Consumerist
phone sex
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repairs
Geek Squad: Sorry We Accidentally Hosed Your Motherboard. Here's A Vastly Inferior Replacement
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 » -
bureaucracy
Everyone Knows How To Handle A Stolen Checkbook Except For Verizon
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 » -
customer service
Bank of America Charges Guy Twice For Money Order, When Told, Corrects Problem With Ninja Reflexes
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 » -
half.com
Reach Half.com Customer Service
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 » -
success stories
EECB Convinces Jiffy Lube To Pay For Repairs After Damaging Car
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 » -
dish network
Call Center Disciplines Reps If You're Not Happy With Your Collections Call
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 » -
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shipping
UPS Damages $1,700 Worth Of Shipped Items, Admits They Messed Up, Still Won't Pay
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 » -
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whoops
This Harry Potter Blu-Ray Set Requires A HD-DVD Player
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 » -
hit it and quit it
What To Do When You Love Your Credit Card But Aren't 'In Love' With It Anymore
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 » -
credit cards
Man Gets Chase To Bend To His Iron Will
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 » -
twitter
How To Use Twitter To Get A Company To Solve Your Problem
Here's a new trick for getting satisfaction from a reluctant company, using Twitter. We can call this one "tweet to power."
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panic
Delta Is Going To Flip Out If You Wear A Neck Brace In The Emergency Exit Aisle
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 » -
sass
Seagate CSR: "Since You Know Better Then We Do, Im Sure You Dont Need Our Assistance"
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 » -
that was fast
The "New" CircuitCity.com Ships Shoddily-Wrapped TV Mount Missing Half Its Parts
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...
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lost and found
Help, Dell Won't Ask UPS To Trace My Lost Monitor!
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 » -
confusion
Best Buy Tries To Convince You To Buy The Wrong Memory Card
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 » -
nicknames
Sprint Employee Changes Customer's Name To "Pain In The A$$"?
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 »
