Best Buy has never been the best at dealing with customer e-mails, but rather than invest in improving that facet of customer service, the retailer has decided to pull the option from its contact form on its customer service page. [More]
customer service
Toys R Us Keeps Canceling Orders, Ignoring Customers
By 12.3.12 — Updated: 12.4.12
Sure, some hiccups in the ordering and delivery process are to be expected at a toy store during the toy-buying-frenzy that is the holiday season. You’d think, though, that Toys ‘R’ Us would be aware that their business picks up quite a bit in the winter, and would prepare for this kind of thing. If our mailbox is any indication, not so. They’re canceling orders and leaving customers on hold for extended periods. At least they aren’t canceling all of these orders a few days before Christmas? [More]
JCPenney Was Fastest To Answer Customer Calls On Black Friday Weekend; Costco Slowest
By 11.28.12
With Black Friday weekend being the busiest shopping spurt of the year, it’s also the time when customers call up retailers to complain or ask questions. But a new survey of 25 top retailers shows that consumers waited anywhere from 22 seconds to 12 minutes just to speak to customer service. [More]
DirecTV’s Technicians Are Great, Their Scheduling System Is Not So Great
By 11.19.12
Karen thinks that the technicians who come to service her DirecTV system are competent, professional, and just great. She has no complaints. Her problem is with the system that schedules them and gets them to her house. Well, the system is supposed to get them to her house. In practice, it just tells her that they’re supposed to come to her house, and she sort of crosses her fingers and hopes that they show up. [More]
Warehouse Store Sample Server: I’m Not Here To Give You A Free Lunch
By 11.19.12
Shoppers at Costco, Sam’s Club and other warehouse clubs are likely quite familiar with the many sample servers situated around the store, handing out freebies to eager customers. One such sample server has penned an open letter to warehouse club shoppers saying that he loves his job, but there are some things you all do that really get under his skin. [More]
Activision Can Solve Your Call Of Duty Problems Sometime Tomorrow
By 11.15.12
Having a problem with Call of Duty: Black Ops II? Reader CL is. He was having a problem with an in-game code, so he called up the company. The call center was supposed to be open, but had closed for the day. Well, okay: the Web chat representatives should be able to take care of this problem. They can: after an estimated 18-hour wait time. [More]
If Comcast Can’t Help You Over The Phone, Maybe Try Going To Your Local Comcast Office
By 11.14.12
Once upon a time, phone customer service was a luxury and online chat service was a thing for science fiction. But sometimes, it pays off to just drive (or walk, bike, skate, skulk from rooftop to rooftop) to your local Comcast office when the folks on the phone just can’t help you. [More]
The Dos And Don’ts Of Getting Someone To Take Your Complaint Seriously
By 11.2.12
While there are no guaranteed ways to convince a customer service rep that your complaint has merit, there are certain things that can only help you make your case — and others that will only submarine your efforts. [More]
Still Waiting For A Nexus 7 I Don’t Even Want Anymore
By 10.29.12
Last week, we shared with you two discouraging tales of terrible customer service from Google. It’s not that the people who answer the phone when you order the Galaxy Nexus or Nexus 7 aren’t friendly. They are. They just can’t do anything to help their customers, who have been waiting for their devices. And waiting. Reader Phil grumbles that he’s still waiting for his order to leave “processing” status after a few weeks, and he could go buy a better device for the same price elsewhere instead of paying more to have a delayed order he can’t cancel directly from Google. [More]
Selling Me Hundreds Of Cans Of Soup For Food Bank Is Just More Work For Walmart Employees
By 10.23.12
Johnny went to Walmart early in the morning to purchase a huge amount of soup for a food drive. This is a case where he couldn’t win: visiting the store at 6 AM, it was understaffed and only the self checkout was open. If he had visited later in the day, it would have been busy and cashiers wouldn’t have had time to help him locate hundreds of cans of soup to donate. [More]
Leaked Target Training Script Shows That The Company May Not Know What The Word “Amazing” Means
By 10.2.12
For millions of people, Target is seen as many things — convenient, low-priced, reasonably tasteful — but we have a hunch that most Target shoppers would use the word “amazing” to describe the Target shopping experience. And they certainly wouldn’t use it over and over and over again the way a leaked Target employee training script does. [More]
Delta Traveler Says He Got Bag Back Reeking Of Urine
By 6.22.11 — Updated: 9.8.16
Sy has vowed to never fly Delta again after a colossal followup left his bag bouncing back and forth between three cities and two continents, and once he finally got his bag back, it stank of urine. [More]
Where To Complain About The Postal Service
By 1.31.11 — Updated: 5.6.15
A lot of times when people complain about the postal service they can find that calling up their local post office is an exercise in futility. Assuming they get through to anyone, they can find the person on the other end of the line lackadaisical or difficult to understand. If this happens to you, you don’t have to just cry into your Beanie Baby collection. [More]
Laser In On Your "Region President" To Get Verizon Wireless Executive Customer Service
By 4.15.10 — Updated: 1.9.14
A Verizon Wireless insider tells us that the best way to get white glove customer service treatment is to target the president for your Verizon region. Here’s how: [More]
Get DirecTV Executive Customer Service
By 11.4.09 — Updated: 9.19.16
If you’re having DirecTV issues, here’s two more top-level contacts for you to try:
Complete Norton Symantec Executive Contact List
By 7.31.08 — Updated: 12.23.13
If you have an unresolved Norton/Symantec complaint and regular customer service doesn’t help you out, you might want to try giving one of the top-ranking company executives inside a call or an email. Don’t forget to be nice, polite, and professional, and remember the guidelines for contacting executive customer service. If you need help writing a solid complaint letter, here’s a template to follow. And if you want a real anti-virus program that won’t hose up your computer, try NOD32. Now here’s the complete executive contact list…
Microsoft Keeps Your Repaired XBox For 4 Months, Calls You A Thief For Wanting It Back
By 4.19.08 — Updated: 3.10.13
[protected-iframe id="b8f18f624db3162ddc3edeca28b1ece8-40783744-40309798" info="http://digg.com/api/diggthis.php?u=http://digg.com/xbox/Help_Microsoft_Thinks_I_m_A_Thief_For_Wanting_My_XBox_Back" width="55" height="82" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"]Microsoft hasn’t returned Tiffany’s XBox 360 for four months because they think she is a thief, even though she has her original receipt and a credit card statement proving that she is the console’s rightful owner. Microsoft repaired the XBox back in January and tried to return it via FedEx, but a shipping snafu landed the box back at Microsoft’s service center. Tiffany has called repeatedly. She even sent a letter to Microsoft’s legal department, after sending her receipt and statement, asking how else she could prove ownership. That was 22 days ago. She has yet to receive a response.
Geek Squad Soaks Your Computer, Blames You
By 4.11.08 — Updated: 3.9.13
Still think using Geek Squad to repair your computer isn’t such a bad idea? That’s what reader Nicole thought when she took her laptop in for a warranty covered repair. The laptop was sent off to a service center, “repaired”, then sent back. She immediately noticed it had the same exact problem and sent it back 48 hours later. This time, she was told the warranty wouldn’t cover it, as the Blue Screen of Death was now being caused by water damage. Nicole pointed out that there wasn’t water damage the first time it was repaired for the exact same problem two days ago. Geek Squad responded by quoting her $775 for the repair. The details, below.
