Friday, December 28, 2007
Why People Lose It
Post contents to be reposted.
Comments
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Connie;
I don’t know what to say beyond grab an ambulance-chaser and beat BOTH Frys and Sears about the head and shoulders!
You may or may NOT win, but the mayhem you’ll cause, ESPECIALLY if the A-C goes public with your cause, will almost certainly give you great GLEE watching corporate LIARS squirm!
Good Luck!
The Mad (and by now, ANGRY!) YankMad Yank | 12/28/2007 02:23 PM CDT -
America will fail because we utterly lose the ability and will to perform proper customer service. It won’t have crap all to do with dems or repubs or anything, it will be because you can’t get a HUMAN BEING on the phone.
og | 12/28/2007 02:28 PM CDT -
Holy Cow Mrs. D. I can’t believe it. I mean I do believe you cause you said it happened. But I can’t believe something like that could outdo the UK in cock ups. (brit term = screwup)
Haven’t faced that sort of problem in the three and a half years we’ve been here.
We just get ppl who don’t show up to do work they’re hired for. No phone calls, no emails, no mail. Just no shows.
But your experience beats the heck out of all I ever heard of.
jd peiper | 12/28/2007 02:48 PM CDT -
Just out of curiosity—is it safe to assume DHL fired the driver? Because that’s not the sort of employee I’d want.
Also, this isn’t the first horror story I’ve heard about DHL. If I recall correctly, one of their drivers stole a PS3 that Wizbang was going to give away to a reader last Christmas.
With this now, I don’t think I’ll ever use DHL (and I’ve never used Fry’s, so...)
Adam Lawson | 12/28/2007 03:05 PM CDT -
Try this site for how to get to a human being, http://gethuman.com/
Dennis | 12/28/2007 03:11 PM CDT -
The local Plano DHL office was the office that gave me the info. The supervisor from that office called me after the 800 people forwarded my issue to them (and lied, numerous times, obviously stating that they’d followed up with the local office and my item HAD been located and scanned and would be delivered on Dec 26, even though that scan had not shown up on the tracking report). The real tell was when the last 800 DHL person I spoke with said, “So what have people told you so far?”
Liars. They’re so used to lying they now check first?
The Plano office supervisor told me the driver has been fired. Apparently, this driver claimed that the truck had been broken into while making a delivery, but since this driver had this happen before, she was fired, and a police report filed against her.
That’s all fine and dandy, but where’s my stuff Frys? Frys has to file the claim with DHL, not me. I didn’t contract with DHL, Frys did. My original contract with Frys is the only one I have any power to do anything about… and very little, according to Frys.
Mrs. du Toit | 12/28/2007 03:13 PM CDT -
Thanks for the tip on gethuman, Dennis. I’ll keep that link for future reference. Unfortunately, I’ve spoken to several humans at Sears, none of which are able to handle the matter. Their company is so partitioned even their offices have to wait on hold to contact the other departments. The last hold was waiting for a supervisor to assist me because the customer service person didn’t have the authority to override the system. It was then I gave up on the phone and sent them a detailed email. We’ll see if that works.
The ONLY reason I got the replacement oven was that a supervisor WALKED OVER to another department to get them to fix my order. Unfortunately, she is still on vacation so I can’t get to her to fix this. She couldn’t issue the proper order credits either, and the billing department, despite entering a few credits, still doesn’t have it right and I’ve STILL been overcharged.
Mrs. du Toit | 12/28/2007 03:19 PM CDT -
OK, so I will join in. On Thursday I get a note from my bank that there are 9 insufficient fund charges on my checking account. At $31 a crack that $279 in bank charges to cover about 300 bucks. Now here is the kicker, I have several thousand in the saving which usually covers the checking. They’re linked you see. Well hold on there a minute, Federal Laws state that only 6 automatic transfers are allowed each month.
So of course it is Christmas week and I am not sitting at a computer keeping an eye on my accounts and the wife went Christmas shopping the week before. So I had not properly funded the checking account.
So I go to the bank as soon as I get the mailed notice and wait for the CS agent. See obviously is “playing on the internet” and I am an interruption for her. I ask her to remove the $279 is charges and she says “The bank didn’t make a error”. The conversation lasted 10 seconds. So I ask for the bank manager. He says, “The bank didn’t make an error.” I point out that I have sufficient funds in the saving account to cover my oversight. He “Negotiates” with me to split it. I tell him that the bank did make an error for I did not get a call from them. You know, customer service and all that simple stuff.
So he refuses to cover all the charges and splits them in the banks favor. 4 for them and 5 for me.
So I point out that they are charging $155 to cover a $300 cash advance for 1 day. Lets not forget that everything is automated so they did not incur any labor cost to process this short term loan.
Oh, and in case you are interested, been a customer with them for over 10 years.
Took his credit of 124 dollars, walk up to the counter and closed all my accounts. Went immediately to Chase and they gave me $125 to open a new account and the manager, after hearing my story, gave me a customer service credit of $62 to cover part of the other bank fees.
What a joke.
Customer Service in the US is lost. So, as my wife knows, I have a short fuse for companies. My list of “Will never do business with again†is very long. I don’t suffer one bit. In fact, it took me most of today to change all my banking to Chase. Loved every minute of it……. If you don’t offer me great service to earn my business, then you don’t get my Hard earned money. That simple.
David
satted | 12/28/2007 03:26 PM CDT -
I once worked for Fry’s many years ago. Sounds like very little has changed. They are more interested in warehousing customers in and out their doors as fast as possible without wasting any time with “customer service”.
diamond dave | 12/28/2007 03:29 PM CDT -
Be careful with Chase… had a history with them, too.
It depends on the state, but in some states they are not a bank and don’t have money. (I know, the logic of that made no sense to me either.)
If you write a check to someone and they go to the bank to cash it, they won’t cash it. It isn’t a “check.” It is a bank draft and they will not honor it for cash at the branches. The ONLY way to “cash” it is to deposit it in another bank, hence the term “bank draft.”
We had that happen in NJ. I wrote Kim a check from my bank account. He went to the branch where I had my account to cash it and they would not do it.
Account closed.
Mrs. du Toit | 12/28/2007 03:31 PM CDT -
You just gotta love corporate America.
I feel for you, and I wish you good luck.
Weetabix | 12/28/2007 03:31 PM CDT -
Thanks IW,
We don’t write many checks any more but I will keep it in mind.
Once again, they get one chance. There must be 15 bank in a 5 mile radius.
satted | 12/28/2007 03:33 PM CDT -
If you paid for these transactions with a credit card, you can file a complaint and dispute the charges with the credit card company. I have done this with both Visa and Amex and the results were wonderfully effective.
Have you thought about filing complaints with your state’s consumer protection agency? Not that it will do you a lot of good personally, but dishonest businesses deserve to get slammed, and the state will usually make sure it happens when the complaint file is extensive enough.
Mrs. O'Harra | 12/28/2007 03:47 PM CDT -
Our delivery services are as bad, I was waiting for 3 parts for a customers car who was in a hired car at my cost, paid extra for next day, come 3pm driver has one part, he checks base and one is there and the other is in scotland, next day the one from scotland turns up but the one at base has vanished???
By the way there is a website(sorry I forgot the name and it is on my work comp) that gives secret ways of defeating the phone system and getting a human.Chris Edwards | 12/28/2007 03:59 PM CDT -
It’s called Free Enterprise an offshoot of Capitalism. You vote with your money. If you don’t like the service don’t spend your money.
Condemning corporate America makes no sense at all. Corporate America is who makes this country what it is. You think customer service is all that swell in socialist, communist, or any other system?
Look where your paycheck comes from. Every entrepreneur looks forward to being corporate America.
Sorry you had bad experiences but then that’s how we learn.Jim | 12/28/2007 04:03 PM CDT -
Jim, certainly free enterprise does not entitle a company to steal from the buyer. Not rendering service or delivering product after payment made is theft, no more and no less. Free enterprise is not exclusive of legal requirements to fulfill contractual obligations.
Mrs. O'Harra | 12/28/2007 04:10 PM CDT -
Kim, hide the guns, at least until the storm passes.
pdwalker | 12/28/2007 04:11 PM CDT -
Ummm… I know that, Jim. I am a corporate owner myself.
I didn’t slag all corporations. I shared my experience with three companies. Their IRS or ownership status was not mentioned in my post.
Mrs. du Toit | 12/28/2007 04:11 PM CDT -
I am fairly allergic to ordering over the phone or the internet, when I can walk in. I will research on the internet, but if Bricks and Mortar are available, I will avail myself of them.
Fry’s. Uggg! I have a handful of stores in reasonable range and am ALWAYS careful when I go in. I remember when the local (only?) frys was on a back street behind a McDonald’s. Back then they had a bad reputation for restocking items which were returned for cause (they didn’t work). One friend when round and round about a video card. After two returns and suspicions that he was being dealt with poorly, he started putting those small colored dots (1/4") on the PWA. Darned if he didn’t start seeing his own dotted boards given to him as replacements. It turns out that the entire run was flawed, but Fry’s never checked it.
Fast forward to Fry’s of today. No more reason to trust them. Try to make sure that your package has never been opened. Then at least you are competing with how clever/skilled their re-pack people are.
Sears? I have gotten items from them that I had to take, because the items were hard to find and I had to have hot water and be able to cook (water heater and stove - both propane). The items worked, but were both rather badly dented. In the case of the water heater, I had to construct a new base plate for it because the gorrillas in their facility had mangled the original so badly that once removed from the box (which masked the damage) it would not stand up. Other purchases from Sears have gone well.
Lowes? This has just completed. We purchased a medium sized chest freeser and paid for delivery (the wife cannot manage the other end and we would have had to rent a truck anyway). We arranged for post Christmas delivery to make it easier on the folks and because we really didn’t need it until today. It was supposed to arrive 2 days ago, but they couldn’t find it. Four phone calls and much holding finally got them to admit that it hadn’t made it on the truck. Goodie, I sat on my hands all day during vacation waiting for nothing. It turns out that they couldn’t find the item. It arrived 24 hours late and is now nice and chilly and is storing the materials which arrived today.
I won’t go into my dealing with MSFT for a product key under our MSDN agreement at my employer. THAT has been going on for over two weeks and shows no sign of improving.
The good wife and I are convinced that good service is a thing of the far past. Most vendors just blow you off.
They are all worthless. I guess that is why I positively fall over in a dead faint when I do get good service, like at the tea restuarant we (not often enough) patronize or the marvelous cruise to Alaska last summer.
I suppose the cruises will eventually go self-service too…
Sigh
Rob | 12/28/2007 04:27 PM CDT -
In this situation I have had a great deal of success with a technique called Turboing.
Here is an explanation (it is about trying to get tech support, but the principle remains the same) http://www.macwhiz.com/articles/art-of-turboing.html
and yeah, it shouldn’t be necessary in the first place, and you shouldn’t do business with them at all any more.
Dustin Vines | 12/28/2007 04:59 PM CDT -
Mrs. du Toit,
There are only two reasons I regret having left San Jose, CA: There aren’t many decent restaurants in St. Marys, GA, and the nearest Fry’s Electronics is in (shudder) Atlanta.
I’ve ordered one thing from Fry’s over their website, a 17” LCD display, and it arrived right when they said it would.
As for a Fry’s store: IF you know exactly what you’re looking for, it can be a wonderfully inexpensive place. Their sales people, on the other hand, vary from mediocre to gawdawful. YMMV, etc, etc.
As for Sears.... when I go to them, if I can’t pick it up and toss it in my own truck, I don’t get it there. The last appliance(s) we bought were a clothes washer & dryer, 10 years back, from a local appliance store - and THEY showed up on time, did the install, checkout, and were out within an hour. As delivered, the washer & dryer together cost me a whole $124.73 more than the Sear equivalent, with no aggravation. Y’see, Sears has had a crappy rep for customer service nation-wide for years.
Here’s hoping that you and Kim don’t feel the need to go out and start slitting throats soon.... Ward Gerlach
Ward Gerlach | 12/28/2007 05:32 PM CDT -
Mr. Gerlach sparks a memory -
We bought a Calypso washing machine on the recommendation of a friend. We bought it at Sears (cash) and paid to have it delivered (I didn’t want to carry it down into the basement.)
Delivery guys came. Brought it in. Got to the top of the stairs.
...
And dropped it down the stairs. I was glad the guy at the bottom didn’t get crushed. They told us, “See - no damage. We’ll just install it and go.”
Notsofast sez we.
We used the dinged up one until they brought a new one and carried the old one away. It was kind of a pain, but the dropped one did work until the new one got there.
I wasn’t impressed, but I guess not horribly put out on that one.
Weetabix | 12/28/2007 05:37 PM CDT -
Fry’s sucks… online and in person. Rob is right in that you can shop there, but have to be careful.
Sometimes Fry’s has a good price but I’ve long since learned.. NEVER buy anything that you think might have to be returned. Basically any kind of appliance or electronics device. Movies and software are generally ok, but otherwise, avoid Fry’s. They have the absolute worst employees anywhere (I’ve had them deliberately and obviously ignore me when I had a question because they just were lazy) who have the worst knowledge of their products. They even go so far as to lie to people when they don’t know the real answer.. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve corrected employees there when they’ve given incorrect info to customers.
I used to go to Fry’s a lot for movies, but in the last year or two they even seem to be slack on putting out new releases and Best Buy tends to have better stock anymore. Yes, BB has some issues too, but I haven’t run into problems with them myself (save one return) and just always say no to any extended warranties. With the reward card thing they have, I tend to save a lot with coupons too.
I hate to think how bad an experience with Fry’s coupled with doing business online so you can’t even talk to someone face to face would be, but I guess you’re showing us: It sucks.
I really want to get a new Samsung 72” DLP TV in the next month or so… and am having a hard time finding where to buy from. Best prices are online, but I’m worried about return issues if there’s a problem. Local stores like BB or Circuit City don’t seem to carry it either. Grr.
Miguelito | 12/28/2007 06:02 PM CDT -
Many years ago, I went to our local Sears to have two new tires put on my car. When the paperwork was finished, I asked for a copy. The guy behind the counter said, “You’ll get one when the work is finished and you pay us.” I said, “No, I want a copy now. You have the original and two carbons in your hand, so give me one of the carbon copies.” He refused until I said just forget the whole thing, then he changed his mind and gave me a copy. When I came back three hours later, The original form and the OTHER copy had been altered to include new shocks all the way around, along with the new tires. Of course, there was a different guy behind the counter, and I told him I never wanted new shocks and to take them off. He refused and said, “We will keep your car if you refuse to pay!” Well, I asked for the manager and it took him 30 minutes to appear. I explained the situation to him and it was clear that he didn’t believe me. In the meantime, the guy who completed the paperwork shows up! The manager talks to him right in front of me and tells the guy, “This customer says the paperwork was changed after he signed it.” What does the guy say??? He looks right at me and yells, “He is a LIAR! He ordered the tires AND the shocks!” I calmly produced the carbon copy and the manager compared my copy with the others and turned beet red. Then, he said, “You can keep the tires and the shocks, but I need your copy of the form...” Of course, I laughed and said, “No way are you getting your hands on this form! I’ll pay for the tires and that’s it. Plus, I want to see the new shocks with my own eyes.” Guess what? My old shocks were still on the car! I never went back to that Sears, and it closed a couple years later. I wonder why???
J. W. Brown | 12/28/2007 06:50 PM CDT -
I agree with one of the earlier comments, have your credit card comapany issue a charge back and let Fry’s & DHL fight it out themselves.
Personally I’d have cancelled the order as soon as I got to the shipping part of the checkout process and found out they use DHL. In the 8 years I’ve been in my current shop, DHL has yet to actually deliver anything. Invaribly I end up having the package held at the closest terminal so I can pick it up myself.
Butch_S | 12/28/2007 07:53 PM CDT -
I had a somewhat similar experience involving a couch from a local furniture store. Not to tell the whole story but we said we’d take the couch IF they would move the old one downstairs for free. Agreed..but then they charged us 10 dollars anyway.
Stall, double talk, delay and “policy”.
I wrote the owner. I soon got my ten dollars but with a note from the manager basically saying I lied to get it.Christmas season so I waited. January I sent the manager’s letter to the owner, saying I dont need ten dollars and I sure wont lie to get it. I do expect people to honor their contracts. My word against his, but he is the one who cant correctly identify his own document, accurately quote it, or write a grammatical sentence.
I got a letter a week later saying that the manager had been fired and inviting me to shop again.
I think its called dont get mad get even. Good hunting.
evan meade | 12/28/2007 08:03 PM CDT -
Good luck with trying to cancel using the credit card. I had a damaged cpu shipped years ago. It was the way it was packaged. Company refused to replace it. Credit card company (visa), told me I had to work it out with the company.
satted | 12/28/2007 08:11 PM CDT -
I used to comb the internet for the lowest prices on computer goods and electronics. But now that I’m not barely scraping by, it’s just not worth the hassle.
Good prices. Solid service.
ErikZ | 12/28/2007 08:27 PM CDT -
I work in customer service for a major wireless telecom (the one that uses the color yellow). About 300 of us work in this building, I’ve been there two and a half yrs. I really like helping people and solving their problems, and crediting their accounts when there’s a problem. Problem is it takes people about 10 calls or transfers before they get to me. Most people are mad, I don’t blame them, I would be too after hearing their tale of woe! Corporate is pushing for customer satisfaction (must be why I am now blocked from giving out any credit, it now has to be submitted to some bean counter who rejects it 99% of the time… sigh.). Corporate wants customer satisfaction, but tells us our goal of how many minutes per call is six and a half minutes (try to solve a problem in 7 minutes!). I’ve been threatened remedial action for… yep “talking too long with the customers”. Corporate gave us Christmas day off… yea.... and then told us we had to make up the time on one of our days off… As much as I like helping people I’m going to be looking for a new job after the first of the year.
MikeM. Noble | 12/28/2007 09:03 PM CDT -
The fact that the price/info callout cards at Fry’s are loaded with typos and gibberish tells you a lot about the company. Then again, I’ve gotten a bunch of stuff there, cheap. The one experience I had with a return went well, and quickly.
Let me third the comment about doing a chargeback on your card. Hit Fry’s where it hurts.
Rick C | 12/28/2007 09:04 PM CDT -
Concur about the chargeback.
Although I will mention that I do my utmost to avoid phone menus. I learned from an SES-4 (VERY high Civil Service grade) that a real person answering the phone is a hallmark of a first-class organization.
Mike of the Duelling Pistols | 12/28/2007 10:10 PM CDT -
Mrs du Toit,
I feel your pain over Sears. I work at a Sears Hardware store here in SW Ohio, and we just learned that Sears Corporate put together a centralized appointment system in Florida (I think). EVERY Sears appliance sale now has to go through this system for home delivery and installation. Every associate in our store hates this center because it has taken away any customer service goodwill that the local store could create.
Essentially, when you buy an appliance from Sears (don’t, unless you really have too) the sale is sent to the corporate center, and they then call you to set up the delivery date and time. Then they send the paperwork to a local delivery company (in our case Russians who have NO customer service skills) and they deliver it. If there is a problem with delivery or the product being wrong, you have to call the corporate center to fix it. The local stores can do NOTHING for you.
The delivery guys that work our stuff have refused to set up refrigerators, damaged homes and then walked out the door because “they had already been there too long.”
One thing to ask for that might help. Sears has a Golden Opportunities 800 # that the Store Manager must give you to allow you to file a complaint. Yes, it’s another phone call to make, but the Golden Opps folks have the responsibility to make it right by you. If you are so inclined to make another call, I think the number is 1-800-549-4505.
I am truly sorry you had to have this experience with Sears. I pray it works out for you as you want it too. If there is anything I can do to help you with this, let me know via my e-mail address.
God Speed,
SteveSteve | 12/28/2007 11:07 PM CDT -
evan meade wrote: I got a letter a week later saying that the manager had been fired and inviting me to shop again.
I love a happy ending.
pdwalker | 12/29/2007 12:00 AM CDT -
Credit card company (visa), told me I had to work it out with the company.
Posted by sattedYou were lied to.
Send the bank a certified letter claiming fraud and demand that the charge is returned.
They are required to do so by federal statute. They stonewalled you because you didn’t make the demand in writing.
Sears service has gone away completely. The new corporate entity that bought them cares only about the bottom line. They will not stand behind any of their products anymore. If you go to consumerist.com and search for Sears, you will see one horror story after another.
Mrs. Du Toit .... I would suggest simply sending your creditcard bank a chargeback demand letter claiming fraud for each of the two purchases, and simply refuse any deliveries from either outfit.
Their excuses for failing to deliver is not your problem.
Screw them.
Kristopher | 12/29/2007 02:17 AM CDT -
Long ago, back when I bought my first house, oh ten years ago when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. I bought my fridge from Sears. They brought it all right, but didn’t hook up the icemaker, said they didn’t have any tools with them and just call and they could come back and do it for free. But when I called, I was told sorry, only if I pay about a hundred bucks for a repair visit.
I never did get that water line hooked up. I mostly drink milk and canned sodas anyway, and prefer other drinks cold instead of warm with ice in it anyway so I didn’t ever miss it.
Now that I’ve moved to a small Ozark mountain town, I’ve dealt with Sears again, back in October. Their closest store was an hour’s drive away. The next closest was two hours. It is a small place, much smaller than the ones I’m used to seeing in Malls.
Nice thing about small town. A business pisses people off, word is going to get around about it.
I left my old fridge in Texas, and the new place came with a fridge and dishwasher. The very nice old lady who sold me this house had to go to a lot of trouble to find a standard width stove with an oven that could hold 3 cake pans at once (triple layer cakes), so she took the stove with her and I needed to get a new, no frills, non-skilled bachelor model.
They made the appointment for delivery right then and there, with their guy that’s done that for them for many years. Didn’t say anything about a center in Florida (perhaps some small town Sears are rebelling and ignoring certain centralised parts of Sears to give better service?)
So I left the door unlocked on the appointed day and when I came home to make a sandwhich for my lunch I arrived just as the delivery man was finishing up. Nice guy, welcomed me to town and told me who to call to get the leaky water line on the fridge fixed. The ice maker works, it is one that has that stuff on the outside of the door. But the water line for the cold water has a leak and is shut off. Oh, well. I have a nice filter system on the sink and just keep a jug of cold filtered water inside it instead.
By the way. Don’t buy a spacesaving plastic jug thing that is the width of a soda can and extends all the way to the rear of the fridge to hold 2-3 gallons of water. Got one. Now the water isn’t cold, it is frozen. Stick with the old fashioned plastic pitcher at the front of the shelf method instead.
Never been in a Frys. But I won’t buy anything from a Circuit City. Last year or so, they fired all their long time retail clerks, the ones who were there for a decade or more and getting paid enough to support a family? Say 15 bucks an hour or so built up over many years of raises? Then they offered to rehire them for 8 to 10 bucks an hour.
The result is that anyone who was good at their job pretty much walked away from Circuit City. Too bad, back when I bought the very first model of flatbed scanner to hit the shelves, I bought it from them. Used it for more than decade and it still worked when I threw it out during the move and bought a new and much faster printer/scanner/fax thing.
As for DHL, before I moved to the Ozarks, I had never much heard of them. In Texas I had used Fedex very rarely, the Post Office mostly, and UPS a good bit once I got back into shooting and starting haunting the web pages of Cheaper Than Dirt and other such sites.
But here in Arkansas, working in a regular post office instead of a computer center for the first time, we get DHL stuff dropped off here every day. I’ve learned from my new fellow postal workers that DHL has a lousy rep with the Postal service. Missing stuff, bashed up stuff, opened stuff, etc.
And I’ve also learned a great way to answer anybody that tries to tell me that Fedex, UPS, DHL, etc. can do a much better job than the US Post Office. Now I’ll just ask them, if this is true, then why is it that every afternooon, Monday through Friday, Fedex, UPS, and DHL come to my post office and drop off their stuff for US to deliver to THEIR customers?
And I don’t mean just the ones with a PO Box for the address. But stuff with a street delivery address too. During Christmas we were getting fedex packages by the pallet.
The bad side of this is that their tracking systems are their tracking systems, not the USPS tracking system. So people who had stuff shipped through them that didn’t show up are now calling us, expecting us to be able to tell them what happened to their stuff. And it seems all three of them are encouraging customers to think we can help them instead of Fedex, UPS, or DHL doing the tracking and helping like what they are supposed to be doing. When we can’t.
That and since we are handing over stuff that came from Fedex. A couple times a week, somebody walks in with a Fedex next day package, thinking they are supposed to drop it off with us. But we don’t take packages for any of them, we just deliver what they drop off here. Though we do explain that express mail is much the same as Fedex next day stuff is, since it part of some deal the Post Office has with Fedex for fast and next day delivery anyhow.
Of course, this year, the Postal Service officially declared itself to be a FOR PROFIT CORPORATION. And there is much expectation that all sorts of corporate crap the Postal Service used to not have will soon be happening on top of the usual govt. burocracy crap. (Somehow I bet I spelled burocracy wrong)
Budgeted work hours at small post offices have already been cut… a lot. The stamp vending machines are being phased out as we speak. And it is feared by the union that soon Wal-Mart will be doing most of the stamp selling that I am doing right now, using people who get paid far, far less than me, which will mean less postal workers, fewer retail windows/desks open in the lobby, and much longer lines to stand in and wait while there to mail or pick up a package.
And of course that will mean far less customer service at the Post Office, even in a small town, just like all those other Corporations.
Johnnyreb | 12/29/2007 02:26 AM CDT -
I will never use DHL again. My wife ordered a Christmas present from MLB.com on 12/18, which was the day she was supposed to order to get it on 12/14, you know, BEFORE Christmas. She paid for the 2 day shipping. It shipped on 12/20. On 12/27, we still didn’t have it, and there was no tracking info. I called DHL. They said it was at their facility. I asked what happened to 2 day delivery, since it had been 7. “We don’t work weekends” I was told. Okay, 7-2 is 5. Still three extra days. “It was supposed to be delivered yesterday.” Well, it wasn’t, but that still leaves 4 days for a 2 day delivery. Oh! They don’t work Christmas, either. That leaves 3. Not sure what happened to the extra day, but it obviously wasn’t on the truck for delivery on day 7, either, because the truck never showed up that day, either.
If you are having something shipped, and it is comong DHL, run screaming from that site, and buy at another. That’s my advice.
Bill | 12/29/2007 02:41 AM CDT -
Before you get gushy over newegg.com, I ordered $1200 bucks of laptop and GPS for Christmas presents. I’ve probably ordered $5000 worth of stuff from them in the last 18 months.
Their website won’t let you pick an alternate delivery address. They claim that once you order something, you can send them an e-mail telling them to change the delivery address / timing. They lie. I know they lie because I sent the e-mail and they acknowledged getting it.
After the tracking info showed up showing that UPS would be delivering while we were out of town, I called Newegg. They said I should call UPS. UPS says, No, only Newegg can request a change in delivery. Yadda, Yadda.
And don’t get me started about Circuit City. Bought a refrigerator from them. Got the extended “repair or replace” warranty. Referigerator broke down three years later. After one solid month of “repair attempts”, the last tech they sent (from Atlanta to Montgomery, AL) informed me that the previous techs had managed to solder the cooling tubes completely closed. I invoked the replacement clause. He called the local store, and the repair supervisor refused to send out a replacement. I eventually informed the store manager that if they didn’t honor the warranty, the next person they heard from would be my lawyer with instructions to teach them why AL was called “tort hell”. Refrigerator delivered next day. Haven’t been back to CC since 1997.
Nor was I alone. The USAF contracted them to put in and maintain appliances in base housing. I was told the performance was so bad that the USAF canceled the contract and blackballed them. Those of you with govt contracting experience know how rare that is.
SDN | 12/29/2007 07:55 AM CDT -
Eh? What do you mean Newegg won’t ship to an alternate address? I live in CO and I had them ship to my Mom’s place in IL.
I forget exactly how I had that set up. I think she had to be on my Credit card somehow. Anyway, shipping to an alternate address is setting the bar pretty high, don’t you think? Especially since there are so many people trying to scam online stores.
Ship it to you at your primary address and stand behind your product. That’s all I really want stores to do.
ErikZ | 12/29/2007 08:06 AM CDT -
Computer stores are notorious for being picky about that alternate address thing. I just wish they’d tell you. I understand they are targeted for card fraud, but disclosing their policy would avoid a lot of hassle.
This comes up for me all the damn time, because my business address (where my business credit card bill is sent) is not my home address. When I buy something for business I want it shipped home, but don’t have a problem if it has to go to the same address on the credit card. I just wish they’d tell me that and not put my order on hold, waiting for some sort of verification of the card.
Mrs. du Toit | 12/29/2007 08:17 AM CDT -
Which is why the other two GPS I bought for my other sisters came from Amazon, which made the whole process painless.
SDN | 12/29/2007 09:36 AM CDT -
One of the big issues with dealing with the public-according to my sister that works a phone center for Sears appliances-is that she has customers that will try to con and play games with her to get things that are most certainly not under their warentee. Or will go absolutely bat-shit nuts because their air conditioning broke on Sunday and nobody will fix it until Monday (and, they don’t need air conditioning right now, as it’s Florida in early Spring and barely over 70). Or their oven breaks day before Thanksgiving and they’re more than 50+ miles away from the nearest Emergency repair service that Sears contracts out with.
This does NOT excuse bad service. The instant the package went lost, the company should have been hitting DHL on the head with a hammer to find out what happened-and nobody that I know that has used DHL has ever really been pleased.
At my current job, we had a package with a BRAND NEW passport shredded by FedEx in the handing machine. We had to pay for emergency processing of a new US passport to meet the client’s travel dates. But, we did it because we want our customers to come back. Customer service is what gets you customers back-I know very well that I wouldn’t send somebody to Fry’s Electronics by themselves to get something because the customer service there is...less than adequate.
Jonathan Souza | 12/29/2007 11:49 AM CDT -
I will ski myself alive before I buy something more expensive than about $5 from Frys. They’re good for, I dunno.. buying cables? But no one there has any sort of clue (seriously, the wait staff must be specifically chosen for their lack of ability with english and their lack of knowledge about their products). And most of the packages have already been opened and returned at least once, and chances are they have been restocked either broken and/or missing parts.
silvermine | 12/29/2007 01:06 PM CDT -
I purchased a new rifle from a dealer out of state and he shipped it to my local one using fedex in two packages (one for the gun the other for the accessories. The dealer sent me the tracking #’s and it showed them arriving at the local facility. The box w/ the rifle showed up but the one w/ the accessories (about $750 worth) never got delivered to my dealer. I called them and they told me it had been scanned onto the truck but never off of it and that I should just file a claim. The floor manager said he couldn’t do anything about it.
The out of state dealer called them and told them that it was a firearm they’d lost and if they didn’t find it he would contact the BATFE. Five minutes later (literally) they found it and had it on a truck to be delivered.
Turns out this wasn’t the first gun item to be “lost” at that particular facility.thirdpower | 12/29/2007 03:11 PM CDT -
Mrs. D—
What you need to do is called an “Executive E-mail Carpet Bomb”—tips on the practice are here http://consumerist.com/consumer/complaint-letters/how-to-launch-an-executive-email-carpet-bomb-259713.php
I can attest to personal success with similar methods before finding this site, and the name for what I had done.
Another time I’ll detail how I dealt with Sprint and AT&T;Wireless…
DD
Dedicated_Dad | 12/29/2007 03:17 PM CDT -
Sorry I cannot find the website with more but this link gives some back door human operators:-http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/30/pf/smart_assets/index.htm
When I get back to work I will do better!
ChrisChris Edwards | 12/29/2007 04:02 PM CDT -
I work in customer service for a major wireless telecom (the one that uses the color yellow). About 300 of us work in this building, I’ve been there two and a half yrs. I really like helping people and solving their problems, and crediting their accounts when there’s a problem. Problem is it takes people about 10 calls or transfers before they get to me. Most people are mad, I don’t blame them, I would be too after hearing their tale of woe! Corporate is pushing for customer satisfaction (must be why I am now blocked from giving out any credit, it now has to be submitted to some bean counter who rejects it 99% of the time… sigh.). Corporate wants customer satisfaction, but tells us our goal of how many minutes per call is six and a half minutes (try to solve a problem in 7 minutes!). I’ve been threatened remedial action for… yep “talking too long with the customersâ€. Corporate gave us Christmas day off… yea.... and then told us we had to make up the time on one of our days off… As much as I like helping people I’m going to be looking for a new job after the first of the year.
MikeWhat a small world! I also work for the same nameless cellphone provider. If it’s bad where you are, you should try working in Retention--you’d already have quit. The main thing that keeps me there is knowing that I do a damn good job, and how few of us there are. Things are also starting to get a little better than they were. Our Corporate Leaders are telling us that Customer Satisfaction is most important priority. I’m sure this explains the many recent CEOs who “want to spend more time with family” or explore new paradigms or whatever it is those types do. I’m sure it has nothing to do with coming in last in “Consumer Reports Magazine” for three years running--even behind T-Mobile, and that is no easy feat--or that the stock price has dropped almost half what it was when I started.
Mrs. D, this is not to construed as an excuse, but with companies boasting of their “global network” they’re not mentioning that the folks in Boston, Bangalore, Brasilia, and Alibang have no direct communication with each other, may not be using the same operating or billing system, or haven’t had the same level of training. Most of my job comes down to fixing other agent’s stupid, ignorant, or lazy mistakes.
Eventually, I’ll be reprimanded for taking too much time to do all these things, but it will have to come from outside our center, because my bosses understand that what I fix STAYS fixed.
And these are the comments of someone who loves where he works! And I do enjoy the job, but the worst time of year is the three weeks after Xmas, At least I’m not in Retail, dealing with customers face to face.
I have a Sears story too, but I’m not going to share it except to say that Sears has turned over their billing to Citibank, and that I now BURN anything that comes in the mail from them.
I hope we will again see the day that service is more important than price.
My best to you and Kim and the rest of the clan.
Antibubba
Antibubba | 12/29/2007 05:43 PM CDT -
Ok…
I was unable to get a cable modem at my house. The only possible option for anything like “broadband” was wireless.
I work in IT, so I figured I’d get a wireless card, install in an old laptop set up with MS ISA server and be all set.
The question was whether the card would work—whether I could get an adequate signal.
I go to the Sprint store - they tell me they have a 15-day “trial” period, return within 15 days, pay only for bandwidth used.
I only used the card on the first day, in my “work” laptop. At home there was no signal. IIRC, I bought it on a Monday and returned it the following Thursday, just before store closing.
First I get a bill for a full month’s service. I call, about an hour on the phone and am finally told they’d correct it so I’d only pay for one day’s usage.
Then I get a bill for a second month, and a late charge for the first.
We go around for a few months, hours on the phone each time, until they finally get the point and close the account.
At which time they send me a bill for a $175 “early termination fee.” More calls, then I finally decide I am not talking to them any more—wastes hours of my time, and nothing is done, so I start writing letters.
At this point they start calling me at all hours—7AM, 9:30PM, on my cell phone, you name it. Each time I carefully explain the situation, but they tell me I am going to have to pay the bill to make the calls stop.
The last idiot actually told me he was looking at my credit report, told me how much money I made and my credit score (both correct) before telling me
Quote!
“As much money as you make, this is pocket change. If I were you I’d just pay it—you wouldn’t want to mess up a perfect credit score!”Can you say “shakedown”? How about “Extortion”?
By this time, I am 5 or 6 months into this fiasco, and decided to take action.
I wrote them a letter on my (Personal/LLC) Letterhead, explaining the problem in brief, but (MOST IMPORTANT!!) offering my services as a Consultant to solve the obvious problems with their billing and customer service systems.
“In order to accept my offer, just have one of your agents contact me. I’ll take careful notes during the call, and send you a written report along with an invoice for my services. My rate is $250 per hour, with a two-hour minimum. ...”
When I got the next call, I did as promised, and sent them a suitable report along with an invoice for $500.
Within 3 business days of mailing, I rec’d a call from someone claiming to be a “regional VP” telling me that my problem had been solved, their records corrected, and that I wouldn’t be getting any more calls.
“Good” says I “Clearly my services were of aid. When can I expect my check?” He spluttered, told me I’d made my point, and repeated his “problem solved” speech.
“Good” says I “Clearly my services were of aid. When can I expect my check?”
=oD
We went back-and forth a couple of times, each time he finished speaking I’d again ask when they planned to pay my invoice. Eventually he told me he was going to hang up, and did so.
For about the next year, every month or so I’d send out a “demand for payment” or the like, or call their A/P Department, regional HQ or whatever, politely noting that Mr. VP had made clear that my report had been helpful in solving their problem and requesting that I be paid for my services.
Never did get that damn check, though…
=o )
I’ve used the “consultant” tactic one other time, similar situation and identical results.
It’s sorta fun, really—you may want to try it sometime!
Who knows—you might even get paid!!
=o )
DD
Dedicated_Dad | 12/29/2007 06:41 PM CDT -
I had an issue with Qwest and AT&T;teaming up to charge me $700 for a long distance call to Niue Island through my long distance blocking.
One operator removed the charge, 5 minutes later, her supervisor called and said she didn’t have the authority. They jerked me around for a few weeks.
I finally sent them a registered letter, with a MN Public Utilities commission complaint form, an MN Atty General complaint form, and a BBB complaint form attached. They dropped the $700.
princewally | 12/29/2007 07:46 PM CDT -
Mrs. du Toit ,
Ma’am;
Jamming up customers at any particular time is bad, but doing it at Christmastime is unconscionable. We vote with our wallets, and should let businesses know it when they fail to deliver acceptable levels of service.
If I may add a few of my own experiences:
Some years ago, I had to put my car in for transmission work. A few days later, it wasn’t upshifting properly, so I took it back and was assured that it would be ready the next day. It wasn’t. I called on day 5, and was told they were working on it. Ditto day 7 through 14, when they stopped answering the phone.
On day 15, I went looking for corporate names and fell into the motherlode - the fax number of the CEO. The letter I sent was polite, and set forth my concerns, including the fact that people whose opinion I trust had told me that legal action was an option at this point, but I wanted to resolve this amicably.
Day 16, the shop called me at work and said the car was ready, and they would be extending the year’s warranty from that point. When I arrived at the shop, I could see a copy of my fax on the manager’s desk. Where the shop was is now a bar-b-q place run by asians.
The only other time I fell into the clutches of transmission repair people was way back when you could get a quick checkup from the other big company for $7.45 complete. When I showed up at the end of the day, the guy behind the counter said the transmission had to be completely overhauled, and it would cost me $200 to get it back. My father had given me a lift to pick up my car, and was having a cigarette outside. I went out and told him what the counter guy had said. He went in with me, put $7.45 on the counter and said that was all I had contracted for, and anything above and beyond that amount constituted fraud. I got the car back for the agreed amount.
The shop went out of business a few months later.
UPS has, in the past, left packages on my step during the day. When I finally had enough of this, I called and was told that this was allowed in my area. I said fine, I was expecting two handguns shortly, and would recommend that the manufacturer not use UPS. I was assured that guns were a different story, that they were held at the terminal and would only be released on signature with proper ID. So far, I haven’t had to darken their door.Lergnom | 12/29/2007 09:28 PM CDT -
It’s a sad commentary on humans, but a lot of the difficulty I have getting problems fixed can be traced back to fraud. That is, it used to be easier to correct this until a consumer or employee figured out how to game this particular method for their short term gain. It’s why you have to talk to five “idiots” before you talk to someone knowledgeable: If all those other people had access to what I do the company would go bankrupt as everyone skimmed and scammed. I’m better trained, and I’m more closely watched, too. Sad that it works this way, but trustworthiness seems to be a forgotten ideal.
Antibubba | 12/30/2007 03:26 AM CDT -
I find the Sears debacle interesting, since it’s almost the reverse of what the situation was years ago. By way of validating my viewpoint, my mother owned the Sears store in Inuvik, NWT (she owned the building and contracted with Sears to provide the community service ... everything was 2500 air miles from the “south” - Edmonton, Alberta).
The horror stories of the customer abuse of Sears policies were astounding ... wedding dresses returned the dayt after the wedding, appliances returned for full credit after years of use, etc. I never understood how they could afford that level of “support” ... except that I remembered my first job out of high school ... driving fork truck in a Sears (Simpsons-Sears in Canada) warehouse. I’d see the invoice for the stuff I was pulling and a 100% markup was common, although baby stuff ... cribs and the like ... was 125%.I knew that Sears must be in a sad way when they got bought by K-Mart ... a companyt that had just managed to emerge from bancrupcy ... LOL. Certainly not at the top of my list of places to shop.
I found the cell phone comments interesting ... I just spent several hundred dollars and several months trying to get a Treo activated at verizon. The first 2 times it went back for repair as it was (supposedly) on the “lost or stolen” list and they would not activate. We finally managed to get everything working and bingo ... a letter arrives in the mail advising me that I am now enrolled in a $45 data plan (in addition to the $70 for 700 minutes family that usually see maybe 70 minutes used). Of course, I never authorized it, nor was I asked if I wanted it, nor told they were putting it on my account. I guess the assumption was that I wouldn’t want a data (smart) phone and no data ... wrong ... fortunately my wife is always willing to do the phone stuff (I HATE phones) and got that fixed.
Customer Service ... has pretty much become an oxymororn in this country.
Working for one of those “evil” multinational corporations, I get to see a pretty different view. Heck, some years ago I worked on creating the stadards and architecture for an automated e-system that would allow smaller customers to buy from us. They’d all been dropped years ago as the profit margin was too small to afford them a sales engineer. Big corps like this actually grade their customers as A/B/C in order to ensure that the resources are put where the profit potential exists. This is the tail end of the war on profits ... something that all those of us who shop for the best price have caused along with the rush to improve and innovate.
pete in Midland | 1/3/2008 10:11 AM CDT
