Reader L. needed help from AT&T. Local stores refused him a warranty repair on his Samsung Galaxy S4, saying that he had obviously dropped it and cracked the screen. He insists that he did not, and escalated, drafting a letter to a few top AT&T executives. Within a day, he had a response, a new phone, and an apology. [More]
eecbs
How An EECB To DirecTV Gave Me A Glimpse Into An Alternate Reality
By 6.12.13
Eric was living in two different realities simultaneously. In one, he was a frustrated DirecTV customer who was trying to get new and modern equipment by using the regular customer service channels, and no one would help him. In the other timeline, he was a Consumerist reader who had fired off an Executive E-mail Carpet Bomb when DirecTV couldn’t get it together and had an installer right there in his house within only a few hours. [More]
The EECB Gets T-Mobile Off My Back, $300 Refund
By 5.3.13
By harnessing the power of the executive e-mail carpet bomb, D. was able to end a nine-month “saga” with T-Mobile in less than 24 hours. “Go away,” they said (we’re paraphrasing.) “We didn’t take $297 from you without your permission.” Only they kinda did. [More]
How I Straightened Out A Verizon FiOS Mess With A Single E-Mail
By 3.6.13
Edwin wanted to stay with Verizon FiOS, but they didn’t want to stay with him as he moved to a new city. He tried, really, he did. Before packing it all in and giving up on Big Fiber, he tried what is a standard move to Consumerist users but a little more novel to most people. That is, of course, the executive e-mail carpet bomb. [More]
Customer Pens Break-Up Letter To Frontier Communications CEO, Gets Positive Response
By 2.22.13
We’ve written before about the perils of authoring angry, profane rants at the companies that do nothing but disappoint. But we didn’t really say anything about tongue-in-cheek, purple prose that treats one’s relationship with his DSL provider like it’s a Harlequin romance novel (minus the steamy parts). [More]
Sprint Authorized Retailer Promises No Activation Fees, Guess What Happens Next
By 1.3.13
Tom had a problem with Sprint: an authorized retailer had broken a promise and/or set up his phone upgrade incorrectly. He set out to remedy it by deploying an exquisitely crafted executive e-mail carpet bomb. Now, when you deploy an EECB, we recommend that you provide relevant details, but also that you open with a short executive summary so that the busy people you’re emailing (or their busy underlings) can get a quick idea of what you’re complaining about, and route it to the correct person instead of immediately trashing your missive.
If you spend a lot of time online, think of an executive summary as a “tl;dr” summary that you put first, instead of at the end. Combine that with a clear letter and spelling out his (quite reasonable) expectations, and it’s no wonder that Sprint whipped a response and a resolution to him within the hour. [More]
EECB Saves Nexus 10 Owner From Restocking Fee
By 12.21.12
Shaunessy was displeased with his Nexus 10 tablet, and customer service couldn’t help. The tablet they set had light bleed around the edges: sort of a glowing gap at the corners. He returned the tablet to get a replacement, less glowy device, but the new one had the same problem as well. He gave up on the prospect of Nexus ownership, but there was a catch: returning both tablets meant paying a 15% restocking fee, or about $75. That struck Shaunessy as unfair, so he decided to appeal his case to a higher authority: a mass mailing to a dozen Google executives. [More]
I Got Verizon To Restore My Unlimited Data With An Amusing EECB
By 10.22.12 — Updated: 11.6.12
JC had been limping along with the same smartphone since 2008. The same smartphone, but with an unlimited data plan at Verizon. He had the horrible choice when picking out a new phone: accept a limited data plan, or pay full price for his phone. He chose to send a sarcastic letter to Verizon instead. [More]
Letter To Verizon CEO Solves Website Bug, Gets Customer Best FiOS Pricing
By 7.12.12
Dariush was pretty happy with his Verizon FiOS Internet service. He wanted to become even happier, and add voice phone service to his plan. But Verizon’s site and customer service reps weren’t about to let him talk on the phone at the advertised “new customer” price, which he should get, as a new voice customer. Did he whimper, walk away, and keep the subpar VoIP service that he had been using? No. He took his complaint to the very top, e-mailing the Verizon CEO. And he got results. [More]
How An EECB Rescued 120 Points On My Credit Score
By 6.27.12
Here’s what Matthew learned from his experience with Time Warner Cable: if you’re told not to return a piece of equipment that your cable company or ISP has issued you, don’t believe a word that they say. He was told that he didn’t need to return an aged cable modem, so he didn’t. TWC rewarded him with a collection notice and a huge hit to his credit score. How did he fix the problem so he could take out a loan and buy a house? The executive e-mail carpet bomb, of course. [More]
EECB Makes Lowe's Actually Care About Leaving My Parents Without Screen Door
By 5.29.12
Bree was really frustrated with the way Lowe’s was treating her parents after they purchased a new screen door and installation service from their local store. She decided that it was time to fight back on her parents’ behalf, arming herself with contact information for chain executives. She e-mailed them a clear, concise recounting of events, and waited. She didn’t have to wait long: Lowe’s executive customer service team were on the phone to her mom within twelve hours, and a day and a half later someone was at her home, measuring for a new custom screen door. [More]
Verizon Promises Deal To Get You To Stay, Then Pretends It Didn't
By 10.12.11
To keep Andrew from jumping ship to Sprint for cheaper service, the retentions team at Verizon Wireless did its job: they offered him an amazing deal. He could get a $20 data credit per month on each of his smartphone lines as part of an unpublicized promotion. Who wouldn’t take that deal? Unfortunately, it turns out that “unpublicized” now means “Verizon pretends that it doesn’t exist.” Andrew’s not the only one who was promised this deal, and he’s going to fight for it. [More]
Consumerist Techniques Pay Off, Even With Dell
By 9.22.11
When the cooling block of Jeremy’s Alienware computer began to leak, the answer was obvious: call Dell to see whether they would fix what was an obvious and pretty terrible flaw. Dell’s answer was obvious in turn: tell him that the machine was out of warranty and he should go away. But Jeremy thought that a $2,500 computer shouldn’t destroy itself within two years. [More]
EECB To Sony Turns Lemon Laptop Into New Laptop
By 7.28.11
Aaron’s Sony VAIO has failed a few times too many. He faithfully sent it back for repair or had a technician visit his home four times, believing Sony’s promise that the repairs would fix the issue. The last time, it failed during finals week at his college on the East Coast. Sony’s repair depot kept the machine for a month, yet the issue still wasn’t fixed for good. The laptop is now out of warranty, but Aaron had the law on his side. He launched an executive e-mail carpet bomb to some Sony contacts, copying Consumerist. The next day, he heard back from two different people at Sony, offering him a new machine comparable to the one that had failed him. [More]
1 EECB Does What 60 Hours, 40 Calls, And 7 Replacements Couldn't
By 4.8.11
Josh’s phone from Verizon kept crapping out and they kept giving him replacements, which also crapped out. After a year of dealing with this, a friend of his turned him on to the idea of sending an “EECB.” His letter grabbed the CEO of Verizon’s attention, and that’s when he got satisfaction. [More]
EECB Gets Kaiser Permanente's Attention, Reader's $900 Refund
By 4.6.11
Reader Laura had Kaiser Permanente health insurance through her employer. When she lost her job, she paid Kaiser directly for COBRA coverage. She stuck with the company for her employer-subsidized health insurance when she started a new job earlier this year, and was under the impression that the COBRA plan would end when her new coverage began. It didn’t.
When she couldn’t convince anyone in first-line customer service that she really, really didn’t mean to have two separate insurance plans simultaneously, she did some research and launched an executive e-mail carpet bomb at the company, bringing the bureaucratic stupidity to the attention of someone with actual power.
