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aboveandbeyond
aboveandbeyond
Papa John's Really, Really Cares That They Gave Me Wrong Pizza Crust
By Laura Northrup on May 24, 2012 8:00 AM
71 Comments
The complaint behind this story was not, at its core, a serious consumer problem. Chris ordered a pizza that was missing a few toppings and on the wrong type of crust. What's notable is that the regional management of Papa John's treated it like it was. Well, eventually. After the local store manager insisted that the error was Chris's fault, he fired off a quick complaint on the website. And that's when corporate solicitousness and free pizzas rained down upon him. Not literally. That would be kind of scary. More »
My Dad's Neighbor Ate His Delicious Birthday Steaks, Omaha Steaks Fixes My Error
By Laura Northrup on May 23, 2012 8:05 AM
119 Comments
Kara is a totally great daughter, which is why she sent her dad a box of Omaha Steaks for his last birthday. She isn't as great at typing in his address, though, and the box had been delivered to a neighbor's house. This neighbor quietly signed for and ate $70 worth of gift meats. While the good news is that Omaha Steaks went above and beyond, correcting Kara's error and sending replacements, this still means that her dad has to live next to some jerk who ate his birthday present. Maybe this neighbor will invite him over for an incredibly awkward barbecue. More »
(formatc1)
New Shoes Hurt, New Balance Replaces Them
By Laura Northrup on May 18, 2012 11:35 AM
42 Comments
Sean's new shoes hurt his feet. When he realized that this wasn't because he was out of shape or had bought the wrong size, he figured it had been too long since buying the shoes, and he wouldn't be able to return them. Not so when the shoes were from New Balance, purveyors of sneaker awesomeness. More »
Coldwater Creek Goes To Amazing Lengths To Get Discount For Tall Customer
By Laura Northrup on April 16, 2012 10:30 AM
14 Comments
Women's clothing retailer Coldwater Creek didn't have to do anything for Peri. She found a pair of pants that she liked in a retail store had the clerk order them in "tall" length for her. She couldn't use the 40% off coupon she had brought for the special order, since it wasn't considered an in-store purchase. Officially. She bought the pants anyway. Normally that would be the end of it, but then something really great happened. he sent a quick e-mail to the company, and received a response from corprorate...then a phone call from the manager of her local store, offering that 40% off retroactively. And a gift card. More »
How Amazon Was Amazing To Kindle Customer
By Laura Northrup on April 12, 2012 11:45 AM
48 Comments
Mike wasn't looking for a freebie. He just had a few cosmetic scratches on the touchscreen of his Kindle Fire and wanted to know if there was a way he could minimize them or buff them out. He called up Amazon to ask, and their solution wasn't a healing screen cover or a special polish. They shipped out a new device to him the very next day. More »
This Cosi Restaurant Is The Best Stalker Ever
By Laura Northrup on March 29, 2012 11:30 AM
56 Comments
Nick orders the same lunch every Wednesday from the Cosi nearest his office: turkey and corn chili. That sounds really tasty, but Nick was unhappy because he wasn't getting all of the soup he paid for. When his soup cup wasn't full a few weeks in a row, he sent a complaint through the chain's website. The area manager sent a nice letter back offering a free meal at any location. Then things got weird. And awesome. The manager tracked him down using LinkedIn and had more soup delivered to his office. More »
When Laptop Screen Cracks, Office Depot Comes Through
By Laura Northrup on March 16, 2012 9:00 AM
17 Comments
Usually, when a message arrives in our mailbox containing the name of a big-box office supply store and the word "saga," it means that a sad tale of incompetence and woe is in store. But that's not the case this time. "I've never had a corporation help me this much in my entire life," Curtis noted in his e-mail. When something went wrong with the screen of his Gateway laptop that be purchased from Office Depot, Gateway offered to fix the screen for $200. He wrote to Office Depot about the problem, not expecting much, but ended up stunned at the help he received from corporate. More »
Rite-Aid Delivery Guy Saves Elderly Customer's Life
By Chris Morran on March 5, 2012 12:15 PM
41 Comments
Automated prescription refills and deliveries have probably saved patients' lives by insuring that they got their medication on time. But this time, it wasn't the pills in the bottle that saved a Pennsylvania woman; it was the man who delivered them. More »
Netflix Saves The Day, Overrides Disc Limit To Send Me Martial Arts Movie To Watch With The Guys
By Chris Morran on March 1, 2012 3:15 PM
32 Comments
For all the rotting fruit hurled at Netflix over the whole price-doubling thing and the Qwikster debacle, it is easy to forget how much some people used to adore the company and its customer service. More »
(martyz)
More Businesses Should Under-Promise & Over-Deliver
By Chris Morran on February 24, 2012 12:15 PM
25 Comments
There's a tendency on the part of many businesses to sell their product or service based on a price, time frame or level of service that sounds great in marketing materials but which often requires an asterisk because it only tells part of the story. But these companies are playing a short con game that consumers will eventually figure out. More »
(jayRaz)
Pair Of Positive Experiences Reminds Chase Customer That Good People Work For Bad Companies
By Chris Morran on February 22, 2012 12:00 PM
11 Comments
JPMorgan Chase is a regular fixture in our annual Worst Company In America tournament, but like most of the businesses in the WCIA brackets, there are a lot of decent people who truly want to help their customers. More »
Wells Fargo: Good For All Of Your Banking And Personal Printing Needs
By Laura Northrup on February 17, 2012 11:30 AM
37 Comments
Nick was giving a presentation at a conference in Albuquerque, and needed to print out a revised version of his notes. He didn't count on the printers in the business center of his hotel being out of order, and the downtown devoid of life, retail, and even Kinko's outlets. Lacking transportation away from the hotel, he tried to think of alternate ways to meet his printing needs. That was when he saw the shimmering green Wells Fargo office tower... and formulated a wacky plan to put his bank to work for him. More »
Sick Customer Throws Up In Kroger, Employees Still Treat Her Like A Human Being
By Laura Northrup on February 9, 2012 10:30 AM
68 Comments
Reader Bugpaste is not feeling well. She's been hit with a vicious stomach bug. While picking up some medicine and supplies at Kroger yesterday, the worst happened: she threw up in the dairy aisle, a situation that could have been a lot worse if employees and fellow customers had been rude. But they weren't at all. They cleaned up after her, and were genuinely concerned for her well-being. She was so impressed with the kindness she encountered that she took some time out from her recovery to write to the general manager. More »
(mine)
Outback Steakhouse Manager Overreacts To Spilled Beers -- But In A Good Way
By Chris Morran on February 3, 2012 2:30 PM
64 Comments
Most of the e-mail we get into our tip line, especially with regards to restaurants, is about rude waitstaff, awful food and uncaring managers. So it was a very pleasant surprise to hear this story from Consumerist reader Rob, whose visit to Outback Steakhouse started sourly but ended happily. More »
(Tashi & Wash)
ThinkGeek Makes Christmas Possible For Cancer Patient & Family
By Chris Morran on December 29, 2011 5:00 PM
41 Comments
For Consumerist reader Tashi and her husband, Wash, who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer only a few months after they wed, perusing the ThinkGeek catalog was something they would do to amuse themselves and keep their spirits up — even if they couldn't really afford to buy most of the items they coveted. But when the people at ThinkGeek got wind of the young couple's ordeal, they decided to play Santa. More »
Lego Plays Star Wars Secret Santa
By Laura Northrup on December 22, 2011 9:32 AM
26 Comments
K's kid has a Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar, most likely because K. is awesome. One of the pieces went missing, and she sent a quick "hey, how much would it cost to replace this thingy?" query on their website. She expected to hear back perhaps after the holiday toy rush. She didn't expect to get a free replacement piece in the mail within a few weeks. More »
Home Depot Staff Makes 8-Hour Trip To Find Me A Snow Blower
By Chris Morran on December 2, 2011 2:15 PM
36 Comments
Consumerist reader Matt and his wife recently went to Home Depot to try to purchase a snow blower for the coming winter. But that Halloween weekend snow storm apparently caused an early run on the machines and no one could give them a clear answer on exactly when they would be back in stock. More »
Hillshire Farms Compensates For Your Forgetfulness With Free Sausages
By Laura Northrup on December 2, 2011 10:30 AM
53 Comments
Admit it, you've done what Matthew did at some point in your life. You've left perishable food in your car for an extended period after coming home from the store. He left a few packages of Hillshire Farms sausages out overnight. He wondered whether the sausages, being precooked and smoked and all, might be able to survive a night in his vehicle. So he called to ask. He expected advice...not coupons for free sausages. More »
Apple Manager Breaks Rule, Makes 10-Year-Old Girl's Dreams Come True
By Ben Popken on October 20, 2011 12:00 PM
186 Comments
Reader Matt tells the story of how an Apple store manager broke a little rule so as not to dash the hopes of his 10-year-old daughter, and, in the process, made a little bit of retail magic happen. More »
NewEgg Drops The Ball, Gamestop Saves The Day. Wait: Gamestop?
By Laura Northrup on October 6, 2011 8:00 AM
67 Comments
Two months ago, Nathan took advantage of a Newegg promotion for $10 off his pre-order of the collector's edition of the game Dark Souls, which was released on Tuesday. Ordering ahead and getting a discount: points for planning and for shopping prowess. The day before the game was to be released, Newegg (and other retailers, Nathan later learned) had to cancel their pre-orders because they just didn't have enough product. This left him without a collector's edition on release day...unless he could find one in his city, in person. Was such a feat possible? Yes, as it turns out, with some luck and the help of a heroic Gamestop employee. More »
