Lots of people happily hand-wash their dishes because they don’t want a dishwasher. That’s not the case for one California man, who has washed his dishes by hand for more than a year even though he wants and can totally afford a dishwasher. In fact, he, um, had a dishwasher the whole time. It’s just that when he bought it from Sears, they sort of half-installed it and wandered off, and he couldn’t get anyone at Sears to help him. [More]
Comcast E-Mail Rep Needs A Lot Of Words To Say 'I Have No Power To Help You'
By August 6, 2012
Tired of waiting around on hold when she called Comcast, Susan decided to just send them an e-mail with what she had to say. What she had to say to them was “Hey, why did you charge me $64 too much for installation?” The e-mail representative she talked to had an answer to this question: taking four hundred words to say, “I dunno, take some time off work to go to your local Comcast office and maybe they can give you a refund.” [More]
Research And Determination Made Lowe's Fix My Carpets
By May 9, 2012
A few years ago, Justin had workers from Lowe’s come install carpet in his house. After the warranty on the work had expired, the carpet began to stretch out in high-traffic areas. Even though he’s not a professional carpet installer, Justin does have extensive experience with walking on floors, and knows that’s not how it’s supposed to work. He researched possible causes, learned that it was due to an installation error, and tried to get Lowe’s to admit their mistake and fix the problem. Here is the exciting plot twist: they did. [More]
Verizon Won't Install FiOS Until You Email The CEO
By April 24, 2010
This is actually a happy story, despite my inability to write cheerful-sounding headlines, so pay attention if you’ve ever been told that your whole apartment complex can get cable/FiOS/whatever, but you can’t because you are special and not allowed to be happy. You’d be surprised at how many letters we get from people who have this problem. One such person, Andrew, Consumerist Reader, decided to email the CEO. [More]
These Antenna Installation Instructions Are Surprisingly Specific
By March 29, 2010
I am typing this post with a digital TV antenna stuck in my ear, and all because nobody told me that this wasn’t the right way to install it. Ow! Apparently Antennas Direct of Missouri knows that there are people like me out there, because they’ve included some very specific warnings on their installation instructions (PDF). (Thanks to Billy!) [More]
Verizon Hold Times Inspire Song On M.I.A.'s Next Album
By January 12, 2010
According to Rolling Stone, when M.I.A.’s new album comes out later this year, there will be a track on it called “I’m Down Like Your Internet Connection”–and it will feature “Filipino Verizon workers singing the hook.” [More]
Why Is Sears Being So Sneaky On This Dishwasher Rebate?
By December 4, 2009
On Black Friday, Sears offered free installation on select Kenmore dishwashers in the form of a rebate coupon. The coupon is pretty simple to understand as far as these things go–buy one of the listed models, and Sears will pay for the installation. According to William, however, the listed model that he wanted remained out of stock only for the duration of the coupon. When he asked Sears to honor it the next day, they agreed to–but then after he bought the dishwasher they told him he had broken a nonexistent rule and therefore had voided the coupon. [More]
Best Buy: All The Appliances In Your House Must Break 4 Times Before We Replace Them
By October 5, 2009
James Lileks bought some fancy-ass Electrolux appliances from Best Buy. Unfortunately. they’ve turned out to be a bit of a headache. Mr. Lileks thought perhaps since he was a valuable customer who bought fancy-ass items, Best Buy would help him out and swap the problematic dishwasher for a more reliable cheaper brand (turns out that that the washer’s control panel is susceptible to moisture, of all things.) He was wrong. They’d rather keep fixing it. Over. And Over. And Over.
Geek Squad Will Plug In Your PS3 For Only $130
By September 21, 2009
A Kotaku tipster notified the video game blog that Best Buy’s Geek Squad is offering what can only be described as the deal of the century. Something even better than that awe-inspiring CD ripping service.
Comcast: You're Too Far Away For Cable But Your Neighbor Isn't
By September 14, 2009
Attention: A satisfied Comcast customer has written to this website. Sadly, reader Kevin is now being denied the delicious shivery pleasure of Comcast’s services — because his new house is 600′ too far away.
Dell Support Tech Accidentally Gives Away Free Advice
By August 25, 2009
Our reader humphrmi recently managed to avoid shelling out unnecessary bucks for paid technical support from Dell. His secret? Listening very carefully to the support rep, who inadvertently gave away the info he was trying to get humphrmi to pay for. Which is good, since that information was only one sentence long.
Vlog It! Might Be Good Software If Users Could Install It
By July 23, 2009
Vlog It! looks like a nice piece of software if you’re interested in video blogging. Now sold by Adobe, it makes putting video blog entries together about as easy as, well, iMovie.
Is This Rogue Installer Running A Scam On Comcast Customers?
By June 26, 2009
If you live near Burke, Virginia, you might want to pay close attention when the contractor hired by Comcast comes to install your service. Rick runs a computer repair company and has twice run into the same problem with Comcast customers, where they can no longer access the Internet after an upgrade and are offered an off-the-books repair service.
DirecTV Installer Tips Himself By Stealing Your Roll Of Quarters And Gun
By December 30, 2008
Reader Angel writes that a DirecTV installer in Oklahoma added a cable to her house, and subtracted $10 in quarters and a nine millimeter.
DirectTV's "Free Professional Installation" Neither Professional Nor Free
By December 29, 2008
“Professional Installation – free.” Seems simple, right? I mean, there’s no way DirectTV would just be using that as a bait-and-switch and actually end up charging you for an install…Right? As Dimitriy learned: Wrong.
"It's Been 35 Days, Can Someone PLEASE Properly Install FiOS?"
By October 31, 2008
Reader David has been trying to get his Verizon FiOS installed and running for 35 days now. He’s escalated his complaint to the highest level and it seems that Verizon is simply powerless to fix the problem. We’d ordinarily suggest he cancel and use another company — but he’s locked into Verizon by his homeowner’s association. Even if he doesn’t use it (and currently, since it’s not working, he’s not using it) he has to pay for it.
You'd Think Comcast, A Cable Company, Would Be Better At Installing Cable
By October 14, 2008
Amy, a student at UC Davis, has just learned one of the lessons that one inevitably learns at college. Cable companies are simply not very good at what they do. Take, for example, the “finished” installation of some cable outlets in her apartment.
DirecTV Won't Even Show Up For Whoopi Goldberg
By September 15, 2008
UPDATE: Here’s the video.
