Reader Matt screwed up. He forgot to cancel his reservation with US Airways when his friend’s delayed passport application forced them to change their travel plans. The situation was entirely Matt’s fault, and US Airways justifiably refused to reissue the ticket. Matt, however, swayed the airline by wrapping an excellent mea culpa cum plea into the feared Executive Email Carpet Bomb.
resolutions
UPDATE: Girl Accused Of Dropping Apple Laptop Gets New One
By 10.12.07
“This is Stephanie, I emailed you a couple of weeks ago about my MacBook’s cracked screen, and how the manager at Apple in Chestnut Hill was basically the worst person ever.”
Progressive Apologizes, Sort Of, For Leaving Customer Stranded Last Weekend
By 10.12.07
We’ve received a follow-up email from Chuck, who has spent the better part of the week trying to determine why Progressive’s Roadside Assistance service—for which he pays an additional monthly fee on top of his normal insurance premium—sucks so badly that they’d leave a motorist stranded for 45 minutes on a busy Interstate on a weekend morning.
Unable To Overcome Stain Of Breaking Into Mentally Disabled Customer's Home And Stealing $70,000, Dealership Closes
By 10.4.07
Remember that Seattle used car dealership that broke into a mentally disabled customer’s house and stole $70,000, and turned out to have a history of on the job drug-use, shady tactics, and abusing mentally handicapped customers? Seems the new owners were never able to overcome those little besmirches on its good name and the dealerships are closing. Huling Bros, consider this your auto de fe.
Pep Boys Apologizes For Bilking Customer Over Tire Warranty Replacement
By 10.3.07
After sending a complaint via Executive Email Carpet Bomb, Arnie says the Pep Boys Vice President of Service called him and has apologized and refunded all his monies.
Now I Can Use My iPhone!
By 7.2.07
Anthony, who wasn’t able to use his new iPhone for over 48 hours when porting his AT&T number over, just got his problem solved! Hooray!
XBOX360 Consumer Pwns Microsoft Using Level 34 American Express Powers
By 6.20.07
Remember Richard? Microsoft and numerous commenters mocked him for trying to get his XBOX360 fixed under warranty repair because he had a random tech pry open the box, thus voiding the warranty.
Jamba Juice "Milk In The Non-Dairy" Mystery Solved
By 6.1.07
Now we know the real reason for the “Jamba Juice actually has milk in the non-dairy mix!” balderdash back in early April: bad typesetting.
RESOLVED: Geek Squad Fixed My iPod By Sending Me A Broken One
By 5.18.07
When Charlie’s iPod died, again, she took it to Best Buy, again, as it was under one of those extended warranties they push. What she got back in the mail was an even more messed up iPod. When she took it to the store, they were kinda jerks about it. After her complaint got posted here, Best Buy swooped in.
RESOLVED: Best Buy Either Voided Your XBOX Warranty Or Sold You A Used Unit
By 5.17.07
I never really pressed into trying to get them to track whether they had already taken that particular box as a return, etc. When I finally returned it, I was just so tired of the whole thing that I walked right out the door without trying to follow up on what really happened.
If you recall, Dan bought his XBOX in March, while the warranty had been activated in November, making it a possibility that the unit was used and sold as new.
7 Overdrafts Refunded After Reader Writes Bank of America CEO
By 4.30.07
Yet another reader confirms that if Bank of America is hitting you with overdraft fee after overdraft fee, you can get them waived by writing a complaint letter to CEO Kenneth D. Lewis.
Reader Gets Seemingly Intractable Equifax Problem Solved By Contacting Executive Customer Service
By 4.25.07
Phil spent over a year trying to get Equifax to fix a problem with his credit report all the other bureaus had already taken care of. Phil sent countless letters to Equifax, some of which were cc’d to members of Congress. Nothing doing. Then he emailed us and we passed on contact info for Dinah Watson in Equifax executive customer service. She wasn’t able to explain why Equifax couldn’t resolve the problem before, but she was able to fix it.
Man Gets $280 Back From Bank Of America After Writing CEO
By 4.19.07
If you recall, Travis got charged $280 in overdraft fees after Bank of America gave him some wrong information about his bank account when moving to a new state. He wrote a letter the CEO, which we posted. Now, good news. He writes:
Success Stories: Executive Customer Service Really Works
By 4.18.07
Noah took to heart our relentless pounding about how useful and easy it is to get executive customer service. Putting our advice to good use, he got some serious traction on his longstanding Sprint service problems by booting his issue to the top of the totem pole. Here’s his success story:
Walgreens Apologizes For Insinuating Reader Might Be Committing Check Fraud
By 4.11.07
Reader DudeAsInCool got an apology from Walgreens and a $20 coupon after submitting his complaint over the hassle he was put through when trying to pay with a check. Somehow the who/what/when/why/where/how of his purchase tripped Walgreen’s check verification service, Certegy, and he had to go through a ridiculous phone call in order to get his check cleared.
UPDATE: Lowes Steals Money From Old Lady's House, Threaten To Sue Her For Slander
By 3.27.07
Remember that old lady who hired Lowes contractors to work on her house, only for them to steal $295 in cash hidden in her bedroom? And when she complained, the store manager threatened to sue her for slander? After we ran her story, a Lowes PR rep contacted us to get in touch with the complainant.
UPDATE: "Comcast Bullies Customer for Cash, Breaks His Hard Drive, Drills Huge Holes In Walls And Baseboards"
By 3.20.07
Remember Jason? He had the Comcast tech from hell. The cable installation tech asked Jason for cash, drilled holes in his baseboards, broke his Media Center PC, installed the wrong router…
UPDATE: Delta Finally Refunds Man Who Tracked Down And Got Prosecuted Baggage Handler Who Stole His Camera
By 3.17.07
Remember our reader, Charles, who got his camera stolen by a Delta baggage handler? And how Charles found the camera on eBay and got the guy tracked down, fired, and arrested? And how Delta didn’t give a shit and wasn’t going to refund Charles any money? After we ran his story, the fine folks at the PeterGreenberg radio show stepped in, and Delta agreed to reimburse Charles for the full cost of his original flight. Here’s what they said:
