Call it the welcome side of Christmas Creep; manufacturers are discounting LCD and plasma TVs ahead of the traditional year-end holiday sale cluster mess, but you won’t find the best deals in retail stores.
online
Zappos Continues Awesomeness
By 9.12.08
Zappos online shoe store, famed for its amazing customer service, has done it again.
This Apple CSR Wants You To Learn By Doing
By 9.10.08
This chat transcript from “Yet Another Girl”‘s blog is an example of how sometimes you can find exactly the answer you’re looking for on a customer service chat. Unfortunately, in this case, you’ll do all of the work yourself while the chat agent stares numbly at the screen, wondering how did I end up here? I don’t even know what this “apple” thing is!
Discover The Wacky Side Of Food Poisoning
By 9.9.08
Did you know Jesse Jackson was hospitalized with food poisoning last week? Or that a recipe typo in a Swedish food magazine left four readers poisoned? These are two of the many interesting facts we just learned after a few minutes browsing the BarfBlog, a food safety blog with categories like “Celebrity Barf” and “listeria”.
BBB Warns Consumers: Stay Away From TicketsMyWay
By 9.9.08
[Parent company] Event Tickets LLC has an unsatisfactory rating from BBB due to its performance, which includes nearly 100 instances of non-delivery of tickets, nearly another 100 complaints involving refunds and exchanges, and on about 200 occasions, the company has failed to even respond to BBB or consumers to resolve issues.
By 8.28.08
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Slate has an article about how unbelievably amazing it feels to get cheap glasses online. I can vouch for this. I often get compliments on a pair of glasses that cost me about $40. Hooray, Internet. [Slate] (Thanks, James !)
Pizza Hut Sends Unsolicited Email To Apologize For Sending Unsolicited Email
By 8.16.08
Pizza Hut apologized for sending an unsolicited marketing email by sending an unsolicited apology email. We’ve all accidentally hit send without ending the world, but the pizza-maker’s flub is all the more egregious because they force customer who place orders online to opt-in to spam marketing. According to Pizza Hut, the error occurred while “testing new functionality.”
OnTheGoTickets Is Just TicketsMyWay In A New Skin
By 8.7.08
Back in June we mentioned how TicketsMyWay has a reputation for not actually providing tickets—”MyWay” apparently refers to the company and not the customer, and it translates into “no tickets or refunds for you.” A customer who learned the hard way about TicketsMyWay sent us an alert that the company is operating under a new banner, OnTheGoTickets.com.
Sprint Makes Customer Wait 6 Hours For Chat
By 7.31.08
Adam had a question on his bill—either about the $9.68 adjustment in his favor, or the $102,861.30 they say he still owes, we’re not sure—so he decided to take advantage of their online chat. He writes, “Conveniently, they have a link that says ‘Questions about your bill?’ When you click it, it brings you to a live agent. This is a picture of our session.”
J.Crew Apologizes For Bad Website, But That's All They Do
By 7.30.08
A dozen readers (and probably a couple of PR flacks) must have forwarded us J.Crew’s email today, in which the CEO and president of the company extend a mutual apology for the non-workingness of their “enhanced” website and call center. Oddly, the email simply asks customers to “bear with us” but doesn’t offer any discount or sale. Well, maybe they figured driving more traffic to a broken site would only make things worse.
AT&T Will Roll Out Tiered Internet Access In October
By 7.22.08
“When AT&T provides broadband service by speed, it will do so in discrete, non-overlapping tiers,” Quinn said in written testimony. “We will strive to provide service within the speed tier purchased by the customer and, if we find that we are not providing service within the ordered speed tier, AT&T will take action either to bring the customer’s service within the ordered tier or give the customer an option to move to a different tier.”
H&R Block Offering $100 Coupons Or Free Software To Same-Sex Couples Who Were Denied Online Service
By 7.17.08
It’s too late for this year’s tax season (unless you’re doing it wrong), but H&R has issued an apology of sorts by announcing it will give a $100 coupon or free TaxCut software to gay couples who were shut out of their online programs this year due to a programming oversight. Don’t expect to take advantage of the offer if you were turned away online and went elsewhere, though—the offer is only good for “civil union, domestic and same sex partner clients, who started with TaxCut online and then completed their returns in one of our retail offices.” If you fit that requirement, you can request the coupon or software here.
By 7.16.08
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If you’re a fan of Joss Whedon (or Nathan Fillion or Neil Patrick Harris or Felicia Day), you can watch Whedon’s new online-only supervillain musical for free until July 20th. [BusinessWeek]
J.Crew's New Website Does Everything Except Fulfill Orders Properly
By 7.14.08
Kimberly, a frequent J.Crew online customer, placed an order on June 30th for five items from their newly revamped website. In the past, writes Kim, “it usually takes 2 days at the latest for me to receive any shipment that is not backordered.” This time it’s been 2 weeks, and not only has nothing arrived, but the UPS tracking number they’ve assigned her order is invalid (it doesn’t even follow the UPS numbering style). The unhelpful J.Crew customer service rep told Kim that they had her correct address and to wait 10 days before calling back. In the meantime, one of the items has already been returned and refunded to Kim’s credit card—although about $200 worth of merchandise has still been shipped to some as yet undiscovered location.
Walmart.com: "Not Sold Online" Means "Come Pay More For It In The Store"
By 7.3.08
Reader F. put some Consumerist-savvy to work and got Walmart to honor the price shown on their website. You see, when something is out of stock on Walmart.com — the item’s description says “Not Sold Online,” rather than “Out of Stock.” Not being psychic, F. took this to mean that the item was not sold online, and would be available at the listed price at the store…
Counterfeit Smackdown! EBay Ordered To Pay $61 Million
By 7.1.08
That headline is the good news. The bad news is the $61 million in damages ordered by a French court isn’t meant for regular shoppers who have been defrauded when shopping on eBay. Instead, it’s been awarded to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the French luxury goods company behind Louis Vuitton purses (among other fancy things, as you can see from their name). LVMH argued that “90 percent of the Louis Vuitton bags and Dior perfumes sold on eBay are fakes,” and that eBay profited off the sales without doing enough to stop them. EBay can appeal the decision, or simply click the “Pay It Now!” button.
Angry U-Haul Manager Says You Stole A Truck
By 6.20.08
Now that it’s summer, many people are doing the moving thing. For some, this might mean renting a truck or trailer from U-Haul, like reader Ryan. He reserved a truck from U-Haul online well in advance of his move, but when he went in for pickup was told none were available. Ryan called corporate, who called the store and convinced the surly manager to give Ryan a truck. Three days after Ryan returned the truck, he got this voicemail from from U-Haul: “This is Alexandria U-Haul Rentals. Your rental truck was due three days ago and you haven’t returned it. If you don’t return our truck today I will call the police.” See how Ryan handled the situation, inside.
