Consumerist: Follow Up

Verizon Wireless Roadside Assistance Apologizes For Sucking

Chris Walters — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:01:04 EDT

Earlier this month we shared Jason's tale of incompetent Verizon Wireless Roadside Assistance—how the operator "helping" him acted like she'd been huffing paint on her break, and eventually just abandoned him with a "Sorry, I can't help," left on his voicemail. Verizon saw Jason's story and contacted him about it. Below is the follow up he sent us yesterday.

You may remember a few weeks back you posted my blog about being stuck on I-25 in Wyoming and the dismal failure that was Verizon Roadside Assistance. I thought I'd drop you a line and give you an update.

I just got off the phone with a Latrina Jackson, she called to apologize for the troubles I had that day. Apparently someone high up at Verizon Wireless reads The Consumerist. Based on that blog, they have reviewed the call tapes and according to Ms. Jackson, "That call did not go the way it was supposed to." She claims the operator I spoke to that day is no longer taking calls and is being put through their training program again.

In an attempt to make me feel better about the whole ordeal, they took my mailing address and are issuing a check to cover the cost of the fuel delivery. This was way more than I was expecting. I don't know if you guys post updates on these stories, but perhaps your readers would like to know that while I still consider the words, "Can I connect you to Verizon Wireless Roadside Assistance?" a death threat, but at least they can admit when they made a mistake.

Congrats, Jason! We're glad that Verizon Wireless stepped in to make things right, and that they're retraining the CSR who failed to grasp the meaning of "roadside assistance."

Delta Creative Settles With Artist Over Defective Paint Products

Chris Walters — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:18:10 EDT

Remember Vickie and her defective Delta Creative PermEnamel experience? It ruined several of her pieces, not because she applied it incorrectly but because something was wrong with the product. It happens sometimes with products, no big deal. What was a big deal was the company's CEO, Bill George, refused to approve a compensation payment that his employees had already agreed to with Vickie, leaving her with no choice but to contact a lawyer and write to us. It looks like Delta Creative and the artist have now resolved the issue, and she's sent us a statement saying everything has been resolved to her "complete satisfaction."

Vickie writes:

I have used the Delta PermEnamel Products for several years with marvelous results. This was an isolated incident which I would not expect to recur. This isolated incident has been resolved to my complete satisfaction. Thank you, Delta Creative, Inc.

Vickie Silcox/Artist
A Painted Setting

(Photo: Getty Images)

The Mystery Of the 8-Hour RCN Hold Time

Chris Walters — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:21:33 EDT

Last Friday we posted that a customer in D.C. was on hold with RCN's tech support for over 7 hours. (And no, she didn't sit next to the phone that entire time—she periodically checked in to see whether she'd been disconnected, but always heard the same hold music and message.) We received several comments—one from the Senior Director of Operations at RCN—saying that her call had likely been dropped from the system. But Meredith says someone finally did answer her call. Here's her story and the RCN Director's version.

Meredith writes:

An end! 8 hours, 07 minutes, 40 seconds. I heard a female voice click onto the line (had it on high volume, but not on speaker) and before I could stumble across the room to reach it, they hung up. Photo of the screen attached. (I damaged the screen on my phone—the number listed is RCN's tech line, 1-866-832-4726)

As a sidenote, this was sent to me as part of the customer bill of rights by the DC Office of Cable Television:

5. Consumers have the right to speak with a customer service representative by telephone within a reasonable amount of time or in person and receive courteous, professional and knowledgeable assistance from such representative.

Compare that with what Jason at RCN had to say yesterday:

I'm the Sr. Director of Operations here at RCN. I can assure you by no means would this be intentional. I had the engineers check the call queue and at this time we don't even have any calls in queue. Most likely what happened was (although) very unfortunate was this customers call caused some sort of technical glitch and the call was lost in limbo on the support tree. I whole heartedly apologize for the inconveniance but assure you this was not by design but rather a technical glitch if indeed this is a valid claim. I hope to reach this customer and based on her call originating number we can certainly track down where the call ended up. Should you need to reach me, we are always tracking the pulse of the RCN forum at DSL Reports.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/rcn

But your best bet is to hang up and call back as I'm sure you will get an answer.

We want to believe Jason's account, but we're curious about that female voice that Meredith heard before her call was disconnected. Since she didn't disconnect the call herself, it seems likely that either:

1. RCN disconnected the call
2. Her phone company disconnected the call

We don't know what would prompt a carrier to break into a call and disconnect it, but if the call was truly lost on the RCN side of things, then Meredith should have never heard a live voice or been disconnected by RCN. So what happened here? Theories?

Qwest Updates Contact Page To Explain Why They Don't Accept Emails

Chris Walters — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:44:03 EDT

Yesterday we noted that Qwest has done away with their "email us" option on their contact page, and in a comical example of corporate doublespeak they'd printed, "Your questions and concerns are very important to us, however we are no longer able to respond to email." Today it looks like Qwest has changed that pop-up window to provide a little more information.

Now it reads,

Your questions and concerns are very important to us.

In an effort to provide a faster response, and to ensure your personal security, we ask that you please use our online chat (available on most pages in the upper right corner), call or visit us at one of our retail locations. This will ensure the most complete and timely response to your questions and concerns.

Well, at least now they've provided an explanation (and there's at least one reader who agrees with them).

Remember, if you've tried to resolve a problem with your Qwest account and haven't had any luck, you can always try one of the people listed in their corporate directory.

(Photo: Getty)

Circuit City Says Rogue Firedog Was Wrong, Refunds $40 'Repair' Fee

Chris Walters — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:25:06 EDT

Last week we wrote about a Circuit City customer who was charged $40 without warning for "repairs" to a brand new computer. We received several explanations from Circuit City insiders, both in the comments and through email, that the repair was mandatory—Acer and Circuit City had agreed that instead of pulling the PCs, the retailer's Firedog techs would flash the BIOS in-store upon purchase. What was unclear was how or why this would fall under the Firedog "Quickstart" service, which is optional and includes things like removing shortcuts from your desktop and setting up your background. (Seriously, check it out here.) Yesterday we received the following interesting email from Circuit City HQ.

Jim at Circuit City's consumer affairs division wrote,

I have some follow-up information on this matter to share with you.

Thanks to your Web posting, we have been able to determine that a few employees at one of our stores incorrectly charged a customer for work that our firedog techs did on the computer that he purchased. The manufacturer notified us that the PC in question did need a repair and we coordinated the repairs with the manufacturer. The customer should NOT have been charged.

We have reached out to the affected customer to apologize to him for any inconvenience and to make sure a refund is provided. We have also taken steps to ensure that our associates are aware of company policies on this issue.

I hope this information is helpful,
Jim

Frankly, we were suspicious that Circuit City was taking advantage of the faulty PC inventory to make a little extra money, so we're happy to see the company step up and correct this oversight so quickly.

CompUSA Repairs Laptop After New TAP Company Refuses

Chris Walters — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:57:38 EDT

Assurant Solutions, the company that's supposed to be honoring any outstanding TAP agreements with former CompUSA customers, likes to refuse service for arbitrary reasons. Luckily for TAP-holders, CompUSA has said it will honor any TAP agreements if Assurant doesn't. The guy with the broken laptop wrote back to let us know that CompUSA indeed came through for him after every attempt he made with Assurant ended in rejection.

I'd just like to follow up with you guys after you were nice enough to post my story and get me help (incredibly quickly!). You guys were able to connect me to Lonny Paul at CompUSA who was able to support my warranty directly. I have my new adapter for my laptop (which I'm using now!), and everything is back to normal. Now, I am very satisfied by the level of support provided by the new CompUSA, however I feel Assurant Solutions is lacking. I would have a expensive Toshiba paperweight if it weren't for you guys, and I really appreciate all the help you guys have given me. Keep up the good work!

Remember, if you can't get anywhere with good-for-nothing Assurant Solutions on your TAP agreement, and you've got a legitimate repair, call CompUSA. From their director of e-commerce:

The All-New CompUSA would like to help ANYONE having issues with service and we hope they will contact our customer service department at 1-800-COMPUSA if they cannot have their issue resolved directly by Assurant.

(Photo: Getty)

EBay Decides To Contact Tim About His Laptop Auction Problems

Chris Walters — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:07:29 EDT

Timothy, our hapless eBay seller who kept having problems listing his laptop on the auction site, was contacted by a Real Live Human from eBay the day after we posted his story. "Garrison" apologized for the frustration, and said he'd be making a note on Timothy's account to keep it from getting shut down by other agents. He also suggested several listing options that were pretty well-covered by our commenters in the original thread.

Here's Tim's email:

Just FYI: I have listed the auction for a sixth time (mostly because I think it’s funny now to watch eBay have to refund my listing fees repeatedly). About 15 hours after you posted the story, I got the following email from a human being at eBay:

Dear Timothy,

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to the issues with the laptop computer you have tried to sell.

I have taken the time to review your account and would first like to apologize for the frustration this has caused you. It is very understandable that you would feel upset with the current activity and circumstances on your account.

Your auction was removed because there were concerns that a third party was potentially accessing your account and attempting to list the laptop for sale. Please understand that the precautions that were taken were with the intent of protecting your account.

I will be adding documentation to your account to alert eBay agents that you are the legitimate owner of the account and are the one listing the laptop for sale.

I would like to share some recommendations with you about some features that could possibly assist you if decide to list your laptop computer for sale again. First, you may want to use a feature called a bidder block. To find out more about it and how it works, you might want to consider looking at the information in the eBay Help pages, at this
link:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html

You could also do a search for "bidder block" in the search field and that would bring up more information about the process as well.

Another feature that I would like to recommend would be the "Requiring Immediate Payment" feature. Detailed information about this feature can be found at:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/immediatepayment.html

This feature requires that a person make payment immediately after clicking on the Buy It Now button. The payment must be made with PayPal, and your auction will remain open until the payment is made.

Although this is not available for an auction-style listing, if there is a set price you would be willing to sell your laptop for it could help with the problems you've mentioned.

Please consider these as options if you decide to list any merchandise with eBay in the future.

Your trust and confidence is valued by us. We want to earn that trust and confidence once again.

It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay.

Sincerely,

Garrison
eBay Customer Support

Thanks for your help getting a real response from them!
Tim

Follow Up: AT&T Says There's No Activation Fee For GoPhones

Chris Walters — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:02:52 EDT

Earlier this week we posted an email from a man who said an AT&T salesman tried to charge him an "activation fee" to switch his daughter's already-active SIM card to a GoPhone. We got a lot of useful (if sometimes contradictory) advice from readers in the comments section, and now an AT&T spokesman has written in with an official statement about it.

Saw your GoPhone post. I work with AT&T Corporate Communications, and wanted to clarify our policy related to this.
There is no activation fee with GoPhone. Customers can buy the GoPhone and activate but they cannot use service until they add airtime to their account. Customers can buy airtime for as little as $15 in over 200K locations. We do offer a promotion where if you buy $25 worth of airtime to start we will give you $10 in bonus airtime.

Customers also have an option if they are looking for a replacement device for postpaid to buy a Nokia 2610 for $39.99 in COR and not sign a contract extension. That program launched in mid-January.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Brad

So there you have it: if your existing postpaid phone goes kaput and you don't want to switch to the GoPhone program, buy the $40 Nokia 2610 from AT&T. Or just buy a cheap unlocked phone elsewhere—our readers left various tips on where to find them.