• Above and Beyond

    Melissa & Doug's Sky High Customer Service

    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 »

    3:30 PM on Sat Oct 11 2008
    By Carey
    11,968 views, 35 comments

    Most discussed Utilitarius: That's great customer service, but what about the possible choking hazard? more »

  • Replacements

    Hamilton Beach Insists The Broken Part On Your Coffee Maker Doesn't Exist

    Jim needed to replace the gold-tone filter on his $70 Hamilton Beach coffee maker, but the filter recommended by Hamilton Beach's website clearly didn't fit. When Jim called to complain, a customer service representative insisted that Jim's coffee maker didn't come with a gold-tone filter, and that if Jim thought otherwise, he was entirely out of luck and would need to buy a new machine. More »

    5:15 PM on Sun Sep 28 2008
    By Carey
    9,018 views, 57 comments

    Most discussed U-235: This is simply the filter you put the grounds in correct? If so you could always just use the disposable more »

  • banking errors

    USAA Temporarily Deletes 14k Roth IRA, But Won't Explain Why

    USAA just pulled a huge mindf#@k on Travis and his wife, and now he wants to talk to someone high enough up the chain to find out what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again. His 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." When she tried to find out what had happened, the first CSR she spoke with told her she had no IRA account, and the second CSR told her to refresh her browser. Yeah, you know how these newfangled browswers are always wiping out retirement accounts. More »

    10:28 PM on Tue Sep 23 2008
    By Chris Walters
    13,184 views, 70 comments

    Most discussed kamikasee: I also do banking / retirement / insurance with USAA, and have for several years. This seems totally out more »

  • Pricing Errors

    Best Buy Cancels Your Order As You Stand There Shouting "Stop!"

    Best Buy didn't want to honor the sale price of the 2GB flash drive Matt ordered through their website, so when Matt arrived to pick-up his purchase, the store's assistant manager called customer service and, pretending to be Matt, asked to cancel the order. Let's read Matt's story and see how it violates Massachusetts law, inside... More »

    8:00 PM on Sun Sep 21 2008
    By Carey
    221,156 views, 138 comments

    Most discussed henrygates: Isn't it illegal to pretend that you are someone else and make financial transactions in their name? more »

  • dramatizations

    Video: Whoopi Wants Her DirecTV Fixed, And Sherri Wants To Speak To Your Supervisor

    If you've ever wanted to see the rants from angry Consumerist tipsters brought to life by the woman who played Patrick Swayze in "Ghost," here ya go—although Sherri Shephard is actually a bit funnier, describing how the Time Warner CSR makes her go to an evil place. Seen here is Shephard letting out the evil because of the CSR who tells her, "Well my supervisor is going to say the same thing." Video clip below. More »

    3:11 PM on Tue Sep 16 2008
    By Chris Walters
    8,434 views, 47 comments

    Most discussed corbyz: It was funny until they started ranting about accents and foreign call centers. It makes me squirm and feel more »

  • Odd

    Apple: MacBooks Can't Handle GarageBand

    Two Apple customer service representatives told reader Mark to blame his MacBook's four hard drive crashes on GarageBand, professional-grade software that his puny consumer-grade laptop 'can't handle.' Every MacBook comes with GarageBand pre-loaded as part of Apple's iLife suite. More »

    6:00 PM on Sat Sep 13 2008
    By Carey
    42,774 views, 97 comments

    Most discussed nicemarmot617: As far as I can see it, the Apple-PC war really lines up like this: Hardware: Roughly equal. Neither has superior more »

  • apple

    Customer: "I Have A Brain Tumor" Apple Rep: "Not My Problem. Okay. So You Want..."

    You don't have to believe everything customers say to you when you're a customer service rep. You don't even have to actually care. But if you can't stop yourself from slipping in phrases like "not my problem" when you're helping out a customer, maybe you need to try a different career. Like, say, parole officer. More »

    11:06 PM on Thu Sep 11 2008
    By Chris Walters
    19,624 views, 136 comments

    Most discussed glitch44: To be honest: is this really something you should be sharing on a tech support call? It's such a more »

  • success stories

    Orbitz Supervisor Plays Hardball With USAir, Gets Them To Rebook Tickets

    Nicholas had a business trip go bad quickly when USAir canceled a flight and wouldn't make things right again. His tickets were through Orbitz, and although he had a terrible experience with Orbitz's first line of CSRs, he eventually managed to find a supervisor who made sure USAir helped solve the problem—even going so far as to let Nicholas secretly listen in on a call with a USAir agent. More »

    11:11 AM on Thu Sep 11 2008
    By Chris Walters
    13,299 views, 33 comments

    Most discussed krom: Orbitz front line support are moronic monkeys who basically just go onto orbitz.com for you. They don't seem to have more »

  • apple

    This Apple CSR Wants You To Learn By Doing

    This chat transcript from "Yet Another Girl"'s blog is an example of how sometimes you can find exactly the answer you're looking for on a customer service chat. Unfortunately, in this case, you'll do all of the work yourself while the chat agent stares numbly at the screen, wondering how did I end up here? I don't even know what this "apple" thing is! More »

    5:14 PM on Wed Sep 10 2008
    By Chris Walters
    15,304 views, 64 comments

    Most discussed shadowkahn: I'm sorry. If your first line is " I need a new doohickey; TSA lost my old one." the CSR more »

  • dell

    Dell Doesn't Care Where You Live, Keeps Delivering Packages To The Wrong Address

    Elizabeth went out and bought a Mac after Dell twice sent Windows XP replacement CDs to her old address. After each failed delivery attempt, Elizabeth called Dell, which repeatedly promised that they'd get it right next time. One CSR even claimed that he personally called DHL to change the shipping address. (He didn't.) More »

    5:00 PM on Sun Sep 7 2008
    By Carey
    21,811 views, 96 comments

    Most discussed billbobbins: Stop buying these mass-manufactured PCs. They build them out of the cheapest parts they can find with the idea that more »