It’s rude for an employee of a business to post photos of customers online without their permission, and ruder still for those photos to have mocking captions. And it’s totally unacceptable for a day care employee to post photos of her tiny charges to Instagram with mocking LOLcat-style captions. When one parent found out, she was furious. [More]
rude
B2B Telemarketer Rage: A Perspective From The Other End Of The Phone Line
By 1.29.13
Usually, the people who write to us are besieged with calls from telemarketers or companies they’ve done business with, and want us to help make it stop. Brett is on the other side of the phone line. He’s not the traditional telemarketer you might think of, calling ordinary citizens during dinner: his company is just business-to-business, and he was doing some cold calling to drum up business. The person who answered the phone was anything but businesslike. [More]
Deli Imposes $3 ‘Yapping On Phone While Ordering’ Surcharge
By 6.28.12 — Updated: 5.15.13
We don’t have a “Consumerist Hero Citation,” but if we did, it would go to the person at this Vermont deli who had the idea to impose a $3 fine for yapping on one’s cell phone while trying to order at the counter. “$3 will be added to your total if you fail to GET OFF YOUR PHONE while at the counter. IT’S RUDE,” the sign reads. [More]
How To Lose A 5-Year Customer Over $3
By 6.22.11
Lynn has been using Terminix four times a year for five years, but after Lynn’s recent experience on the phone with them, no longer. At the center of the dispute is a $3 increase in the service. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s not really about the money. It’s how they treated Lynn when our reader asked about it. And that, my friends, is how you lose a customer who has been with you for half a decade. [More]
Keep Calling T-Mobile's Executive Office, Get Charged With Harassment
By 6.17.11
Gary’s mom uses a prepaid T-Mobile phone, but doesn’t use it a whole lot. She missed the deadline to re-up her account by three days, and is now stuck with a useless $50 refill card and a shut-off cell phone. After four fruitless attempts at calling regular customer service, Gary tracked down the executive customer service number, hoping to reach someone in the United States with some power. Instead, the person he reached was hostile and unhelpful. When Gary eventually reached that person’s boss to complain, the boss said that if he kept contacting the executive offices, they’d have him charged with harassment. All of this seems like a lot more trouble than turning some old lady’s phone back on. [More]
Customer Forgets Doggie Bag, Demands Gift Certificate
By 11.5.10
If you left a busy restaurant without your doggie bag, what would you do? (A) Shrug and think about the delicious lunch of leftovers that will never be? (B) Go back to the restaurant to see if it was still there? Or would it be (C) Call the restaurant and demand a gift certificate in compensation? A customer of a Boston restaurant attempted option (C) recently, and the restaurant took to social media to share their… surprise? confusion? [More]
McDonald's Potty Cop: No Receipt, No Bathroom
By 10.13.10
If you thought Walmart checking your receipt before letting you leave the store was bad, get a load of this McDonald’s who won’t let you go to the bathroom without showing your proof of purchase to the “bathroom bouncer.” [More]
Charter To Customer With Five Failed Service Calls: "You Haven't Bugged Us Enough To Resolve Your Problem"
By 9.21.10
Charter tells it like it is: the problem with Eric’s incorrectly installed Internet service is that he hasn’t been trying hard enough to fix it. Here’s a copy of an email that Eric tried to send to Charter’s CEO last week, but it bounced back. Maybe someone at Charter can read it here? [More]
Theater Chain Fights Back Against Texting During Movies
By 9.21.10
I don’t go to the movies much these days because I’m in NYC, and I don’t want bedbugs crawling all over me like that scene in Peter Jackson’s King Kong remake. But if I did go to the movies, I wouldn’t, because the last several times I went there was always some fool texting within my line of sight. Now a theater chain based in Arizona is launching a nationwide campaign to try to get through to these self-involved types that texting in a darkened theater is wrong. [More]
Store Says Mother Is "Too Fat" To Enter Warehouse
By 9.13.10
Alexis said she went to an appliance store and was invited to come into the back warehouse to look for a washer, but her mother was forbidden as she was “too fat.” [More]
Ryanair Kicks Kid Off Flight For Not Buying Extra Seat For Her Violin
By 8.31.10
Extreme discount airline Ryanair kicked a 12-year old girl and her dad off a flight because they didn’t buy an extra ticket for her violin. [More]
Continental Refuses To Believe Woman's Service Dog Is Real
By 8.18.10
Continental sure has a lot of skeptical employees when it comes to customers with disabilities. Jessica tried to buy a ticket yesterday and was told no, because the ticket agent didn’t believe that Jessica’s self-trained service dog was legit. [More]
Chicago Music Fest Bum Rushes Paying Audience So It Can Prepare For Fundraiser Dinner
By 8.3.10
Ravinia, a century-old Chicago summer music festival, is getting hardcore about raising money. This year it sold tickets to a concert performance of songs by composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, sung by Broadway veterans and played by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Sondheim is always a big deal for musical theater types, and the event seemed like a home run for both the fans and Ravinia–until the concert ended after 65 minutes with no encores, and the general admission audience was told to leave so that Ravinia could reward their core supporters with a gala dinner. [More]
Target Point Consulting Calls Stranger At Home To Insult Him
By 6.21.10
Jon says someone called him earlier this month and claimed to be from a company called Target Point Consulting, and asked Jon to answer a survey. When Jon said no and asked how the caller got his number, which is on the Do Not Call list, things got interesting. [More]
Walgreens Launches Innovative Showroom Store, Where You Can Look But Not Buy
By 6.9.10
The thing about locking up all of your merchandise behind glass is your customers can’t actually buy it. Well, they can if you have employees who give a damn about helping a customer. This Walgreens in Brooklyn does not have those kind of employees. [More]
Best Buy Will Price Match Washer Only If You Buy It Elsewhere
By 6.1.10
Reader John says he went to Best Buy to get a washer/dryer set. When he asked a salesman to price match another retailer (there was a large sign on top of the machine saying they would price match), he says he was told a) he’d have to actually go buy the washer/dryer set at the other retailer and bring back a receipt b) even if he went and did that, Best Buy might not match the price because Best Buy doesn’t need John’s business. Really? [More]
Verizon Bill Collector Threatens To Blow Up Man's House
By 5.25.10
A man in New Mexico is suing Verizon Wireless over a series of harassing phone calls made by Verizon bill collectors last year. The man, Al Burrows, says the calls were concerning a relative’s unpaid cellphone bill. When he hung up on one of them, the disconnected Verizon rep called back, said she knew where Burrows lived, and added, “I am gonna blow your mother fucking house up.” [More]
Waitress Disses Customers On Facebook, Gets Fired
By 5.18.10
Brixx Pizza in North Carolina takes social media pretty seriously, because it fired a waitress after she complained on her Facebook page about a stingy couple who occupied a table for three hours and only left a $5 tip. [More]
