Amy says:

I know you guys like to rip on Comcast, and now I better understand why. Yesterday, one of my three apartment mates had cable installed in her room. The guy took 2 and a half hours to do everything, which didn't make sense to me, because we've had Comcast cable before so everything should have been all ready to go. And then he left the outlets in the other rooms undone, and even ripped into my wall (see attached photos). And this is the "finished" job. I'm sure my landlord will be pleased.

Yikes. You might want to consider sharing these photos with Comcast HQ— be sure to request that the damage to your apartment be repaired and the outlets installed properly.

Received this in the mail this week. A very nice note from the USPS people saying just how sorry they were that they apparently decided to rip the cover off of my Rolling Stone, keep the body of the magazine, and then fold the rest into a nice little baggie and mail it anyway with their most sincere apologies.

Why do we suspect that the rest of the magazine is in a USPS toilet stall somewhere? Just kidding, just kidding.

Belinda writes:

In early July my roommates and I visited an IKEA store in Schaumburg, IL. We spent over $1000 on furnishings that day, opting to have much of it shipped to our apartment in a week. On July 13, movers arrived and carried 14 boxes up to our second floor apartment. I arrived on the scene halfway through the delivery process. They carried boxes in and we pointed them either to the living room or my bedroom to set them down. We checked them off as they carried them in the door, not as they set them in the correct room. They hurriedly asked for initials and left. We grabbed lunch and returned an hour later to begin the long assembly process. I asked my friend to put music on in my room. She reappeared with my 60gb iPod Video, completely smashed.

I had purchased an iHome just the day before, and it was sitting on the floor next a lamp I had purchased at IKEA and taken home (rather than having it delivered). The iPod was docked on top of the iHome, and a long heavy box of wood had been dropped on it. It fell onto a wall outlet as well, cracking the casing and completely bending the prongs of the cords plugged into it sideways. I used pliers and fixed the lamp and iHome's electrical plugs, but the iHome was damaged beyond repair. The iPod dock on the top no longer functions at all, and the internal clock is now unable to distinguish between AM and PM, rendering this equipment a 60-dollar paperweight.

I called IKEA that day and presumably filed a case, because I was promised a return call the next day. I received no such call, and on July 15 I sent this message to IKEA through their online feedback form:

My IKEA order was shipped by Encenda on Sunday morning (7/13). I promptly contacted IKEA that day when I found that the movers had dropped a heavy box of wood from my MALM bed frame onto a wall outlet, iPod, and iHome speaker deck, breaking all of them. The outlet is cracked. My landlord assessed that we'd need new plastic casing. The iPod is completely shattered. I bought it for $399. The iHome's top connector the iPod was sitting in no longer functions. The iHome was purchased just the day before for $60. Considering the mass amount of damage done, I need to get in contact with someone who can help me receive some sort of compensation. Surely IKEA has an insurance policy with Ensenda. I called the day of the incident and was promised a return call the next day. I received nothing, so this is my second attempt at getting results. My phone number is [redacted] Thank you.

- Belinda [redacted]

Later that day I received this:

Hello Belinda,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. We do apologize for any difficulty that you may have experienced.

Please call the Schaumburg store at 847-969-9700, to present a case to management of this matter. If you already have a case please give them the case number.

We do apologize for any inconvenience, and we thank you for your inquiry.

Best Regards, Beldian
IKEA Customer Care Center

I promptly did just that, and after being transferred to enough different people that I had no idea who I was talking to, I finally spoke to someone who could possibly help me. She asked for a detailed account of what happened, which I relayed to her. She repeated it all back to me slowly and typed furiously, leading me to believe she was filing some sort of report on my behalf. Once we finished, she promised I'd be contacted "in a few weeks." I waited three weeks, received no response, and decided it was time to call to check on the status of my complaint. On August 12, I began my foray into IKEA's customer service yet again.

The first call was spent trying to locate my case. I gave my name, address, and phone number in every way shape and form, to no avail. I explained that I'd never been given a case number, but explained the situation in detail to other representatives. I said I didn't know if I was talking to IKEA or Encenda (the moving company), to which she hastily replied, "Oh no, whoever would have sent you to them was wrong. This is an IKEA issue, not the moving company's. They have nothing to do with it."

She put me on hold to 'check on something,' and after waiting 3 or 4 minutes, I heard a dialtone. She'd hung up on me. I called again and explained that I was trying to locate my case and was unaware of whether my property damage case should be taken up with IKEA or the moving company. She assured me that it was the moving company's issue and said she'd put me on hold to get a hold of the moving company. She hung up on me.

I called again and got a man who seemed genuinely concerned with my situation. I explained that I had just called two other times trying to locate a case that obviously did not exist, and insisted on filing a new one and starting fresh. He kept saying we'd "take care of this situation" and that everything would get resolved. I sat on the line with him in silence for about 5 straight minutes before he cut back in, making sure I was still there. When I affirmed this, he asked if he could put me on hold to contact the Schaumburg store (isn't that who I called?!) to which I loudly responded no before he put me on hold anyway a second later. I sat on hold for 45 minutes before I hung up and called the IKEA customer service line the fourth time. This woman checked and found a case that had been filed that evening (presumably by the man before he put me on hold for 45 minutes), and I asked for a phone number to the moving company. She got it for me and gave me a case number (finally!) before hanging up. She'd promised I'd hear something in 24 hours.

Sure enough, this time I got a response. I received a voicemail from a woman in IKEA's claims department informing me that she put a claim in with the delivery company because "they really don't have anything to do with property claims." I crossed my fingers and hoped that I'd hear from the movers, seeing as IKEA was the middleman in this situation and they hadn't done so well in getting my message across. Amazingly, I received a voicemail from a woman representing what I assume is the moving company. Cindy [redacted] from Veteran's Messenger service claim department... "just to follow up on this after investigating and pulling paperwork, there was no documentation on any paperwork that any items were damaged during this delivery, therefore we are denying the claim. If you have any questions, feel free to contact IKEA."

So I'm not supposed to contact the movers, I'm supposed to contact IKEA. Again. I promptly called her back and asked who exactly I should be talking to in order to receive compensation for the $500-worth of damage done to my personal belongings. She said there was something missing in the documentation, therefore the movers were entitled to deny any wrongdoing.

I opted to not contact IKEA. Long story short, movers dropped a heavy box on my electronics, obviously breaking them, then picked up the box and scurried out without mention of damage. I called IKEA that day to file a claim, was ignored, called 5 more times before finally getting a real case filed, was told that IKEA isn't responsible, was sent to the moving company's claims department, then was denied any wrongdoing by the moving company because IKEA hadn't filed some sort of paperwork.

This is just blatant passing of the blame back and forth, not to mention a slew of customer service representatives who seemed to be confused. Half of them assured me it was the moving company's fault, half of them assured me it was an IKEA issue completely. Now I have an apartment completely furnished by IKEA that I wish I never would have purchased. The furniture itself was a little under a thousand dollars, but adding in delivery charges and the damage, I spent around $1600 on this stuff. Pay close attention to your deliveries. It's been a few months and I've spent hours on the phone, but now understand I'll never be compensated for this disaster delivery. I have every piece of paper & receipt along with my shattered iPod and outlet casing prominently displayed so that I never forget the price of all this furniture. It's also served as a great segue into a heated explanation of my hatred for IKEA whenever a passer-by asks what happened.

We think that since you have a business relationship with IKEA and IKEA only, you should deal with them. Now, obviously that hasn't worked too well, but we recommend taking the following steps.

Write a very concise EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb) detailing the chain of events that you describe here. For more information about launching an EECB, click here. You need to reach someone at IKEA who actually knows what to do in this situation, and is able to file accurate paperwork.

If that doesn't work, and it may not, consider filing a small claims lawsuit against IKEA. It's easy and inexpensive, and it will make you feel better about your furniture if you win. Also, IKEA might not even show up, and you may get a default judgment.

Here are some email addresses to try, and some information about small claims court. Good luck.

Andrew writes (to Jiffy Lube):

My wife and I purchased a home this spring with a nice garage. I could finally change the oil in my wife's car. She needed her oil changed badly and had gone to you before. Your team had tightened the nut to the oil pan too tight (pneumatic tools I'm sure), so I mentioned to her to have your shop change the oil and to please ask them to not over tighten the nut so I could release it for the next change.

My wife spoke to a member of your team and asked them to not over tighten the oil plug if possible. Not only did she get a horrible look from both the team member and the employee standing next to him, the oil plug head was completely rounded off smooth.

In order to remove the plug without damaging the oil pan, I had to hammer a wrench head 1/16th size too small onto the plug head to kind of form it into the wrench. I then had to use that same hammer to hit the other end of the wrench in order to loosen the plug. I now had a ruined plug and ruined wrench.

The new Pontiac G6 has a new size plug different than most cars. I found this out when I had to run up to the car parts store to buy a new plug. They didn't have any of the new plugs and I had to wait a week for a new one, thus rendering the car un-drivable.

Neither my wife, myself, friends, or family will ever use your services again.

We asked Andrew if he was certain the oil plug had been purposefully tampered with, and he says he's sure:

Yes, they filed it by over tightening it with a pneumatic drill. The drill's pressure was so high that the tool stripped the ridges off the bolt, thus making it almost impossible for me to remove without bringing it back into their shop.

You could say it was job security for them since they saw a potential customer about to leave and do it themselves.

He also included a picture of the ruined plug. Yikes. What do you guys think? Would someone do this on purpose?

Andrew writes:

As an avid reader of the Consumerist, I hoped to never have a need to write in myself. Unfortunately, the way Best Buy handled a situation with my wife's vehicle has changed that.

Several months ago my wife decided she wanted to get a remote car starter installed in her new Nissan Altima. She always had one on her previous vehicle and Best Buy had done the install before. When we went into the store they seemed a little confused by the smart-key system that comes with the car. Basically it does not use a traditional key to start, but rather a push button start in the vehicle with a key fob you just keep in your pocket. After making some calls the Best Buy technicians assured us they could do it without an issue.

When we returned to pickup the car we were informed it was not yet ready, and they needed it for another day. We were very accommodating and worked out alternate transportation for that day. After picking up the car we discovered the locking and unlocking of the doors no longer worked properly. At first they tried to claim this was just the way it was going to work now, but we explained that we were not told that up front and they could just take out the system. After a few phone calls they then told us to bring it back again for "programming" to fix it. So yet another day without a car goes by and the doors are now working.

After driving the car my wife discovered her electronic windows no longer are working correctly. We then noticed one of the remotes would actually remote start the car when you tried to lock the doors. Several more treks back into Best Buy to get these problems fixed occur. The next problem is that there was a blue alarm light constantly blinking in the face of the driver. It was very distracting to the driver at night, and my wife was concerned she would get into an accident. This happened on a weekend, so we were forced to not drive the car until they were able to get to it during the week. They were never able to actually fix it, but ended up just disabling the light.

There have been a multitude of other issues since then such as the remote start not always working when you push it, the car taking multiple attempts to start even when not using the remote start, and worst of all the fact that the vehicle can now be started without having your foot on the brake (a child can start it from the passenger seat even without a key).

Finally when we were already very unhappy with the system and things still to this day have never worked properly, my wife's brake lights stopped working! She drove around running errands and very easily could have gotten into a wreck and injured herself and others. We took the car into the dealership and they said the issue was the result of the system Best Buy installed and it burned out some wiring in the vehicle. We had to pay ourselves to fix the problem and had to go yet another weekend without the use of the vehicle. The dealership told us this system could cause further problems and might void the warranty, therefore it should be removed.

We decided this was the last straw and followed the dealership's advice. We returned to Best Buy and spoke to a manager. After explaining the situation they initially offered to pay only for the cost of the brake light repair and to remove the system. We would not get back the money for the system itself, the install, or even some additional parts they required us to buy to make the install work. After telling them that was unacceptable and threatening to pursue other alternatives, they still only offered to refund the price of the system itself, but all the install and parts would not be refunded. When I asked for an explanation we were told we could not have a refund because the install was completed. But our argument is that it was never completed properly, and even did damage to our vehicle! We asked to speak with the corporate employee who was making this decision and were told they could not provide that information and that this was their final decision. We would even have to sign a waiver absolving them of all responsibility to get what they were offering. So basically we end up paying several hundred dollars for absolutely nothing and have no recourse for future action!

We have been loyal Best Buy customers and have spent 10s of thousands of dollars at their store. We buy all of our electronics and appliances from them, and to be treated this way over a few hundred dollars is insulting. I was hoping the Consumerist would be able to assist and provide the proper contact to help get this issue resolved.

Install fee: $147.73
Keyless System: $137.40
Install Module: $22.16
Materials Charge: $3.69
Extra Keyfob they destroyed to install: $61.52
Repairs at dealership for wiring system: $90.00

Total money out was $464.50 + tax
Offered by Bestbuy: $227.40 back and they take the system
Total out: $237.10 and we have nothing to show for it but trouble!

For starters, don't sign any waivers, and don't let Best Buy claim brownie-points for effort. They failed to install a working system. They can either refund all your money, or you can file a chargeback.

Don't waste time reasoning with a manager whose only interested is covering his own ass. Instead, politely address your request to Best Buy's higher-ups.

(Photo: Getty)

The store manager gave Michael two options: he could keep and use the dinged-up appliances until Home Depot found suitable replacements, or he could come back to the store and pick out new models that were in stock. She "even offered that should the only models they have in stock be slightly more expensive, that I would be upgraded free of charge."

The 'slightly more expensive' models ended up being $800 more expensive, a difference the manager approved "without hesitation." She then refunded the delivery fee.

Here's what Michael wrote to Home Depot's CEO:

Hello Mr. Blake.

I am writing to express both my satisfaction and displeasure with my Home Depot experience. First, the facts. My wife and I purchased a set of front-loading washer/dryers on May 6th for $1,293. Since they were not in stock, we made a "special order". We were given a delivery estimate of 5 business days. The first time our order was received at the local store, (Garden City, KS) it was damaged. We received a call from the store informing us of this. We were told our only option was to wait for a 2nd order. When we asked if this order could be expedited, and if our order could arrive quickly, the store's response was "Well... I hope so." Today, May 23rd, I checked my order status online, in hopes of finally receiving our appliances soon. I saw a notice of ANOTHER cancellation and subsequent re-order. I was not informed of this by the store. I called the store, spoke with a special order representative, and was told that yes, our order again came in damaged. Again I was told that I needed to wait on a re-order. At this point I called Home Depot's 1-800 number to ask for assistance in this matter. I am 100% satisfied with the help I've received from the staff at the 800 number. (More on them later, I will first continue with the bad...) After their intervention, I was told that I would receive a call from the store within 2 hours, and that they were searching stock for a similar set of appliances in the same price range. This was at 11:15 AM. It is now approaching 5:30 PM, and I just got off the phone with the Garden City Home Depot. The only reason they EVER called is because I again had the help at the 800 number intervene. (2 hours indeed...) On the phone, I was informed by "Justin" that there was in fact a washer/dryer set, the same models that I ordered, in stock that could be delivered. This leaves me puzzled, so I ask Justin how this could be. (When I came into the store, they weren't in stock. Both the first and second shipments were damaged. How could they be in stock?) Justin's response was "I wish I could tell you". In addition, he informs me that delivery can't be made until Tuesday... 4 days from now. I am to report to Home Depot later tonight to inspect the appliances for damage.

It's going on 3 weeks since I made this purchase. This washer/dryer set isn't a luxury item like a DVD player or a pair of shoes. This is something I ordered because my family NEEDS these appliances. Mooching off of co-workers to get laundry done is not a past-time of mine. Having said that, I am very upset that the exact models I ordered are sitting in stock at the Garden City Home Depot. Have they been there the whole time? Why did I have to escalate the situation to even find out that they were there? Do you even care if my order is ever fulfilled?

Now, I promised that there was an aspect of my experience that has been satisfactory, so here goes. Abdi (Extension 41553) at customer care has tried very hard to rectify this situation. He has been sympathetic of my problem. He has called to check on me nearly every 2 days since my first busted shipment. He as intervened for me when the Garden City staff proved that they were completely indifferent to my needs. He has even returned my calls when he said he would! Go figure! He has been the only one to get answers out of this local store, since all that they'll tell me to do is to wait for the next shipment. My order experience continues to worsen, but Abdi has been trying his damnedest to help me out. I very much appreciate his attempts, even though they have proven essentially fruitless to this point. Kudos to Abdi and the entire staff at the 800 number's customer care.

I sincerely apologize for having taken up so much of your time with this lengthy letter, Mr. Blake. I just thought you might like to know the that the level of support at the local store and at phone support are polar opposites. I am enthralled with the special care with which Abdi has handled my case. Conversely, I am thoroughly disappointed with the care I received at the Garden City store. My saga isn't over yet, and I have a feeling in the pit of my stomach that it will only get worse from here. And despite the excellence of your 800 number's staff, I can not in good conscience ever recommend the Home Depot to friends or family again. And I can never again shop there myself, the taste in my mouth right now won't allow it. Good day.

Sincerely,

Michael

Notably, Michael launched the Executive Email Carpet Bomb before reaching a seemingly final resolution. We usually recommend that you exhaust all normal customer service channels—in this case, returning to the store—before launching an EECB, but Michael's timing clearly worked out well.

His letter is spot-on, highlighting Home Depot's customer service shortfalls while remaining reasonable. Michael comes off as a customer that you would want to help, which made it easy for Frank Blake to respond with this:

Michael: I apologize for the bad experience you've had. And I thank you that in the middle of it, you still took the time to recognize one of our Customer Care associates. I will have someone contact you as soon as possible to address this problem and if you're not satisfied with the resolution, please let me know directly. – Frank Blake

Here is the response from the store manager:

My name is Jan Morgan, the store mngr at the GC Home Depot. I am trying to contact you to set up the delv of your appliances. I understand that Justin asked if you could look at the product before we deliver. If this is not able to happen, that is ok, the driver will wait while you look them over.

From the research I did on why this set is at the store, this is a canceled order from another customer that was upgraded again due to received damage.

Looking forward to speaking with you to correct this situation.
Jan Morgan
Store Manager
2219 Home Depot
Garden City, Ks.
620-275-5943

By 9:30 the morning after I sent my letter, I had these responses as well as a missed call from the Garden City, KS store manager. When speaking with the manager, Ms. Morgan, I was given the option of accepting the busted merchandise to use at home until a satisfactory shipment was received. I declined, and countered that instead, we could replace the models I chose with something of comparable value that was in stock. She agreed, and even offered that should the only models they have in stock be slightly more expensive, that I would be upgraded free of charge. Awesome!

I showed up at the store about an hour later, and from then on was taken care of by Stan and Sarah. After searching their stock for me, they found that there were no front loading washer/dryers in stock. They then offered to give me floor models instead, should I find their condition to be acceptable. At this point I say that whatever is closest in price to what I originally purchased is fine. They directed me to a set of LG's, priced at $699 a piece. This would have been a comp of hundreds of dollars, so I was delighted to accept their offer. The floor models had been stacked onto each other for display, and had seemed to be in great shape. When they were taken down for shipment however, it was revealed that these were also damaged! Having been stacked for so long the bottom appliance had significant damage on top. At this point Stan says, "Well, what about the grey ones? Are they OK?". I replied that yes, that would be fine. Soon after saying this, I realize that the sticker price on these appliances is $999, and $899 respectively. Holy crap! (GE Washer model WCVH6800J0MS, Dryer model DCVH680EJ0MS) When Sarah informs Stan of the difference in price between these models and the ones I purchased, (At about $530 a piece) and if she should just write-off the difference, he says yes without hesitation. As we finalize our exchange I thank them both profusely for helping us so much. I'm still stunned as I'm writing this letter that this worked out so well.

I will be writing Mr. Blake back to let him know what happened, and that despite what was said in the letter, I will indeed be purchasing from Home Depot again. How could I not? You have no idea how guilty I felt throughout the process. I mean, that's almost an $800 difference! They even refunded the delivery charge!

I didn't expect in my wildest dreams for my EECB to turn into this. Thank you so much consumerist!

We knew EECBs worked; we've seen the results; but even we didn't think they worked this well! Great work, Home Depot!

(Photo: ZacharyTirrell)

I was wandering around Best Buy yesterday here in Missouri when we came across this. Essentially, the back of this "open box" tagged computer was completely broken off. I realize that this may indeed be the nature of "open box" product, but seriously... 1700 dollars for a computer with this kind of blatant damage?

You'll also notice that it is marked neither damaged or missing parts...

Newegg, however, is charging $40 more for an undamaged version. Seems worth it to us, but what do we know. At least they're not charging more this time.

The full repair bill is posted on 8thCivic's forums.

VTECnical's Circuit City Road Shop installation [8thCivic.com]

On Sept 30, 2007, I rented a 24ft Budget Truck for the purpose of moving myself and my roommates from one apartment to another. Upon rental, I opted for the optional damage waver/insurance and was informed that that waver specifically did not cover overhead damage. I proceeded with the normal inspection, noting minor wear and tear that I could see as well as graffiti damage to the truck.

While driving, I was extremely careful to observe all overhead clearances, and did not drive the truck under any bridge where it could be "clipped". Upon return of the truck, the rental agent immediately asks me what I hit, because he notices damage to the top of the truck. Incredulous, I answer that the only thing I could have hit were low-slung city trees. What looked like a minor scrape from ground level was pointed out to me, and I doubted that a tree could make that kind of damage, but there it was.

Upon returning to the inside of the office, I am informed by the Budget Agent, Dennis Neuhauser, that I had 2 options: 1) That I could pay $670 for the damage immediately up front and resolve the claim or 2) I could go through Budget Corporate, which could potentially cost me "thousands of dollars". Although I was wary of the origins/cause of the damage, I was put under extreme duress by the draconian options presented to me by the rental agent. Fearing the prospect of having to pay "thousands of dollars", I opted to pay the $670 and wash my hands of the damages. My roommate was there to witness the offer and the terms that were presented to me, and it was made clear that, by choosing to pay immediately, I could resolve myself of this issue (that was the only reason why I chose to).

November 28, 2007, I receive a Vehicle Damage Claim from Budget Corporate seeking an additional $1,910.93 for damages to the truck, for a total of $2,080.93 once the $670 I already paid was factored in. I am also sent the estimate/invoice for the repair of the truck, as well as low-res black and white images of the damage areas. This invoice has 20 line items, 12 which are marked as "judgment items". Even things that I had marked on the original inspection form as pre-existing, such as the graffiti, were included on the claim I am on the hook for. The estimate itself is dated more than 2 weeks after I returned the truck, 10/17/2007, meaning I have no way of knowing if any of that additional damage was incurred by other drivers and/or was pre-existing, since I was never given any opportunity to inspect the roof, which is where all the damage was.

I think it is pretty clear from the confluence of these circumstances that Budget is trying to frame me for charges that could have no way been incurred while I was driving the truck for a few hours. I did not hit any structures, and the damages are shown at multiple, un-related points. They clearly just wanted to fix the entire truck and pin it on my rental. This is already in addition to the fraudulent verbal contract I was offered by the agent and the coercing of an immediate payment which was obviously made no difference in the handling of the claim.

In response to the claim letter I had been sent, I wrote a letter in response outlining my objections and demanding a refund of the $670 to pursue my legal options. I have been sent 3 more letters demanding that I respond to the claim, and I have sent 3 letters in response, all of which are documented as confirmed delivered. Given my experiences with Budget thus far, I wanted all communications about this claim to be delivered in a form that could be documented, such as postal mail. All letters have been ignored, and I have just received a final notice claiming that I have made no attempt to contact the company in regard to this claim, which I obviously have. They are threatening to report the charges to a collection agency and destroy my credit. I have even emailed the truck claims examiner, Janice Messinger, directly at her janice.messinger@avisbudget.com email address, and that too has gone unanswered. All I'm faced with is a destroyed credit report if I do not pay by February 25, 2008 at 5:00pm. I am writing this because I feel it is necessary for this story to be publicized to let other know how Budget treats its customers. I don't know how else I can go about resolving this problem. I have been clear in all letters and emails that I am not running away from the claim, but I am challanging it. That said my responses are being stonewalled at every turn. Thanks in advance for any attention you might be able to give my story.

These pictures show damage to multiple points on the roof, and the damages look like they were incurred by multiple collisions, since hitting or scraping one structure, like a bridge, for example (which I didn't even do), wouldn't result in points of impact this varied. In addition, the cracking peeling of the top paneling appears as just wear and tear, and the graffiti is something I noted on the inspection form. They are charging me for ALL of it.

Kevin's story is a sad reminder to take a mess of pictures of any rental before driving away to establish a baseline to dispute any fraudulent claims. From the look of it, Budget is trying to bully Kevin into underwriting a batch of unrelated and overdue repairs. Sending disputes via certified mail is the right move, as is keeping a meticulous record of any documents. If they push the matter further, it may be necessary to consult a lawyer.

Last year we had Orkin come and get rid of a termite problem in our 60 year old house. It is a small three bedroom house and we were putting concrete siding on and discovered some termite trails. We spent around $1,700 for what we were told by the sales man and his supervisor was a life time guarantee. Its been a year and I just got a bill for $214 including tax for the yearly Orkin termite service. I was told by customer service and my local Orkin office that in order to keep my lifetime guarantee I need to pay the $214 for as long as I live in the house.

We headed over to Orkin's website and found it suspicious that they have a nifty graphic of their "guarantee" directly on their home page, but neither it nor anything else on the website links to any details on just what, exactly, they guarantee.

On the rest of the web, we found some troubling info from six years ago, when Orkin settled with five states and District of Columbia regarding misrepresentation of its guarantee:

The company was accused of misleading consumers by representing that its "Orkin Foam System" would keep termites from ever returning, when, in fact, this claim could not be substantiated. In addition, Orkin's advertising implied that its service came with a full warranty when, in fact, it did not.

The settlement prohibits Orkin from:

• Representing that its subterranean termite control services are certain to be effective in preventing or eliminating an infestation unless Orkin is able to support such a claim by credible scientific evidence;
• Misrepresenting the terms of its guarantees or warranties for its subterranean termite control services; and,
• Advertising a "guarantee" unless it is accompanied by a "limited guarantee" or "limited warranty" disclosure and clearly directs consumers to carefully read the guarantee before purchase.

We think you might want to review the fine print on your contract or agreement to see what exactly was guaranteed, and if you were told something different then talk to a lawyer about your options.

(Thanks to Chris!)

"TERMITE CONTROL GUARANTEE QUESTIONED" [New York State Office of the Attorney General]

RELATED
"Orkin under siege" [Creative Loafing Atlanta]

She immediately called the cable company. She said she spoke to two different people, one who said he was a manager, and was told there was nothing the company could do.

"They said I would have to take the bill and turn it in to my insurance company," Beam said.

"We understand this is an unusual situation," Celeste Flynn, director of public affairs for Time Warner Cable, told the Kenosha News. "All they will need to do is call and we will take the equipment off their account."

Cable TV bills with a twist [KenoshaNews]

UPDATE: Alex from Time Warner Cable writes in to confirm that it's TWC's policy to waive charges in the event of a disaster.

• An unused bracket bolted to the side of her home, then abandoned.

• Holes drilled without permission.

• Outlets left hanging, unattached to the wall.

• A DirecTV installer who prefers Coke to water and wonders aloud several times why Christy is not making lunch for her son, then

• Asks Christy to fill out his paperwork.

• Leaves his signal box at her home. Leaves. Calls. Comes back. Leaves. Calls again. Asks if she's seen his shovel.

Read Christy's tale of woe inside.

Christy writes:

So my husband just switched jobs from Cox Media to a local tv station and we lost all of our free cable benefits. We started shopping around and decided to try DirectTV. They were offering many rebates and specials which were cheaper than cable. They advertise a lot about "professional" installation and quality signal, so we decided to give it a shot. Mistake? Oh hell yes...

We placed our order online and secured an installation date quickly. The soonest they could come out was in five days, but we were ok with that. The DirectTV tech shows up during the appropriate time period. I show him the rooms we want the receivers in (two) and he begins what will end up lasting SIX HOURS.

Within 15 minutes of being at my home, the tech looks exhausted so I offer him water. That began a snowball effect. I will refer back to that later. He asks about an old dish that is on my roof and I told him it was from a previous owner and was not working. I asked him if he'd be installing the new one on the roof. He said no. They do not install on any rooftops. So he then told me that it would be placed on the side of my house. The side of my house is blocked my many trees and a large overhang. I figured he knew what he was doing though. Boy was I wrong...

Apparently the little signal box he had was not used prior to drilling a bracket into the side of my home. He drilled into my house, placed a bracket there, THEN decided that there was no signal there! (By the way, the bracket is STILL there... just an eyesore on the side of my home, dishless...). After about an hour, he tells me that he will need to place the dish on a pole in my yard. He wants to place it out in the middle of part of my yard. I'm not thrilled about this and I ask him if that's my only option. He says yes. I told him to put it as close to my house as possible.

Next issue is installation into our bedroom. I didn't think it would be a problem since the old cable line was run from the outside. That could just be replaced right? Pfft! He started talking about running a "flatline" through my window. I asked if the window would be able to close completely and he told me yes. He said he needed to do this since I had a DVR in that room and it needed two lines. I said fine and he proceeded to start in that room. Later I come back into the room to find a huge hole in the wood under my window that he decided to drill without my permission! This hole becomes home to my new outlet which as shown in the picture, just hangs beautifully from my wall. And yes, he just left it like that.

Now for our living room. My husband already had a line fished through our wall in order to run computer cable so the tech had it easy. Or so you would think. We are now about 4 hours into installation and he asks for something to drink. I offered him more bottled water, but he asked for a "soda or something else". Fine. Gave him a Coke. He goes back out and into the attic for room number 2. But not before asking me for duct or electrical tape and a flashlight. (Don't these guys have their own crap?).

He then runs the line along the back of our house and in through an attic vent. My husband is home for lunch at this point as is asking why he is doing it that way. He said is standard procedure because they want to try not to cause any damage (HAHA) to the home if at all possible. So now we have a hole in our bedroom wall and a line that is run as sloppy as possible along the back of our home. At this point he has tools all over my home, a sweaty towel on my kitchen counter top, and he proceeds to ask me to fill out the paperwork HE is supposed to fill out.

He gives me the papers and tells me to fill out my information at the top. I hand it back to him and he then gives me the bar codes from my boxes and tells me to fill out all of that information on the middle of the sheet. He's now been here for almost 6 hours. He starts to make comments about the lunch I am not making for my son. MULTIPLE TIMES. I am at the point where I am BEYOND wanting him gone. I start to help him gather all of this stuff that is inside my home while he's getting everything outside. I didn't even make him clean up where he drilled the hole. I swept it up myself. He needed to go before I lost it. He hands me the DirectTV folder as I escort him out the door. Is it over? Oh but of course not!

He calls me back about an hour later asking me to look for his signal box. I finally find it in the backyard. He asks me to leave it at my front door. I ask him about my tape he borrowed and he informs me that he left it in my attic. Thanks. Then my husband gets home and loses it when he sees the damage done. On top of that, our dish has been installed pointing towards a wall and our signal is crappy. Then if a cloud crosses the little signal we do have, it's gone. Oh and I forgot, he told me we had 197% signal strength. Now that's some serious signal huh??

So now we call DirectTV. We are told to begin a lengthy damage claims process. We have to take pictures, write a detailed letter describing what was done, and send all of that in. I take the pictures and do as I am instructed. Now what about our crappy signal and getting the installation fixed. Oh well they will come out in another week to handle that. That's supposed to happen tomorrow. In the meantime I am speaking to DirectTV about four times a day.

Waiting to hear from Supervisors... Telling my story over and over again (apparently they don't note accounts very well)... Trying to make sure the same idiot doesn't come back to my home. And then I get a call two days later. It's the original tech! He lost his shovel and thinks it's at my house. I mean seriously... So now I wait. Supposedly a Senior Installation Tech (sounds cool huh?) AND a Supervisor will be coming to my home tomorrow between 8-12. Keep your fingers crossed.

— Christy

(Photo: Christy)

I've told them either they are throttling the bandwidth for my neighborhood or it's a problem on the pole going to my house. They had found a problem there previously; apparently it looked like squirrels chewed through the box and severed components. Squirrels are apparently bad-asses when it comes to taking down infrastructures.

Rex writes:

I had problems with Comcast High Speed internet over the period of years using their service. It was the only option for me at the time to use them to get broadband internet in my neighborhood because DSL wasn't available. Over the course of many years using their services, I would get a series of outages. It took them MONTHS to solve this problem until finally it was resolved.

Fast forward to December of last year and the outage issues started all over again. Usually it would be a modem or connection issue (you would see lights blinking on the modem that shouldn't be), but that wasn't the case. The modem was connected and I was just getting a shoddy throughput for my bandwidth. Whether it was low speeds or no response from websites at all, it wasn't working properly. I should also add I bought into Comcast's 8mb down/768k up package, so I thought peak hours wouldn't be an issue.

Over the course of the last three months, I have been on the phones and had people from Comcast at the house 3-4 times at least. Every time is the same problem. When it was on the phones it was "We can contact your modem fine and everything looks good here." If it looked good on my end I wouldn't have called you for the 5th time. And the same with technicians at the house (whom by the way, they outsource now) "Everything looks good, I don't see a problem with the lines, or the modem. Let me switch out your modem anyway though."

I've told them either they are throttling the bandwidth for my neighborhood or it's a problem on the pole going to my house. They had found a problem there previously; apparently it looked like squirrels chewed through the box and severed components. Squirrels are apparently bad-asses when it comes to taking down infrastructures. At any rate, I told the technicians it's either one way or the other. Not once have I seen them even investigate the telephone pole to check the box or line. The last technician at the house said "I'll have my manager look into this." They went so far as to tell me that their manager would come look at the pole. And we never heard a follow-up.

Finally I gave up on them and bought Speakeasy DSL's plan for 6mb down and 768k up at more than I originally paid for Comcast. Is it a loss? I really don't think so when I constantly had people either on the phone or in my face scratching their heads because the problem wasn't escalated. They lost an internet customer. At least with Speakeasy, I've heard their support has won awards and if I run into another problem they might know what to do.

(Photo: are you my rik?)

Has this happened to you?

Here's a site full of angry shuffle owners to commiserate with.
And a poor bastard getting no help from a Mac forum.
And some people bitching at iPodLounge.
Thanks, James!

A big of googling shows other customers experiencing Jerry's same problem.

Buy.com needs to shape up their shipping!

Jerry's email inside.

Jerry writes:

Also, Jerry needs to shape up his spine. If you haven't heard back from an email, call. Getting customer service is all about the three E's: escalation, escalation, escalation.

Dan Lockton's Architectures of Control in Design has a neat riff on our Save A Wet Cellphone post.

Dan says, "As a designer, I would much prefer to look at the problem as "How can we improve the sealing of phones so that water ingress is no longer a major problem?" than "How can we design something to cover our backs and shift all the blame onto the user for our design fault?"

He adds, "Good designers may fix problems, but great designers prevent problems."

Unfortunately, none of the latter seem to be in the employ of cellphone manufacturers.

Most people don't realize that nearly all of the phones that carriers sell today have MULTIPLE liquid damage indicators, and only one is generally visible (under the battery, natch). It's generally true that if the one under the battery is triggered, then odds are very high that the ones inside are triggered as well.

By taping over the thing, or by outright lying, this only results in a delay of the customer being charged a voided-warranty fee, and then tends to result in said customer returning and bitching about a 'mystery charge' they forgot they agreed to accept as a condition of a warranty exchange. Most sales reps aren't going to try to intentionally fuck you by lying about the damage indicator, its just generally easier to break it to you then, and they tend to know when a customer will be charged for something and when you can sneak a 'warranty issue' by the techs (user damages mostly..).

Sometimes, it's just better to accept the hand that fate has dealt you, learn your lesson, and fess to the damage and buy a new phone (extend your contract or don't, you've got a choice, its up to you to accept the discount a contract provides) versus trying to scam the carriers.

Yes, honesty is the best policy. Just because companies lie to us doesn't mean we should start lying to them. Plus, they're sneaky bastards... they usually know.