Last week, we posted that a popular web hosting company—GoDaddy, although we didn’t name it at the time—provided a strange customer service experience to a commenter. Cyberguy was contacted via phone by someone from their “Office of the President” after emailing them, but then Cyberguy couldn’t get their rep to state clearly which company he was representing. Cyberguy was rightly suspicious. Was GoDaddy outsourcing its own executive customer service?
follow ups
Snuggie Addresses Fake "Rebate" Check Story
By 7.29.09
Allstar Products, the company that makes Snuggies, sent out a clarification today regarding that weird $8.25 check that some customers were receiving in the mail. As far as they’re concerned, it was a small promo and they were upfront about everything—the check “is not a rebate, nor was it ever represented as a rebate.”
Bezos Apologizes For Kindle's Orwellian Moment
By 7.24.09
Nearly a week after Amazon remotely deleted 1984 and Animal Farm from customers’ Kindles because they weren’t licensed, head Kindle-cheerleader Jeff Bezos posted this statement on the Kindle Community discussion board on Amazon.com.
Dodge Dealership Refunds Money On Truck It Couldn't Fix
By 7.21.09
Last Friday, we posted about how a Dodge dealership in New York spent nearly a week working on a truck, and charged over $700 for the labor, only to say they couldn’t fix it in the end. It looks like the story has a happy ending: after the truck’s owner sent in a formal complaint and pointed the dealership to our post, the dealership’s owner refunded both the repair fees and the towing fees.
Game Crazy Customer Gets Response From District Manager
By 7.15.09
Lu, who caught a Game Crazy cashier adding bogus fees to a purchase, has sent in a couple of updates.
Dave Carroll Says No To Guitar Hush Money From United
By 7.10.09
We officially love Dave Carroll now. Not only is he cute and a good singer, but he’s classy (check out how he defends the United employee in this video response) and has principles. The best part is at the end he encourages us to stay tuned for song #2. United hoped it could pay for the guitar and put an end to the bad publicity—but it looks like you’re not getting off that easily, United. Check out the full video response below.
By 7.8.09
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Dave Carroll’s “United Breaks Guitars” song and video EECB appears to be having the desired effect. Check out this tweet from United. [Twitter] (Thanks to Chris!) Update: Dave Carroll responds.
Banned Bank Of America Customer Says His Credit Is Clear
By 7.8.09
Earlier this week we wrote about how BoA told Jesse he could never have an account with them, but they wouldn’t give a specific reason. A lot of readers and tipsters suggested ChexSystems was the culprit, so we asked Jesse if there was something in his credit past causing the problem.
Bank Of America: "That's Why You Don't Open New Accounts Online"
By 7.8.09
After reading about how Jesse was banned for life from Bank of America for no clear reason, other readers wrote in with similarly bizarre BoA stories. Wayne was locked out of his new account after he opened it and charged a $75 overdraft fee. Chris was sent checks linked to a duplicate account and then charged penalties when the checks bounced. Edward’s new account was closed but the CSR refused to tell him why, and he was charged a $60 “research fee” for the closing. When Edward went to a BoA branch to clear things up, he says the employee there told him, “That’s why you don’t open up accounts online.”
Grin, Then Wear It: Benefit Cosmetics Responds To Consumerist
By 7.6.09
Last week, reader Brianna contacted Consumerist about her issues with the defective packaging of a Benefit Cosmetics products, as well as the treatment she received from their e-mail customer service rep. Benefit saw our post, and their PR department responded to Brianna’s story.
Ignored Gamer Puts The Smackdown On Mixed-Up Game Publisher
By 6.26.09
When we last spoke to Jess, the gamer with the questionable taste for dolphin pet-simulating video games, she was adrift in a sea of despair, having bought a game based on promotional copy on the game’s site and box, only to find the game she bought was different than that which was promised. Publisher 505 Games seemed to be blowing her off.
Amazon Tries To Clarify Download Limits For Kindle Books, Doesn't Quite Succeed
By 6.23.09
Dan, the Kindle owner who last week found that some of the books he’d purchased were no longer available to download due to unspecified limitations set by the publisher, spoke to more Amazon reps on Sunday. They clarified the DRM policy. Well, sort of.
Crisis At The Florist: When Cooler Heads Prevail
By 6.19.09
After weeks of trying to get our floral cooler fixed, it has been fixed as of 2:00pm today! The issue was with the dryer valve and not the compressor. The valve was completely clogged and we had a new one soldiered on. It went from 85 degrees to 44 degrees in 15 minutes. It is the best $324.45 I have ever spent!
Best Buy Accepts 12 Year Old Gift Certificate Without Complaint
By 6.19.09
Jon wrote back with the results of his attempt to redeem a gift certificate that’s over a decade old.
Mindy Is Not A Beanbag
By 6.19.09
The founder of Sumolounge.com, an online beanbag company known for high quality products and good prices but not necessarily great follow-through on the shipping/delivery side of things, responded personally to our post yesterday on Eric’s troubles with them. Among other things, he says our theory about Mindy is incorrect: “She is not a bean bag.”
Continental Offers Free Flights, Frequent-Flyer Status To Misrouted Child's Family
By 6.16.09
Continental Airlines has made a much more generous offer to the family whose ten-year-old daughter was accidentally flown to Newark instead of Cleveland while flying as an unaccompanied minor. Paterfamilias and blogger Jonathan Kamens wrote that a Continental rep “assured [him] again that the airline takes what happened very seriously.” The details of Continental’s offer, inside.
More Info On Replacing An HP Laptop Motherboard
By 6.10.09
We asked John, who wrote to us earlier this week about replacing the motherboard in his HP laptop, to send us a link to the listing he found for $150. Below is his response.
REI Says ATM Photographer Is Welcome In Their Store Any Time
By 5.15.09
REI’s Director of Corporate Communications contacted us with an official statement about the recent showdown between two Loomis security guards and a customer with an iPhone at one of their Seattle stores. She says despite the document Shane says he was forced to sign at the police station, he is not banned from their stores. Below is REI’s official statement.
