Consumerist reader MunkyBoi had a terrible experience at Tahoe Joe’s, where he and his fiancee held their wedding dinner. He tried to follow up with the manager of the restaurant, both to explain what went wrong and to commend the one waitress who saved the day, but the manager kept brushing him off. Finally he wrote a letter to corporate, and was surprised to receive a very personal response—along with a $250 gift certificate—a few days later. We’d love to know if that $250 came out of the manager’s profits.
letters
Charter Publishes Unlisted Numbers In The Phone Book
By 9.14.08
Tim enjoyed his unlisted phone number for over thirty years until Charter published it in the local phone book. Now he has two options: ditch his long-time number, or lose his cherished anonymity. Inside, Charter’s apology letter.
Updated: Whoa, That Airplane Is Really Close To Ours
By 7.14.08
Jon was freaked out when flying on Jetblue and his flight came in close proximity to another aircraft. He wonders if he should, and how he might, report such an incident. His story, and advice we got from an Air Force pilot, inside…
Cattleprod Loan Servicers To Answer Your Loan Modification Requests
By 7.14.08
If you’re trying to get your mortgage modified or just a question answered but find yourself stymied by your loan servicer’s slow or lack or response, you can write what is termed a qualified written request (QWR) under section 6 of Respa, The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Under federal law, they have to acknowledge the letter within 20 working days and respond in 60. Inside, a template to follow for drafting a QWR…
Why Won't Krystal Respond To Their Customers?
By 6.30.08
Hey! Krystal! Are you there?! Reader Josh sent two letter complaining about his local burger franchise and hasn’t heard a peep in response. Not even “we’re taking it seriously” or “your opinion is important to us.” Nothing!
This Rejected Chiropractor Is "Sorry You Don't Take Your Health Seriously"
By 6.26.08
The excellent blog, Passive Aggressive Notes has a submission from a reader who rejected his chiropractor. Clay decided not to go back after the doctor refused to show him his x-rays unless Clay attended a seminar about payment plans and treatment options. A few days later he got a note that said:
Regal Cinemas: Can You Ask Your Ushers To Stop Panhandling?
By 6.4.08
Everyone likes to help the less fortunate—at least, that’s what we’re going to go with publicly for the sake of this argument. That said, is it really appropriate to be asked to pony up donation money when you’re sitting in a theater waiting for your movie to begin? You’ve already paid more than you probably wanted to for the tickets, not to mention any refreshments—shouldn’t that ticket price also include an implied guarantee that you won’t be asked to tithe?
Home Depot's Extraordinary Service Leads To Free $800 Appliance Upgrade
By 5.25.08
Michael launched an Executive Email Carpet Bomb after Home Depot twice failed to deliver an undamaged washer and dryer. Home Depot’s CEO Frank Blake quickly thanked Michael for his even-handed letter, and promised that the local store manager would make him a happy customer…
K2 Auto Group In Minneapolis Uses The "I Hate You, Get Out" Sales Method
By 5.20.08
Jesse sent us a copy of the letter he recently sent to CarSoup.com about the treatment his mother received at the K2 Auto Group car lot in Bloomington, Minneapolis.The salesmen who “greeted” them employed a novel sales technique whereby you treat the customer like she’s not rich or smart enough to even own a car, much less one of your beauties. Oddly, it didn’t work, and they left without buying anything. Read on for the salesman’s amazing technique in action.
Polite Letter Gets Bank Of America To Refund Overdraft Fees
By 5.15.08
Jenn’s checking account with Bank of America recently had a policy change designed to increase overdraft fees, and it worked: sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning she was hit with 6 NSF charges going back the previous 48 hours, because she was about 15 minutes late transferring funds into her account the day before. Technically she had broken the new policy, but Jenn hadn’t realized or remembered that there was a policy change and she was taken by surprise. She decided to try to reason with BoA’s corporate office about the fees, and explain why she thought they were unfair.
"Dear Steve Jobs" Letter Hits Target And Gets Results
By 5.6.08
Matt has a 1-year-old Macbook that was having some serious issues which included a dead power supply, overheating and some strange burn marks on the computer itself which, incidentally, was out of warranty. Matt’s roommate David decided to draft a nicely written letter and fire it off to Steve Jobs at sjobs@apple.com. To David’s delight, Steve Jobs took the letter on his iPhone and forwarded it to one of his assistants. Acute customer satisfaction ensued. David’s letter inside…
Cablevision Blatantly Lies To Subscribers As The FCC Twiddles Its Thumbs
By 4.19.08
Update: Cablevision responds.
FedEx Kinkos Is Confused By Your Request To Overnight A Letter
By 4.19.08
The workers at the FedEx Kinkos in Astor Place didn’t know how to react when reader Eric asked to overnight a letter. They were apparently trained to handle only the Kinkos side of the store, and weren’t sure how to ship Eric’s parcel—a school board election ballot—to Hackensack, New Jersey. Their solution was both innovative and idiotic: they told Eric to write his credit card info on a slip of paper, and promised to take care of everything the next morning.
Snapfish Will Delete Your Account Unless You Buy Prints Now
By 2.10.08
Snapfish is threatening to delete Jim’s account unless he orders prints within the next 10 days, which is odd because Jim hasn’t uploaded photos to Snapfish. Read their weird threatening sales pitch, after the jump.
Walmart Ignores Widow's Letter Asking Why It Took Employees 9 Hours To Find Her Husband's Body In A Bathroom Stall
By 2.3.08
Karen Turner wants to know why Walmart employees told her that their bathroom stalls were unoccupied, even though they contained the body of Karen’s husband, 41-year-old airline mechanic Steven Turner. Karen needlessly spent hours searching for her husband, who went missing after dropping off his car that morning for an oil change. Walmart has yet to respond to a letter Karen sent in September. No condolences, no explanation. Nothing but silence.
Members Of Congress Implore Mattel To "Do The Right Thing," Recall Lead-Tainted Toy Blood-Pressure Cuff
By 2.2.08
56 Members of Congress want to know why Mattel CEO Robert Eckert refuses to issue a nationwide recall for a toy blood-pressure cuff that is contaminated with lead. The affected blood-pressure cuff, sold as part of the Fisher-Price Medical Kit, was recalled exclusively in Illinois after Mattel received a complaint from State Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Legislators want Eckert to stand by a pledge made to reassure a jittery public before the holiday buying season that Mattel would ‘earn back our trust with deeds, not just with words.’
Creative Sends Out Crazy Support Email/Sales Pitch
By 12.27.07
A reader sent in this funny and bizarre customer support email from Creative—it’s a weird combination of broken English, pre-written paragraphs from macros (which, oddly, still have grammatical errors), Byzantine instructions for resetting and reformatting the broken device, and then five attempts to sell other products and services at the end.
Amazon Sends "Best Customer Service E-mail I've Ever Received"
By 12.11.07
On Black Friday, Amazon.com held a raffle of sorts. Essentially, they had several awesome items at insane prices, and people were randomly selected to get these details. One of these items was a really nice laptop, regularly $1000, discounted to $300 for 250 lucky people. I was not one of those lucky people. That didn’t stop me from winning in my own sort of way.
