Customer Service Rants

[moonpie23]

of course, there's always Steven Thrasher (NSFW language)

[budwom]

a few years ago I enrolled in the Medicare Part D program (for Rx drugs, even though I don't take any (*)...)...chose the cheapest option, Humana/WalMart (the name should
have given me pause). Over the course of the next year (and this is genuinely true) I never ever got a card with my name, acct number, etc, despite about 15 calls including one to
a VP who promised I'd have the card the next day.

Best I can tell, the fact that my physical address is a street number, but my mailing address is a PO Box, completely tilts their crappy system. (I've suffered thru this
phenomenon before). Eventually I got Humana to dictate an account number to me, which I scribbled on a piece of paper, and took to the drugstore to ascertain if I indeed had
coverage in the "system.." (I did). Clown show.

* due to arcane medicare reasons/rules

[-jk]

a few years ago I enrolled in the Medicare Part D program (for Rx drugs, even though I don't take any (*)...)...chose the cheapest option, Humana/WalMart (the name should
have given me pause). Over the course of the next year (and this is genuinely true) I never ever got a card with my name, acct number, etc, despite about 15 calls including one to
a VP who promised I'd have the card the next day.

Best I can tell, the fact that my physical address is a street number, but my mailing address is a PO Box, completely tilts their crappy system. (I've suffered thru this
phenomenon before). Eventually I got Humana to dictate an account number to me, which I scribbled on a piece of paper, and took to the drugstore to ascertain if I indeed had
coverage in the "system.." (I did). Clown show.

* due to arcane medicare reasons/rules

I live in a small town with a PO but no home mail delivery. For shipping, we just list our street address with the PO Box as a suite/apt. Everyone navigates it just fine. (Kids' friends, not so much - they keep expecting an apartment building...)

-jk

[Jim3k]

As I said upthread, Comcast, in its initial install, was having trouble with one of the phone extensions--the one in the kitchen for the cordless base unit, of course. The installer knew he had screwed up, so he gave me the number for his supervisor, I called on Monday but got voicemail, left my number. Nothing. So later that day I called Comcast to get it fixed.

The new installer came on Wednesday. He fooled around with it for 4-½ hours. At one point he asserted that no phone had ever been in that location (despite the obvious jack). He could find no live wire. Finally, he asked to go to the attic crawl space. When he got there he discovered the proper line, but it wouldn't work. So he followed it outside and found it there--neatly severed by his predecessor installer. Wow. He said it was in a bundle of wires and he hadn't seen it before. Double wow!

Aaugh!

On Thursday evening, the whole damn system went out. I thought it would fix itself by morning, but no. So, using my cellphone, I called customer service. Somebody who barely spoke understandable English put me on hold for about 5 minutes. Then he came back and said there was an ongoing outage in my area (but not related to any electric power outage). He assured me that it would all be back by 4 pm. It was. I wasn't too upset because we'd had some bad weather and I was pretty sure it was weather-related.

But what a start!

More Aaugh!

[budwom]

I live in a small town with a PO but no home mail delivery. For shipping, we just list our street address with the PO Box as a suite/apt. Everyone navigates it just fine. (Kids' friends, not so much - they keep expecting an apartment building...)

-jk

there are some companies (not smart ones) which automatically boot any mention of a PO Box, unfortunately...I've learned to avoid them...as a friend of mine calls it, The Tyranny of Bad Software.

[-jk]

there are some companies (not smart ones) which automatically boot any mention of a PO Box, unfortunately...I've learned to avoid them...as a friend of mine calls it, The Tyranny of Bad Software.

Yeah, I never actually put "PO Box xxx" on anything, just "#xxx".

-jk

[rthomas]

Wow. What about United dragging a doctor out the plane who would not give up his seat when they overbooked the flight?

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...ompting-outcry

I am not a lawyer and I don't know much about being a lawyer, but I would like to be this person's lawyer.

[JasonEvans]

Wow. What about United dragging a doctor out the plane who would not give up his seat when they overbooked the flight?

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...ompting-outcry

I am not a lawyer and I don't know much about being a lawyer, but I would like to be this person's lawyer.

The intertubes are blowing up over this one. I have seen several videos related to this incident. If I was on the jury in the eventual lawsuit here, my only question to the judge would be, "Your honor, are we allowed to give an 8-digit award or are we limited to 7?"

In a stunning development, the Chicago Police Department has dragged itself into this mess. I'll allow this article to explain.

Even though the Chicago Police Department was not involved in the incident, many news media outlets that didn't realize Aviation Department Police are a different agency were calling Chicago Police for comment. Instead of remaining quiet on the matter, CPD decided to tell reporters the man "fell" on his face and injured himself. CPD issued a statement on Monday, described the passenger as "irate," and said aviation security officers "attempted to carry" the man off the plane "when he fell."

Someone really, really stupid is running communications for the CPD. Ha!

I also enjoyed this drawing, "United is now offering a new class of service. Now you can fly first, economy plus, economy or..."


United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz is being roasted on Twitter saying the airline is sorry it had to "re-accommodate" the passenger. Re-accommodate?!?!?!!? In what can only be described as the best irony of the day, Munoz is set to receive an award tonight from PRWeek as the "Communicator of the Year." Bwahahahahahahahaha!

-Jason "clearly, United and the airport police and the airport itself are all going to get sued... United could have chartered a plane to fly these 4 United Employees to Louisville and it would have been a lot cheaper than the lawsuits will be" Evans

[devildeac]

I really wanted to title this, American Airlines s*cks.

My son sat next to an alleged AA HR employee on a flight tonight.

This employee decided to text her friend about my son with an unflattering description.

This brought a lovely end to a day which saw us pay for checked bags in a line 40 minutes deep with one gate agent, followed by an hour long wait on the runway on the next flight because of "missing paperwork that was delivered by truck to the cockpit window".

If that lady is representative of what AA employees deal with, I feel sorry for them.

Wow. What about United dragging a doctor out the plane who would not give up his seat when they overbooked the flight?

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...ompting-outcry

I am not a lawyer and I don't know much about being a lawyer, but I would like to be this person's lawyer.

Sorry to read about the fuse family and American Airlines. Silver lining? At least his family wasn't on a United flight.

[fuse]

There was a note up thread about apathy.

There is a sad ring of truth to that statement.

Boycott United due to airport police brutality or legging-gate?
Boycott American for poor customer service?

Leaves you with Southwest, Jet Blue, maybe Alaska/Virgin.

The airlines don't care because they can afford not to care.
Every seat you don't buy there are others who will.

The most fascinating thing I read about United yesterday (and I don't believe this is limited to United) is the federal protection.

United can bump you from your flight and if they put you on another that arrives within an hour of your original plan, no compensation.
This scales - 2 hours, 4 hours, etc and has cost penalties measured out in percentages with caps (e.g. 400% of ticket value up to $1600).

This is where Thomas Jefferson had it right (pardon the paraphrase)- when banks and corporations run the government, democracy is dead.

Banks, airlines, big pharma, monsanto have essentially paid off the government to create favorable conditions for their business.

[-jk]

I'm resurrecting this thread to post about an awful customer service experience I had recently.

Trivety Technology(we record SN), an Amazon seller, sold me a "new" printer that had a sticky liquid inside - something like Sprite or 7-Up. When I tried to return it, Trivety Technology charged a 50% restocking fee as it had that liquid in it, claiming there was no way for liquid to have gotten there. I admit it was unusual - I've unboxed and set up scores of printers over the years and never seen the like. But even with pictures I took during unboxing, Trivety refused to reconsider.

It took over six weeks to get even that much back. Trivety strung me along past the 90 day Amazon Seller Feedback window, making it impossible to leave feedback. So, in lieu of Amazon Seller feedback, I'm offering DBR Rants Feedback. Maybe it'll show up on the google for someone else one day.

If you're buying on Amazon, I strongly recommend not using Trivety Technology.

-jk

[Indoor66]

Have you contacted Amazon? They are quite sensitive about their sellers providing solid customer support and service.

[-jk]

Have you contacted Amazon? They are quite sensitive about their sellers providing solid customer support and service.

I have reached out to Amazon with the full story.

-jk

[wilson]

I have reached out to Amazon with the full story.

-jk

Your credit card company might also be worth a shot. American Express, for example, has really backed me up in some situations like this.

[-jk]

Your credit card company might also be worth a shot. American Express, for example, has really backed me up in some situations like this.

Thanks. I think I'll end up getting most of the refund, just not from Trivety.

-jk

[aimo]

Absolutely call Amazon. You will have to speak with someone in the Philippines, but you should get the remedy you want. And they will know that the seller has a complaint even if it's not on their review page.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Absolutely call Amazon. You will have to speak with someone in the Philippines, but you should get the remedy you want. And they will know that the seller has a complaint even if it's not on their review page.

Amazon customer service has been exemplary in my experience.

[aimo]

Amazon customer service has been exemplary in my experience.

Oh I have had good experience with them, it is just very hard to understand them sometimes. And they use canned responses like most other non-USA-based customer service groups. So if your issue is not covered by their lists of responses (which it rarely is), you have a much tougher time getting the problem addressed.

The one gripe I had with them is when I reported a charge on my credit card from Amazon for a purchase I did not make. I had already called the credit card company, but I called Amazon to complain about the fact that they do not ask for the security codes on our cards. A couple of weeks later, I get a letter from Amazon telling me THEY had "discovered" improper charges on my account. The ones I had to report to them. SMH

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Oh I have had good experience with them, it is just very hard to understand them sometimes. And they use canned responses like most other non-USA-based customer service groups. So if your issue is not covered by their lists of responses (which it rarely is), you have a much tougher time getting the problem addressed.

The one gripe I had with them is when I reported a charge on my credit card from Amazon for a purchase I did not make. I had already called the credit card company, but I called Amazon to complain about the fact that they do not ask for the security codes on our cards. A couple of weeks later, I get a letter from Amazon telling me THEY had "discovered" improper charges on my account. The ones I had to report to them. SMH

I do all my Amazon customer service via chat. Much easier and leaves a "paper" record.

[bundabergdevil]

If we really want to stick it to them, we should change the title to Customer "Service" Rants.