Consumerist
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Posts Tagged “
Incompetence
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new york city
Pregnant? Asthmatic? Don't Like Rollercoasters? Stay Away From NYC Elevators And Escalators
Unless you're willing to risk being stranded with 14 other passengers several stories underground in a cattle car elevator on a hot summer day, or plunging at extreme speeds down an escalator with a broken chain, you might want to steer clear of NYC's subway system lifts. The New York Times has published the results of an extensive investigation that includes tales of daily breakdowns, comically undertrained mechanics, and about $1 billion spent over the past decade. More »
incompetence
Reader Nicholas is in the military, and while he was serving in Iraq, AT&T decided to give his phone number to another customer. When he returned, he asked for the number back, but was refused. The rep then convinced him that he needed to sign a new 2 year contract in order to reactivate his number. Naturally, right after he did this, his phone broke, and now AT&T is telling him that he'll have to wait until 2009 to get a decent upgrade.
More »
AT&T Loses Your Phone Number While You're Serving In Iraq, Says No Upgrade For You
Reader Nicholas is in the military, and while he was serving in Iraq, AT&T decided to give his phone number to another customer. When he returned, he asked for the number back, but was refused. The rep then convinced him that he needed to sign a new 2 year contract in order to reactivate his number. Naturally, right after he did this, his phone broke, and now AT&T is telling him that he'll have to wait until 2009 to get a decent upgrade.
More »
repairs
Thomas writes in to ask why Time Warner needs to send 12 different technicians to his home to get his Roadrunner speed up to the 10 mbits/sec that they promise in their advertising, as opposed to the 2.5 mbits/sec that he averages. He tallied up some of the more interesting facts from his recent experiences.
More »
Time Warner Sends 12 Techs To Home, But "High Speed" Cable Remains A Fantasy
Thomas writes in to ask why Time Warner needs to send 12 different technicians to his home to get his Roadrunner speed up to the 10 mbits/sec that they promise in their advertising, as opposed to the 2.5 mbits/sec that he averages. He tallied up some of the more interesting facts from his recent experiences.More »
customer service
Jay wanted to update his copy of Adobe Creative Suite 2 to CS3 and simultaneously switch the license over to the Mac platform. The first sales rep he spoke with did everything right and Jay was very happy. Then that sales rep disappeared forever, only to be replaced by a comically inept parade of CSRs who can't figure out Adobe's own systems, who make up their job titles, give out fax numbers to call, and who—in one case—claim to be on a phone system that doesn't connect to the outside world.
More »
Adobe Needs Eight Employees To Completely Screw Up CS3 Cross-Grade
Jay wanted to update his copy of Adobe Creative Suite 2 to CS3 and simultaneously switch the license over to the Mac platform. The first sales rep he spoke with did everything right and Jay was very happy. Then that sales rep disappeared forever, only to be replaced by a comically inept parade of CSRs who can't figure out Adobe's own systems, who make up their job titles, give out fax numbers to call, and who—in one case—claim to be on a phone system that doesn't connect to the outside world.
More »
sabotage
T-Mobile CSR Lies About Making Changes To Account, Causes $75 In Overage Fees
Ric L. is having problems with T-Mobile's CSRs—specifically, they don't seem capable of actually making any changes to his account or recording anything about his calls, and when that leads to $75 in extra fees, they say they can't fix it and offer him "free" text messages. Ric says he suspects the CSR he talked to "takes the responsibilities of his job about as seriously as a cat with a ball of yarn," but we all know that's incredibly disrespectful to cats everywhere, who take their various activities quite seriously. Read Ric's email to T-Mobile after the jump. More »
bad employees
The Worst UPS Store Employee In Brooklyn
Seen and heard on Friday at the UPS store in Park Slope, Brooklyn: More »
mea culpa
Rite Aid District Manager Successfully Handles A Customer Complaint
With all the customer service horror stories we post, you'd think businesses in the United States have lost the ability to treat their customers with respect—and by and large, you'd be right. But every once in a while we get a tip that proves that there are still intelligent, competent people out there who can answer a customer's complaints forthrightly and honestly. That happened over the weekend with Dancing Deer and their shiv-in-the-Blondie incident, and now comes this story of a Rite Aid pharmacy district manager in Seattle and his band of idiots at a specific store.More »
airlines
Delta Now Loses Urine Too
Scott writes,Here's a unique twist on lost airline luggage:More »
incompetence
Bank Says It Has Lost $7 Billion, Blames "Rogue Trader"
The French bank Societe Generale has announced that a trader "concealed massive trading positions built up over 2007 and 2008 through 'a scheme of elaborate fictitious transactions,'" which ended up losing the bank 7.1 billion dollars. That's as much damage by a single employee as the subprime-related losses the bank reported in the past two months. Oops. More »
incompetence
TSA Traveler Website Exposed Private Citizens To Risk Of ID Theft
The Transportation Security Administration's traveler redress website—which was launched to give travelers a way to get their names removed from the government's toddler-centric no fly list—operated for months without proper security in place, leaving citizens who submitted detailed personal information to it wide open to identity theft. Gee, we're this close to thinking that the TSA is run by a bunch of grotesquely incompetent, slug-like bureaucrats. More »
tv
Best Buy CEO Admits They'll Probably Screw Up Digital TV Switchover
Well, at least he's being honest—Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson announced at CES today that the 2009 switchover from analog to digital television (still a year away) poses "one of the biggest risks our industry has," whatever that means. "The number of converter boxes that is going to be required could put tremendous pressure on us." Oh, you mean because you'll have to have them in stock? Interpretation: if you're going to need a converter box or two, you'd better plan on buying them elsewhere. More »
incompetence
Gamestop Screws Up Pre-Orders, Still Hasn't Fixed Them
It almost goes without saying that you should never trust Gamestop, but you'd at least expect them to honor ads that they've approved and printed. Gamestop pre-sold a Consumerist reader the new Medal of Honor game for Xbox 360 back in August. Part of the deal—according to their ad—was a card good for 400 free Marketplace Points for use on Xbox Live. But instead, they cancelled the card from his order, then gave him an incorrect reason for the cancellation, then admitted fault and promised to make everything right. As of today—almost a full month since the game was released—he still hasn't received the points. More »
incompetence
Blockbuster Sends Customer Bootlegged Copy Of Tenchi in Tokyo Three Times
Poor Tinky. All he wanted was for Blockbuster to send him volume two of the Japanese anime Fushingi Yuugi. He ordered the DVD three times, but Blockbuster will only send a Chinese bootleg of Tenchi in Tokyo.Each time, it's been marked in the queue as the wrong disc and sent back. The second time, I sent an email and received a generic response. Today, the third time we've received the same wrong disc, I placed notes on the disc's sleeve and the disc itself, hoping that will get someone's attention [not likely!].If regular customer service won't help fight Chinese bootleggers, Tinky should summon executive customer service in his quest to liberate Fushingi Yuugi. Contact information for Blockbuster Chairman of the Board and CEO John Antioco, after the jump... More »
at&t
Ripped-Off Mom Gets Resolution From Comcast After We Intervene
David's Mom just got her refund check, nearly bringing her issue with Comcast billing and harassing her for cable that was never installed to a close. More »
comcast
Senior Citizen Gets Comcasticed! i.e. Ripped Off
What would you call getting a bill for services you never received? How about fraud? That's what Comcast is doing to one blogger's mother. More »
Zgallerie Zsucks
After all the hassle he went through in getting a mattress frame, Steve really doesn't like the Zgallerie interiors store.
Maybe having to saw his own bed slats had something to do with it..
After all the hassle he went through in getting a mattress frame, Steve really doesn't like the Zgallerie interiors store.
Maybe having to saw his own bed slats had something to do with it..
