insiders

Employee: Best Buy Scrambling To Clean Up Optimization Mess

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A mysterious email from someone claiming to be a Best Buy employee has emerged from the mist of our inbox. In it, the sender claims that Best Buy is threatening termination for employees that try to force the optimization fee on unwilling customers... More »

Target Employee Explains Discounter's Apparent Craziness

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A mysterious Target employee has come forward to share a closely guarded secret with the readers of Consumerist. The secret of why Target is so freaking crazy. More »

Secrets Of Waiters

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Michelle Crouch at Reader's Digest has compiled another list of secrets that your waiter won't tell you. Some are just going to make you annoyed, like the waitress who lies for sympathy tips. But there are plenty of useful secrets on the list that might improve your experience the next time you go out to eat. More »

'I Stopped Denying People': Ex-Bank Of America CSR Tells All

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Here's a testimonial from a former Bank of America customer assistance employee. She was fired on Monday for offering repayment plans to too many customers, even those who "deserved" the 29.99% APR for making late payments. After hearing her story, you might conclude that this job was never a good fit for her skills. The next time you run up against a dead-sounding CSR, though, remember that people like Jackie don't make for profitable collections department employees, which is why they don't stick around for long.

Publix Insider Explains Cold Turkey Office Party

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On Tuesday, we published the story of a woman who ordered a turkey from a Publix supermarket deli for her office's Thanksgiving celebration, only to discover that her "fully cooked" turkey was cooked, but cold. This was a problem. Her story had a happy ending, but we heard from a Publix employee who confirmed that selling a cold turkey with no warning is wrong...and would lead to trouble for any employee who tried it at our tipster's store. More »

10 Confessions Of A Telemarketing Insider

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Out of the shadows steps a dark figure, sporting wrinkled khakis, a retractable namebadge, and a headset dangling from his ear. It's the telermarketing insider, and he's going to confess to you how his industry really works and how you can resist and even fight back:  More »

AT&T Asks Employees To Oppose Net Neutrality

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A reader sent us a letter that AT&T sent to its employees asking them to tell the FCC they oppose net neutrality. This comes after the FCC announced plans to investigate and enact net neutrality rules that will ensure that internet service providers (like AT&T) treat all content equally. The letter and a rebuttal are inside.  More »

Why You Shouldn't Let Telemarketers Help You Donate

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Earlier this week we posted a warning to watch out for calls from people asking for donations on behalf of local police or fire departments. Today an alleged former employee—who says he quit after two days of training and one day of seeing what it was really like on the call center floor—wrote in to tell us a little more about how a company on the other side of that phone call works.  More »

Inside The TD Bank Meltdown

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Think it sucks to be a TD Bank customer this week, especially if you were formerly a Commerce Bank customer? Try being a TD Bank employee. One insider tells what it what was like yesterday on the other side of all those (still) unprocessed transactions and new fees.  More »

Comcast Says Lightning Caused Emergency Alert System To Show QVC

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Remember Jim? His Comcast cable box randomly responded to the emergency alert system (EAS) by tuning in to QVC. According to a source inside Comcast, rogue lightning strikes set off the EAS, even though there wasn't an emergency. Two things happen when the EAS activates: the cable box switches to a local channel, and Comcast replaces the local programming with an alert. In Jim's case, the box switched to the emergency channel—which happened to be QVC—but since there wasn't an emergency, there was no special broadcast. So what can you do next time your cable box independently declares an emergency?  More »

Inside A Netflix Shipping Center

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HackingNetflix was invited to tour a Netflix shipping center where 50 employees process as many as 90,000 discs a day. Pretty cool.  More »

RadioShack Will Say Anything To Upsell Extended Warranties

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An anonymous RadioShack employee sent us what he considers unethical talking points distributed by the corporate office to help employees upsell the RadioShack Replacement Service Plan. According to our tipster, "each example encourages lying." Read the deceptive talking points, inside...  More »

How Credit Cards Are Getting Meaner

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What's going on inside the minds of credit card companies now that the CARD credit card reform act is coming down the pike? A customer service supervisor for a major credit card company emailed us to give us the low-down: reduced grace periods, cutting credit lines, increased fees on balance transfers, and, of course, jacked up APRs. Here's the details:  More »

Alan Thicke Can't Save Tahiti Village Timeshare Company From Going Under

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Even the hearty television presence of Alan Thicke couldn't help Consolidated Resorts, Inc., a company owned by Goldman Sachs that sold timeshares, from going belly up. An anonymous tipster emailed us yesterday to say that they "just laid off most of their staff, including all collections, customers service, marketing, information technology departments." And according to this insider, this is good news for consumers.  More »

More Insider Tips When Buying From Radioshack

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There's clearly no love lost between D. and D's former employer, RadioShack. A little over a year ago, D. sent us some insider tips on what to watch out for when you shop at RS. Now here comes a follow-up, with more information on cell phone sales tricks, warranty pitches, and used merchandise.  More »

Dusty PS3 Inspector Threw Dirt On PS3 So He Wouldn't Have To Repair It

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Well well well. New information from an inside source says that the tech threw dirt on the infamous "dusty PS3" to deny the warranty claim because he didn't feel like repairing it. Shocking! His confession, inside.  More »

Insiders: Countrywide Made Racist Sub-Prime Loans

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The Wells Fargo racist sub-prime mortgage lawsuit reminded me of an old post we did where an ex-Countrywide employee alleged that that loan company had racist practices too. Here's the insider email we posted back in February, 08:  More »

Top 10 Reasons Your Chargeback Will Be Denied

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A reader who works in the chargeback section of a major credit card company has just about had enough with people tossing around "chargeback! chargeback!" as the solution to every customer service problem. While it is a great tool, you gotta make sure you use it right. To help you do that, here's our credit card company insider's guide to the top 10 reasons why your chargeback will get rejected.  More »

10 Confessions Of A Charter Customer Service Representatives

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Did you know there isn't a formal way to report a Charter cable outage, and that you're entitled to a $20 credit if your tech is a single minute late for your appointment? These, and other fantastic tips to get faster, cheaper service from Charter, as told by a former customer service representative, inside...  More »

Cracked Explains Why Tech Support Sucks

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Cracked takes a stab at explaining why your calls to customer support inevitably lead to frustration. You'll probably recognize your own experiences as you read their article, and learn a little about why being a customer service agent sucks so much, too.  More »

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