If you read yesterday’s article Best Buy’s “Same As Cash” Credit Card Conceals Major Hidden Fees, you should remember Jason who got socked with some serious fees on his Best Buy/HSBC credit card. Jason wrote back to us to say that within a mere 3 hours after the deployment of his EECB, Best Buy reversed all of his fees. Jason’s and Best Buy’s letter, inside…
success stories
Complain About Tropicana's Shrinking Containers, Earn A Free Carton Of Juice
By 5.17.08
Joel loves his orange juice and is none too pleased with Tropicana’s recent decision to shrink their containers by 7 oz. He fired off a complaint through Tropicana’s website, and was pleasantly surprised when the company responded with a coupon for a free carton of shrunken sweetness.
UPDATE: Reader Receives Apology For Foul-Mouthed FedEx Employees
By 5.16.08
You may remember reader Matt from the story “No Proof Of Address? FedEx Curses You Out” in which he was treated very rudely by FedEx employees when he could not produce a utility bill needed to pick up his package. We were happy to hear that after our story ran, FedEx contacted Matt and had his package swiftly delivered to him at work. Additionally, he learned that the Maspeth location already had over 50 similar complaints filed, and that FedEx is now diligently trying to update their door tags and email with current information regarding “proof of address.” Matt’s comment, inside…
UPDATE: Newegg's Reputation For Customer Service Remains Unbroken
By 5.13.08
If you read the story, “Beware Of Rotten Newegg Rebate,” you may remember the plight of reader RJ who submitted his $20 rebate information back in January and was getting the runaround from Newegg and the rebate company. RJ is now happy to learn that not only is Newegg giving him $20, they are giving him an extra $20 for his trouble, and not just store credit, real cash. Read Newegg’s letter, inside…
UPDATE: Sony Reads Consumerist, Decides To Replace Your PS3
By 5.12.08
Reader Dustin was upset that Sony responded with form emails no matter what he wrote, now he “has a smile on his face” because Sony contacted him and would like to replace his broken PS3.
EECB Scores Direct Hit On Delta's $25 Extra Bag Fee
By 5.12.08
Reader Justin got hit with Delta’s new $25 extra bag fee on the way home from his vacation to West Palm Beach. He turned to the dreaded EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb) to get his $25 refund. Let’s listen in:
EECB Results In $6000 Credit From Maytag For Defective Jade Refrigerator
By 5.8.08
If you plunk down six grand for a refrigerator like the Jade Model #RJRS4870D, you expect it work. And if it doesn’t, you expect the three-year warranty on it to cover things like the refrigerator leaking all over the floor, extra ice building up, and exuding the smell of burning rubber. Ron and his parents certainly thought so, but Maytag wanted them to pay for the installation of a new part to fix the problem, even though Maytag admitted it was a known issue with this refrigerator. Read his blog post about how he was able to use an executive email carpet bomb to persuade Maytag to doing the right thing. The end result was more than Ron asked or even hoped for: $6,000 credit towards any fridge they carry from either JennAir or Whirpool, installation included. My favorite line is when he tells them, “If the Whirlpool conglomerate cannot handle all of its customers in a timely matter maybe they should stop acquiring other brands and focus on the ones that they already have.”
8 Monthlong Dodge Charger Problem Fixed After Consumerist Post
By 4.22.08
Whenever Brian drove his Dodge Charger in the rain, all the dash lights flashed and he had trouble restarting his car, but after 8 months of strife, his problem got fixed after his story posted to The Consumerist. The next day after the post went up, Brian got a call from Paul at Danbury Dodge, his dealership. Paul wanted Brian to bring his car in so the Chrysler tech could inspect it. Brian brought in the car during a rainy day, the problems were recreated, and the Chrysler tech diagnosed and fixed the problem in less than four hours. On repeated visits before this, the dealership kept claiming they couldn’t recreate the problem. A rep for Chrysler VP TP Lassdora also called Brian up, apologized profusely, and offered five years of free oil changes and extended Brian’s service contract. “In the end, I believe that the Consumerist story forced Chrysler to get involved, whereas Danbury Dodge was content to ignore my complaints,” writes Brian. “Thank you to the staff and the readers of the Consumerist for motivating Chrysler and Danbury Dodge to fix my car.” Inside, the original video showing how Brian’s dashboard reacted in the rain.
Comcast Fixes Problem Of Reader They Made Cry
By 4.21.08
Stephanie’s internet is back after she used the contact info from our post “Comcast Trawling Blogs And Twitter For Customer Complaints” to email Comcast’s problem solver, Frank Eliason. Stephanie writes, “Within an hour of my email to Frank he responded, saying that he forwarded my problem to Scott the local guy…they had a tech at my house within an hour.” Score!
Only Sirius's CEO Knows Where The Extra Tape Is
By 4.17.08
Reader Hayden had to email the CEO of Sirius radio just to get them to ship him some replacement adhesive backing for his car radio. Every homebrewed solution he tried couldn’t get his Sirius radio to stick to his dashboard. When he called Sirius, he got bounced around between disconnections, robots, people who couldn’t speak English, a guy who insisted Sirius didn’t have stock any replacement tape. So Hayden kicked it straight to the man at the top with a nice cogent complaint letter, cc’d to us, various Sirius execs, the BBB, the Georgia Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs, and some popular gadget blogs. Apparently that’s what it takes to get some replacement tape. His complaint letter, inside…
Paying Off $9,482 Debt In 5 Months
By 4.16.08
FatWallet forum member NewNole2001 details how they just finished paying off $9,482 in credit card debt. Here’s how Nole did it:
Leukemia Survivor Who Had Identity Stolen By Lab Tech Tells His Story
By 4.10.08
We wrote about Eric Drew a few weeks ago—his personal information was stolen by a shady lab technician while he was undergoing treatment in 2004.
Got $250 Video Store Debt Deleted From Credit Report
By 3.29.08
I had a weird unpaid debt listed on my credit reports, some video store I used to go to in college. I guess they thought I had an overdue video? Anyway, they never sent me any notice about it but yet on my credit report it was listed that I never paid Integral Recovers Inc, who also have never contacted me, some $250. So, about three months ago, I filed a dispute notice with TransUnion, the one credit bureaus report it was listed on, and today I got a nice letter saying they deleted the item. It was all very easy, I just went to annualcreditreport.com, checked my credit report, went to the dispute item area, printed out the one-page form, filled it in saying that I was disputing because I never got any notice about the debt, and mailed it all off. Took less than 10 minutes, tops. Be sure to check your credit report from all three credit bureaus at least once a year for errors and file disputes when information is incorrect. Otherwise, your ability to get credit might be unfairly affected. It’s easier and faster than you might think!
The $10,000 EECB! Emailing Bank of America Saves You $120 A Month For 7 Years
By 3.24.08
Reader Chad writes:Yep, you read that right. Thanks to Consumerist, I was able to launch a successful EECB that will end up saving me over $10,000!
We Post, SONY Replaces Long-Languishing Laptop
By 3.24.08
After Daniela’s SONY laptop was stuck in a warranty repair purgatory for months and a SONY tech screamed at her over the phone accusing her of warranty fraud, her story appeared on The Consumerist. Now she happily writes:
Almost immediately after my article was posted on the consumerist, I received a friendly and extremely apologetic call from a Sony exec. Before even calling me, he had reviewed my case and agreed fully that they were in the wrong. He apologized and offered to have my notebook repaired immediately!
Sprint Magically Approves Rejected Rebate Application
By 3.22.08
He writes:
I’ve been a Sprint customer for around ten years, and in early February decided to upgrade to a new HTC Mogul smartphone under Sprint’s “New For You” rebate program which gives existing customers the same price on new phones that new customers get, as long as the existing customers agree to extend their contracts. To get a $100 rebate, I agreed to extend for two years–not really a problem, as I have no plans to leave Sprint. I received the phone and mailed in the rebate form.
HP Replaces Missing Laptop After 3 Months
By 3.16.08
Remember N? He last saw his laptop in December after shipping it to HP for desperately needed repairs. After posting the story HP reached out to N, who tells us that he just received a spanking new machine. Read N’s reaction and his tips for handling similar situations, after the jump.
