May 30th, 2008 by Sam
Verizon, why is it that every time I call you, I’m placed on hold and always hear the message that you’re experiencing “higher than normal call volumes?” Even the last CSR I talked to said they are always this busy and, with school ending, the expect to be even busier.
Wachovia, why is it that every time I call you, I’m placed on hold and always hear the message that you’re “sorry for this unusual delay?” Every single call, no matter what time of day…
Listen up businesses, your customers are angered by call trees. Give us a real person to talk to immediately. Since that’s not too likely to happen, at least while we’re on hold, don’t lie to us. Yadda yadda yadda… yeah I know my business is important to you. Act like it.
February 20th, 2008 by Sam
I recently created several auctions on eBay to sell off some of the electronics and tech-related stuff I’ve acquired over the years. There were nine auctions and, of those nine, FIVE have been pains in the ass.
My biggest auction, a UMPC and related equipment valued at about $2000, was canceled by eBay because the winning bidder’s eBay account was hacked. Now I do appreciate eBay canceling the auction and preventing my possibly being screwed out of my money on it. Still, it took me (a novice seller) over an hour to craft that auction listing. In canceling the auction, eBay also completely deleted the listing. WHY?!? They even acknowledge the pain in the ass such an action is, “We know that this is an inconvenience and we apologize for the negative impact it may cause you. We are working on tools to allow you to relist your items without starting from the beginning, but they are not available at this time.” WTF? This is frickin’ eBay here! How frickin’ hard can it be to keep a copy of a canceled listing??? Dicks.
UPDATE 2/25/2008: Number 2, while another pain seems to be working out… check was deposited today. Once it clears…
Lastly, three of my auctions were for Microsoft textbooks. All three were won by the same guy. When he emailed me asking about combined shipping, I quoted him what was on the auctions: $8 for the first and $3 each for the others for a total of $14 shipping. When he paid, his shipping address was in Canada. I notified him of the “Ship to USA only” statement on the auctions and that I would have the shipping priced when I went to ship other items. If $14 covered it, I’d ship it then. Otherwise, I’d notify him of the price. The cheapest available was $28. I notified him of it and received, “I prefer USPS. Please let me know how much will be shipping USPS Priority Mail International. Thanks.” Pricing that would require another trip to the shipping store, so I told him there would be an additional $5 fee for me to find out for him. He paid the additional $14 yesterday, though I received no communication from him about it, and I’ll ship it on Wednesday. Still, what a pain in the ass.
If this is indicative of what selling on eBay is like, I want nothing more of it. Throw on top of it the fact that eBay is taking away the ability of sellers to leave feedback about buyers… Fuck eBay.
February 15th, 2008 by Sam
September 18th, 2007 by Sam
Take a look at the download and upload speeds in this graphic. This was measured at 1:00 AM - Ya can’t tell me traffic on my segment has anything to do with it. We’re paying for a 5Mbps connection! Of course, Time Warner will be the first to assert that rate in “up to 5Mbps.” Gimme a break… This measure’s just over Roadrunner Lite! With results starting today, here is the history of my internet connection speed tests.
Now take a look at my Roadrunner downtime report for Sep 12 thru Sep 17. Note that my internet connection was down 33 times on just September 17. My internet connection has been ridiculously spotty since August 24, with downtimes varying from less than 1 minute to more than 4 hours. There was even downtime on Saturday evening on into Sunday morning that (according to April in Time-Warner’s customer service department) was due to someone shooting one of their main lines. Think it was an irate customer? More downtime reports are below and show dismal service.
The shortest hold time I’ve experienced when calling customer service is 17 minutes and the longest is over 30 minutes. Fortunately, I now have a technician’s cell number and a technical supervisor’s work number. I was absolutely outraged about the poor service I received for several days. The only reason I’m still with RR is because they seemed to finally take me seriously. I wonder if the folks at TWC think customers who are calling for service issues get angrier or happier in relation to the amount of time they are on hold.
We spend over $1,800 a year on Time Warner’s services. That’s outrageous in itself. To pay that much and have shitty service and worse customer service… Hello BellSouth DSL or Clearwire? Hello Netflix and rabbit ears? I think the time is fast approaching…
UPDATE 9/18/07 10:28 AM: After leaving a message with the tech supervisor last night at 2 AM, I received a call from him today about 8:30 AM. He dispatched a “fresh” lead tech here almost immediately. The tech found a nearly full break in the line from the pole to the house and an exposed portion, too. He replaced the line and all seems fine right now. I really appreciate the fast response today. I wonder why this was not already tested and caught in the three weeks this has been going on…
August 3rd, 2006 by Sam
Below is part of a reply I sent to a member of the local Democratic Party who asked me to help with campaign events for a particular candidate.
Thank you for asking me to help. I’ve pretty much had it with both the Republicans and Democrats. My greatest desire in politics is to get rid of as many politicians and their oversized machinations in our government as possible - something I don’t see either major party doing. I no longer support “parties” and I support very few candidates. Unless I can learn for myself about a candidate, the only way they are likely to get my vote is to be running against an incumbent. I feel that as long as we are stuck with Republicans and Democrats, rotating them through offices is a good way to keep their “progress” at a relative standstill.
I’m disappointed in our government, from local to Federal, and am saddened to say that my opinion of all politicians is they are dishonest until proven honest. It’s a shame, but this idiom is proven more and more with every election: “Anyone who seeks public office is not qualified to hold it.”
June 16th, 2006 by Sam
It took them a couple of years, but ShopNBC.com has sold my email address - without my permission, of course. (That or their customer information database has been compromised.) I just received spam from AtomicShopping.com at an email address given only to ShopNBC.com. Anything sent to that address will now automatically be trashed. I purchased something from ShopNBC in April of 2004. I wonder if my address was sold because I’ve not purchased anything else since then. Perhaps they were trying to make money by selling my personal information since they weren’t getting any of my money. Well, in so doing, they’ve ensured I will never purchase anything from them again and that they receive a little black mark on the Internet in the form of this post.
From ShopNBC’s privacy statement:
“To prevent our disclosure of your personally identifiable information to one of these third parties, you can choose not use their services or order their products.”
It’s an interesting statement, no? My not using the services or ordering the products of the third parties ShopNBC discloses my personally identifiable information to will prevent ShopNBC from disclosing my personally identifiable information to said third parties.
More from their privacy statement:
“We employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. [snip] They have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes.”
I wonder if an unscrupulous company/individual snagged my info from ShopNBC.
And here’s a wee bit more:
“ShopNBC.com uses industry standard practices to safeguard the confidentiality of your personally identifiable information, including “firewalls” and Secure Socket Layers (SSL). ShopNBC.com treats data as an asset that must be protected against loss and unauthorized access. We employ many different security techniques to protect such data from unauthorized access by users inside and outside the company. However, “perfect security” does not exist on the Internet. It is important for you to protect against unauthorized access to your computer.”
At least they acknowledge the impossibility of “perfect security” on the Internet.
Barbara in customer service (1-800-676-5523) assures me they do not sell customer information, says I’m the first person to call about this, and acknowledges that their customer database could be compromised. Damon, the supervisor on duty emphatically denies their selling of email addresses and the possibility of their database being compromised. No email has been sent to management about any breaches but, after further discussion, he accepts that their database may have been compromised and they don’t yet know it. When I asked to speak with someone in I.T., he said he didn’t think there was anyone I could talk to. Finally, he started verifying my contact information and said he was drafting an email as we spoke. The email is apparently going to several people and he agreed to copy me on it. (Oddly, he said he’d blind copy me…) He also told me someone would contact me when they knew something. When I inquired as the timeframe in which I would be contacted, he faltered, saying he was off tomorrow and couldn’t tell me. I assured him I would follow up on this and did not want to “fall through the cracks” that I want this to be handled professionally. He said it would be. I also informed him of my documenting this on my website.
I await his email…
April 10th, 2006 by Sam
A couple of Sundays ago, my partner and I went to Home Depot to purchase a riding lawnmower. We were very impressed with Jay, the sales associate. Friendly and knowledgeable, he answered our questions and provided information we didn’t know to ask for. He directed us to 2 mowers that were a good fit for our needs and desired price. There was no attempt to upsell us or pressure us in any way - an excellent salesman.
We made our choice and were ready to purchase it. He then told us we could save money by renting their truck (with ramps & such for loading and securing) for $20 instead of paying $60 for delivery and having to wait for a day or two. Great idea! He accompanied us to checkout, we paid and he went to bring it out front for us. We headed to the rental desk for the truck. It had just been rented! Oh well, no big deal. It was expected to be back in about 90 minutes. We wanted to go on and rent it next, filling out paperwork and paying so we could just get the key and go. No. It’s against policy. Um… OK. We didn’t want to hang around the store for the next hour and a half, so we asked if they’d call us when the truck was returned. No. It’s against policy. I was pissed and questioned the level of customer service we were receiving considering we’d just spent about $1000 there. Of course, that was in futility.
Disgusted, we decided to just have it delivered. At the delivery desk on the other end of the store, I was presented with two forms to complete. One was a liability waiver. I read the thing. (I know. I know. One should NEVER read forms and contracts before signing them…) In the legalese I waded through, breaking down complex sentences and trying to get the meat of the wording, my final understanding was that they would deliver it to the curb at my home. Anything beyond the curb was considered “additional delivery” and any damage from such was mine to deal with. Well, I only wanted it delivered to the curb, so I didn’t need to sign a waiver. No. You have to sign the waiver; it’s policy. Relatively sure, but not 100%, of my interpretation of the waiver, I knew I did not want to sign the thing. In light of the service I’d gotten AFTER the sale, I surely don’t trust Home Depot and their policies not to attempt to screw me over. That was the end of my tolerance for their poor customer service. I asked for a refund and within 3 minutes I was out the door, likely never to darken Home Depot’s doorstep for any other large purchase.
I hate that Jay lost the sale due to his coworker’s poor service and Home Depot’s poor policies. He was standing there when I got the refund and I thanked him for his help and told him why I was getting the refund. It’s a shame such a great salesman lost a sale because of his company. It’s got to be frustrating for him. I know it certainly was frustrating for us!
January 12th, 2006 by Sam
[Sam] I’ve been meaning to gripe about this for awhile and finally remembered to take a snapshot of the offending item. What you see here is the North Carolina Department of Labor Certificate of Operation for an elevator. This one is where I work, but that’s irrelevant; the same certificate is throughout the state. My gripe is that this ceritficate used to be a black & white document and did not have Mrs. Cherie Berry’s picture on it. I’m sure that in the expenditures of the state, even just in the NCDOL, the additional amount of money required to print the color logo and Mrs. Berry’s fine portrait are much less than a drop in the proverbial ocean. However, I bet the same amount of money would quite qualify as a windfall for the average Joe; I’m sure it would for me. So, Mrs. Berry, I have to ask, “Why is your picture on this document that is placed in every elevator in the state? Do you think it might seem odd that you, as an elected official, have a semi-permanent ad campaign running across the state at the taxpayers’ expense? Also, is the color logo really necessary? Do you think folks are planning on counterfeiting these elevator licenses?” I want my money back.
Regardless of the costs being borne by taxpayers or via inspection fees, there is a level of impropriety here. Mrs. Berry may be a fine Commissioner of Labor in many ways; I don’t know and likely will not find out. I’m simply saying having her picture on these posted, legally required documents is unfair advertising that helps put her in front of voters. For anyone running against her in the next election, similar advertising is simply not available. This advertising is available to her only because of her position.
(Sorry ’bout the poor image quality. Whaddya expect from a camera on a phone?)
[TC] What can I say? SAM is right. This is just another example of the petty abuses that politicians engage in all the time.
July 19th, 2005 by Sam
It’s been a while since I’ve felt the desire to post here, but Dataviz’s poor customer support BEFORE the sale has prompted me to do so. I’ve tried their product, Documents To Go, to use for invoicing in the field. I’ve had significant problems and have asked for help. When a potential customer asks for help, your response to that request means money coming into your coffers or going elsewhere. Apparently Dataviz doesn’t quite get this. I have used their support system and it is lacking. Imagine troubleshooting a computer problem through the US Mail. That’s much of what I’ve been doing with them. I submit a request, a day, two days or more later I get a response. (Don’t pay attention to the date stamps on the entries in the PDFs. They’re entirely wrong. Notice that their response is posted exactly at the same time I posted my query.) Then, when I ask for a way to speak to someone, they want to charge me $20??? Charging for customer service when you’re trying to sell your product to someone??? That’s in line with a telemarketer calling me collect to pitch a product to me! Get real. I’ll survive quite nicely without your product, Dataviz. Don’t forget that word-of-mouth (or blog) is the best advertising; it can also be the worst.
dataviz1.pdf
dataviz2.pdf
August 2nd, 2004 by Sam
I appreciate the prompt reply from Mr. Wilson. I also appreciate the free oil changes. My experience with Saturn of Greensboro cannot be undone and I know of nothing they can do to repair the damage to the trust I gave them. This is why it is extremely important that customers receive excellent service, especially on their first transaction with a business. Had I already established a relationship with Saturn and then experienced this, it would still have been unacceptable, but it would not have damaged my trust of them nearly as badly. I would have known from my experience that they typically provide good customer service and been more inclined to dismiss this as the result of poorly scheduled vacations or inexperienced people covering a vital position.
I will use my free oil changes and I plan to continue having my car serviced there. During those visits, I will be waiting in the showroom and will probably interact with people involved in my sale. Time heals all wounds. Time and good customer service are what are required to heal this one. If I choose to purchase another Saturn, I may use Saturn of Greensboro. They have several years to court my money.
