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success-stories
success-stories
Research And Determination Made Lowe's Fix My Carpets
By Laura Northrup on May 9, 2012 8:00 AM
26 Comments
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 »
(.:AR:.)
EECB Strikes Lenovo, Gets Customer New Laptop
By Laura Northrup on May 1, 2012 10:30 AM
6 Comments
Patricia's refurbished laptop from Lenovo could have used more refurbishment. It had a scratched webcam and an unbearably rattly disc drive, and she didn't find this acceptable for a device that she had just purchased. So she tackled the issue using a time-honored consumer technique: the executive e-mail carpet bomb. Lenovo's Executive Relations team heard her plea, and sent her a new computer to replace her refurbished one. More »
EECB Scores Hit On T-Mobile, Saves Customer $400 Charge For Phone UPS Lost
By Laura Northrup on December 30, 2011 11:30 AM
12 Comments
When Jeffrey received his replacement smartphone from T-Mobile, he packed up his old one, used the enclosed prepaid UPS label, and dispatched it using a UPS drop box. From there, the phone disappeared. One customer service rep after another assured him that the lost phone situation would be resolved...and then a $300 charge for the phone appeared on his bill. It was time to escalate. It was time to use a powerful tool he learned about from this very site: the executive e-mail carpet bomb. More »
(afagen)
E-Mail To Home Depot CEO Resolves Month-Old Problem In 12 Hours
By Chris Morran on December 16, 2011 3:15 PM
28 Comments
Consumerist reader Jim was feeling a little frustrated with Home Depot. He'd ordered some parts online for his chainsaw, only to find that one of the two boxes was completely empty. This was just the beginning of a month of misleading assurances, conflicting instructions and overall dissatisfaction for Jim. That is, until he penned an e-mail to Home Depot's CEO. More »
(misterjt)
Consumerist Post About Broken Laptop Gets Reader Full Refund Within 3 Hours
By Laura Northrup on December 15, 2011 4:00 PM
28 Comments
Once again, Costco saves the day. Last week, we posted the story of Tom, who bought a Sony Vaio laptop from Costco only to have it malfunction a little more than a year after purchase. Sony didn't seem to want to fix the problem at all, and Costco employees were very kind but couldn't intervene. Only a few hours after that post went up, Costco contacted Tom, and gave him a full refund for the computer's purchase price. More »
This One E-Mail Address Puts Fear In The Hearts Of Corporations
By Laura Northrup on November 18, 2011 10:30 AM
39 Comments
Perkstreet is an online bank that offers a 2-5% cash back debit card. This sounded pretty great to Carolyn, and she applied for an account. Only they wouldn't issue her one, and refused to tell her why, even though they're required to do so. What got their attention, and got Carolyn her shiny new debit card? Copying The Consumerist on an e-mail to them. More »
Reader Gets AT&T To Admit It's Their Towers That Suck, Not The iPhone
By Ben Popken on November 11, 2011 5:00 PM
49 Comments
Melissa couldn't get any reception around her home on her iPhone, despite living only 25 miles from downtown Chicago. Zero bars. It wasn't just annoying to always miss calls, it was also damaging her rental business. But thanks to a detailed, and snarky, email to the CEO of AT&T, she was able to get the wireless provider to reset its towers and fix the service around her house. More »
Michael Dell Replaces High-End Laptop Previously "Fixed" With Black Marker, Crumbs
By Ben Popken on November 4, 2011 11:00 AM
52 Comments
Jeremy's 3D Alienware gaming laptop from Dell didn't work right from its first bootup. It had blue screens of death and the video card needed swapping out. When he sent it in for repair, he got it back with crumbs in the keys, and a crack on the side someone tried to hide with black marker. When we posted his story on Consumerist, we gave him CEO Michael Dell's email address to go tell his story. Now Jeremy writes that after he emailed Mr. Dell, the CEO intervened and made sure Jeremy got a brand-new laptop, along with a free memory and CPU upgrade. More »
Vegas Dismisses $896 Ticket They Gave Car Parked In New York
By Ben Popken on October 26, 2011 2:00 PM
51 Comments
Sometimes it just takes a little followup. That's what got a $896 ticket vaporized that the city of Las Vegas had erroneously slapped on Charlotte's car while it was 2,000 miles away in New York state. More »
Customer Gets Comcast To Credit Him $150 For All His Vacation Time They Wasted
By Ben Popken on October 18, 2011 2:00 PM
34 Comments
Ryan was able to get a $150 service credit from Comcast by asking for them to pay him back for all the vacation time he missed waiting around for a service tech who never showed up. More »
Tweet Gets Citi To Stop Junk Mail Deluge
By Ben Popken on September 27, 2011 10:00 AM
23 Comments
Dan and his wife were getting hit by two pieces of junk mail from Citi almost every day. One to him, and one to his wife. He couldn't figure out how to tell Citi to stop, until he remembered the online service with the little blue bird that goes "Tweet, tweet." More »
(cavale)
EECB To T-Mobile Accomplishes What Hours Spent Talking To Customer Service Couldn't
By Chris Morran on September 23, 2011 10:30 AM
25 Comments
Consumerist reader Rebecca had an issue with T-Mobile. A sales rep for the company had told her she could save around $14/month on her wireless bill by switching to a different rate plan. But when she received her next statement, Rebecca found that her bill had actually increased by more than $16. A quick call to T-Mobile customer service should be able to correct this — oh wait, no it won't. More »
Consumerist Techniques Pay Off, Even With Dell
By Laura Northrup on September 22, 2011 4:00 PM
54 Comments
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 »
Costco Lets Man Return 5-Year-Old Suitcase With Broken Wheel
By Ben Popken on September 7, 2011 5:00 PM
57 Comments
DrRonster was inspired by a recent Consumerist post about a guy who couldn't take advantage of Costco's famed warranty because he wasn't a member. The "Ronster" went to take his own suitcase in for a refund. The suitcase has a broken wheel and is five years old, yet his venture was met with success, as he is a Costco member. More »
The Letter That Got My Homeowner's Insurance Company To Pay Up
By Ben Popken on August 17, 2011 5:00 PM
92 Comments
Reader S finally got his homeowner's insurance company to pay up for the rebuilding of the glass railings around his condo, thanks to a well-crafted and scary letter he wrote them. Here is his story, and his ass-kicking letter. More »
(dougww)
Consumerist Techniques Land Reader Free Home Depot Tools
By Ben Popken on August 17, 2011 2:00 PM
29 Comments
Andrew stared at the row of tools on the shelf at Home Depot and sighed. He had a big new job to do, but after getting all his tools from Home Depot for the past 20 years, there was but a paltry selection. No open stock items and the sets were incomplete. He wouldn't be able to get all the tools he needed. So, drawing on what he'd learned from reading Consumerist, rather than an EECB, he crafted an email to a specific person at Home Depot corporate he thought might help. More »
Kodak Uses Creative Shipping To Solve Printer Problem In Mexico
By Ben Popken on August 11, 2011 3:00 PM
57 Comments
Joe got Kodak to agree to send him a replacement printer when his kept showing "replace the cartridge" error messages, even after installing several completely new cartridges. There was just one problem. Joe lives in Mexico. Kodak, based in the US, doesn't ship internationally. How to get around this cartridge conundrum? Deb in Kodak's executive customer service had an ingenious idea... More »
Amex Finally Agrees That You're Not Your Mother
By Ben Popken on August 11, 2011 11:00 AM
3 Comments
After Yuriy's complaint — Amex was addressing his bills to his mother and had her as the legal name on the account — went up on Consumerist, and he sent them an EECB, he got results. More »
Time Warner Calls Back With Sweet Deal After Man Cancels
By Ben Popken on August 11, 2011 10:00 AM
34 Comments
Another reader has written in to say that after they canceled their Time Warner service, the cable company turned around and offered them much better rates if they would stay. In both this one and the one earlier this week, Time Warner Cable said that because of "special circumstances," they were able to offer a sweet retention deal. In this case, $67/month for two years, down from $150. More »
Even Paying On Due Date Won't Save You From Late Fees
By Ben Popken on August 10, 2011 2:00 PM
116 Comments
Even though he thought he paid on his credit card's due date, Russel still got dinged with a late fee. Turns out that he needed to make his payment before 5pm Eastern, otherwise it would get counted as being the next day. Rarg! More »
