Other Customer Service

Update: Reader's DSL Upgraded, House Still Not On Fire 

Michael would like some faster Internet tubes to run into his house. He would be happy to give his ISP, Verizon DSL, money to provide this service, but he can't. He writes that repeated calls to Verizon's sales line resulted in a series of answers that disagreed with each other, culminating in a call where the rep quite sincerely informed him that Verizon cannot give him faster DSL because it will burn his house down.  More Â»

—>AT&T is very concerned that you know the TRUTH about the chat transcript from yesterday's "AT&T Rep Wants To Die" post that we picked up after hit the front page of Digg. They say the screengrab is "doctored" and "fraudulent." We say, who cares? It's a hilarious online pass-around that any normal internet user would takes with a grain of salt. By the time we had picked it up, it was already old news. In any event, they provided us with the REAL conversation between rep Darlene and customer Robert:  More Â»

—>Morale is low aboard the Deathstar.  More Â»

—>If you have a problem with Keurig, makers of those coffee machines where the coffee comes in little pods that you just place inside, and regular customer service isn't helping you, you can try nicely escalating to their Director of Customer Service or emailing their executive team.  More Â»

—>When you read about the proposed Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger, you might have thought to yourself, "Sure, this would be a merger between the world's largest ticketing company and the largest concert promoter, but I think it could be more horrifying." Comcast apparently agrees, as they're considering getting in on the merger.  More Â»

—>Dustin Curtis complained to American Airlines about its poor website user interface. A designer within the company reached out to him to apologize, say how it was hard sometime to design well at a large company, but that better designs were coming down the pike. American Airlines then fired the designer. Authenticity can be a hazard to your job health.  More Â»

—>If you have an unresolved technical issue that regular AT&T Wireless customer service doesn't seem to be able to or be interested in helping you, this is the direct number for their senior tech support:  More Â»

—>Perennial Consumerist favorite banker and insurance company USAA announced yesterday that they're expanding eligible membership to all honorably discharged vets, regardless of dates or lengths of service.   More Â»

—>Want to know the secret to Comcast's success? No, it's not high rates, poor service or random porn broadcasts. It's much more basic: The company's employees just love working there, and want to share their love with customers. Yay!  More Â»

—>If you're having DirecTV issues, here's two more top-level contacts for you to try:  More Â»

—>Frank Eliason is a great pointman for escalating Comcast customer service issues, but what if he dies, gets promoted, a new job, or decides we're all just too annoying? Then you might want to have some backup executive customer service info:  More Â»

—>Laptop Mag pitted AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon in a battle royale to decide who was the fairest of them all in regards to customer service. The magazine's investigation found T-Mobile led in all three ways to contact the companies — the physical store, online and over the phone — and took the overall crown.  More Â»

—>DirecTV was planning on charging several victims in the largest fire in recorded Los Angeles County history for the satellite TV receivers that burnt to cinders in their homes. "What I'd like to do is take a shovel full of ashes from my cabin and dump it on their desk. They can have their receivers back," Ken Gray told LAT.  More Â»

—>When a soon-to-be mother realized she had bought the wrong laundry detergent at a New Mexico Walmart, she tried to return it. That didn't work out so well, ending up with the store manager insinuating she was a con-artist who replaced the detergent with water.   More Â»

—>If T-mobile's normal channels fail, you can try calling T-Mobile Executive Customer Relations. Here's a contact: Octavio Robertson, 505-341-8059.  More Â»

—>Having taken JetBlue for the first time last week, I must say I throughly enjoy their services. First, I got a round-trip non-stop flight to Seattle for only $279.20, tax included. Awesome.  More Â»

—>Think it sucks to be a TD Bank customer this week, especially if you were formerly a Commerce Bank customer? Try being a TD Bank employee. One insider tells what it what was like yesterday on the other side of all those (still) unprocessed transactions and new fees.  More Â»

—>TD Bank customers, particularily former Commerce Bank ones, are still complaining about their paychecks and other transactions not posting. Other customers said they were being limited to $250 withdrawals. The problems arose Monday after they tried to combine their bank system with Commerce Bank's, which TD recently bought.  More Â»

—>Popular electronics retailer Newegg filed for a $175 mil initial public offering today, becoming the 3rd internet darling in recent memory, after Zappos and Mint, to seek a cashout. Let's hope Newegg doesn't switch their business model from being entirely beholden to customers to being entirely beholden to shareholders. Otherwise, the customers' battle cry of "It's Newegg or nothing!" will be getting a tryout. [Reuters] (Thanks to GitEmSteveDave!) (Photo: Matt & The Camera)  More Â»

—>AT&T has called me repeatedly over the past few weeks and months for some mysterious reason.  More Â»

—>Are you unhappy with your recent experience with Delta airlines? Would you like to talk to someone about it? Using a telephone? Too bad. Delta doesn't even have a dedicated customer service phone number anymore. If you want to talk to them, like Time's Richard Zoglin did, you will have to call their corporate headquarters on an unpublicized number. You will then be told that they don't accept customer complaints by telephone and be sent back to the website.  More Â»

—>Josh would like everyone to know that Amber Beyer, Schwab Bank customer service rep, is awesome. Recently he called the bank to tell them about his travel plans. He was so impressed with her knowledegeable and kind service that he was compelled to send a laudatory email to her supervisor, and cc Consumerist. Thus, we enter this chronicle into the halls of legend, the pantheon of excellent customer service known as "Above and Beyond." Here lies the tale:  More Â»

—>Seth had what should have been a fairly simple problem. His son's radio control car broke after only a few weeks of use. The toy was purchased at and manufactured by Toys R Us, and an e-mail to the support address included with the toy bounced. No one in the company's usual customer service channels could resolve his problem, and the people whose job it was to help customers in this situation never managed to contact him.  More Â»

—>Thanks to their own determination and a tip from a fellow Consumerist reader, Tavie and Gina have finally found someone at Funai willing to not only answer the phone, but grant them a refund for their Sylvania television that died after only a few months of use. The amount of effort needed to get this result is a little disheartening, but we're thrilled at the happy ending, and we now have helpful information for other customers who encounter problems with Funai.  More Â»

—>Hey, AT&T customers: be very, very careful when dialing three-digit numbers. If you're trying to dial, say, 211 or 311 (local government information), 611 (AT&T Wireless customer service) or 711 (TTY relay), and you dial 411 for directory assistance by mistake, you'll be charged for it even if you realize the mistake and hang up immediately. And you'll need to live with the consequences of your error, since, according to reader Stephen, AT&T will not refund these charges.  More Â»

—>Here's an example of a great EECB that worked: even though Joe's generator was out of warranty and the first two levels of customer service refused to help him, he was able to convince the company's execs to make good on a defective starter.  More Â»

—>Should you ever get lost in the Chase bank-by-phone tree, this function map may help you. Or it may explode your brain all over the receiver. The choice is yours.  More Â»

—>I asked Apple this morning to replace my broken laptop now that they've reintroduced the anti-glare option on their 15" MacBook Pros. Apple agreed, and soon a new laptop will leave China destined for my apartment. This isn't the first laptop Apple sent me this month. It's the second. Here's why...  More Â»

—>Bank of America isn't the only bank that enjoys canceling their traveling customer's credit cards. HSBC canceled my card while I was living in New Zealand, and as part of their "continuing efforts to fight fraud," sent an active replacement card to my address 9,000 miles away.  More Â»

—>It took an Executive Email Carpet Bomb to convince Best Buy to replace Bryan's Panasonic LiFi LCD Projection TV after it ate through four lamps. Bryan had purchased Best Buy's extended warranty, which contains a no lemon clause that promises a replacement after three failed repairs. Best Buy conveniently insisted that replacing the broken lamp did not count as a "qualified repair." Bryan first escalated his complaint through normal channels; when he had no other choice, he launched the mighty EECB.  More Â»

—>What do you do when your server suddenly contracts swine flu and starts giving away free merchandise? If you're ThinkGeek, nothing! The geek toy store celebrated a server glitch by announcing that anyone who picked up free schwag would get to keep it, no questions asked. Why? Read on for the awesome explanation...  More Â»

—>Jeff bought a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 4 back in May during a sale promising a $200 discount. The final checkout price didn't reflect the discount, but he double-checked the terms and conditions and confirmed that he was eligible. Adobe agreed, and has repeatedly promised to issue a refund. Jeff has been waiting for the check for almost four months, and he's not alone. Another customer has been waiting on a similar refund for almost a year!  More Â»

—>After calling every major computer maker with two basic questions, Laptop Magazine determined that Apple has the best overall tech support, while Dell, HP, and Acer have the worst. Though the results aren't surprising, the depth of the PC makers' incompetence is truly disappointing...  More Â»

—>Jay Goltz, a small business owner in Chicago, thinks there are three reasons why customer service is so terrible at so many companies.  More Â»

—>It's not the responsibility of a credit card company to take care of you in an emergency, it's true. But amid the many reports of canceled cards and slashed credit lines we've been receiving was the story of Elizabeth, her dog, a veterinary emergency, and a most inauspiciously timed credit line cut.  More Â»

—>Ever notice how the "customer service reps [who] are standing by" are always depicted by beautiful women wearing headsets? The maker of headsethotties.com certainly has, so he started collecting and publishing examples from around the globe. We enjoy that "perceived helpfulness" is the metric for rating each image. Tragically, the website has not been updated since February. Obviously they need your help finding more content. Could Helpful Girls Gone Wild be far away?  More Â»

—>S. is living the dream. My dream, at least. The dream of using one's grown-up status and money to buy an awesome toy that our parents wouldn't buy us in our childhood. In S.'s case, it was even better, since a strange pricing system error meant that he got a $6 remote control helicopter.  More Â»

—>The website Customer Service Scorecard ranks the CSR experience for all sorts of companies, from hotels to appliances to telecoms. They've rated 128 so far, and here's their top five. Do you agree?  More Â»

—>Last week we wrote that AT&T charged Spoco's Amex card twice for the same payment, but their CSRs refused to investigate the issue for him. After we posted his story, AT&T took notice and reversed the charge. That raises the question these stories always raise, which is, "How do I get the same result if my problem isn't published on Consumerist?"  More Â»

—>The person who blogs at MichiganTelephone just tried to help his friend sign up for DSL from AT&T last week. Their experience was so full of fail that now his friend doesn't even want to bother trying anymore. Yes, a customer came to AT&T ready to sign up, and AT&T drove him away. Michigan telephone wonders, "Does AT&T have a death wish, or are they really just that incompetent?"  More Â»

—>An Oregon landlord refuses to let his tenants install air conditioners because he thinks they "look tacky." Tenants of the Arbor Creek complex in Aloha who choose to sacrifice aesthetics for comfort have ten days to correct their mistake before facing eviction. One tenant's kid already landed in the hospital thanks to heat stroke.  More Â»

—>Are you having a problem with DirectTV that can't be fixed through the usual channels? Call their Consumer Advocacy Team at 866-785-5537 to talk to someone who can, well, advocate for consumers.  More Â»

—>Last week, we posted that a popular web hosting company—GoDaddy, although we didn't name it at the time—provided a strange customer service experience to a commenter. Cyberguy was contacted via phone by someone from their "Office of the President" after emailing them, but then Cyberguy couldn't get their rep to state clearly which company he was representing. Cyberguy was rightly suspicious. Was GoDaddy outsourcing its own executive customer service?  More Â»

—>Steve in northern New York is having a problem with Time Warner. He would like it if they could install service at his mother's newly constructed house. Time Warner not only doesn't want to take her money, they can't give her the best deal available because her house is too new.  More Â»

—>It's one of those customer service calls you get in battle mode for. You set out all your papers and documents, you know exactly what you're going to ask for, you have a glass of water ready, you take a deep breath, annnnnd - but wait. What if you had one more thing, just a little more edge that might tip the scales in your favor? An article in Pyschology Today talks about the classic customer service technique of "reciprocity." At the call's outset,  More Â»

—>John visited his local Rhode Island Subway every weekday for the past two months to enjoy what he thought was a healthy lunch. That all came to end after he overheard a Subway worker say to her colleague: "I don't know how anybody could eat this stuff everyday. It's disgusting and it will make you fat."  More Â»

Do you know that Comcast commercial where this homeowner gets FiOs installed against his will and then all these bulldozers tear up his lawn and bumbling contractors cause an electrical short? Lelah's letter describes a process that's very similar, except worse and much longer. And then this salesman just picks up her guitar and starts playing it and singing without even asking first. No wonder, by story's end, she's been driven to the brink of insanity, demanding compensation for 5 missed days of work. So far, they're offering her $25.  More Â»

—>Xavier bought a pair of nice quality headphones from V-Moda, and liked them so much that he carried them along everywhere he went. When he started having problems with the device, he inquired about repairing the earbuds, but V-Moda had a better idea.  More Â»

—>Cyberguy had a weird experience with a web hosting company earlier this week. He tried to contact their office of the president, but the person from the "office" who called him back turned out to be an outsourced CSR with no power to do anything other than apologize. Update: The web host company was GoDaddy, and they've responded. (The short answer is no they don't outsource it.)  More Â»

—>George's Samsung monitor got the three-month itch and went kaput. When he started dealing with the customer's service, he found that the monitor wasn't the only thing that was broken.  More Â»

—>The parents of a seven-year-old took him to Walmart this weekend to spend his saved birthday and allowance money on a pretty awesome looking swimming pool & slide combo. They'd checked online first to make sure the item was in stock—and Walmart said it was, at three different locations in fact.   More Â»

—>Bob didn't realize that his Amtrak train from Syracuse would be delayed for more than an hour until an Amtrak agent called him up and offered to upgrade him free of charge to an earlier and pricier train. Bob initially declined, but later called back to change his mind. When he got to the station, the same agent realized that he qualified for a cheaper ticket and refunded the difference on the spot.  More Â»

—>A happy flight attendant makes for a happy flight, and 24-year-old flight attendant Brandi Lynne has a list of 10 things you can do to make your next flight a little more enjoyable...  More Â»

—>Careful travelers, there's a panty-stealing baggage screener lurking in San Francisco's international airport, according to reader Ari, whose girlfriend lost eight days worth of underwear on a recent trip.  More Â»

—>After two years, the whistle on Ruby's Chantal Cookware Livestrong teakettle finally gave up its zest for life. Chantal Cookware's cleaning recommendations couldn't revive the ailing whistle, so Ruby resigned herself to buying a whole new kettle. Before pouring another $60 down the drain, she emailed Chantal Cookware to ask if it was at all possible to replace just the whistle...  More Â»

—>Reader Michael emailed to let us know that Men's Wearhouse, for no extra fee and with no hassle, bumped his suit alterations ahead in the schedule so he could make his grandmother's funeral on time.  More Â»

—>Tony had a lot of problems with the build quality of his new bicycle, so he finally wrote to Trek Bikes and told them all the things going wrong with it. Unlike Comfort Select, which denies manufacturing problems even as it replaces broken units with a less defective version (that you pay for), Trek contacted Tony and treated him like they actually wanted his repeat business.  More Â»

—>Lu, who caught a Game Crazy cashier adding bogus fees to a purchase, has sent in a couple of updates.  More Â»

—>I cancelled an iPhone within the 30 days buyer's remorse period recently and learned something interesting. Before AT&T will let people who bought their iPhones from Apple cancel service, they want you to return the phone first. They also want proof it was returned. They also want you to print out this proof and take it physically to an AT&T store and show it to them. Returning the phone, I have no problem with. But trekking out to a store to show someone in person a printout of an email?Madness.  More Â»

—>A manager at Chemical Bank in Midland, Michigan, grew suspicious when he saw Marion Case, an 80-year-old customer, withdraw $25k from her account last December. Case told him she was going to mail it to someone who would then pass it along to her son. The manager, Carl Ahearn, "remained suspicious. He followed her as she walked to the nearby post office, where Case bought an Express Mail envelope addressed to a man in New Jersey. Ahearn shared his concerns with postal officials, who opened an investigation and arrested a man Monday for fraud."  More Â»

—>Can we tag a story "above and beyond" if the customer service cycle is so screwed up that it eventually works out in the customer's favor? When jpodbuild tried to get his Craftsman sander repaired or replaced, he couldn't get anyone on the phone who could actually help him—eventually he would end up back at the first number he'd called. He decided to show up in person and let the store manager handle the phone calls. New sander!  More Â»

—>Xmitter was checking his Thrift Lodge bed for bed bugs when he discovered a bag filled with hypodermic needles. The clerk on duty refused to offer either an apology or a refund, and explained that "you can even find needles [in] 5 star hotels." When told that this was an inappropriate response, the clerk asked: "Is this a test?"  More Â»

—>Despite what that rascal Shakespeare would have you believe, all that ends well isn't necessarily well. Example: When your Bluetooth headset breaks and Samsung wouldn't warranty it out for several weeks, denying you your basic human right to roam hallways talking loudly into your own ear.  More Â»

—>Veronica moved to New Hampshire, and as punishment the bitter, jilted New York post office refused to send her mail along. She has complained to anyone who would listen, but may as well be yelling at her mail box for all the good it's done.   More Â»

—>After an iBook-death forced her to migrate to another computer, Lisa found that she couldn't activate her legally-purchased copy of Macromedia StudioMX 2004. Adobe insisted that the software was too old to be reactivated. Too old? It's software! It took several calls and emails before Lisa found an employee who was able to help, not by activating her old software, but by sending her a free new copy of Dreamweaver CS4.  More Â»

—>Royal Caribbean told Mary Hoefs at check-in that her family wouldn't be allowed to board unless they paid $800 on the spot, even though Mary had paid for the cruise in full four months earlier. Royal Caribbean later refunded $400, but why did they choose to kick off Mary's cruise with extortion? The answer, inside...  More Â»

—>Look, Comcast, when you take back someone's equipment and give them a receipt confirming that their account has no balance, it's not unreasonable for them to think that their account is canceled. Don't keep billing them for service and equipment rentals, and don't tell them that you "can keep [the account] active and [bill] indefinitely until [you] decide to disconnect it." Because if you do, they're going to call their state Attorney General's office. At least that's how Paul convinced Comcast to finally cancel his account.   More Â»

—>Geek Squad tried to repair a broken fan in Brian's Sony laptop, but somehow managed to instead break the laptop's motherboard, processor, and much of the internal cabling. Though Geek Squad replaced all the damaged parts, Brian soon realized that the laptop's new processor was slower and cheaper than the original model...   More Â»

—>Yesterday I was musing that Time Warner Cable was passing the cost of customer care off to other businesses, by requiring customers to take half-days or full days off of work just to wait for a cable repairman. Today I think I stumbled upon another hidden economic impact of bad customer service: it's responsible for generating a lot of the "free" content online. The next time you're reading an IMDB entry about "Damages" or "Big Love" for example, you can thank Verizon's collection of angry, confused, and possibly insane employees, and all the idle time they create for a customer who has to deal with them.  More Â»

—>Nathaniel got a money order to pay rent, and noticed Bank of America charged him twice for the transaction. He placed a call to customer service expecting a long, difficult battle, but was pleasantly surprised with the outcome:  More Â»

—>Stephanie reminded us of the little-known customer service phone number for Half.com. If you need to call them up, point your phone to 1-800-545-9857.  More Â»

—>Jiffy Lube agreed to pay Alison over $250 after botching routine work that forced her to interrupt her road trip for emergency car repairs. Alison's mechanic said that Jiffy Lube's attempted transmission fluid flush could have caused "catastrophic car damage" if left unfixed. Jiffy Lube denied all responsibility until Alison fired off an Executive Email Carpet Bomb to C.E.O. Rick Altizer, who agreed not only to reimburse for the repairs, but refunded the original cost of the transmission fluid flush, and tossed in a few coupons for free oil changes.  More Â»

—>You've most likely seen those surveys you receive on your receipt, or after a chat session or phone call. Most people ignore them unless they get something in return, or service was exceptionally bad or exceptionally good. According to our source R., though, not answering that survey could help the rep you've just talked to lose his or her job.  More Â»

—>Man's Blackberry chokes. Man calls Sprint. Sprint says hold. Man gets transferred to porn ad.  More Â»

—>Awesomely-named reader DrSpaceMonkey tells us he shipped some stuff to himself during a move, discovered it was damaged, and now can't collect on his insurance.  More Â»

—>Best Buy is still selling a defective Harry Potter Blu-Ray set that contains a HD-DVD version of the Goblet of Fire. The bumbled bundles were first discovered in 2007, but reader Bill found one sitting on a Best Buy shelf in Grand Junction, CO.  More Â»

—>Reader Suzanne may be on to something that may save credit card users anguish: Try to view your relationship with plastic as a romantic comedy.   More Â»

—>Brian suffered a couple of credit card maladies: Washington Mutual shut down his credit card due to inactivity and was stuck with a high interest report and credit report hit due to two missed payments in 2006. After Chase absorbed WaMu, Brian got on the horn and worked the customer service labyrinth until he fixed both problems.  More Â»

—>Here's a new trick for getting satisfaction from a reluctant company, using Twitter. We can call this one "tweet to power."  More Â»

—>Ned wears a neck brace when he flies, not because he's injured or disabled, but because he prefers it to one of those floofy neck pillows. This didn't sit well with a Delta flight attendant who was intent on keeping disabled-looking folks out of the emergency exit aisle. The attendant wouldn't leave Ned alone, even after Ned demonstrated his range of mobility and explained that the brace was from a minor car accident thirty-three years ago. Ned managed to hold onto his seat after a chat with the senior flight attendant, but the original flight attendant later came back, "got in [Ned's] face – literally, just inches away" and complained that Ned had "bucked his authority."  More Â»

—>If Seagate tells you to call Microsoft for technical support, don't talk back or you're going to get an earful. At least that's what reader K. learned when he called to ask why his external drive worked well under Vista, but not XP. Seagate's customer service representative immediately blamed the problem on Microsoft, and when K. tried explaining why the problem might lie with Seagate, the CSR responded: "Well since you know better then we do, Im sure you dont need our assistance."  More Â»

—>The new CircuitCity.com is already disappointing customers, this time by shipping a half-complete TV mount that looks like it was wrapped by an over-caffeinated octopus. Unsurprisingly, our anonymous tipster had to slog his way through two customer service departments before extracting a promise to ship out the missing parts. Why can't CircuitCity.com just ship him a new mount? Apparently, they have to first botch the parts shipment. Our tipster decided this wasn't worth his time, and instead ordered a second mount. Circuit City promises to refund his money once they receive back the defective mount...  More Â»

—>UPS' website promises that they will deliver Corey's Dell Vizio 37" LCD monitor tomorrow, which would be exciting, except the website has said the same thing every day for the past two weeks. UPS' customer service representatives insist that the package is lost and that Dell needs to initiate a trace. Dell would be happy to accommodate—who wouldn't want to trace a lost package?—but their customer service representative claims that it's Dell policy not to initiate a trace until 48 hours after the scheduled delivery date, which according to UPS, is tomorrow.  More Â»

—>Reader Phil is annoyed. He called Best Buy to see if they carried MiniSD memory cards. He was told that they did, but when he got to the store — all they had was MicroSD. Instead of just apologizing and letting Phil get on with his day — they tried to convince him that he was wrong, and his camera took MicroSD. It doesn't.  More Â»

—>Update: Some of our readers who are Sprint customers say they don't think the screenshots are legit. We asked Sprint for an opinion, and they responded, "We had noticed the post on sprintusers.com earlier today and are tracking down the answer. I'll get back to you asap." We'll post further updates when they arrive.  More Â»

—>DirecTV is on Twitter. Tell them your problems, or how awesome they are. Whichever comes to mind first.  More Â»

—>Courtney had some questions about an order she wanted to place with Jansen Medical Supply of Houston. Their website offers large discounts on medical equipment and chairs that automatically dump grandma on the floor when it's time for her to leave. What they don't offer, however, is answers. Courtney found out the hard way, and we're not sure but we think she's been banned from ordering from them. Well, unless she disguises her voice and calls back.  More Â»

—>Yes, Zappos has famously good customer service, and should be regarded as the gold standard of awesome. We know this. We just had to share this highly amusing customer service chat transcript. The post's author (and chatter "Timmy") wanted to check out the quality and flexibility of Zappos's chat agents, and started with an odd, but not implausible, scenario.  More Â»

—>Late last Thursday night, two guys rang reader Sean's doorbell and asked if he'd like to get anything out of his 2007 Jeep Compass before they repossessed it. Since then, Sean has tried to get current on his payments, but Chrysler's web site snafus have kept him from getting the cash to Chrysler, which won't let him get his car back unless he forks over hundreds of dollars in fees. Oy. Sean's story, inside..  More Â»

—>Ever wonder if "certified refurbished" is just corporate doublespeak for "not entirely broken crap?" Well, at Dell, it is! The refurbished Dell Studio Joseph bought as a gift for his father-in-law arrived with large scratches and a CD-R in the optical drive containing a pirated copy of Microsoft Office. Dell's response? They're willing to take back the laptop and waive the restocking fee, but that's it.  More Â»

—>Alright everyone, gather round and let me share with you the pain of living with a hyphenated name. Occasionally it's fun and amusing, a third nipple stapled to your ID. Occasionally, it's a miserable nightmare, as Yarn Harlot Stephanie Pearl-McPhee learned when she wasn't allowed to board a flight after an anonymous airline's computer severed her hyphenated name. Neither passports, a conversation with the booking agent, nor a printed receipt showing the proper hyphenated name could convince the airline gate agent that Pearl-McPhee was anything more than a foolishly named terror.  More Â»

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—>Kevin wrote to us about a friend who took up a Time Warner Cable rep's Twitter request for advice on improving customer loyalty. What followed was an amusing exchange that made it clear TWC was tweeting up the wrong tree.  More Â»

—>James' seven-year-old daughter was happily noshing on her Quaker Natural Granola when she came across this chunk of wood. Quaker was quick to send James a coupon so he could buy more woody granola from Costco, but then offered a refund when reminded that the bulk warehouse doesn't accept manufacturer's coupons.  More Â»

—>Ohio police are pissed with Verizon after the company refused to help them find a missing 62-year-old man unless they paid his overdue $20 $20 of his overdue cellphone bill.  More Â»

—>The first surprising part of this story is that the Boston Police Department has a Twitter feed. They use it to post breaking police-type information that's useful to the public, such as roads closed due to car accidents, crime data, big arrests, etc. Sometimes they also reply to reader questions. And that is how TruTV learned that the Boston police will not hide the zombie invasion from the public.  More Â»

—> We asked U.S. Cellular to provide us more details of how their battery swap program works. Basically, it's not meant to provide a one-off swap of an old battery for a new one; instead, the program is designed so that you can use it repeatedly to refresh your phone's power if you're caught away from an outlet and running low on juice.  More Â»

—>Evan's on the large side and wants to buy two adjoining seats, but Delta doesn't seem to care whether or not he inconveniences other passengers. The airline won't assign two seats to the same passenger name, and if he buys a second seat under a different name, it won't necessarily adjoin the first. Delta also warned that "they will give [his] second seat away if they need it, even if [he] paid for it." One agent thought he had a solution, but it was going to cost Evan $200 more than Delta's online fares.  More Â»

—>Rouzbeh has tried six times to sign up for AT&T's U-verse service, but each time AT&T cancels his installation request because they don't believe his apartment exists. Nevermind the small details like the DSL service AT&T provides him, or the $287 bill they insisted he pay after they accidentally sent two modems to his apartment along with a charge for three months of service.  More Â»

—>Someone hacked reader E's account on the adult site ImLive.com and bought up $450 worth of credits. By the time E. caught the charge, half of the credits had already been used. When E. informed the site that he was planning to file a chargeback with his credit card company, he was warned that doing so would be "considered a serious violation of our terms of use." The site's suggested alternative was simple: they would restore the used credits, and E. could watch lots and lots of porn.  More Â»

—>Who wouldn't want to start their prom by watching a stretch limo cruise down their street an hour and a half late before crashing into their parent's car? Apparently a bunch of high school students in Washington state, that's who. And they're not the only ones angry that they booked with Blessed Limo. The notorious local operator apparently has a knack for showing up late and then stranding kids at prom. Complaining to state authorities only goes so far because these guys don't even bother with bureaucratic backaches like "operating licenses."  More Â»

—>As 61-year-old Belgian interpreter Nicola Cantisani, who is blind, sat for two hours waiting in the Brussels-bound U.S. Airways jet on the tarmac at Philadephia airport in early April, he wondered why no one was telling passengers about the reasons for the take-off delay. When he requested a glass of water he was shooed away by the crew. When he tried to ask the captain exactly why there was a delay, Cantisani was asked to disembark.  More Â»

—>Just read these headlines our some Crunch gym posts from our archives. Not surprising that their new owners say Bally's, who themselves settled with the SEC for understating losses, lied to them at the time of the sale about how many members they had.  More Â»

—>Crunch gym filed for bankruptcy last week. Guess that strategy of signing up your members for long contracts, then making it really hard to cancel a membership and continuing to debit people's bank accounts even after they were supposed to be canceled and generally being total jerks about any member that tried to stop giving them money, even if they moved away or the gym itself closed down...yeah guess that didn't work out.  More Â»

—>When three months of phone calls and a $44 fee still didn't result in the name change he'd requested on his DSL account, Aussie techie Douglas decided to hop onto the website's customer portal and fix it himself using a Firebug plug-in. Since the site was extremely poorly engineered and he is a smartypants, he found it ridiculously easy to achieve. When he proudly posted the story to a programming blog, the DSL company wrote in to congratulate him.  More Â»

—>A lot of Consumerist readers use Skype. (I mostly use it to call my cell phone when I can't find it, but I also use SkypeIn for my business line.) Many of said readers, such as George, have technical or billing problems with Skype, but can't get a response out of the Web-based customer support system. What should they do?  More Â»

—>Web hosting company Host Monster only has so many SQLs to hand out to people, and can't go around passing them out willy-nilly. Why, there are probably websites in Africa that don't have any SQLs. We're not really sure what "SQL" is but we think it's used to store blog entries; whatever it is, Joe Posnanski used too much of it. The Kansas City Star/Sports Illustrated reporter upgraded his hosting package a few months ago and was assured by Host Monster that there'd be no problems as his professional blog drew more traffic. "No problems," except that last Friday they permanently closed his account without warning.  More Â»

—>United couldn't have been more understanding and helpful after reader Chris' wife had a seizure as they flew from Sullivan's Island, SC to Winnipeg. The flight attendants onboard offered to divert the flight to Chicago, but the couple decided instead to power through. United's staff met them at the gate along with paramedics, and offered to rebook them on the flight of their choice. If they wanted to stay the night, United said they'd be happy to pay for a hotel room. Chris' takeaway perfectly captures the spirit behind our Above and Beyond posts: "Even if United is a horrible company," he writes, "there are still nice people there, and sometimes even big companies surprise you." Chris writes:  More Â»

—>Luis dropped his busted LG EnV in the mail at the end of last year and tracked its progress as FedEx delivered the package to Verizon. Verizon, apparently unfamiliar with tracking numbers, doesn't believe that Luis ever returned the phone, and insists that they're owed a $320 replacement fee. Luis disputed the charge, but rather than investigate his claim, Verizon decided it would be easier to suspend his service. Now they want Luis—a customer of seven years who pays over $350 across six phone lines each month—to pay another $15 to reconnect the service they should never have disconnected in the first place. He writes:  More Â»

—>Best-practices guru Joel Spolsky thinks Circuit City imploded because of their terrible customer service, not any "recession" or "macroeconomic conditions" nonsense. To prove his point, he looks at thriving New York electronics retailer B&H, which succeeds because they understand that stellar service leads to healthy profit margins.  More Â»

—>To thank Kelly for pointing out an error on their website, Pinkberry offered to come to her office bearing "a few yogurts and toppings for some of the hard working people that you work with." What error could prompt such an over-the-top apology? Kelly tried to visit two separate Pinkberry locations at 11:30 a.m., which Pinkberry's website lists as the store's opening time. But! The store's don't open until *gasp* noon!  More Â»

—>When reader Lynn asked an employee at the Tyson's Corner Barnes & Noble in McLean, VA why the Diary of Anne Frank and the Guiness Book of World Records were shelved under fiction, he jokingly responded: "Some Albanian probably put it there." Good one, Barnes & Noble!!! Full picture, inside.  More Â»

—>Melissa isn't sure why she has a $1,271.25 credit from Time Warner Cable, but there it sits in her account, baiting her to order a slew of pricey extras. Melissa asked Time Warner to reverse the credit, figuring the random payout had to be a mistake. "We can't fix it," they told her. "It's an error on our part. Enjoy!"  More Â»

—>George's outgoing Skype calls properly display his SkypeIn number, but if anyone tries to call him back, they're connected the number's rightful owner, a nice old woman in Raleigh, NC. George wants to know why Skype sold him someone else's number, but the internet telecom apparently doesn't pay anyone to answer their phones.  More Â»

—>IKEA isn't really known for their customer service, but apparently one location in LA is trying to change that.  More Â»

—>Jon, like many American Express customers, had his credit limit slashed without warning recently. What he did next makes us feel all warm and fuzzy about our jobs here, because he found the necessary contact info buried in a post from 2007. Here's his story, proof that sometimes persistence pays off.  More Â»

—>Got a Qwest issue stuck in the quagmire? Escalate it to executive customer service with these phone numbers and email addresses.  More Â»

—>UPDATE: Snake Head On T.G.I. Friday's Plate Wasn't Cooked With Broccoli
  More Â»

—>Say you got a problem with your cellphone company and you want it solved, pronto. You've already called regular customer service and they're either unable or unwilling to help you, or you're just sick of waiting on hold. You've got things to do! That's where executive customer service comes in handy. Just about every big company has a pack of these people who can basically walk on water within the company and get any problem solved. The key is reaching them. Naturally, you won't find them in an overseas call center at the end of the 1-800 number. Rather, they're attached to the corporate headquarters executive offices. Don't worry, we did the hard part for you. Here's up-to-date phone numbers for the executive customer service departments for Sprint, Verizon, T-mobile, and AT&T:  More Â»

—>Christoff knew the dangers, but he went ahead anyway. He bought a Linksys router. And lo, it broke. The day had come for him to deal with their outsourced tech support. Over four hours of conversation and hold time, mainly hold time, later, he has a 2nd replacement router. Both replacement routers had the same problem as the first. Read of his trials and tribulations, inside...  More Â»

—>A few Blue Cross Blue Shield divisions recently started Twittering, talking about health issues, saying nice things about their company and proactively reaching out to patients complaining about their services: @BCBSIL, @BCBSNM, @BCBSTX, @BCBSOK.   More Â»

—>Barry Schwartz spoke at TED this past February about "practical wisdom," a classical term that Schwartz redefines in a modern context as knowing when and how to make exceptions to every rule, and when and how to improvise. His point, largely, is that a lot of modern life would run more efficiently, and more justly, if people would stop blindly following and enforcing rules when they become absurd.  More Â»

—>Brad learned the hard way that asking a Chase customer service representative "WHAT THE F*** IS WRONG WITH MY ACCOUNT?!" is not the best way to find out what the f*** is wrong with your account. Brad had fumbled a wire transfer that temporarily shut down access to his card. He called to restore access, but the card still wouldn't work. At this point, Brad decided to curse at the CSR and hang up after being placed on hold for thirty seconds. When he called back, he was surprised to learn that the next CSR knew that he had just cursed at a colleague.  More Â»

—>Taylor just noticed that T-Mobile has been billing him $19.99 for a data package he asked them to cancel seven months ago. Yes, Taylor should've caught the mistake sooner, but now that he's found it, he wants T-Mobile to refund the $140 in unauthorized charges. T-Mobile, citing policy, is only willing to credit him $60.  More Â»

—>You're not alone hating Indian call centers. Indians hate them too, mostly because they get stuck dealing with an even lower caste of customer service representatives than Americans. The well-educated smooth talking CSRs get the prestigious jobs infuriating foreign customers, while the the untrained masses are paid basmati to cater to India's domestic customers.  More Â»

—>Reader Mike wrote to us about a problem he was experiencing with Wachovia (now part of Wells Fargo, but apparently keeping its own identity.) A day later, he he wrote back, informing us that the problem had resolved itself via Wachovia's Twitter account. (Customers, take note: that's http://twitter.com/Wachovia.)  More Â»

—>After buying an anti-snoring mouthpiece from a third-party seller on Amazon, reader Bob received an email from the company offering him a free mouthpiece in exchange for a five-star review. He noted this attempted bribe in his Amazon review, and Amazon deleted it. Twice.  More Â»

—>Reader Michelle bought a pair of jeans from pricey denim company Hello! SkinnyJeans, decided they weren't her style, and tried to return them. HSJ wouldn't refund her money, but they did offer complimentary rude notes and free phone support with insults from the owner herself.  More Â»

—>Cracked takes a stab at explaining why your calls to customer support inevitably lead to frustration. You'll probably recognize your own experiences as you read their article, and learn a little about why being a customer service agent sucks so much, too.  More Â»

—>Here's a big sexy pile of escalated T-mobile contact info in case you have an intractable complaint that regular customer service can't or won't help out with. Besides the senior management and internal reporting division, It includes a way to figure out how to dial a whole mess of executive customer service reps, as well as which specific government bodies to file complaints with the situation warrant.  More Â»

—>Little-known fact: some coffee shops can be havens of passive-aggressive behavior. Reader Paul discovered what might be the most passive-aggressive coffee shop we've ever seen, and he'd like to share its dysfunction with the world.  More Â»

—>This is the format for email addresses at Capital One: firstname.lastname@capitalone.com. Cheers.  More Â»

—>Hannah needs some more training, because her knowledge of Comcast's bandwidth cap is less than Comcastic. We also think calling her an "analyst" is maybe stretching it a bit.  More Â»

[I] had to go down an escalator and there were like 4-5 suited people at the bottom staring and smiling at me. My instinct was to run back up the escalator, it was really intimidating. Then I told like 5 separate people who were circling me like sharks that I was fine and preferred the teller. And then one guy went so far as to grab my withdrawal slip out of my hand!! He saw it and was like, 'Oh, you don't know your account number? I can help you with that from over here...' It was unreal.  More Â»

—>Mike rushed his girlfriend to the airport to catch a flight to see her dying mother, only to watch her miss the flight because United Airline's ticketing agent refused to help because "it was time for her to go on her break." Passengers waiting in line were more than willing to let Mike's girlfriend skip to the front of the line, but her sad situation apparently wasn't enough to earn the agent's sympathies. When his girlfriend finally reached the gate in time to watch her flight depart, the gate agent defended his colleague's lack of sympathy, saying "management really makes us work some unreasonable schedules."  More Â»

—>Andrew brought his car to Audi of Downtown L.A. for routine warranty work, but left with a trunk that overflows whenever it rains. When Andrew complained to the dealership's staff, he was told to take his business elsewhere.  More Â»

—>Garmin wants to bill reader Hal $99 for a new SD card after failing to tell him to remove his old card before returning his dead-on-arrival StreetPilot C510. The SD card holds the unit's maps, and without one, the GPS unit is useless.   More Â»

—>Apple sold reader Melody the wrong AppleCare package, but instead of switching her to the proper coverage, they issued a refund and told her to re-purchase the warranty extension. They even gave her American Express transaction reference numbers so she could track the refund, but AmEx says the numbers are invalid and that they have no record of a refund posting. Melody's been out $195 since February, and thinks it's time for Apple to cough up her money.   More Â»

—>Enterprise Rent-A-Car failed reader Jimmy in every possible way, which is quite the accomplishment since he only wanted a full size car to drive around his visiting friends. GEICO, Jimmy's insurance company, set him up with Enterprise after he lost a head-on collision with a deer. Enterprise managed to muck up nearly every step of the rental process, promising to deliver cars they didn't have, delivering the wrong class of car, and upselling unnecessary insurance that they wrongly said GEICO would cover. Jimmy's never going to use Enterprise again, and inside, you'll see why...  More Â»

—>Next time your satellite radio goes on the fritz, use the following magic number to solve your Sirius XM problems...  More Â»

—>Jon spent $250 on a Western Digital VelociRaptor but what he received from Best Buy was a Quantum Fireball, a discontinued hard drive that hasn't been sold for nine years. Best Buy, of course, took no responsibility for the odd swap, and said that Western Digital must have accidentally sold a competitor's discontinued drive. Western Digital, of course, said that a Best Buy employee stole Jon's hard drive. We've seen this happen before with Best Buy, and Jon has made it clear that he knows how to bite back...   More Â»

—>Randy tried to get new O and P keys for his HP laptop. The outsourced, English-is-not-his-first-language, customer service rep won't sell or send him the keys and instead insists that Randy sit in for a $298 repair. Blithely indifferent to Randy's increasing incredulity and rage, the customer service rep suggests that for that amount of money, Randy should just buy a new laptop for $400. That's right, a new laptop because two of the keys are bad. The ridiculous chat transcript, inside...  More Â»

—>After a long day of work, John called Comcast's "24/7" customer service line to downgrade his service. Press 1 to upgrade, 2 to downgrade, chirped the phone. He pressed two and was told that he was calling after hours and would have to call back later. He hung up and redialed and pressed 1, "upgrade," this time, and within 30 seconds was connected with a customer service rep, "who was more than happy to help me DOWNGRADE my service. It was literally a 2 minute call, and I had cancelled the services I don't use and am saving almost $40/mo," blogs John. Clever, Comcast, so clever.  More Â»

—>One of our readers can't get Sprint to stop calling him. He's happy with the service, and they just want to make sure he's happy. Repeatedly. To the point that they're starting to get on his nerves.  More Â»

—>Chris reports getting sweet satisfaction from HP after he searched for their executive customer service number on our site and gave them a ring:  More Â»

On April 1, 2009, one of our vendors provided Zecco Trading with an incorrect data feed which caused some customers to see erroneously high buying power. This error was quickly corrected, but about 1% of our customers were impacted.  More Â»

—>Online brokerage site Zecco accidentally increased 1% of their customers' Buying Power balances by millions on April 1st, leading some customers to wonder whether it was a system glitch or some horrible April Fool's joke. It turned out to be the former.  More Â»

—>Matt is having some trouble getting Dell to sort out its billing mistake with his new TV purchase. It's an interesting story because for the most part, Dell employees or outsourced CSRs are trying to be helpful to Matt, but nothing has actually been accomplished yet over email, chat, or the telephone. Matt wants his $300 back, and Dell wants Matt to just return the TV set if he won't pay the non-discounted price. We think he may have a case here for disputing the overcharged amount.  More Â»

—>It's strange, the way some customer/CSR encounters go so well when others seem headed for failure before the first sentence is finished. When Nix called to complain about being mistakenly sent a $100 gift card offer that she can't take advantage of, the Verizon rep on the other end not only addressed the real issues, but later sent a $50 gift card to Nix as a goodwill gesture.  More Â»

—>You know what they need to make? A zombie film starring reanimated furniture. The whole walking corpse thing is just so done. But an undead end table stalking you through your house and hacking through the closet door to reveal your pathetic hiding spot and devour your flesh? Now that's something I'd pay to see, even if it wasn't in 3- as, apparently, all movies will be in the future. Until that cinematic masterpiece hits the silver screen, I guess Steve's story of how Ashley Furniture wouldn't stop calling him until he sent their headquarters an Executive Email Carpet Bomb will have to suffice...  More Â»

—>Pretty much every problematic customer service story these days includes some reference to the Notes—that unseen record of what you've been told, and by inference what you've agreed to, on previous calls. The funny thing is, you never get to see them.  More Â»

—>If you're in a pickle with Yahoo and regular customer service isn't helping you, these phone numbers may be of service:  More Â»

—>The Walmart in Norman, Oklahoma refused to accept bike returns until a district manager, acting on a reader tip, reminded the store that they were violating company policy. Reader Keia tried to return the "shoddily constructed," "dangerous piece of garbage" for a bike that Walmart sold him, but an employee, backed by the store manager, explained that since Walmart could repair the bike, their return policy didn't apply. That didn't sound right, so Keia went over their heads...  More Â»

—>Reader Lance emailed Digital River to opt-out of the automatic license renewal that came with his three-year subscription to BitDefender Antivirus. Rather than read Lance's email, Digital River instead decided to cancel his entire purchase. After throwing several protest emails into Digital River's customer service void, Lance decided to accept the refund so he could buy a different antivirus package. Except now, the refund is nowhere to be found...   More Â»

—>Please don't pull the cord on Howard's laptop or it will die. Best Buy's Geek Squad has failed five times to coax his laptop's ailing battery into holding a charge, replacing both the battery and the hard drive, and shipping Howard the same incorrect replacement battery three times. Howard now wants Best Buy to honor their lemon policy by giving him a new laptop, but it seems like every Geek Squad agent has a different copy of the replacement policy, and none of them apply to Howard. It's almost like he's asking for a price match! Let's read his story, inside...  More Â»

—>Target sold Shawn a defective shoe, and then gave him defective customer service when he tried to get exchange it for a functional shoe. Here is his amusing story, which he was kind enough to submit already written in the third person.  More Â»

—>Xbox Live has struck again, this time by screwing up the auto-renewal on a customer's account and ruining the prepaid annual membership he activated just three months ago.  More Â»

—>Here's an example of terrific customer service, this time from the sink and faucet company Kohler.  More Â»

Do nothing. By doing nothing, you can trick the PBX into thinking you have a rotary phone and force it to get you an agent.  More Â»

—>Like anything that's cool and people use to organically connect to one another, companies have rushed into Twittering. To take advantage of this, reader Justin says he's started following all the companies he gets service from on Twitter. When he saw @dishnetwork tweet about an area getting local HD channels, he asked in reply when Cincinnati would get them. @dishnetwork replied back that Cincinnati should have them and asked for his account for so they could check into it. Turned out he needed a different Dish and the rep agreed to have it installed at no cost instead of the usual $60. "The tech showed up this morning, and I have local HD channels for free," writes Justin. "I'm finding tracking companies on Twitter is useful because they people monitoring the accounts are ones who can actually do something."  More Â»

—>A Delta customer service representative assured Grace that her sister would be able to fly, even though she had just lost her wallet containing her identifications. Of course, when Grace's sister arrived the next morning at the airport, Delta's counter agents refused to let her anywhere near the gate until she produced a photo ID. After two hours on the phone, Grace's parents tracked down an old learner's permit and drove 20 miles to fax a copy to the airport. Now Grace wants to know why Delta's customer service agents weren't familiar with Delta's policies, and what, if anything Delta can do to compensate her for the wasted time.  More Â»

—>Gateway claims that the Patriot Act is holding up delivery of the part needed to fix Redwoodflyer's laptop, which has been broken since October. Seems believable to us!  More Â»

—>DirecTV agreed to let Anthony cancel his service without an early termination fee because his signal would randomly fade away without explanation. What DirecTV really meant though was that they would let Anthony cancel if he paid a final bill of $446.69. After speaking with two agents who agreed that the fee should have been waived, DirecTV reduced Anthony's bill to $445.42. A third agent told Anthony that he would need to negotiate any further deductions in writing with the dispute department...  More Â»

—>A pair of West Virginia Wendy's employees are facing misdemeanor charges after dropping a "ball of pubic hair" into a police officer's sandwich. 32-year-old Thomas Bender admitted to garnishing the sandwich, and 20-year-old Joshua Monroe "admitted he encouraged Bender to do it." The officer, though, saw this coming...  More Â»

—>Reader Shawn submits this photo that he took at Home Depot. The sign begs you not to leave the store if you've experienced bad customer service...  More Â»

—>Here are 27 email addresses for Citibank execs, in case you need to send them an eecb.  More Â»

—>After spending almost 4 months trying to get Comcast to fix the signal problems with his cable, reader William, who lives in an apartment building that only allows Comcast, has decided to just cancel his his account and go without.  More Â»

—>Ryan sent his father flowers last December through FTD.com but they never arrived. Ryan apparently forgot to give his father's apartment number to FTD, and when UPS tried calling FTD for delivery instructions, rather than ask Ryan to clarify the address, FTD instead told UPS to chuck the flowers. None of this was apparently worth mentioning to Ryan, who just recently learned that his gift was never delivered.  More Â»

—>Aaron is happy to report that he has gotten resolution with his complaint about HP's repair center sending him back his laptop filled with viruses. Good thing for HP that Aaron is honest, otherwise he could probably have three laptops right now, as three different HP reps contacted him about his story. On March 9th he wrote us:  More Â»

—>Dan Hesse should be ashamed. Ripping off a consumer reporter and then lying to the FCC about it? Bad idea. Here's what Sprint did to The Red Tape Chronicles reporter Bob Sullivan...  More Â»

—>TicketsNow has a pretty explicit guarantee that if the tickets you buy aren't good, they'll refund the money. In Sean's case, they seem to have found a way to avoid delivering on that promise: they just disconnect whenever he mentions the word "refund."  More Â»

—>Mechanics are like doctors - it often pays to get a second opinion. When Josh's wife's Jetta failed, Belle Tire said it would cost $1,000 to replace the transmission. When Josh checked it out himself, he saw that it probably just needed to have a cable reattached to the transmission. Belle refused to check it out and insisted that it would cost $1000. So Josh to it a local mechanic, Otto Khim, and they fixed everything for $52.27, a savings of $947.43. Then he drove back to Belle Tire and laughed in their face. His story, inside...  More Â»

—>Michael is happy to report that he got a really great resolution from Best Buy, who had sold his grandma a broken camera as new and then accused them of breaking it themselves. The shots of Best Buy employees Michael found on the camera, and the repugnant attitude he encountered when they tried to return it and disinterest when he complained to corporate multiple times, only made the story that much juicier. After Micheal's story went up on Consumerist and hit Digg, Best Buy contacted him. Here's what they did to make nice:  More Â»

—>Bob Garfield, creator of ComcastMustDie.com, has declared victory. Comcast isn't dead, but he says instead of being "a vast, greedy, blundering, tone-deaf corporate colossus," it's merely all of the above with the exception of tone-deaf. ComcastMustDie is one of the many online different outlets for customer rage that Comcast has tapped into to proactively respond to customer complaints. They still have a long way to go, but at least they're listening. That is all Bob really wanted, it seems, as he's moving on to a new project, CustomerCircus.net, that will solicit and broadcast consumer complaints against all kinds of companies. And yep, Comcast will still be one of them.  More Â»

—>Not happy with the high cost of his $350 electrical bill, John Almany of Virginia decided to pay it entirely in pennies, all 35,000 and 170 pounds of them. It took two men with two large duffel bags transport them to the billing counter, and took Bristol Virginia Utilities two hours just to count up to $26. That's certainly one way to go about it.  More Â»

—>Did Citi set up its "homeowner helper" site to comply with Obama's mortgage assistance programs, but then not actually attach it to any humans that will help homeowners? After inputting his info on the site, Citi told reader CoarseLive to schedule an appointment with a representative. No one ever called him. When he tried calling Citi directly, multiple agents told him they had no idea what he was talking about, and they hung up on him, again and again. His story, inside...  More Â»

—>Reader Jerry has shopped at the Home Depot in Van Nuys for over six years, but this weekend was the first time he feels he's ever received good service. There was a helpful greeter at the door with a map of the store, and it seemed like everywhere he turned there was an employee willing to help. "It took a few minutes, but it finally dawned on me. Home Depot was trying to provide customer service!" Is this just a fluke or a part of a renewed effort to earn your business during the recession?  More Â»

—>Ronny can't buy a new iPhone for the next 18 months, even though he's willing to fork over $499 for an unsubsidized model. Ronny swapped his original 8 GB iPhone for a 16 GB version within his first month of service, but recently lost the phone. Now, both Apple and AT&T are telling him that he's a jailbreaker and he can't have a new phone for 18 months—unless he's willing to get a new phone number.  More Â»

—>Best Buy charged Nicole $99 to backup her data but then replaced her hard drive without backing up a single byte. Nicole's service contract clearly stated that Best Buy would perform the backup before any other service. Now Best Buy is claiming that her old hard drive is their property and that she has no right to the data that they failed to backup or restore.  More Â»

—>It looks like Sears has finally figured out a way to ensure good customer service for home deliveries. Unfortunately, this method induces extreme paranoia in other Sears employees. The woman referred to as "Delivery" in Jason's retelling below will probably never trust another coworker again.  More Â»

—>We all know that just because a rep on the phone promises you something, that doesn't mean it's necessarily true. But in Alan's case, two different United reps both confirmed, repeatedly—he asked several times before completing the purchase and again before canceling—that he could cancel his tickets within 24 hours of purchase without paying a fee. A week after he canceled, he was hit with a $150 non-refundable fee that one United rep admitted was a new policy that wasn't in writing—but United still refused to reverse it.  More Â»

—>Breeder ships rare pregnant cat via airline. It arrives frozen and dead. According to the airline's vet, the cat died from uterine toxicity from multiple dead kittens. Because the baggage handlers thawed, froze, and thawed the cat again, there's no way for the breeder to prove that the cat died from being frozen. The airline has offered to refund the breeder's ticket, but admits no culpability in the cat's death.  More Â»

—>UPDATE: Best Buy Goes Above And Beyond To Make Up For Selling Busted Camera As New  More Â»

—>After seeing our photo evidence of the sorry state of the St. Peters, MO, Circuit City yesterday, Eric decided to check out the final days of the Circuit City in Poughkeepsie, NY. He writes, "On one clearance table, among the overpriced cables, I saw this. I'm not sure what this was doing there, but it's probably something the Circuit City executives should have read a few years ago, huh?" Yes, but it's never too late! Those executives are going to end up working somewhere after all. By the way, do CC execs get a liquidation discount?  More Â»

—>HP is known for its incompetent repair process, but what makes Aaron's case special is that at the end they decide to kick it up a notch. When he sends his computer in and gets it back from the repair center, HP has so ever so graciously filled it with free spyware and viruses.  More Â»

—>In this latest Above and Beyond story, Victoria's Secret conducts a nationwide search to find the Chris and Becka's panties.  More Â»

—>Paul now has 30 free pairs of sneakers from J.Crew for calling them out on some bullshit.  More Â»

—>It's amazing the hassle Bruce went through trying to buy a Jeep with $24,000 cash. Even though he's ready to buy the car outright, the car salesman almost convinces him to finance because that way you get $1,500 back. Total cost of the loan: $31,732...they wanted him to spend an extra $7,132 to "save" $1500. Luckily his mom steps in and saves him from getting taken for a ride. His journey doesn't stop there, nor does it end with a successful Jeep purchase. They can't even sell a car to a guy who shows up with cash in hand ready to buy... no wonder they needed a bailout. Full story inside...  More Â»

—>Capital One CEO's email address is rich.fairbank@capitalone.com.  More Â»

—>We get tons of emails where the person recounts how they've spent hour after hour on the phone fighting a measly complaint. Stop wasting your time, people!  More Â»

—>The Black Bear Diner in Colorado Springs twice served Jason the same undercooked steak. When he asked for a new steak, the server returned with the same steak cooked for a third time. When Jason told the server that the steak looked unappetizingly familiar, the server responded with "some story about her eating the old steak, and (unprompted) said that she couldn't bring out the other steak because she had ate it, and got in trouble with her boss about it."  More Â»

—>Andrea, an American Express member for over 20 years, is upset because AmEx canceled her cash-back card two weeks before her $500 rebate check was supposed to arrive, and declared the rebate forfeit.  More Â»

After fifteen minutes of being ignored by Circuit City executives, Pliego decided to try to find the documents himself. Frustrated, Pliego ultimately tapped acting Chief Executive James A. Marcum on the shoulder and told him he couldn't find the financial statements he was looking for.  More Â»

—>Looks like some Quiznos aren't too happy about the free sandwich campaign. Readers report interactions ranging from coupons being denied, to local franchises making up new limitations on it (like only certain sandwiches are eligible, or requiring drink and chip purchase), to being treated like thieving jerks. The coupon says the offer is only good at "participating stores," but doesn't say anything that in lieu of free sandwich the coupon will be exchanged for rude attitudes. Inside, the conflict between corporate, the franchises, and the customer caught in-between. Oh, and yes, they do check IDs.  More Â»

—>Here's an internal AmEx doc with what customer service reps should say when people call up asking about the $300 to pay off and close your account program, or, as they term it, the "Balance Down Initiative." The sheet was obtained exclusively by creditcarforum.com. My favorite part is the answer for if people who weren't chosen to participate ask if they can join. The correct response is, "We apologize, but we can only honor this offer for selected cardmembers. However, if you're interested in paying down your balance, I can help you with that." Full doc inside...  More Â»

—>So blogger Jason Roe finds what he thinks is an error on the RyanAir site that would let you buy airfare from the zero-frills a-la-carte Irish airline for free. An employee decided t make nasty comments in Jason's comments section, calling him "idiot and a liar!" and saying that he probably can't get a date. Which was not that surprising. Nor was it surprising that a RyanAir PR rep responded to the situation. What was surprising was that the PR rep sided with the commenter and heaped further abuse on the blogger!  More Â»

—>Rob bought a monitor from Dell. Not just any monitor, a defective one. Ok, he didn't specifically request it to come defective, but that's how it did. So did its replacement. "The backlight was flickering constantly and it made me feel nauseous just looking at it," writes Rob. He's returned the monitors but Dell has yet to give him back his money. Every time he calls, they tell him it will be just 7-10 days more and that he paid with two credit cards is complicating things. So far it's been 45 days.   More Â»

—>Ever wonder what it's like to be Comcast's resident Twitter wizard, Frank Eliason, for a day? BusinessWeek did, so they sent a reporter to watch Frank, described as a "maverick," spend a day responding to scorned customers.  More Â»

—>Turbo Tax told reader I'm A Super that he needed to fill out an extra form to complete his state tax return, but wouldn't tell him which form. Just to be safe, I'm A Super re-downloaded Turbo Tax only to get the same error message. When he called Intuit to ask about the mysterious form, he was that it was solely his responsibility to call the State Tax commission and to review his tax forms to make sure nothing was missing.  More Â»

—>Cablevision told Chris that his boss' 95-year-old uncle couldn't receive basic service without a cable box, "no matter what." Chris, who installs home theaters, knew that his uncle's cable-ready tv didn't require a cable box. Pointing this out to Cablevision's customer service representative, however, was apparently "disrespectful."  More Â»

—>Sleepy's just won't help Ashley pick up her new mattress. The store promised to have rope on hand to strap the mattress to her car, but when Ashley arrived she was told that Sleepy's had "run out of rope." To apologize, a sales rep instead promised her free delivery, but called later to explain that he wasn't authorized to offer any freebies. He did, though, promise that Sleepy's would have rope the next time Ashley came by. Of course, they didn't have rope when she returned, and when she complained to a manager, the manager explained that Sleepy's had no obligation to provide Ashley with rope or free delivery, and that she better find a way to take her mattress because they weren't going to refund her money either.  More Â»

—>Stephanie Bemister says that after our post went up Facebook contacted her and agreed to take down the facebook page of her dead brother, an award-winning investigative journalist and Nazi hunter. "Thank you again, Ben," she wrote. "My family has no words that truly express how we feel." Previously Facebook told her they wouldn't remove the page because...  More Â»

—>UPDATE: Facebook Agrees To Take Down Dead Relative's Page. Facebook thinks it knows better than the sister of the deceased journalist Bill Bemister about what to do with his Facebook page. Stephanie Bemister sent them a copy of his death certificate and asked it get taken down for privacy and respect purposes. Unlike every other single social networking site she dealt with, Facebook said no. They have a better idea. Stephanie's letter inside...  More Â»

—>United Airlines doesn't want to talk to you on the phone about your complaints — so they're disconnecting it. MSNBC is reporting that starting in April, the airline will shut down the call center that deals with customer complaints.   More Â»

—>Wondering why Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has time to wander around NYC telling people about Sprint products? Well, it's apparently come to that. Sprint has lost another 1.1 million customers.  More Â»

—>We write often about companies' sleazy approaches to online reviews. Some companies bribe users for positive feedback. Others sue over negative reviews. Direct Express Auto Transport, however, is the first company we've seen that responds to bad reviews by sharing users' personal information.  More Â»

—>Looks like UPS has set a guy on Twitter to search for complaints and offer help as well as act as customer service ombudsman. If that package just never seems to be coming or you'd like the guy to just stop playing skeeball with it on your front porch, and regular customer service isn't of help, Thomas looks like your guy. In addition to being a web-dude at UPS, he's been blogging since '99 and founded a theater company in '06. Sounds like a cool cat to me. You need a real human being non-drone your face-fronting Twitter presence. He's ThomasAtUPS on Twitter.  More Â»

Not content to just outsource their customer service, United is shutting down its phone center in India in April, instead relying wholly on written complaints. They claim they'll be able to better respond to written complaints, but we know it's just as easy to paste irrelevant advice and insincere apologies as it is to speak them.  More Â»

—>This is like one of those ghost stories where the hero joins up with a fellow traveler, and then at the end of his journey discovers that his travel companion never existed. Oooooo! Only it's about AT&T, so instead of being spooky it's just annoying. Especially the part at the end where he receives a bill.  More Â»

—>Listen, HSBC Fraud Department, we need to talk. We know it sounds like a joke, but Phil is actually in Norway. We're sure people call all the time and navigate your byzantine series of computer menus just to tell you hilariously absurd lies like "I'm leaving the country, here's my forwarding contact information." We're sure labeling every foreign transaction as potential fraud isn't nearly as fun as caring about the part of Phil's account notes where it says "Travel advisory: In Norway." The one joy of this endless runaround, the one nugget worth sharing, is that every time you flag a transaction, Phil gets to call you collect, and calling international collect makes a huge difference...   More Â»

—>Staples took over a month to deliver an order for business cards that they promised to fill in under seven days. The office megastore somehow misplaced reader Brett's payment confirmation and never sent his order along to their supplier. When Brett asked Staples to fix their mistake and deliver the cards, he was told to pay for a second order and trust that Staples would eventually issue a refund. When he explained that he deserved compensation, not another charge, a manager told him "it would be a disaster to compensate customers based on the amount of problems we cause."  More Â»

—>The trackpad on Jim's Dell laptop hasn't worked since September despite a new motherboard, new hard drive, and four replacement trackpads. One Dell technician managed to dent the laptop's speaker grill. Another, dispatched to replace the hard drive, brought a drive that was slower than the model in Jim's laptop. Dell promised to send the speedier drive, but instead they sent a box labeled "hard drive" containing only a screwdriver.  More Â»

—>Josh chopped down Duke Energy's thicket of phone trees by launching the mighty Executive Email Carpet Bomb. He had a simple request: turn on the power to his construction site. Calling the main customer support number led to a series of thirty-minute waits while listening to Duke's cheerful computer voice promise that he would hold "for no longer than one minute." He also sent six emails to Duke's customer service inbox, all of which were ignored. Finally, after three weeks without power, Josh tracked down executive contact info for Duke's executives and fired off an EECB. Five minutes later, his problem was solved.  More Â»

—>Geek Squad told reader Dave that he didn't have the "technical expertise" to diagnose his clearly-broken iPod. The 30 GB unit wouldn't play when docked or connected by USB cord, something Dave though might be covered by Best Buy's Product Service Plan. Geek Squad first tried replacing the hard drive. This solved nothing. Dave brought the still-broken iPod back and asked the agent to write into the notes a request to call him if the problem was misunderstood. Without calling, Geek Squad again returned the iPod with a note saying that the agent "could not duplicate the problem." With this firm diagnosis in hand, Geek Squad decided they were done and wouldn't perform any additional work. When Dave objected, he was told that his 'only option was to pay for a third-party to test the iPod and prove the Geek Squad technician wrong.'  More Â»

—>Benny wanted to return a baby gift worth $19.98, but Macy's refused to offer more $2.50. Benny didn't have a gift receipt so Macy's understandably refused to give him more than the product's lowest advertised price—but when Benny tracked the item down on the shelf, it was selling for $19.98. When he asked where the product was selling for $2.50, he was told: "its not, the managers put in the lowest selling price, thats Macy's policy!"  More Â»

—>Ronnie Sue's recent trip to Germany was a financial nightmare. Though she warned her bank she would be traveling to Germany, when she arrived, she couldn't withdraw needed cash. The bank gently suggested that Ronnie Sue draw cash from her credit card, and even offered to refund any cash advance fees. It wasn't until Ronnie Sue whipped out her AmEx that she learned it had been silently canceled two days before she left...  More Â»

—>This tourist in Rome got robbed and WaMu won't reimburse him for the money they stole from his debit account.  More Â»

—>I feel very happy because I just $100 back from Enterprise, even though I am a lazy-puss and had it sitting on my list to dispute the charge since the end of August. Here's how what I did.  More Â»

—>Adam from Free Press sent us his tips for lowering his cable bill. Using these strategies, Adam reduced his monthly bill from $190 to $90, and added three movie networks, a sports package, and two additional boxes.  More Â»

—>An insider tells us the best way to get back at a bad Best Buy employee is a bag of potato chips:  More Â»

—>Having trouble redeeming rebates for your Sprint phone? Keep getting denied for seemingly no good reason? Try calling the Sprint rebate line at 800-477-4127. Reader Emily wrote, "I have tried on several different occasions to get rebates on my phone. Seems as though you have to call the Sprint Rebate line and have them resubmit the rebate for you. I have had to do 4 separate rebates this way." (Photo: hyku)  More Â»

—>How much would someone have to pay you to have your kids watch a penis? Comcast answers that question by giving a $5 one-time discount to every subscriber in Tucson, AZ who had their cerebellum gelatinized by seeing the porno movie that accidentally cut into the Super Bowl last night, according to a rumor a reporter we know overheard in their newsroom.  More Â»

—>No longer distracted by high oil prices, airlines now claim that they're starting to focus on customer service. Two of them, American and United, think that their biggest issue is dirty planes. Wouldn't it be great if that were true?  More Â»

—>Sprint is closing a call center we posted ex-employee accounts about that alleged on-the-scene drug use, sex, and theft of customer credit card numbers, among other infractions.   More Â»

—>One of the cool things about being one of the few people in the world to survive a crash water landing is that you get preferred frequent flier mile status. The passengers from flight 1549 that crashed in the Hudson river will get US Airways "Chairman's Preferred status," which entitles them and a companion to first-class seat upgrades, choice seating, and priority check-in. In a letter to the passenger, CEO Doug Parker describes it as his airline's "most coveted frequent flier level." But you better get over your PTSD-induced drowning nightmares quick, 1549ers, the status expires in March 2010. The CEO's letter in full, inside...  More Â»

—>William has given Proflowers three chances to send his flower orders to a loved one. So far, they're 0 for 3. William says they've refunded his money, so he doesn't feel cheated or anything. But as he points out, since flower deliveries are usually a time-sensitive matter, reliability is really the number one goal you're looking for in a flower company.  More Â»

—>The boy whose HP was running 200°F and was told by tech support to "buy a cooling mat" used some of the higher-up phone numbers readers posted in the comment on the original post to get in touch with a Senior Case Manager. Despite being out of warranty, they reopened the case and had him send in his laptop. Lo and behold, they fixed it! "It is running great now," writes Travis. Huzzah!  More Â»

—>Emailing a company about a product problem via their front-facing email address usually has about as much effect as wishing your way out of debt (just don't tell the producers of The Secret). But Steve emailed Panasonic and instead of getting nothing or a generic response back, he actually ended up sending a series of emails back and forth with a product engineer who solved his consumer conundrum. Amazing! Here's his story.  More Â»

—>Martin discovered he was able to get Citibank to extend his grace period from 20 to 25 days. It seems all you have to do is ask! Here's how he found out.  More Â»

Contractually speaking, a cruise doesn't even have to go to where you paid it to go. The Kings paid $2000 and drove from New York to Florida to find this out, and all the got was a $25 "we're so sorry but not really" on-board credit for their troubles. [elliott] (Photo: jemsweb)  More Â»

—>Don't take it personally if you can't reach Bank of America to renegotiate your mortgage payments. Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) tried calling the bank on behalf of two constituents, only to be "repeatedly put on hold for long stretches, disconnected, transferred to extensions that did not work, and ultimately switched to a recording which directed her to the bank's website."  More Â»

—>When Michael's son used his Christmas money to buy a copy of Madden 09 from Walmart, he thought he was buying a copy of Madden 09, not a blank disc that said "Redneck Sh*t."  More Â»

—>Comcast charged Robert a $24.95 "Customertroublecall" fee after he called to ask why they were taking over a month to restore his service after Hurricane Ike swooped in and caused over $3,000 worth of damage. Robert wanted to know why Comcast was continually missing their scheduled service appointments and why they insisted on billing him for a service he couldn't use.  More Â»

—>Several readers have reported getting their problems solved after contacting Bank of America's new Twitter-based rep. Here are their stories...  More Â»

—>Once you get one piece of executive or escalated contact info, you can Google it to uncover more pieces of info. The phone numbers and/or email addresses you've got have a good chance of showing up in other people's blogs and message board posts complaining about the same company. For example,   More Â»

—>Expedite a quagmired Hewlett-Packard issue by calling their executive customer service at 1-800-756-0608 option 7. A guy named Tim Metcalf might be the one who helps you, or Dan or Yunsil. Their lines open at 8am, PST. (Photo: orangegeeky)  More Â»

—>Here's part 2 of FIPS investigation into why the Target at the Brooklyn Atlantic Center is the Worst Target Ever Created. Their video crew probes more into the shelves that are at best, disheveled, and at worst, empty. When we posted the first video, some said Target should get a break, they're recovering from the holidays. Well, this one was shot 15 days after the holidays. It still looks like crap. It also looked like crap before the holidays too. The real culprit? Management that doesn't care and poorly trained employees. C'mon, Target Corp, you need to send an attack squad to fix this store. It looks like a freakin' TJ MAXX. Video inside [NSFW, curseywords].  More Â»

—>After waiting 56 days for his Dell Mini 9 to ship, reader WantMyDellMini asked Dell for a little compensation, only to be told: “Dell no longer believes in compensation for the purpose of customer satisfaction.” The Mini 9's shipping status has already changed at least ten times, but Dell claims that our poor reader has no choice but to keep waiting.  More Â»

—>Bank of America is now on Twitter, user "BofA_help." They have a pretty boy named David Knapp who is here to solve your problems and answer your questions about Bank of America. He seems to be both handling inbound requests and scanning for people on Twitter with BofA problems and reaching out to them. Certainly faster than sending Ken Lewis a letter. (Thanks to Brandon Savage!)  More Â»

—>Here's 2 numbers to reach escalate an AT&T residential problem that regular customer service can't or won't fix: 404-362-0021, 866-232-9733. (Photo: genetic.drift)  More Â»

—>California dentist Yvonne Wong has sued two parents who complained in a review on Yelp that their child received mercury fillings and left Wong's office feeling light-headed from laughing gas. Wong claims "it never occurred to her to contact the boy's parents" before filing her libel suit, although the dentist clearly doesn't have the best counsel. Her lawyer also tried to sue Yelp, apparently unaware that web sites publishing third-party content are protected under federal law.  More Â»

—>So one of our readers posted that Tmobile complaint video (Tmobile: Pay $25.65 To Talk To Us About How We Overcharged You For $25.65) in the official Tmobile forums, where it was promptly deleted by the forum moderators because the video contains cursing. That's not the special part, the special part is that the forum mod contacted the poster and admitted that what lundyncanada is experiencing is an error and they're going to try to reach out to her and solve her problem. So for those of you who ragged on her for expressing her frustration and said that cursing doesn't get you anywhere, you were wrong. Here's Benny's post and the messages the mod sent in reply:  More Â»

—>A customer service rep (CSR) for U.S. Bank's 24-hour banking hotline has stepped forward from the shadows to reveal 12 tips that can save customers money and time. Insider tips on how to get fees refunded, how "available balance" is a lie, and why you should demand the Portland call center when you have a fraud problem, inside...  More Â»

After chatting with a very nice CSR, we were able to change our package to the “private” offer. The fifteen minute phone call dropped the price of our vacation by $200 plus gave us a $200 gift card. $400 for a 15 minute phone call? No problem!  More Â»

—>A $3.35 million settlement has been reached with 34 states in the suit against Dell alleging deceptive practices like misleading consumers about financing terms, rebates, and warranties. The states are...  More Â»

—>Hampton Inn general manager Jennifer Stahler banned reader Jack from staying at her Inn again because he dared to park his car in the Inn's garage. Jack wasn't sure he could park there in the first place, even though there weren't any signs warning "private" or "employees only," so after parking, he checked in with Jennifer who told him he was fine and even wrote him a parking slip. The next morning she changed her mind and demanded $38 in valet charges. When Jack reminded her that she never mentioned any fees and had given him a parking slip, she agreed to remove the charges but then explained that he was "no longer welcome to stay."  More Â»

—>Reader Michael wants to know why it's taking UPS almost a month to ship his daughter's Christmas gift from Los Angeles to Seattle. Michael thinks his package might have been eaten by the snowstorm that broke Seattle a few weeks back, but UPS swears that they have the gift and that this is all a simple matter of "the driver forgot to put it on the truck." Worried that it that it might have been faster for a messenger to walk between Los Angeles and Seattle with his daughter's present, Michael decided to launch an Executive Email Carpet Bomb at UPS executives.  More Â»

—>Jetblue charged Carl $50 to check a small box. If Carl hadn't mentioned that there was a small foldable bike in the box, his package would have been checked for free...  More Â»

—>I ordered an awesome shirt from Shirt.Woot! How awesome? Awesome enough for the U.S. Post Office to tear it right out of the super-durable SmartPost package Woot uses to protect their shirts. The Post Office, bastion of empathy that it is, didn't want me to miss my order completely, so they delivered my ripped empty package wrapped in an obnoxious "WE CARE" apology bag. Heartbroken, I tried emailing Woot for help...  More Â»

—>We don't know what the hell happened with this customer service situation, but somehow the CSR for Vonage decided that when Sarah abruptly hung up on him, she agreed by default to a service cancellation and $92 cancellation fee. That sounds like the kind of angry-CSR "mistake" that can be fixed with a second call—but according to the next CSR Sarah spoke to, that's just Vonage policy. What?  More Â»

—>Even a TV producer with 5 years experience in doing consumer complaint stories is powerless against AT&T's incompetence. Anderson writes:  More Â»

—>When company policy has a head-on collision with absurdity. Your United Airlines ticket is $60. Your baby's, who's going to be sitting in your lap? $1,280. [Elliot] (Photo: moxythecat)  More Â»

—>It's the dream of every angry customer — sending a bill to the company that wasted your time. Well, it's finally happened.  More Â»

—>Remember that guy with the PS3 Sony said was too dusty to repair? The saga continues.  More Â»

—>A few weeks ago I wrote a peeved post about how I was mad that ALDO wasn't refunding my money after sending me the wrong pair of sunglasses, broken. Instead, they seemed to be giving a sucker's prize of only free shipping. My finger was quivering on the chargeback button, I said. But thanks to a few of your comments, I realized that while their wording was unclear about what the next action was supposed to be, ALDO had approved my return, I just needed to either ship it back to them or take it into a store. I did the latter, and they processed my refund promptly. Hooray.  More Â»

—>UPDATE: Problem solved.  More Â»

—>In a contemporary version of the safe that's locked by the key inside it, lundyncanada's YouTube [NSFW, cursing] shows and us how Tmobile won't let her speak to customer service until she pays the $25.65. What does she need to talk to them about? How they're overcharged her by $25.65. Video inside...  More Â»

—>Mike had an increasingly rare experience with EA Games tech support: the customer service representative listened, empathized, and made an exception to the rules in order to please a customer.  More Â»

—>The FIPS blog, via undercover video (which contains NSFW curse words in textual format), attempts to uncover why the Target at the Atlantic Center Mall in Brooklyn is the absolute worst Target ever created. See, you people in the suburbs, with your nice Targets where products are arranged on the shelves in a sensible matter and the floors are clean and the lights are bright, probably don't get it. This Target is like a Kmart that got too depressed to be physically able to put its shoes on in the morning. I know of this particular Target and speak from experience. So the FIPs people don't get anywhere close to finding out why the Target is so bad, but they do approach its pathos. (The girl in the video blames the disarray on "the weekend" and "time of year." Not true. It's ALWAYS like that). Video inside...  More Â»

—>Wanna save on your Tmobile bill? Ask your company's partnership rep if they have an employer discount available. Then you can call Tmobile Corporate Migrations at 877-453-8824 and claim your discount. In fact, if you Google that number, you can find the names of a number of companies and organizations that give their members Tmobile discounts. Perhaps you belong to one of them. (Thanks to Romeo!) (Photo: Ed Yourdon)  More Â»

—>The 30-gig Zunes may have temporarily revolted last week, but Brooke's limited edition 80-gig Zune has been MIA for over three months now, apparently lost in that magical ever-transitioning Zune world from the commercials. (It just keeps falling through floors and walls and swimming pools.) Maybe someone at Microsoft can take a look at what Brooke's had to go through so far, and get back to her with a real answer?  More Â»

—>After ordering a TV from TechGearNow, Reid noticed two notes on his account asking him to call to confirm his order. It turns out they wanted to sell him an HDMI cable and warranty for $60, which he declined. The next time he checked his account, he saw the above note.  More Â»

—>We'd like to share a personal story: it involves Amazon, Christmas presents, and three broken pizza stones.  More Â»

Academic and New York Times blogger Stanley Fish kicks off nominations for Worst Company in America 2009 with his account of frustrations—both consumer and grammatical—with AT&T.  More Â»

—>As you scramble to redeem gift cards and return unwanted items, we remind you that honey attracts more flies than vinegar, tart words make no friends, and please stop dropping F bombs in crowded stores.  More Â»

Here's a bittersweet elegy on airline travel. [New York Times]  More Â»

—>Should you ever have cause to complain about the greatest vacuum cleaner in the world, this is James Dyson's email address:  More Â»

—>Here's a suggestion for all of you who bank at Bank of America. If the bank makes you angry, do not try to get revenge by calling 911 and reporting a fake robbery in progress.  More Â»

—>Whose problem is it when your iPhone needs to be activated? Nobody seems to know. It is a mystery.  More Â»

—>Nancy asks, "I’m preparing to send a letter to Nissan’s customer service about a horrific experience I had at my local dealership. Do you have any pointers about tone or what specifically to include so that I know my letter will be taken seriously?" Great question!  More Â»

—>Wanna know why your call to customer service went so poorly? Maybe because it was routed to an outsourced call center run by Teleperformance USA where, according to an insider, customer service goes to die...  More Â»

—>Sears CEO Bruce Johnson needs someone down to housewares to get him a new telephone. Reader Len called the executive office and was told "his phone isn't working, you have to call back."  More Â»

—>Amanda couldn't find a fitting formal dress at Macy's. Macy's said they don't cater to her plus-sized demographic, she should go to another Macy's, which caters to more black women, who tend to be larger.  More Â»

—>These are the ladybugs that infested Sam's Macbook, the ladybugs Apple said must be his fault. Now, here is the update to Sam's saga, and how he finally got justice from Apple.  More Â»

—>David wrote a very angry letter to Circuit City's CEO. The CEO responded, and used the letter as a learning point in his next staff Town Hall meeting, making David angrier than ever.  More Â»

—>UPDATED. Sam loves his Apple products, but their blaming him for the big ladybugs inside his Macbook Pro? It's enough to turn this fanboy into whatever is the clever name for opposite of a fanboy.  More Â»

—>Hurricane Ike left Mike's with a hole in his roof. He needs Flagstar Bank's holding onto his insurance company check like a hole in his head.  More Â»

—>A Time Out New York reporter paid nearly double MSRP for a new G1 phone she bought off Times Square from Cellular Stop. After she realized she'd been had (internet access and texting were sold to her as "add-ons"), she went back to the store asking for an explanation. Instead, she says, six clerks began circling her and her friends, screaming and cursing and threatening to "break" their "fucking faces." Her friend was tossed against a wall and another clerk tried to smash her camera.  More Â»

—>The waiting area of the New York Department of Labor Office is getting increasingly crowded. It's not just the economy, more people are showing up because they can't get anyone on the phone.   More Â»

—>Reader Benjamin is pissed because Comcast in his town of Richmond, VA they raised his rates, and justified it by saying they have to pass on the cost of rising gas, technology, and health care. He writes "Gas is a Buck' 69, they haven't improved the technology in my area, and health care... Really? They might as well of added a $5 fee to restock the candy bowl in the break room of the service center while they are at it." If that's not fun enough, see what happens when he tries to file a complaint about it. They try to route him to the complaint line...but it's been disconnected!  More Â»

—>Reader Christi reports that Mervyns, a mid-range department store that is closing all its locations, now charges you a $15 fee if you want to talk to customer service over the phone. When Christi called a store to complain, they told her to call the number back, accept the charge, then ask them what the heck was going on. Thing is, Christi was just calling to make a payment by phone,   More Â»

—>A reader's girlfriend tried to buy Plan B yesterday, but the Oxford, MS Walgreens pharmacy seemed to go out of their way to make it has hard as possible. Mere incompetence doesn't explain what happened. Instead, it sounds more like a consciously decided system of policies designed to discourage people from buying the pill...  More Â»

—>The email address for the CEO of Uhaul, Joe Schoen, appears to be joe@uhaul.com. Useful in case his cellphone inbox is full.  More Â»

—>Marc is happy to report that Aliph really came through for him after he complained about Jawbone smoking and melting after he plugged it into his computer:  More Â»

—>After umpteen attempts to have his multiple MacBook Pro problems fixed, only to be told each time the laptop was working perfectly fine, Jordan wrote a polite email to Steve Jobs. He affirmed his Apple loyalty, laid out what happened to him, and asked for help. A couple of emails later and he was able to walk into an Apple store and swap his jalopy for one of the brand new MacBook Pros that just came out. You might analyze how the letter was written for clues to his success but really what it came down to was that he had gone in for repairs of the same problem more than three times, qualifying him for a refund or replacement under what is known as "lemon law," and he got his issue under the nose of the guy at the top. Or at least the assistant who opens his email. Same difference. Jordan's success story, inside...  More Â»

—>TracFone is a pre-paid wireless cellphone company that people enjoy for its low cost and hate for its customer service. The problem comes from their globally outsourced and non-integrated call centers. Problems don't get solved. Emails go unreturned. Problems get stuck in infinitely recursive loops. Here's a typical story from reader Susan, "I asked them to escalate this to a supervisor. Three days later, I get a response saying that they have investigated the problem and I should call their support line. When I called the support line, they had no details of any prior communication and no way to resolve the problem. So I am back at step one. " Luckily for you, she found the numbers to escalate complaints up to the corporate level and got it solved: 1-800-876-5753 or 1-800-339-9345.  More Â»

—>An IKEA employee who worked in a Baltimore-area call center has plead guilty to stealing almost $400,000 in less than a year. His motivation? "Pure greed," according to his confession.  More Â»

—>Are you a PC or a Mac? If you're enjoying great customer service, chances are you're a Mac, based on some new data released by VocaLabs.   More Â»

—>Mr Bill says his latest dealings with Capital One have him "wanting to spit venom." Whence this reptilian impulse? There is apparently no structure to refinance your loan with them. They consider it makes you a new customer, and they aren't making any new loans. This takes several hours and several phone calls to figure out. There also seems to be no way to pay off a loan with a credit or debit card. This also takes several hours and phone calls to figure out. It's really just totally frustrating for Mr. Bill. "What is this, 1987?" he writes. So he's taking his business elsewhere. His misanthropic misadventure, inside...  More Â»

—>If you would like to contact the CEO of Dell to tell him how much you enjoy his company's products and services, his direct email address is Michael@dell.com. We've previously posted michael_dell@dell.com, and that, while it arrives at his office, does not go to him personally.  More Â»

—>Nicole was hit with a surprise 6 point interest rate increase on her Citicard, so she fought back. Her story is a good reminder that you should look at all of your options and be prepared to argue on your behalf, even if you're not in a position where you can just pay off the entire balance and walk away.  More Â»

—>Here's hoping for everyone's sake that some Warbucks type buys up Consumerist, lavishes me with gifts, and allows this great blog to continue. But even so, it never hurts to know about other online services out there. GetSatisfaction.com is a kind of crowdsourced customer service forum where anyone can post about any product or company, and where companies are encouraged to join in. Since the content is grouped around those products and companies, it's easy to drill down to relevant topics, or to find people who can help answer that customer service question you can't seem to get resolved. Here's a sample page on Comcast. That's right, my first entry as a substitute Consumerist editor today and I've already mentioned Comcast.   More Â»

—>If you would like to reach the immediate clutch of minions encircling Comcast CEO Brian Roberts for some reason (say for instance you tried working with Comcast Customer Service Czar Frank Ellison (email: We_Can_Help at cable dot comcast dot com) and for some reason that didn't work out or you weren't happy with his solution - or you just really want to give his executive assistants a piece of your mind and want to increase your chances it will reach his ears) - here's the phone number for the Comcast Office of the President: 215-286-8960.  More Â»

—>Today Best Buy announced that it was officially freaking out about the current financial meltdown: "In 42 years of retailing, we've never seen such difficult times for the consumer," Brian Dunn, president and chief operating officer of Best Buy, said in a statement. "People are making dramatic changes in how much they spend, and we're not immune from those forces." A Best Buy employee forwarded us an email that went out to all associates this morning — stressing that a renewed commitment to customer service was the way forward during these troubled times.   More Â»

—>WestJet recently sent out a survey to its readers to look at a list of $10 fees and respond which they were okay paying with. One of them was a $10 fee for not having to sit near screaming babies and small children. The airline also wanted to know if customers would be interested in $10 savings for putting up with or giving up certain things, like savings for not earning frequent flier miles or savings for having a seat that doesn't recline. Brilliant business move or deceptive fare increase? Leave your thoughts in the comments.  More Â»

—>Enterprise Car Rental charged Mike $560 for a scratch on the bumper he felt was unfair, but after he followed The Consumerist's instructions on sending an Executive Email Carpet Bomb (EECB), all that changed. "Long story short," he writes, "Within ONE DAY, that email was forward with highlights , such as URGENT -PLEASE RESOLVE, and ultimately reached the northeast manager, who called me and apologized profusely for their poor handling of the situation, and WAIVED ALL charges ($560 for repairs). done..all wiped... GONE!!! THANK you for publishing that thread.. it absolutely positively works!!!"  More Â»

—>Jeff has a big sweaty hug to give FedEx after their customer service rep Leslie personaly intervened and saved his car-buying transaction from getting 1000% harder. Read his happy tale, and another addition to the "ABOVE AND BEYOND" files, inside...  More Â»

—>Reader Wormfather had an unsatisfactory Red Lobster experience with waiters joking about "diarrhea" and wanting "hot" customers, but after mentioning it to the manager, the couple left with satisfaction and smiles on their faces. His story, inside...  More Â»

—>Here's how with a little patience, persistence and pricematching, reader Scott is saving $65.52 on his phone and internet service with AT&T:  More Â»

—>I ordered some sunglasses from ALDO. They arrived in a bubble-mailer, with a broken bridge. They were also the wrong color. I filled out their online return request and selected "defective" from the dropdown box. A couple days later they replied with their compensation "offer" - free shipping off my next order. Um, no. Making their offer even less satisfactory, ALDO just sent me a separate email general promotional email with a coupon code for free shipping. So I replied back describing the situation in more detail and asking point-blank for a full-refund. If they don't give me a refund, I'll do a chargeback.  More Â»

—>Best Buy sold Clif a "new" laptop one of their employees had bought, used, and returned. They made up for it by giving him an actually new laptop with a slightly better configuration, then tried to upsell him to the Best Buy extended warranty. Two things I enjoyed about this story: 1) The clerk he went to return the laptop to was the same employee who had used the laptop (Clif knew this because he saw the guy's resume on the laptop) 2) Clif then subsequently asked to speak to the manager in private and explained the situation there. That's the classy way to do it.   More Â»

—>When Mr. Glassman tried to change his reservation date at a DC Hilton, a hotel clerk told him he couldn't do that because a large group was checking in and, "There won’t be anyone on the desk to accommodate you." When he asked for clarification, that no matter what time he checked in during that day, no one would be able to help him, the answer was in the affirmative. So Glassman, a frequent Hilton customer, canceled his reservation, all his future reservations, and all those of the rest of his 21-member law firm. When Hilton corporate caught word, "gaskets were blown" and they took it as a "training opportunity," but by that time, they lost Glassman's business for good.  More Â»

—>About 10 women who paid up to $4,000 for dresses they never received picketed the bankrupt Calvary Bridal House in Millburn, NJ this past weekend, screaming and holding hand-made signs that said things like "Fraud" "Scam" and ""Bride in stress, where's my dress?"  More Â»

—>When the Lenovo laptop Rick ordered for his college-bound daughter was super-duper delayed in arriving and he hadn't heard anything from the company, he did the opposite of an EECB (executive email carpet bomb). Instead of blasting his complaint to every single executive he could find, he wrote a well-crafted letter laser-targeted at a single individual, the SVP of operations. The result? An email from the Chief of Staff in the CEO's office. His order was expedited, and, in the meantime, they got a $5000 "Reserve Edition" leather-wrapped laptop as a loaner. Here's his letter that got him the fix:  More Â»

—>Here's the info to escalate your complaint up to the top of the Gamefly corproate heap. Says the reader who sent this in, "I left a message and sent an email and 20 minutes later a manager called and fixed my problem in 5 minutes. It was like magic, delicious fairy sparkly consumery magic."  More Â»

—>Update on "Casio Voids Warranty, Claims There's A Fingerprint Inside New Camera": After Sam's story went live on Consumerist and he got escalated at Casio, they repaired his camera fully under warranty, acknowledged their mistake, and gave him a free 8 Gig Class III SD card. Sam writes, "Once the right people found out things moved around quickly."  More Â»

—>There was an amusing little tangent in my conversation yesterday with an Orbitz rep when I went to change my ticket. Talking with her was the first time I've ever hinted to a telephone customer service rep that I write for The Consumerist.   More Â»

—>A former Chase call center rep tells the story about this one thief who was able to rip off one customer for over $40,000, thanks to his constant outwitting out the internationally out-sourced security department. It wasn't that hard. Over and over again, he was able to commit credit card fraud just knowing the guy's name, social, and mother's maiden name.  More Â»

Man walks into Sears store with broken Craftsman shovel. Moments later, walks out with brand-new, better, Craftsman shovel they let him pick out, for free. True story. [OneProjectCloser]  More Â»

—>To escalate a complaint at Sears past the completely useless 1-800 number, call 847-286-2500 and ask for Mr. Lampert's office (Ed Lampert is the chairman of the board). When the executive assistance picks up, tell them you want to file an "Executive Complaint." Said the reader who submitted this tip, "A single call to this group is actually well on my way to resolving a problem that 4 calls & 3 transfers at the 1-800-4-my-home line could not handle." Don't forget to be calm, professional, and succinct when you speak with them.  More Â»

—>A jury awarded Rita Cantrell $100,000 in actual damage and hit Target with $3 million in punitive damages after a Target employee sent a group email falsely accusing her of passing counterfeit bills. Rita was trying to buy stuff with a 1974 $100 bill which the store employees didn't recognize and thought was a fake. A loss-prevention employee then sent around a group email containing her picture and the false allegation to 31 different local, state and federal law enforcement offices, malls, department stores, home-improvement stores and grocery stores. The email result in the Secret Service interrogating Rita at her work place, but they were able to check out the bill and determine it was genuine. "Every aspect of Rita’s life was harmed by Target," said Cantrell's attorney.  More Â»

—>Having trouble getting people at Citibank to help you out? If you've tried regular customer service and supervisor multiple times and failed, try these numbers:  More Â»

—>If you have feedback or questions about Consumerist or any other blog on the Gawker Media Network, there's now a handy Feedback link at the bottom of our front page. Click and you'll go to a nice place where you can post questions and comments and watch as Gawker employees and other readers respond.   More Â»

—>UPDATE 10/22/08: Casio has acknowledged its mistake and sent Sam his Casio in full working order, plus an 8 Gig Class III SD card.  More Â»

—>Bobby didn't believe that Enstrom's "Unconditional Guarantee" was truly unconditional, so he sent an email to Enstrom complaining that his Almond Toffee did not perform well as a tax preparer.  More Â»

—>The Leading Hotels of the World want you to know they are still committed to offering 6,000 five-star hotel rooms for $19.28. The contest, originally conceived as a way to honor the association's 1928 formation, is proving ironically successful, fusing a modern giveaway with 1928 technology. That whole email do-over idea? Silly! Forget it even existed. The group has gone and hired themselves some internet sherpas to help run the contest, and here's what they've come up with....  More Â»

—>The Melissa & Doug toy company helped Tracey's daughter pick up the pieces after she accidentally crashed her month-old block plane into the ground, breaking off the metal pin that held the wheels together. Tracey emailed Melissa & Doug to warn them that the broken pin could potentially cause a choking hazard. She quickly heard back from Chris, who told her that she could either receive a replacement toy or pick out a new one. Just in case something wasn't in stock, he said, Tracey should pick out two toys...  More Â»

—>Yes, our pro-consumer bias has its limits. For instance, when a customer service representative tries to help you, don't respond by telling them to "go back to school," or by mentioning that your fourth-grade class can "spell better." Of the tens of thousands of tips you have sent us, this is one of the worst. Do not be this guy.  More Â»