The Dell Inspiron 2305 is a slick-looking all-in-one touchscreen desktop computer. The one Mike received wasn’t as fun to live with as it was to look at, though. He had his computer replaced once, but the replacement had video card problems that led it to freeze. Frustrated, he lobbed an executive e-mail carpet bomb at Dell higher-ups, and it was effective. Very effective. Soon, Dell overnighted a similar but more expensive computer to Mike’s house. [More]
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EECB To T-Mobile Accomplishes What Hours Spent Talking To Customer Service Couldn't
By 9.23.11
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]
Activating Google Voice On My New Verizon Account Somehow Undoes Cancellation Of My Old T-Mobile Plan
By 8.26.11
For several years, Consumerist reader Bryan and his wife were happy with their T-Mobile service, but after some recent dissatisfaction with service, they decided to jump ship to Verizon. Everything seemed to be go fine and dandy when Bryan called to cancel service — and then he got his final bill from T-Mobile. [More]
Man Wrests Free Repair From Acer's Claws
By 7.21.11
Acer is infamous for its inferior or nearly non-existent customer service. Long are the annals of history filled with the tales of those who have thrown themselves against Acer’s ramparts and disintegrated on impact. But reader PW shares how he was able to get his 6 months out of warranty Acer laptop replaced after it died. The secret is to look for the email address with .tw after them. That’s right, email addresses leading back to the mothership in Taiwan. [More]
The Slum Lord Garbage Tree
By 7.15.11
Greg was pretty ticked off. After two weeks of complaining to management, the tall tree outside his apartment complex still had garbage hanging from its branches. It looked like some sort of foul Christmas Tree for hobos. He couldn’t use the parking spot he pays $94 a month for because the building staff had removed all the “Tenant Only” parking signs and not put up the new ones. People who didn’t live in the building were parking in his spot. Only after sending a string of admonishing emails to the building manager, his bosses, and the board of directors did Greg finally get The Tree Of Garbage cleaned up. Here’s the chain of emails: [More]
EECB To Time Warner Cable Gets Collections Agency Off My Back
By 6.23.11
For several months, Consumerist reader Jeff has been stuck in billing hell with Time Warner Cable as TWC has been trying to invoice him for $450 worth of equipment he never leased in the first place. After being assured several times that he didn’t have to pay that part of the invoice, he — of course — ended up receiving a notice from a collections agency. [More]
One E-Mail To Verizon CEO Accomplishes What 6 Calls To Customer Service Could Not
By 4.20.11
Rob has been an internet-only Verizon FiOS customer for years and recently decided, since he hadn’t really experienced any problems with that service, that he’d take the plunge had get FiOS cable TV service too. Since his house was already wired, it shouldn’t have been a big deal but the all-too-familiar happened and Rob found himself staring into the customer service abyss. [More]
Letter To Wells Fargo Execs Finally Gets Loan Check In Reader's Hands
By 4.8.11
In February, law school grad and Consumerist reader Stephanie applied for a $5,000 loan to cover the cost of her bar exam and related review course. Should have been no big thing, considering that she’s been an account-holder at Wachovia, which Wells Fargo scooped up after it failed a few years back. Alas, it turned into a nightmare. But after several weeks of dead ends, one well-composed Executive E-mail Carpet Bomb to Wells Fargo got the mess cleared up. [More]
The Executive Email Carpet Bomb Worked Wonders On Verizon
By 2.28.11
Happy news is the best — especially when it means that Consumerist has helped someone resolve a problem satisfactorily (pause to pat self on back). Such was the case for reader Tony, who was running into problems with his BlackBerry Storm. He wrote in to thank us (aww) and pass on his tale of triumph over Verizon. [More]
Letter To Home Depot CEO Gets Dishwasher Replaced In 12 Hours
By 1.13.11
Last August, Consumerist reader Dan bought an LG dishwasher from Home Depot. When the unit began to exhibit issues, his attempts to deal with LG were in vain. But a well-worded letter to the CEO of Home Depot got the ball rolling and had a replacement dishwasher ready for him the next day. [More]
Home Depot Cancels Sale, Overnights Free Tool To Customer After EECB
By 12.30.10
SgtBeavis ordered a clearance item from Home Depot last week. The site claimed that the item was on backorder, and let him place the order. Then they canceled it. Fortunately, the good sergeant reads Consumerist, and decided to write to the CEO of Home Depot to get the situation fixed. It worked: Home Depot overnighted the item to his house for free. He and his woodworking buddies were stunned, [More]
Letter To Sirius/XM Executives Ends Zombie Credit Card Charges
By 8.4.10
Olivia recently wrote in to share her story of success in sending an executive e-mail carpet bomb to Sirius/XM Sattelite Radio. She writes that the company has been billing her credit card for $44.79 every three months since the middle of 2008, even though her original subscription came from a gift card, and she never authorized payments from her credit card. Should she have noticed this? Yes. Should Sirius have billed her when she made it clear that they were not to charge her? Uh, no. [More]
Is The Dominican Republic An International Destination? Airlines Disagree
By 6.19.10
American Airlines told Bill that he couldn’t acces their international lounge because his flight from the Dominican Republic to Houston, which required a passport and a customs form, didn’t count as an international flight. Bill’s wife had paid $300 to upgrade Bill’s ticket to first class expressly so he could access the lounge, and Bill wasn’t sure what part of “international” American didn’t seem to understand. Yet it turns out American might be right. [More]
AUDIO: Listen To AT&T Ask Customer To Stop Sending Them E-mails
By 6.3.10
Earlier today, we posted about an AT&T customer who, having attempted an Executive E-mail Carpet Bomb on some biggies at the telecom behemoth, received a phone call letting him know he would receive a cease and desist notice if he continued to send e-mails. Now, there’s audio of the AT&T rep giving the customer the warning via voicemail. [More]
Reach HTC Executives
By 5.20.10
If you need to reach upper management at handheld manufacturer HTC because of some intractable issue with their device that regular customer service can’t or won’t solve, consider lofting a well-crafted letter over to some of these folks: [More]
Comcast: Sorry We Never Installed Your Cable Correctly
By 5.6.10
Reader K. wants to let us know that our tips for writing an effective complaint letter helped her solve her parents battle with Comcast. For months they’d been complaining about faulty internet service — only to be told they had the best signal they could get. Turns out, however, that their cable had never been installed properly. Whoops! [More]
Whoops: Megabus Driver Doesn't Know Route From D.C. To New York
By 5.6.10
David tells Consumerist that he took a nightmarish Megabus trip where the driver did not, strictly speaking, now how to get to New York City from Washington D.C. After it took the driver an extra three hours to get there, he worked hard to find out how to complain to someone with actual power to give him a refund on. If you find yourself on a similar epic trek, or riding inside a MegaSauna, David sent along the contact information that he found. [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]
