When you pay $40 to make sure your product gets shipped overnight, it had damn well be delivered overnight. Reader and frequent commenter ilikemoney coughed up $40 to Walmart to make sure he’d be able to sleep on the futon he ordered the next day, but it took five days for the sweet dream factory to arrive. Instead of flipping out and declaring a national emergency, he stayed cool, sent Walmart a calm, direct letter and got his money back. [More]
complaints
BP Customer Service Rep Says Disaster Call Center "A Diversion"
By 6.14.10
“Janice” has been working in the BP Call Center in Houston, answering calls about the disaster from all over the world, and she says she and her coworkers don’t think the calls are being sent any higher up in the company. “We’re a diversion to stop them from really getting to the corporate office, to the big people. I don’t want to get emotional, but it’s so frustrating when these people live right there [in the Gulf Coast] and nothing is being done to help them.” [More]
BP Agrees To Compensate Victims Of Oil Spill Faster
By 6.10.10
BP has announced that it will change the way claims are processed in order to speed up the time it takes for money to get to oil-soaked small businesses that are no longer able to function. Under federal law, BP has an obligation to pay for a range of losses, including property damage and lost earnings, says the AP. There has been a growing tide of complaints alleging that the oil giant is dragging its feet when it comes to paying these claims. [More]
Delta Smashed My Bike And Won't Refund The Baggage Fee
By 6.9.10
This guy is trying to raise money to build dams in Africa by doing 20 half Ironman races. Consequently, he has to travel with his bike a lot. He says that during a recent trip back from Hawaii Delta smashed his bike and won’t even refund the $200 fee he paid them to transport it. This makes him sad. [More]
Congress Considers Federal Anti-Slapp Law To Protect Consumers From Angry Businesses
By 6.2.10
The New York Times has an article about Justin Kurtz, the college student who angered the owner of T&J Towing by creating a Facebook page about the company and who is now fighting a $750k defamation lawsuit. That sort of lawsuit–the kind meant to intimidate an opponent into silence–is called a “strategic lawsuit against public participation,” or Slapp. Now two Representatives are sponsoring a bill that would create a federal anti-Slapp law to protect consumers from vengeful businesses. [More]
Couple Discovers Secret Room In New Home, Secretly Filled With Moldy Garbage
By 6.1.10
Every kid talks about how they’re going to have a secret room in his house when they grows up… so imagine the delight of reader Jeannine to discover the house she bought actually came with one! And then imagine how that delight turned to revulsion as she and her partner opened it up and found countless piles of garbage covered with white puffy mold! It would turn out to be only the first of many secrets the house revealed to them, including a basement with 75% secret asbestos tiling! Oh, it’s like something out of a fairy tale! [More]
What iPhone Owners Complain About When They Complain To The FCC & FTC
By 5.31.10 — Updated: 10.24.12
Lastmonth, InformationWeek filed a Freedom of Information request with the FCC and the FTC for complaints made about the iPhone in the past year. Although the breakdown of complaints is interesting, what I found most striking was that in a nation of over 11 million iPhone owners, less than 600 complaints were filed in the past 14 months*, and some of those were for other Apple products. If you have a legitimate grievance with a company, you might have a much better chance of being heard by the FCC or FTC than you think. [More]
Get Your Complaints Solved With One Simple Question
By 5.24.10
It’s like “The Secret” for CSRs: by asking reps reps this one question, you can get many of your customer issues resolved faster and go on to live a life with less stress and more laughter. [More]
Custom TeleConnect Charges Man $20 For 20-Second Collect Call
By 5.18.10
Mike’s mom is one of the fifteen people in the U.S. who doesn’t have a cell phone, so she called him collect from a pay phone in California. Mike and his mom didn’t know it at the time, but they fell into the sarlacc pit that is Custom TeleConnect, a creature that hides in payphones and charges $20 fees for less than half a minute of talking. [More]
Waitress Disses Customers On Facebook, Gets Fired
By 5.18.10
Brixx Pizza in North Carolina takes social media pretty seriously, because it fired a waitress after she complained on her Facebook page about a stingy couple who occupied a table for three hours and only left a $5 tip. [More]
Police Officer Prepares Orders At McDonald's
By 5.10.10
Wherever Craig lives, that’s where the most Hamburgler-proof McDonald’s in the country is located. He says he was there the other night and a police officer got up from the seating area, went around behind the counter, and prepared his order for him. When Craig asked why the officer was also a McDonald’s employee, the officer followed him outside and asked why he cared. That officer probably thought you were the Hamburglar, Craig. [More]
Delta Offers More Money For Pooch Lost In Transit, Apologizes
By 5.7.10
Paco is still missing, but after we contacted them, Delta reached out to Josiah and said sorry, along with offering to reimburse him for all the costs he put into the dog and two additional $200 vouchers for future travel on their airline. Josiah says that’s unnecessary, as he still probably won’t be flying Delta ever again after this experience. [More]
Entire Dog Lost, Delta Offers $200 Credit
By 5.7.10
Where’s Paco? Josiah doesn’t know, his girlfriend doesn’t know, someone at Delta might know. After all, Delta was supposed to load Josiah’s new dog on the same plane that Josiah got on. Paco didn’t land with them. Frantic, Josiah called around desperately before being told that Paco was safe and sound, being taken care of by Delta employees, who would put him on the next flight out. Paco wasn’t on that one either. More harried calls and Delta told Josiah Paco had “escaped” and the best they could do is refund his $200.00 pet transportation fee, but only as a “credit” for future Delta travel. That doesn’t do Josiah any good, as he’s vowed to never fly Delta again. Here’s his story, and more adorable/sad puppy pictures: [More]
Be Polite, Not Pushy For Better Customer Service
By 5.7.10
Does the squeaky wheel get the grease or do you draw more flies with honey than vinegar? Consumerism Commentary endorses the latter method when it comes to getting the best customer service possible, making the case for why politeness gets you farther than pushiness. [More]
FutureShop Accuses You Of Scamming For No Good Reason
By 5.5.10
Adam was shocked when he tried to return a router and a switch to FutureShop and they accused him of being a scammer. All because of a little dust on the items. Well, that little dust turned into quite a dustup when a huffy assistant manager at the Canadian Best Buy subsidiary got involved. “Fine, I will play along with your little game,” she ended up saying to Adam once the actual manager overrode her and made her stop getting in the way of the return. What the heck? [More]
Email To Wellpoint CEO Gets Account Issue Fixed
By 5.3.10
I don’t know what health insurer Wellpoint’s problem is but it seems, judging from the stories our readers keep sending in, that lately you have to email the CEO to get simple account problems fixed. What’s going on in your call centers, Wellpoint? Maybe all the workers have rebelled and decided the best way to promote health care reform is to get all your customers to hate you. Zach was able to get his deductible rolled over, but only after he emailed the very top of the Wellpoint power pyramid, Angela Braly. Here’s his story: [More]
Hilton Hotel Tells You To "Just Wait It Out" While Other Guests Prank Call Your Room
By 4.27.10
Staying at the Hilton for his first-year wedding anniversary, Brian and his wife had to suffer through two different groups of fellow guests prank-calling his room, excessive noise, and a non-working air-conditioner. They did give him one free night for his troubles, but that didn’t make his experience any less unpleasant. Here’s the letter he just shot off to the CEO of Hilton Hotels and other top-ranking executives to express his dissatisfaction. It got him his entire stay refunded, a voucher for two-nights stay at any Hilton, and, holiest of holies, an apology from the manager. [More]
Walmart Manager Hates It When You Donate Loss Leaders To Homeless Shelters
By 4.27.10
At Walmart, no good deed goes unpunished. Lisa said she tried to buy up a bunch of health and beauty supplies at Walmart to donate to local homeless shelters, and instead got a lecture in economics from the shift supervisor. [More]
