBay that I couldn't justify loading into the Uhaul, and having plenty on my plate with the move, thought I could just drop off at iSold it and wash my hands of the transaction. Their motto is after all: "The Easy Way to Sell on Ebay."
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Deals
Morning Deals Round Up
• When you sign up for a free trial at Yahoo! Personals, you'll also get a free $10 Starbucks gift card. Nothing makes a first date turn into something more like sweaty hands and coppery breath. More » -
Evil
Authors of StarForce Threaten Lawsuit Upon Criticism
Please excuse our breach of form this morning, but the Deals Round Up will have to wait, because we work up cranky and then the internet was full of stupid again. It seems that Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing discovered StarForce, the malignant copy-restriction curse suffered by many PC gamers, only to be threatened with a lawsuit after criticizing the product as "malware." More » -
Fast Food
Upcoming Technology in Fast Food Drive-Thrus
CNN has an article up, explaining the cutting-edge technological battle between the fast food chains: drive-thru automation. It will surprise none who have experienced the annoyance of trying to order a cheeseburger through a fuzzy, warbling speaker from an anonymous immigrant on the other end that the strategy these companies are banking on is absolutely clueless. What will companies like Burger King and Wendy's be doing to guarantee a better drive-thru experience for you, the consumer? One: outsource your order to call centers, possibly in India. Two: use computer programs that guess your upcoming order. More » -
Complaints
Blizzard Enforces Anti-Lesbian, Pro-Bigot Guild Policy
Blizzard has come down hard on a BGLT (bi-sexual, gay, lesbian and transsexual/transvestite) friendly guild. Note the word friendly as opposed to 'exclusive'. In one bold move, Blizzard has come down hard in favor of the bigot status quo of its player base. More » -
Customer Service
Consumers Speak: Good Customer Service From Local Boys
John Strong (really!) writes in with a story of the all-too-rare case of good customer service: More » -
Complaints
Consumers Speak: Paying Twice for One Phone Number
Fun with number portability! You read Robert N's and offer any advice, if you can. Our take? Sounds like he needs to escalate the issue with Earthlink. We don't see how they can refuse to turn off his service if we requests it.I have a story I would like to share regarding local number portability, and would like to solicit advice regarding an apparent black-hole for customer service:
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Evil
QWK.net ISP Kicks Off Customer, Then Tries to Have Her Shut Down at New ISP
This one is a little hard to follow, but we think we've got it straight. Roughly, here is the sequence of events: More »
New York, 10:51 AM
Sat Nov 14
20 posts in the last 24 hours
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