CUSTOMER SERVICE RANT (Page 2)

I'm with all the folks that say customer service is a lost art.  A few of my favorites:

Sprint:  When I moved up to Ohio we went to change our numbers.  We were told that changing our numbers incurred an additional 2 year service commitment (what? why?).  That we could have no say in what the numbers would be (not even a choice between a few), and that mine and my wife's would no longer be consecutive (like they had been when we first got them).  And to top it off both would be inactive for at least 3-4 hours.  Most of this I would add up to mildly annoying.  Here's where it got good.  A few weeks later, we get our bill.  $500.  Beg pardon?  It is seldom over $100 for our shared plan.  Call into customer service and find out that in the process of changing our numbers they deactivated our plan (and charged the penalty) reactivated it (charged an activation fee) and failed to put one of our phones on any plan at all (causing it to be charged a $1 a minute useage fee).  Have to argue for over an hour with 2 different people before they finally agree to take the charges off.  Three days later the charges are still on there.   Call in again, argue again, have it taken off again.  I've pondered sending Sprint a bill for my time.

Best Buy:  In the store, they're not to bad.  But their "extended warranty" plans are what I equate to an insurance scam.  Charge as much as you possibly can, and then do as little as humanly possible.  Whenever asked if I want this anymore I tell them (very politely of course) to shove it up their.... rear.  I had a lap top that fried about a year after I got it.  Took it in to the nice folks and only had to wait almost 2 months to get it back (including 7 calls where the insisted that parts were on order).  When my very expensive front loading washer starting thumping and banging I called in and first they did everything under the sun to try and say that I voided the warranty.  When that didn't work the sent out some worthless repairman who ran it with nothing in it for 30 seconds and tried to say nothing was wrong and then Best Buy tried to say we had to pay for that visit because there was no error found.  It actually goes on, but you get the idea.  All I get from BB now is DVDs.  It's tough for them to screw that up.

bts

I can't believe you got that treatment at a Kohls.  I shop there all the time (in Racine) and haven't ever had a problem.  I've exchanged a LOT of stuff.

My pick for worst customer service right now is Napster.  Try getting an answer out of those people or finding what you need on their website....the entire thing reads like an ad even some of the  FAQs.

JOHNNY DANGEROUSLY!!!

My father told me not watch that movie once.  ONCE!

I had a similar bad experience last week.  Between Father's Day, Xmas and my Bday in the last year and a half I've gotten 5 brown sweaters.  I guess I look like a brown sweater kind of guy.  So I decided enough is enough (I know it's 4 sweaters too late) and I took it back.  Same type of nightmare.

But I had a good experience too.  Each of my kids got me a pair of running shoes from the Reebok Outlet store near our house.  Buy one get one half price.  So I took one pair back because it didn't fit quite right and I was afraid I was going to get all kinds of hassle because it was the half price pair but they took care of it with a smile and applied the half price to the new pair.  Sounds obvious but in today's world you never know what you're going to get.  The place couldn't have been nicer about it, and my new pair was on a post xmas sale so cheap I ended up kicking in another few bucks and getting two pairs so now I have three.  Makes it easier to keep one pair nice and clean for running at the health club.  You get dirty looks if you leave mud on the treadmill!

It was that funny gangster movie with Michael Keaton, "Johnny Dangerously."

I'm one of those people who is grown tired of these all-too-powerful large retailers such as Home Depot, Walmart, and Target.  I'm frankly sick of them all and prefer to do business with smaller retailers who ply American products.  All of these companies stink in one way or another (yes, even Target).  The Target bastages get my wrath for giving the Salvation Army the boot over Christmas.  Walmart fights against American companies in court who are dealing with unfair trade practices (and to think, this is the company that used to be so proud of "Made in the USA" and now, they're siding with the Chinese government who's dumping crappy goods at predatory pricing levels to put competitors out of business).

Home Depot's customer service absolutely sucks.  I spent about $10,000 on a kitchen remodel project with HD.  They came in and installed all the new cabinets.  After 2.5 years, one cabinet began to come apart, to the point where it became unusable.  Home Depot replaced it and here we are, 2.5 years later and the new one is coming apart.  Same exact problem.

I called the bastages and they refuse to replace it or fix it this time.  They said that at the time the cabinets were purchased (American Woodmark), they were only warranteed for 5 years (although new ones sold today are warranteed for life, go figure).  The 5 years is up.  But, I argued that the one failing is only 2.5 years old.  "Too bad, so sad", is basically what they told me.

So I ask the manager why a cabinet could only last 2.5 years.  It would seem to me that its either defective (low probability) or it was installed incorrectly at the beginning.  Since HD did all the labor, they should be responsible for making it right.  "Go pound sand" is essentially what he told me to do.

Over the last 10 years, I know I've spent well over $70,000 with HD on various remodeling projects.  As of today, they won't be seeing any more of my money.  Home Depot does not make things right for their customers.

I will tell every person I can this story.  My hope is that Home Depot reaps what they've sown.

Edited by Motivated 2006-01-09 10:58 AM

I had the same problem with Cingular.  I was never notified that a flash was available for my phone, and when I finally got sick of it acting like crap, it was too late to get it. I gave them words, and was able to upgrade for free (even tho we weren't "eligible" but had to sign on for another 2 years. Cingular and I had it out a lot, but since they've merged with ATT, I haven't had as much reason to call in to complain so that's good. Also stopped using a Nokia phone on their network and that seemed to help. Nokia also stinks. Why not change, you ask? Cingular has the best coverage in one horse town Missouri.

Front line customer service folks have NO POWER. They are not enabled by the higher ups to make any decisions or help the customer. They just go by policy (as they should). This creates a pissed off customer who rants at the manager. If they could just be taugh to help us out a LITTLE, we'd feel better. 

 
A good question tho, why is it that the front line customer service people, those who deal with the public all day every day, are the least paid employee for that company? Something to think about.... 

Karl, my wife worked at a Home Depot Service desk for a few years. Be persistent and  you'll get what you want. Call the regional offices, talk to the regional manager.

She's seen them take back windows for an entire house that were custom made to the homeowners specs, even after the store warned the customer that these were odd sizes and the windows should be remeasured.

To be fair, Target allows NO solicitation by ANYONE. They don't just give Target the boot. 

Wow- I'm surprised you didn't go postal on them!  Did you ever check the back of the receipt for their return policies?  That's just crazy- I've never heard of such a lame return policy- so far.  Guess you'll be sporting the sweater

Allright, I'll join the cell phone bashers...

I WAS an AT&T Customer, 4 phones, 1 account, spend of about $200/month (october, 2004).  So, AT&T decides to go GSM, and change all their phones.  No problem.  Well, my ex dunks her phone in the toilet...need a new phone.  No problem, I'll get that one.  Now the Au Pair washes her phone, gonzo.  Great, I'll get that one, too.  My phone has crap for reception, which I hash out with AT&T, and end up buying a new phone to combat poor reception.  Still...not pleased, but OK.  Now we're cool.  Then Cingular buys AT&T.  Which by itself isn't a problem....until...

I go to split my account, since I'm getting divorced.  Can't do it with the current plan.  Just can't seem to pull that one off.  OK, so let's change plans to a Cingular plan.  Right?  Wrong.  I'm GSM, now, on Cingular.  So I've just spent about $800+ on phones and accessories, and Cingular says that I can't stay on the current plan and split the account, but if I want to move, I get a new plan but need to buy GSM phones.  Auuuuugh!!!!

Divorce is enough of a pain in the *** that I paid the jack, and we all have new phones.  $1200 in the course of 7 months.  And my kids have fantastic toy cell phones.