Here's his story:

I have been an AT&T/Cingular customer for some time (5+ years). I own small business and have 7 phones with them on a small business plan, my normal monthly bill is well over $300. Shortly after Mother's day this year I started getting $2000+ bills for roaming in Nicaragua and Mexico. Neither I nor my phone have ever been to Nicaragua. I called AT&T and they actually fixed the problem in a few days and gave me a credit. So far so good.

However, the next month's bill came and the calls are still there, and the next month and the next month. Finally I had them shut the phone off completely, because they couldn't stop the billing. So the phone is now off, and I am still paying monthly service on it. However, they managed to rack up over $6,000 in charges for roaming in Mexico and Nicaragua before I forced them to shut it off.

Here's the kicker, AT&T says the phone is in both places at the same time. Their own bill shows a call being made from Nicaragua at the exact same minute it is incurring a data roaming charge in Mexico. When I point out that this is physically impossible they just respond with "pay the bill," I imagine it to be similar to what dealing with the Mob must feel like.

I won't get into the byzantine mess that is AT&T's dispute issues process (to be fair, in the 5 years before this incident, I always thought they were pleasant and helpful when I called for anything); suffice to say after over 12 hours on the phone with AT&T (who have a wonderful system that won't allow you to call anyone back), they finally shut my phones off today. This is despite swearing just last night that my service wouldn't be interrupted.

For the record, despite all these issues I was a "good" customer and continued to pay the portion of my bill that was legit.

Please help, or at least if you can't help publish this so other people can stay away.

Serves me right for buying an iPhone.

Thanks,
Chris

Hey, we didn't say it, he did.

Chris, have you tried these numbers?

Today my boyfriend and I went to our mall in Hattiesburg, MS. It is a very small city and only has one mall so it is the one by default we are forced to go to.

My boyfriend about three weeks ago purchased Proactiv Solutions. First of all, when we went three weeks ago we were forced to purchase the more expensive, larger version due to the fact that they were out of the thirty day trial kit.

He was very hopeful that it would work, he decided to try Proactiv because of me and results I have seen with friends and family who have also used Proactiv.

We went today to return the package, a process that Proactiv claims is easy! After we arrived to take back the product the woman at the kiosk started to verbally HARASS us! Upon giving her the box she opened it took one look inside and said that it did not work because it was being used improperly, when it had been used in only the ways it was specifically outlined in the product guide to use. She also stated my boyfriend had used too much of the "Repairing Lotion." This would make sense if she could have seen through the bottle or actually picked it up and felt how much was in it, but she did no such thing. The woman went on to say that if we were going to use it again, to use it properly. And to that my response was, "we are not going to be using Proactiv again." Well, that is when I asked her to give us back our money, and that is when she started going off, asking me who I was and why it was any business and why I was even there!

This made me angry, and I told her that we just wanted the money back, and we did not want to here how we were supposed to use the product.

She felt harassed by us so she called security on me. Then when I asked to get the receipt back, she refused to give it back, and then upon me asking for a number to call to complain she covered up all of the numbers and refused to talk to me telling me that she couldn't receive anything until security got there. All of this in the middle of the only mall in a small town. So I waited for security, and upon coming over and listening to her yell at him, he told me to come over and get away from her because she would not stop yelling, and refusing to do anything until I was out of her sight.

I was forced to leave the mall all because Proactiv REFUSED to allow us to return the product easily without being harassed. What has happened to customer service? what happened to the customer is always right? Does a guarantee only function as a guarantee after you withstand the harassment?

The customer is not always right, because sometimes the customer is a complete jackass. But it sounds like in this case, you were dealing with a crazy person who doesn't believe in taking any sass-back from kids these days, or who figures if she acts psychotic enough she'll scare away customers who try to return products.

However, Proactiv makes it very clear on their website that you can return the product within 60 days, no matter how much you use or how well you feel it worked. Their "guarantee" page simply states,

If you're not totally satisfied with the results, simply return the bottles within 60 days, even if they're empty, for a complete refund of the purchase price (less shipping & handling).

There's no fine print on the page, and none we could find elsewhere on the site, and no mention of having to show proof of purchase in the form of a receipt. There's also no mention of kiosk sales falling under a different return policy, so it seems pretty clear that Proactiv has to take your return.

At this point, we suggest you escalate the problem beyond the Krazy Kiosk Lady and contact Proactiv directly to negotiate a return. You should also—regardless of whether you succeed in returning the product—write a clear, polite letter to the company describing how badly you were treated by this woman, how she confiscated your receipt, and how she refused your return and basically got you kicked out of the mall. They need to know that their kiosk employee is badly representing the company. The main thing at this point is to be polite, but persistent, and make it clear to Proactiv that you expect them to honor their no-risk return guarantee.

Oh, and let your boyfriend do this if he's the one who paid for it.

An anonymous tipster writes:

I worked for several years at EDS, which is the home of Proactiv's customer service center (that you listed in the article - the Des Moines office).

Unfortunately, calling the call center won't do much good. They're not authorized to take back kiosk purchases, since they have no customer account. They're just for the infomercial and online orders. They're just going to tell the person to take it back to the kiosk.

What they want is Guthy-Renker Corporate. Regular customer service can't transfer you and agents/supervisors don't have the corporate number (at least when I was there).

A quick Google search turned up the address:

41550 Eclectic St
Palm Desert, CA 92260
Phone: 760-773-9022
Fax: 760-773-9016

Yes, the kiosks and the vending machines are owned by Guthy-Renker corporate. They have been very reluctant to franchise out product except abroad (citing quality concerns, internally, but I doubt that - probably a money thing). Guthy-Renker even has an eBay store to compete with people who were reselling Proactiv (this is actually fulfilled from the same building, a giant warehouse/call center, in Des Moines that the infomercial stuff comes from).

Proactiv is owned by G-R and they are a large infomercial company that has sold many other products, e.g. Anthony Robbins CDs/DVDs, Windsor Pilates, Sheer Cover, Cindy Crawford's Meaningful Beauty, Susan Lucci's Youthful Essence, Core Secrets, and many other failed products. Proactiv is one of their most successful products.

I am in the military and both my wife and I bank with USAA. She and I have separate checking accounts and separate Roth IRA's through USAA. Since we don't live in San Antonio, we bank online with USAA. My wife went online yesterday to check on some transactions and discovered her IRA balance was $0. Six hours prior to that, her balance was $14,000. We live on the East coast and the banks phone lines close at 10:00 PM Eastern. My wife discovered her missing balance at about 10:30 PM.

USAA allows you to e-mail them and promises to provide a response within 24 hours. We sent an e-mail and waited until the next business day. No e-mail arrived and finally my wife could not take it any longer. She called at 5:00 PM Eastern and got a CSR on the line. The CSR treated my wife as if she was lying and kept telling her she must be thinking about her husband's account because my wife has no account! My wife then demaned to speak to a supervisor and was "transferred" to the proverbial click.....dial tone. She called back and got in touch with another CSR who told her to "refresh" her screen because my wife must have been staring at the page too long. Lo and behold, her account appeared.

While her account was ultimately restored, I find it disconcerting that $14,000 can disappear that easily and then be treated so nonchalantly or even accusatory by the CSR. I also find it disheartening that USAA does not return e-mails for something of this magnitude.

I want to get a hold of someone HIGH in the food chain for an EECB and some phone numbers to go along with it. USAA guards these like the Colonels secret recipe and I wanted to ask the Consumerist for help. Can you help me??

We don't have that info. Do any of you? The best we can come up with is the general mailing address and phone number, and names of executives. But even if you can't get hold of private email addresses or phone numbers, you should still write a detailed account of what happened and mail copies of it to each one of USAA's executives:

• Joe Robles, CEO
• Kristi Ann Matus, CFO
• F. David Bohne, President of USAA Federal Savings Bank
• Christopher Weber Claus, President of USAA Financial Services Group
• Wendi E. Strong, EVP, Corporate Communications
• Dawn M. Johnson, EVP Marketing

Update: A lot of readers are referring to a "glitch" and implying that the OP must have not refreshed her browser. I've marked in bold the important line from the second paragraph of the OP's own story, where the CSR tells Travis' wife that she has no IRA. If this was a glitch, it was certainly more than just on the OP's computer.

(Photo: informant)

After this experience, Joe started looking online, and he found similar stories from frustrated shoppers. A customer on Pricegrabber from this summer wrote:

I ordered two books, paid for expedited shipping, and have just received one book after 12 days. No idea where the other book is, and they did not provide tracking information (even after I contacted them 5 days ago to get tracking / shipment details). On the 3rd part bookseller website, the order was listed as being shipped / completed 8 days ago but when I checked the USPS tracking info on my package it was listed as being shipped 2 days ago. That means they falsely listed the order as having shipped 6 days before they actually put it in the mail.

There's another personal account of an Indoo shipping fiasco on this livejournal page.

We might have been willing to cut Indoo a little slack, except they never responded to Joe's follow up email, nor did they acknowledge or apologize for the misreported shipping date in the single response they did send him.

Joe adds,

Frankly, the only reason I ordered from them was because I read about a bookseller aggregator on Lifehacker or Consumerist and Indoo came up as cheapest/fastest for both books. I was a bad consumerist since I didn't do my research on them first. Would have saved me some aggravation. Maybe a post on Consumerist would keep someone else from making the same mistake.

(Photo: Getty)

Here's a head's up - Continental has canceled dozens of flights going into and out of Houston (IAH)...but they haven't told anyone. They canceled my outbound flight to California through Houston (which, fine, understandable), but didn't send me so much as an email or phone call, like most carriers do. It wasn't until I tried to check this morning that I was met with their proposed new flight plan (see attached.) It's sad and hilarious at the same time. Needless to say, I've rebooked since then.

I'd have been in trouble at the airport if I hadn't tried to check in this morning, so just a warning to anyone trying to fly across the country today - the airlines, particularly Continental, are doing their usual awesome job at handling the situation. I'm not so much upset about changing my plans, it's the total lack of communication from Continental and the completely useless "solution" they tried to offer.

(Photo: FlyGuy92586)

This customer wanted to remove his active mobileme address and turn one of his existing email only addresses into his main account. Here's how the chat went:

Brian: Hi Sheena!

Sheila H: Hello, Brian.

Sheila H: I understand you want to switch your main account and email only account, correct?

Brian: I have a little problem. I need to switch the main mobileme account to an email only account and switch one of my email only accounts to the main account. Is that possible?

Sheila H: Unfortunately, email only accounts are no longer available, so if you cancel your existing email only account, you will not be able to reactivate it.

Brian: I’m talking about current email only accounts. And I’ve been able to reactivate email only accounts since the Mac Plus was around.

Brian: Such as switching making yyyyy@me.com into the main account instead of xxxxxxxxxxx@me.com

Sheila H: I understand. However you wish to cancel one account and make it an email only account, that is not possible.

Brian: It’s the main account I wish to cancel. I want to keep the email only accounts.

Brian: Frankly, I’m being harassed and stalked and I just found out I the brain tumor I thought went away didn’t. So my day isn’t really peachy.

Sheila H: Not my problem. Okay. So let me clarify, you wish to cancel your main account (which will cancel your email only accounts), and reactivate your email only account as an Individual account, correct?

Brian: Yeah, um, thanks for the compassion, I just want to get rid of the email address on the main account. If I could convert one of my other email only accounts to a full account, that’d be great. Would that be free under the circumstances or would I just have to buy a whole new subscription to get it done and get started on my email to the Consumerist?

Sheila H: You will need to purchase a new membership because it’s a new account. However, you will receive a prorated refund for your current membership which will be applied to the card it was activated with.

Brian: That would be over six months at this point.

Sheila H: You will be credited for any unused portion of your prepaid membership. Would you like me to cancel?

Brian: Not right now, thanks. I’ll just visit an Apple Store fifty miles away. But thanks for the information and compassion. I hope Steve Jobs reads this.

You stay classy, Sheila!

(Photo: Getty)

The county attorney quoted in the Kentucky Lexington Leader-Herald article points out that common decency should always trump any store policy, misinterpreted or not. In fact, it's the law!

First Assistant Fayette County Attorney Brian Mattone told the Herald-Leader Thursday that under the duty-to-report statute, everyone has the duty to report dependency, neglect and abuse of a child if they have knowledge of it. Mattone said prosecutors thought that Miller, through witnesses, had knowledge of possible abuse or neglect. Moreover, there is language in the statute that says “nothing should relieve their obligation to report,” Mattone said.

The article also quotes another shopper who says she received a similar response from a different Bed, Bath & Beyond last summer when she saw a dog locked inside a car. Here's hoping that the company's "we're ashamed this happened" response is authentic, and that their employees learn that it's okay to offer help sometimes.

"Store clerk charged with failing to help child locked in van" [Herald-Leader] (Thanks to Michael and Donald!)
(Photo: Morton Fox)

Chat Information
AT&T product specialists are happy to assist you with your questions. Click below to begin your live text chat. Chat representatives will not have access to your personal account. This service is provided to you under AT&Ts Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Chat Information
Welcome to AT&T. My name is Peter. How may I help you today?

Peter: I will be happy to answer your questions regarding AT&T services. I specialize in setting up new phone accounts and High Speed Internet service.

you: Hi Peter, I'm comparing services in the Columbus area. I'm looking for basic internet and cable tv. I wasn't very lucky in finding prices on the website.

you: I would like 2mbps internet and basic or standard tv service.

Peter: Do you currently have local service with AT&T?

you: I do not, I moved in a few days ago.

Peter: To clarify ordering DSL online does require a basic home phone line; which ranges in price from $5-$17 per month, and this would make your High Speed DSL prices $10 cheaper per month. Also if you place the order through phone you will be not eligible to get the current online promotions.

you: I'm in no need of a land line.

you: What online promotions are you speaking about?

(Long pause)

Peter: May I ask from which state you are?

you: I'm from **. I'm a new graduate student at ***

you: So my new residence is Columbus OH 43201

you: I mention it becuase I've been offered student discounts at other companies

(Another wait)

Peter: Good news though if you order online today you will receive the New Line Promotional credit making your phone activation free of charge which would cost you $38 to $40.

you: I don't want a phone.

you: I want internet and tv.

(Another wait)

Peter: However you can go for U-verse services if it is able in your area?

[Shouldn't he know if it's available in my area? I've provide my location.]

Peter: AT&T U-verse service is 100% digital television delivered over an Internet Protocol (IP) platform using fiber optic technology. AT&T U-verse also offers High Speed Internet and Voice (in limited areas) over IP access into your home.

you: That's fantastic, but I'm just looking for price quotes on basic internet and tv service. I don't need anything besides basic cable and 2Mbps dsl.

[A few minutes go by while I wait for a response.]

you: Well thanks Peter, but I think I'm going to find another service.

The customer, Will, adds, "I was then directed to a review of my chat session." His review was not favorable:

I let [AT&T] know I had no interest in being pushed canned lines by a salesperson with a shaky understanding of the English language, but would have expected, as I have experienced with other websites, online site assistance.

(Photo: Getty)

I want to point out the timestamps. Yup, that's more then 6 hours from when "someone will be with me shortly". And to think, when I connected I was only number 14 in queue!

Way to keep the whole world moving at Sprint Speed!

Note: There's been some confusion over company names, and Johnny Chan with eBoost Consulting wants you to know that his company is not involved in this story.

If a company promises to increase your Google PageRank, run! Rogier fell for eBoost Media's sweet words—they promised an increase in Google popularity "within about a week, at least for people entering specific search terms such as 'Maine photographer' and the like." But after three and a half weeks of no results, Rogier decided to cancel the service, which is when eBoost Media's dark side emerged.

I informed [my sales rep] Ashley that I wanted my money back and the agreement canceled. She put me in touch with a customer service rep named Denette.

When Denette finally got back to me, the news was not positive. She refused to say whether she would issue a refund. When I insisted (and sure, I wasn't particularly friendly, but I didn't use profanity or even raise my voice by more than a hair), she hung up on me.

I then canceled the credit card I'd given eBoost media and wrote Denette by e-mail that I'd file fraud complaints with the authorities if she did not let me know within 24 hours that eBoost Media consented to return the $99.

On Thursday of last week, she called again, trying to sweet-talk me into changing my mind. I said I wouldn't and that I had been given no reason to trust eBoost media — on the contrary. I reiterated that all I wanted was a refund. After about 20 minutes of exasperating back and forth, she hung up on me again.

On Friday, when I had left for the day, my voice mail received the psycho phone messages that I've attached.

Here's the first message, along with our concept art of Denette at the phone:

powered by ODEO

And here's the name-calling message, left only 5 minutes later, again along with our concept art:

powered by ODEO

Rogier played the messages back to eBoost and asked them for a comment:

When I called him yesterday, eBoost's acting CEO Michael Luvano agreed to listen to the recording. He then acknowledged that the second call had come from someone at eBoost Media, but curiously enough, he denied it was Denette. The mystery culprit, he said hours after hearing the messages, had already been "dealt with" — she'd been "severely reprimanded." When, puzzled, I suggested we ought to let other people listen to the messages on the Internet and solicit their opinions on whether or not it's the same voice, he got huffy and accused me of being out to badmouth his company.

Nonetheless, Luvano offered to have the CEO, Kevin Johnson (who he said was on vacation) write me a personal apology. He also said the company would finally refund the dough, which I appreciate.

As of yesterday, Rogier had received neither the apology nor the refund.

"Lend Me Your Ears, or, Who You Callin' a Faggot?" [Nobody's Business]
(Photos: Getty)

When I asked for more details, the representative (who sounded like he was from India), took vengeance on my account and told me he was closing the account and that there was nothing I could do. When I asked for his manager, he said “There is nothing he can do, the account is closed.” —CLICK— And that was the sound of him hanging up the telephone.

Chris says the CSR didn't even read him any account closure notice first.

All Chris was trying to do was find out why his account still showed $0.00 available credit when he'd recently paid off his balance in full—and why he can't get a credit line increase when he's had an excellent history of repayment.

I waited until about 8:40 AM to check the online account status and noticed that the available credit was still $0.00, despite what the representatives have told me. Frustrated with the vitriolic representative and the available credit still $0.00, I called the Capital One corporate offices and spoke with the executive resolution team and had them remove the account closure notice. I was also informed that the reason that I still had an available credit of $0.00 was that there was a “ten-day hold on the funds.” Angered that the funds had already been withdrawn from my bank account and not disbursed into my account, the executive team was able to override the hold and disburse the funds into the account, but only after calling the executive team a second time as the first person would not do it.

Chris points out that he's been an "excellent" customer for Capital One, particularly because he pays off his balance in full every month. We hate to dampen your spirits, Chris, but that may not put you in the prime customer category—credit card companies love people who carry high balances and generate lots of revenue in interest rates and assorted late/overlimit/cash advance fees. You might be better off just looking for another offer elsewhere that promises you a greater limit up front.

(Photo: Getty)

"We've seen a fall in customer service as we've gone into a recession," says a customer service consultant in the article. "As the cost cutting occurs . . . they start to cut the wrong things." But that implies that AOL had good customer service before the recession, doesn't it? Wait, what?

All but one of the top 10 companies are either in communications or finance, with the one weird exception of Abercrombie & Fitch (4th place, 38%).

"Most of these companies actually aren't thriving," said Michael Shames, the executive director of the Utility Consumers' Action Network, a California nonprofit that monitors business practices. People don't look at companies with poor customer-service scores and say, "Here's where I should invest," he said.

"The Customer Service Hall of Shame" [MSN Money]

It's alleged that while Jackson worked at Time Warner, she received a payment on a customer's account through a credit card and kept the victim's credit card numbers. This allegedly happened at a call center located in Blue Ash, according to a Time Warner representative.

In the following weeks, Jackson allegedly ordered items over the internet and over the phone using the numbers.

Investigators said Jackson had the items sent to her home, but it is not yet clear whether that led to her arrest.

Wait, she used the stolen info to shop and mail things to her own address? We're going to allege that Jackson was an idiot.

"Former Time Warner Cable Employee Arrested For ID Theft" [WCPO News]

Paul reached into a clearance bin at Kmart and cut himself on a rotary blade. Blood everywhere, fingertips flying like chunky confetti, you can imagine the scene (oh wait, we just did for you). He went to the customer service desk to ask for help and was greeted with an annoyed store manager who was concerned about two things only: whether or not there was any "contaminated area" to clean up, and getting Paul to fill out some paperwork for insurance purposes. What she wasn't concerned about was helping Paul in any way, even after he explicitly asked for help, as the following exchange makes clear.

Mgr: What happened?

Me: I cut myself on a blade in your clearance aisle that was loose in a bin. This one. Do you have a first aid kit?

Mgr: That stuff is in the pharmacy, and it's closed right now. Did you bleed anywhere?

Me: Uh...maybe? probably?

Mgr: ::calls someone on a walkie or something who then comes up and they spend like 5 minutes trying to figure out where their bloodborne pathogen cleanup kit is::

Me: So. Can I have something? You don't have anything at all?

Mgr: We don't have any way of getting into the pharmacy.

Paul excused himself to clean up in their public bathroom, which we pray to all the gods is more sanitary than the one at the Kmart at Astor Place in NYC. When he came back, the manager made him write down a statement on the back of an unrelated sheet of paper because she couldn't find the right form. At this point, an employee brought him bandages and Neosporin. But shouldn't every store have a basic first aid kit of some sort?

Highlights were

• the woman saying "oh no, don't put that there, we don't want to contaminate more stuff" when I was handling the things I was buying. Which I still bought.
• Not getting a copy of the paperwork I signed, which I realized in hindsight.
• Having them be so blatantly concerned about their procedures and completely, totally not about me.

So yeah. I was pissed, I mean. Things happen. They didn't put the cutter there, most likely it was some minimum wage, dissatisfied person doing reshopping and wanting to get home and just chucking it into the clearance box, or some trashy customer taking it out of the package for some inane reason. But at least give a glimmer of "whoops, sorry about that, our bad". C'mon.

"Man, K-Mart blows." [Vartan] (Thanks to Ben!)

On the surface, Hands-N-Paws caters to owners-n-their-dogs, but the company's real stock in trade is being hilariously rude to its customers. When someone asked them to cancel an order immediately, they wrote back, "No..not immediately, when we can get round to it." When another person threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau, they wrote back, "File it. Blackmail gets you nowhere, honey." They even have a "Hall of Shame" on their website where they list the email addresses of customers they hate most of all. This is why we make all of our cats' clothing out of old newspaper.

This story from the thread seems to encapsulate the type of experience shoppers have with handsnpaws:

I ordered over $60 worth of items from this site in March......their site clearly states that your "order status" will change within a week from your order...and if not, to email their customer service. So, when mine didn't change, I sent an email....not response, sent another, no response.....it was now the middle of April and I still hadn't heard from them, my order status was never changed and I read a lot of BAD reviews on them, so I got worried.
 
Here is an email I sent them (the only one they ever answered to):

This is my third attempt to contact you regarding the status of my orderd, placed on March 1st. I would like to know when to expect it to be shipped, if item are backordered, etc. I am a little concerned about my order and am afraid if I do not receive a response about my order OR receive my order soon, I will have to file a dispute for my PayPal payment.   Thank you! Jenn

AND here is their response back:

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:12:31 -0700 (PDT) From: "HandsNpaws" Subject: Re: FEEDBACK: Order   File it. We're still closed for PASSOVER and the processing time is still 1 to 4 weeks as you were advised. We'll say the same thing elsewhere, because that's the first thing they'll ask. What are our terms. And we'll show them what we showed you...more than once. Blackmail gets you nowhere honey, but we do get a kick out of letting you make a fool of yourself. And of course, you won't get the items any quicker. We'll let the paypal time run its course. That will be even more fun sitting back and making you wait while you get yourself all worked up. It pays to be nice, honey. When you're nasty, this is one store where we won't go one inch out of our way. Don't have to.

I had filed w/ PayPal before I got the email back from them, because, of course, it took them awhile to respond. But once I got this email, I forwarded it to PayPal, my dispute was moved to a claim (within a few days of my filing my dispute) and I got my money refunded (THANK GOODNESS)!!!
 
Here is their response in the PayPal refund:

Sophistication Alley Ltd. (Mail@HandsNpaws.com) has issued you a full or partial refund for your payment.   Message from merchant: Hope you enjoyed the long wait. That's what you get for being rude and impatient.

Even the lone customer on the thread who stands up for the company has faint praise:

I've been ordering from that website for the last two years with ZERO issues! I wonder what happened. I haven't ordered anything within the last few months, but the last shipment I got was prompt and correct. I must admit thought, I don't ever get a shipment confirmation or anything from them.

Ripoffreport has another stunning example of the madness behind Handsnpaws, where they refuse to answer a customer's questions, then tell her they aren't going to talk to her anymore.

A Ripoffreport commenter also point out that there's another company, Hands AND Paws, that is totally unrelated to this story, owned by a different person, and has no complaints against it. Here are the Sophistication Alley businesses we could find:

• Sophistication Alley Ltd.
• www.handsnpaws.com
• www.sundaycolors.com
• www.pawstogo.com

Handsnpaws, please read this post and send us a hateful email! Unlike customers, we actually enjoy hearing back from people like you. It makes our jobs that much easier.

(Thanks to Dan!)

(Photo: kansas_city_royalty)

Abbey is annoyed with a woman who works at the new Target store in Washington, D.C., because the woman lied to her and wasted her time:

One of my roommates just got a Wii, so I decided to go to Target and get "Wario Ware: Smooth Moves."  Before hitting the store, though, I gave their electronics department a call to see if they had the game in stock.  A woman in electronics picked up the phone and when I asked her if she had the game, she quickly said, "Yeah, we've got that in stock."  So I got up off my couch and walked over to the Target to buy my game.

When I got there, less than half an hour later, I checked the shelves - but no game.  I went to the front desk to see if someone could help me find it.  After a few minutes of being flirted with by his coworker (as a line steadily grew behind me), the guy at the electronics desk told me that in fact, no, they didn't have the game in stock.

Now, I'd be willing to believe that maybe in the twenty minutes it took me to get to the Target, someone snatched up the last copy of Smooth Moves.  But then the guy at the desk (who was really helpful) said, point blank to me, "I don't know who answered your call, but they obviously just didn't feel like looking it up.  Sorry about that."  (Side note: my guess is that the flirty coworker was the woman who answered my call; she was the only other person working in that department, and she beat a hasty retreat when she heard what I was looking for.)

So, basically, Washington DC's shiny new Target is being staffed by people who would rather lie to potential customers than spend what turned out to be literally ten seconds to look something up on a computer.  What a wasted trip.

—Abbey

PS - I sent essentially this same message through Target's contact form yesterday and got a standard "sorry, come again soon!" form letter.

You need to chill out, Abbey. It's quite possible that the woman who answered the phone was a psychic in training, and she made a good faith effort to "see" the inventory without averting her gaze from her coworker's butt while he ran the cash register. Or what if it's Target Opposite Day and the employees are forced to reverse their answers? Managers love coming up with weird team-building exercises like that.

At any rate, just pretend that your trip to Target was a bonus Smooth Moves game—Nintendo's pretty innovative, so maybe they've worked real life pointless tasks into the mini-game concept by now.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Timothy, our hapless eBay seller who kept having problems listing his laptop on the auction site, was contacted by a Real Live Human from eBay the day after we posted his story. "Garrison" apologized for the frustration, and said he'd be making a note on Timothy's account to keep it from getting shut down by other agents. He also suggested several listing options that were pretty well-covered by our commenters in the original thread.

Here's Tim's email:

Just FYI: I have listed the auction for a sixth time (mostly because I think it’s funny now to watch eBay have to refund my listing fees repeatedly). About 15 hours after you posted the story, I got the following email from a human being at eBay:

Dear Timothy,   Thank you for writing eBay in regard to the issues with the laptop computer you have tried to sell.   I have taken the time to review your account and would first like to apologize for the frustration this has caused you.  It is very understandable that you would feel upset with the current activity and circumstances on your account.   Your auction was removed because there were concerns that a third party was potentially accessing your account and attempting to list the laptop for sale.  Please understand that the precautions that were taken were with the intent of protecting your account.   I will be adding documentation to your account to alert eBay agents that you are the legitimate owner of the account and are the one listing the laptop for sale.   I would like to share some recommendations with you about some features that could possibly assist you if decide to list your laptop computer for sale again.  First, you may want to use a feature called a bidder block.  To find out more about it and how it works, you might want to consider looking at the information in the eBay Help pages, at this link:   http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html   You could also do a search for "bidder block" in the search field and that would bring up more information about the process as well.   Another feature that I would like to recommend would be the "Requiring Immediate Payment" feature.  Detailed information about this feature can be found at:   http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/immediatepayment.html   This feature requires that a person make payment immediately after clicking on the Buy It Now button.  The payment must be made with PayPal, and your auction will remain open until the payment is made.   Although this is not available for an auction-style listing, if there is a set price you would be willing to sell your laptop for it could help with the problems you've mentioned.   Please consider these as options if you decide to list any merchandise with eBay in the future.   Your trust and confidence is valued by us.  We want to earn that trust and confidence once again.   It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay.   Sincerely,   Garrison eBay Customer Support

 
Thanks for your help getting a real response from them!
Tim

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"It's Now Completely Impossible To Sell A Laptop On Ebay"
(Photo: Getty Images)

Scott in Ireland writes in with proof that it's not just American/Canadian consumers who get screwed by bad customer service. When his new Acer laptop went kaput, it took him over half a year to finally get a working, equivalent replacement—and after all that, Acer told him they wouldn't extend his warranty for the time he was without a laptop.

I thought I'd let you know about my little adventure with Acer here in Ireland. How these guys stay in business if beyond me. Hopefully it'll help people to make an informed decision before buying from them.
 
I bought a laptop from them in March of 2007. It worked fine for a while, then started acting weird - starting up really slowly, crashing, etc. I made a series of frustrating phone calls and eventually was told to send it back to them for repair. I put my suspicions that they were a bunch of clown shoes aside, and figured they'd get it sorted out.
 
It was away for a month, and when I got it back it had the exact same problem, and blue screened within 15 seconds of turning on. I told them it was still broken, and sent it back to them again. Almost 20 fruitless international phone calls and four months later they eventually said it was beyond repair. I argued and argued and eventually got a replacement.
 
Six weeks later the replacement arrived, and had about half the spec of my original model. I phoned them another five times until someone agreed it was inferior, and told me to send it in and they'd organise a replacement. The guy I was talking to was laughing and said he wasn't surprised I called, that the spec of the one they sent me wasn't even close. Another guy was so rude that I asked to speak to his manager. He told me I'd have to hang up and call back to get someone else, and ask to speak to their manager.
 
I sent the replacement back to them, only to have them courier it back to me. They called me, told me they had made a mistake, and asked that I return it to them again.
 
Eventually, after a total of more than 10 e-mails, 4 faxes, 40 phone calls and 7 months I received an equivalent model. Only, it turns out that it's also got a fault; the charger makes a loud buzzing noise. I e-mailed them to tell them and they say I have to send it back to them, and pay for shipping and insurance. They said they'll have a look, but that it may have to go back to Taiwan for a full inspection. I also asked if they were going to entend my warranty to account for the seven months and they replied with an e-mail that simply said "No extension to warranty."
 
All-in-all, a very slow, rude and ineffective company. Hardly a master class in customer service, doncha think?
 
Cheers,
Scott

The only information Minoru has to go on to reconstruct the last, sad hours of his new laptop's life are the status tracking updates:

• Apr 22, 2008 3:36 AM On FedEx vehicle for delivery
• Apr 22, 2008 5:24 PM At local FedEx facility
• Apr 23, 2008 1:10 PM Shipment exception / Unable to deliver

Wow. So now I'm really disturbed. I called FedEx, and the rep tells me that the package is damaged, and they will not deliver it. I demanded more information, and she switched me to her manager. Ceci Watts at Cincinnati call center was absolutely 0% helpful. You could tell she handled this type of calls frequently. All she could repeat was the same stupid line no matter what I said or asked. This isn't word for word, but it's pretty much how it went:
 
Me: So was the package on the truck at 3:36 AM or not?
Ceci: It was a miscellaneous scan.
Me: What does that mean?
Ceci: It was a miscellaneous scan.
Me: So what does it mean? "On FedEx vehicle for delivery" sounds like it at least made it to the truck for delivery. I would like to know if the package made it to the truck, and when and where the package was damaged.
Ceci: That's irrelevant.
Me: It's relevant because I need to know why I don't have my package.
Ceci: It's irrelevant.
Me: So was it a lie? Are you saying the status was a lie? It never made it to the truck?
Ceci: It was a miscellaneous scan. It doesn't matter.
Me: This is ridiculous.
 
Ceci insisted that there's nothing they can do for me, even though they destroyed my package. My laptop was fine until it entered that mysterious 14-hour window on April 22. It was in FedEx's hands, and it somehow got damaged, and who knows where it is now. The only option for me, Ceci said, was to contact Apple. So even though it's almost impossible for anybody else to be responsible for the matter, they're refusing to correct the situation or be helpful about it in any way. Now I have to take my own time to contact Apple, Apple would have to investigate it, then send me another computer.

A couple of days ago I submitted a tip regarding my sudden inability to order a new GoPhone through the AT&T online store; my orders went through successfully, but were then later cancelled under mysterious circumstances no one I spoke with at AT&T could explain.
 
After several more calls and nearly an hour on hold I finally got to speak with supervisor Cheryl Johnson in the web store order processing department. Ms. Johnson then informed me that my orders were being cancelled because they had been unable to verify my credit history. This raises two interesting questions for which she had no answers:
 
1) What is suddenly wrong with my credit history in AT&T's eyes? I've ordered from them without any problems in the past, and my score is in the upper 700s.
 
2) Why is AT&T performing a credit history check on a GoPhone purchase in the first place? Everything is prepaid and there is absolutely no chance that anyone attempting to establish a new prepaid account could possibly defraud them in any way. That's kinda what "prepaid" means.
 
Ms. Johnson blatantly refused to answer either of these questions and simply read some pre-prepared rejection script that was obviously coming up on her computer screen as rudely as she could in an attempt to interrupt me in mid-speech. Once she finally ran out of things to parrot I asked why it was that a supervisor in the AT&T order processing department did not know how the AT&T order processing process worked well enough to explain to me why my orders were being cancelled, and she said that this was something the credit department handled. I asked for their number, and of course, they don't take inbound calls and Cheryl refused to transfer me. I asked her if she was in any way motivated to find out what was wrong with their system and help me, and, to her credit, she answered honestly with a simple "no."
 
So, beware: if you buy an AT&T GoPhone online they will make some ham- handed attempt at accessing your credit history.