Bill wants to publicly praise a store that went above and beyond to make him happy after his Palm Pre failed during the holidays. He writes that the store employees put in extra effort on December 26th, a hectic retail day, to make sure that he received the phone he needed in a timely manner. That store was… Radio Shack. [More]
How David Got A New Laptop From HP
By December 30, 2009
David and his wife got stuck with one of HP’s lemon laptops, and since the repairs just kept involving more faulty parts, they weren’t solving the real problem. Here’s how he eventually got a brand new laptop–different model–from HP. [More]
Stroller Company Maclaren Knew About Amputation Risk 5 Years Ago
By November 12, 2009
The British company Maclaren knew that its recently recalled strollers could potentially lop off a tot’s fingertips over five years ago, reports the New York Post, but it didn’t bother to alert the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
Toyota Says It's Not Hiding Anything In Runaway Cars Investigation
By November 5, 2009
One of Toyota’s execs said today that the company isn’t covering up information about its suddenly accelerating cars, but the Department of Transportation doesn’t seem to agree.
Shop At A Dollar Store, Gamble On Quality
By October 8, 2009
Marlene Alexander will buy pretty much anything, at least once, from her local dollar store. Then depending on how well it holds up, she might write about it to warn others. She’s put together a list of some of the biggest dollar store failures she’s encountered over the past year.
Skullcandy Lifetime Warranty Means You'll Wait Your Lifetime For A Replacement
By July 31, 2009
There is a guy at Skullcandy named Joe, and he is in charge of their warranty fulfillment program. He is overworked. Why, just on this one warranty replacement story, he’s had to deal with the same customer over and over and over, and the customer still hasn’t gotten a replacement earbud set for the one that broke last November. Wentao writes, “I am also moving out of the country in 10 days, so I will probably never see the headphones I paid for ever again.”
Buying A 2010 Chevy Camaro? Take This 68-Point Checklist With You
By July 21, 2009
Some Camaro fans at Camaro5 have put together a list of owner-submitted things to watch out for with the new Camaro. Although they point out that not every other Camaro that rolls off the line is a bucket of fail—this isn’t the Xbox 360, after all—there do seem to be enough first year production issues that you should inspect the vehicle very carefully before leaving the dealership.
Don't Put Too Much Faith In Select Comfort's 20-Year Warranty
By July 13, 2009
If you’re thinking of buying a Select Comfort mattress, you might want to budget in an extra $200+ every couple of years to replace the controllers that let you adjust the bed. That’s the commitment Henry seems to be stuck with. Although Select Mattress keeps telling him it’s a rare occurrence, it’s happened twice now with him with both controllers, and he’s not the only one.
RadioShack Sells Defective Pre As New, Gets Caught
By June 16, 2009
Eric bought a Palm Pre from RadioShack this past weekend, but maybe he shouldn’t have. Or maybe RadioShack should make sure that when a phone is returned as defective, it’s not sent back out to the first unsuspecting customer as a brand new device.
Gamestop Ruins Yet Another Customer Experience
By May 12, 2009
Sometimes we think Gamestop is run by some sort of secret cabal of anti-videogame fanatics, and they use the store as a front to spread hatred of games and game purchasing across America.
LG Refrigerator Causes Flash Floods, Mini-Glaciers
By May 4, 2009
Jason’s refrigerator wouldn’t work correctly, no matter how many times it was repaired. Eventually, Best Buy had to intervene. Yes, that Best Buy.
Panasonic Won't Replace Defective DVD/VCR Combo
By April 30, 2009
David in Massachusetts bought a Panasonic combination VCR/DVD player about a year ago. It came with a special feature none of his previous Panasonic VCRs had: it randomly freezes. A lot.
Dell Breaks Customer's New Laptop Remotely, Won't Send Him Replacement
By April 20, 2009
Anthony has been a long-time Dell customer and has shared his positive experiences with friends and family, but that’s come to an end thanks to Dell’s abysmal customer service. It’s been one month since he first received his new Studio 15 Laptop, which worked correctly for 4 days. Since then, he’s been on the phone with Dell for a total of 14 hours, he’s watched a Dell CSR remotely break his laptop by interrupting the BIOS flash, he’s been locked out of the data on his hard drive, and there’s still no replacement laptop on the way to him. When he copied us on this email, he added, “All I wanted was the computer that I paid for long ago.”
EECB Over Xbox 360 Keeps Getting Bounced Back As Spam
By February 2, 2009
Those wily Xbox 360 gremlins are at it again, and this time they’re cracking Michael’s game discs in little spokes along the inner ring of each disc. His customer service call went nowhere, naturally, so someone on the Penny Arcade forum where he posted his story suggested an Executive Email Carpet Bomb. The only problem is, it keeps getting sent back as spam.
Netflix Mails "Do Not Rent" Screener Disc To Customer
By September 24, 2008
I just got “The Rules Of Attraction” from Netflix and it’s a screener disc. As a matter of fact, 3 or 4 times through the movie, 5-10 minute sections of the movie have “This is the property of Lion’s Gate Films, This disc is not to be sold or rented”. Interestingly, it was a 2 sided DVD and when I watched the 2nd side, it was a test pattern. No extras, no subtitles, no language options. Just the movie with legal disclaimers overlaid throughout.
It Took 10 Emails, 4 Faxes, 40 Phone Calls and 7 Months To Get Acer To Replace Laptop
By May 1, 2008
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.
