Erica and her fiance are tired of waiting for a lamp to arrive from Lamps Plus, especially now that it’s been three months and the company hasn’t kept any of its promises so far. She wants to know what to do next. [More]
delays
Don't Count On That Rebate From MSI
By 3.22.10
My advice on mail-in-rebates is to ignore them when you’re trying to decide on a purchase. They take too long to receive, during which time you’ve paid a higher amount on the product. Even worse, it’s easy for a company to deny a claim and refuse to cooperate with you, and it’s hard for consumers to get misbehaving companies to play fairly. [More]
JetBlue Takes 2 Hours And Charges $15 To Redeem Customer's Gift Card
By 3.17.10
Angela won a “Wish List” contest from American Express, which let her buy a $100 JetBlue gift card for $70. JetBlue managed to wipe out that $30 savings and any good will Angela might have felt by making her waste 129 minutes trying to redeem the card–and then charging her $15 for the service. At the end of her letter to AmEx and JetBlue, Angela writes, “I don’t know about other AmEx cardholders, but spending almost two hours on hold in order to be able to use something you’ve already paid for is not on my Wish List.” [More]
American Airlines, Jet Blue, Delta Seek To Delay Tarmac Imprisonment Rule
By 3.17.10
You know that new rule that says airlines have to let passengers off the plane if it’s stuck on the tarmac for more than 3 hours? It’s supposed to go into effect in April, but at least three airlines are hoping to delay it because they say runway repairs at JFK Airport will interfere with schedules. [More]
Access America's "Comprehensive Trip Protector" Insurance Isn't Comprehensive, So Enjoy Your Overnight Layover
By 2.26.10
Mark Smith just got suckered into buying travel insurance that turned out to be worthless to him. There was a huge hole in the middle of the coverage, which meant he and his two kids were stuck overnight in Denver on his own dime. Luckily the policy only cost $40, but that’s $40 that now belongs to Access America in exchange for providing a useless service. [More]
Dell Delayed My Computer Purchase A Month, Took 50 Minutes On The Phone To Let Me Cancel
By 2.17.10
Danish says he ordered a Dell desktop computer late last year, and was willing to wait until Jan. 22 for its expected delivery. After that date kept getting bumped back until more than a month had passed, Danish canceled the order on an arduous phone call. [More]
American Airlines Threatens To Move You Down On The Stand-By List If You Complain
By 2.1.10
Reader Kelsea’s flight was delayed getting to O’Hare and when she got there for her connection to LA she encountered rudeness and general crappy service from American Airlines. One of the employees even went so far as to suggest she not request to be moved up the stand-by list because they would probably move her down “out of frustration.” Hey, that may be true but you probably shouldn’t tell the customers you’re going to try to spite them. Don’t worry though, the story has a happy ending. [More]
Mysterious JetBlue Creature Offers Free Tix To Passengers
By 2.1.10
If you wish hard enough on your next JetBlue trip, maybe the airline’s People Officer will magically appear and hand out free tickets. That’s what happened on David’s flight home over the weekend. To be fair, the free ticket giveaway probably happened because JetBlue asked everyone to show up two hours early due to a computer glitch. It’s still a much nicer airline story than what passengers usually send us. Also, this People Officer hinted to the OP about the airline’s future Wi-Fi plans. [More]
Netflix CEO Explains Why They Made The 28-Day Delay Deal
By 1.19.10
Earlier this month, Netflix made a deal with Warner Bros. to delay new DVD releases for 28 days. Over at Hacking Netflix, the CEO of the company goes into some detail on why he approached Warner Bros. to begin with (it was his idea, not theirs), and why he thinks it will work out better for everyone except those customers who signed up expecting all new releases all the time. [More]
Customer Waits Six Weeks For Best Buy To Not Fix His TV
By 1.12.10
A Best Buy customer has posted his ongoing TV repair saga over at Best Buy’s own forums, and it’s quite a read. Green blotches! Smoke! Parts were ordered! No parts were ordered! The wrong parts were ordered! Botched repairs! This all started back in November and his $3,000 TV still isn’t fixed–although the last time a Geek Squad tech came out, he handed the customer a sheet that said Best Buy had already spent $1,500 on repairs. [More]
Detroit Airport Wants Passengers To Stop Showing Up So #%&*@$ Early
By 12.30.09
There’s a downside to media reports of airport mayhem. In Detroit, destination of the flight on which a failed alleged terrorist attack took place on Christmas Day, passengers expect additional security screening and are showing up early. Too early. Early enough that they’re screwing up the entire flight schedule. [More]
UPS Is Making My Mom Wait Two Weeks For Her Birthday Present
By 12.29.09
Laurie says a birthday present she ordered for her mom has been stuck in UPS shipping limbo for more than a week, even though the package has been in New Jersey since last week. [More]
Watch Out For FedEx SmartPost
By 12.23.09
Cristiana says beware the trap of sending things via FedEx SmartPost: the USPS handles the local part of delivery, and “since you now have two shipping companies involved, nobody wants to take responsibility for the package” when it never arrives. [More]
Man In Wheelchair Unimpressed With Greyhound
By 12.21.09
According to Richard, Greyhound has some real work to do when it comes to making people in wheelchairs not feel like second-class citizens. Even in snowy weather and with delays, you don’t really want a driver telling a passenger that he should have brought an attendant if he wanted to get on the bus. [More]
Barnes & Noble Will Send You $100 If Nook Doesn't Show Up By Christmas
By 12.19.09
Barnes & Noble keeps pushing the delivery date for pre-ordered Nooks back. Realizing that many of the e-readers were purchased as Christmas gifts, they’re sending a $100 bribe gift card to the delivery addresses for pre-ordered Nooks that aren’t slated to arrive by December 24th. [More]
Craig Ferguson Badmouths Continental Airlines
By 12.16.09
I just assume that celebrities get better treatment from airlines, but this story from Craig Ferguson proves otherwise. Here’s a tip for gate agents: if you’ve just told a TV personality who volunteered to get off a flight that his reward is a 6 hour layover, it’s probably not a good idea to add, “Don’t badmouth us on TV!” [More]
Experian Fixes Messed Up Credit Report By Deleting Everything
By 12.1.09
Monique X. is trying to get a loan to consolidate her debts into a more affordable payment. She writes that she’s been careful with her credit history and knew that her credit score was adequate to get approved at her bank, “even with the economy the way it is.” That’s when she discovered that someone else’s accounts had been folded into hers, and that Experian’s solution to their error was as bad as the problem. [More]
Meet 'The Imaginary Refund Policy' From Hammacher Schlemmer
By 11.24.09
It turns out Hammacher Schlemmer doesn’t want their goofy products any more than you do. Tanya in Canada has been trying for a month to get a refund on a product she felt didn’t live up to its promise, but the company won’t even acknowledge whether they’ve received it. Update: Hammacher Schlemmer has responded, and issued the refund. [More]
