We love it when what’s supposed to be internal communication leaks out to the customer—it gives you such clear insight as to how a company really feels about you. In the case of 1800mattress.com, calling to complain about a missed delivery date makes you “difficult.” But hey, they’ll still send you some free pillows.
apologies
Belkin Apologizes For Review Fraud, Sort Of
By 1.19.09
- We’re very sorry this happened;
- We don’t condone unethical behavior
- We’ll try to remove the fraudulent reviews;
- Our business partners had no role in this fiasco.
The one thing that’s missing? The fate of ethically-challenged dimwit Bayard (edit – and anyone at Belkin like him), who the Daily Background has since caught posting his own fraudulent reviews for Belkin.
Chinese Dairy Companies Apologize For Melamine Scandal Via Text Message
By 1.9.09
Twenty-two dairy companies sent out a text message to millions of Chinese consumers last week to apologize for selling tainted milk products. According to the BBC, it read, “We are deeply sorry for the harm caused to the children and the society. We sincerely apologise for that and we beg your forgiveness.”
JetBlue Addresses Your Email To "Dear Mr. Soandso"
By 11.6.08
JetBlue can be so cute sometimes. Apparently, they recently sent out and email addressed to Mr. Soandso explaining how much they missed all the Mr. Soandsos who had not flown with them in a year.
Restaurant Chain's Prez Mails Handwritten Apology For Botched Wedding Dinner
By 9.25.08
Consumerist reader MunkyBoi had a terrible experience at Tahoe Joe’s, where he and his fiancee held their wedding dinner. He tried to follow up with the manager of the restaurant, both to explain what went wrong and to commend the one waitress who saved the day, but the manager kept brushing him off. Finally he wrote a letter to corporate, and was surprised to receive a very personal response—along with a $250 gift certificate—a few days later. We’d love to know if that $250 came out of the manager’s profits.
Charter Publishes Unlisted Numbers In The Phone Book
By 9.14.08
Tim enjoyed his unlisted phone number for over thirty years until Charter published it in the local phone book. Now he has two options: ditch his long-time number, or lose his cherished anonymity. Inside, Charter’s apology letter.
Ex-Countrywide Employee Sells Your Data, They Offer Credit Monitoring Service, Hang Up When You Ask For It
By 9.11.08
Re: Countrywide Sends Fraud Alert Letters: ‘Your Info May Have Been Sold,” Reader Esqdork writes, “Yesterday, I phoned Countrywide to get them to extend the credit monitoring service [that they offered in their apology letter] to my co-borrower and was promptly hung up on.” The only surprise here is that they even picked up in the first place.
Countrywide Sends Fraud Alert Letters: 'Your Info May Have Been Sold'
By 9.9.08
I received a letter from Countrywide today that says:
By 8.19.08
../../../..//2008/08/19/good-news-apple-is-extending/
Good news: Apple is extending MobileMe subscriptions by an additional 60 days to make up for the recent problems with the service. The extension applies to all subscribers with an active account as of August 19th. Apple granted a 30 day extension a few weeks ago.[InformationWeek]
Pizza Hut Sends Unsolicited Email To Apologize For Sending Unsolicited Email
By 8.16.08
Pizza Hut apologized for sending an unsolicited marketing email by sending an unsolicited apology email. We’ve all accidentally hit send without ending the world, but the pizza-maker’s flub is all the more egregious because they force customer who place orders online to opt-in to spam marketing. According to Pizza Hut, the error occurred while “testing new functionality.”
Netflix Screws Up, Makes Thousands Of Customers Happy?
By 8.15.08
We’ve had no less than 20 people email us to congratulate Netflix for apologizing after their shipping system experienced some delays. Here’s the email and some comments from Netflix’s customers:
J.Crew Apologizes For Bad Website, But That's All They Do
By 7.30.08
A dozen readers (and probably a couple of PR flacks) must have forwarded us J.Crew’s email today, in which the CEO and president of the company extend a mutual apology for the non-workingness of their “enhanced” website and call center. Oddly, the email simply asks customers to “bear with us” but doesn’t offer any discount or sale. Well, maybe they figured driving more traffic to a broken site would only make things worse.
H&R Block Offering $100 Coupons Or Free Software To Same-Sex Couples Who Were Denied Online Service
By 7.17.08
It’s too late for this year’s tax season (unless you’re doing it wrong), but H&R has issued an apology of sorts by announcing it will give a $100 coupon or free TaxCut software to gay couples who were shut out of their online programs this year due to a programming oversight. Don’t expect to take advantage of the offer if you were turned away online and went elsewhere, though—the offer is only good for “civil union, domestic and same sex partner clients, who started with TaxCut online and then completed their returns in one of our retail offices.” If you fit that requirement, you can request the coupon or software here.
Feazel Roofing Responds To Misleading Junk Mail Accusations
By 6.18.08
Last week, we wrote about a roofing company that had sent out a “Defective Roof Notice” to potential customers. The blogger who received the junk mail thought it was deceptive, and so did we. To make matters worse, he wrote a complaint to the company and was ignored—but a few weeks later a fake “customer review” appeared on his site that was traced back to Feazel. Now the owner of Feazel Roofing has responded and apologized for the junk mail:
Massive TransUnion Settlement To Reveal Credit Scores
By 6.1.08
Did you have a credit card between Wednesday and 1987? Great! You’re part of a massive class action settlement with TransUnion. The credit reporting agency has agreed to fork out services worth over $100 to every cardholder as a way of saying “sorry for grossly violating federal privacy laws by selling your private data to businesses!”
Circuit City Calls The Cops On Customer Who Requests A Price Match
By 5.24.08
Emmett writes: Dear Mr. Schoonover:
Disgruntled Radiohead Fans Offered Free Lawn Tickets In New Jersey
By 5.14.08
The Washingtonian is reporting that a few disgruntled Radiohead fans who were forced to circle the parking lot rather than actually watch the Radiohead show they paid to see (and to park at… parking was included in the ticket price), were offered replacement tickets. In New Jersey. Now, we failed geography and can barely read so we don’t actually know where this so-called “New Jersey” is, but it sounds like it’s not in Washington D.C. Let’s take a look at the map. Nope. Google maps says that the closest NJ Radiohead show (Susquehanna Bank Center Camden, NJ) is a 3 hour drive from the Nissan Pavilion where the first disastrous show took place.
Update: Macy's Apologizes For Confiscating Your Item Because Another Customer Wants It
By 4.23.08
Dyan says that Macy’s contacted her with the apology she was looking for.
