The Consumer Complaints Blog

The following is an account of my disappointing customer service experience with Ove Decors Inc., a manufacturer of high-end bathroom vanities located in the province of Quebec.

Through the course of a bathroom renovation, we had set our sights on a vanity designed and fabricated by Ove Decors. The model was the Eco-40 with a price tag slightly over $1,500 after taxes and delivery. The product was purchased through a local distributor.

I should mention that we had not seen the product in a showroom, and had trusted the website of the Company in regards to the description and/or pictures of the product during the purchasing process.

The product’s description listed a hidden towel rack and that it included a mirror (with the equivalent description in French). Consequently, we cancelled the towel ring that we had ordered and returned the mirror that was purchased, as we considered this to be additional cost-savings for a project that had already gone over budget.

When we first inquired about the product, we were told that it would be delivered within 10 business days. After we proceeded with the order, the product was delivered almost four weeks later with no further explanation regarding the delay.

When the product was delivered by the contractor, we opened the box and noticed that there was no mirror included, and that the unit did not include a hidden towel rack.

In addition, when the box was opened and the parts were taken out, we noticed that the sink that was shipped was the wrong one. The sink did not fit on the pre-drilled holes on the vanity and was not as shown in the pictures. Also, one of the side drawers was damaged. The drawer did not close properly because of a damaged slider-hinge.

Lastly, the plumbing that was installed as per the specifications on the web site did not correspond to the height of the vanity. In other words, the plumbing did not fit and had to be redone in order to accommodate the vanity. The plumber did follow the specs from the website; therefore, the specs provided by the manufacturer were wrong.

Clearly disappointed with this series of errors and misleading information, we contacted the manufacturer directly to ask questions about the hidden towel rack and lack of mirror. Their answers were less than adequate and more of an attempt to brush us off. We were told that they could not confirm the towel rack as they did not have a model on the floor to look at, and that their “book” did not mention a towel rack. As for the mirror, we were told that “mirror included” means that a matching mirror is available to purchase separately. The last time I checked the definition of the word “included”, it means that it’s included.

We then took the issue of the wrong sink to the distributor, who promptly contacted the manufacturer to order the correct one. Considering this to be a manufacturer’s mistake, a reasonable customer would expect that they would want to resolve the issue quickly. Again, Ove Decors did not seem concerned by this mistake and the sink arrived more than one week later, at which point we had lost our contractor to another job.

Frustrated by this lack of attention and professionalism on Ove Décor’s part, I went to see my distributor. Armed with evidence from the website (descriptions, specs, etc.), I summarized our issues with the delivery, plumbing specs, wrong sink, broken drawer, missing towel rack, absence of mirror, etc. I asked her what could be done to compensate us for our trouble, not counting the additional money that was now required to be spent to fix the plumbing (approx. $250).

Soon after, we were offered a free mirror to compensate for our troubles (the same one that was supposed to be “included). The value of the mirror was $229 I believe, which means that the wholesale value was roughly $115, not counting Ove’s direct cost of roughly $60. What this really means is that Ove’s lack of attention and customer service skills are only worth $115. This wasn’t good enough for me, so I told the distributor that this was not acceptable.

Shortly before this episode, I had noticed that OVE had made modifications to their website. They have removed the reference to the towel rack and “mirror included”, as well as replaced the specs for the plumbing with more accurate and detailed ones. Thankfully, I had printed the previous documentation, and was able to compare both descriptions.

The distributor came back a few days later with a “final” offer from Ove for $150 in cash, at which point I felt too insulted to even discuss this over the phone. The next day, we decided to return the vanity and start looking for something else.

Having worked in the customer service industry for years and now part-time in a retail environment, I understand how customers expect to be treated. To me, Ove Décor’s refusal to acknowledge that they had made a mistake, or even saying that they are sorry for that matter, is completely and utterly unacceptable. I had contemplated putting a complaint through the Better Business Bureau regarding the misleading information on their website, but decided not to in the end, although they would certainly deserve it.

It is beyond my sense of comprehension as to how can a company treat customers like this and still remain in business. I am, however, happy to say that we have since found a vanity of equal quality and design for several hundred dollars less.

The choices are limited for those looking for a good quality vanity, so OVE may still be an option for you. I just hope that the product is in perfect condition when you receive it, considering that you will most likely go through the same Hell I’ve been through if something goes wrong.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

I have been dealing with a humming noise in my building, a Toronto community housing downtown unit, since mid of Aug 2009.

The noise was always heard during midnight and early morning. As a result, I woke up and could not sleep. I suffered most during the weekend, as it was the time when the noises were heard much louder and more frequently.

At the beginning as I could not identify where the noise came from, I called emergency line twice on two different weekends, the emergency operator confirmed that someone would come to my building to look at the problem within 6-7 hours. The truth of the matter is that no one showed up in either night and the noises were still there.

The second step was that I was calling the building superintendent, who acted quicker than others, after I contacted him second time. He showed up at my apartment and identified that the noise came from the elevators. He contacted the elevator company right way and the work they did if they really did as super said made the situation worse.  Whenever the elevators were being used, they produced big noises.

I tried different ways to cope with it, starting from using earplugs to putting pillows on my head and I even turned my living room into my bedroom. During the day times especially on weekends, the noises distracted me so much that I could not concentrate so I was forced to go to the public places to read; it also gave me headaches, heartaches, and to some point drove me crazy. I even slept at my friend’s place one night to get a sound sleep in order to prevent my breakdown. I am EXHAUSTED and literally have not slept well for months. And of course everyone went through this would break down, and I got sick. What a pity! I even could not go to work and ended up in the coffee shop to take a nap while the building was repairing the balcony.

They are just unfortunate facts; it just upsets me more when I tried to contact the office to have an appointment to see how they would resolve this matter. After unsuccessful attempts of calls and emails to supervisor and the operating manager, I have showed up at the office three times, which is located at 15 Scadding Ave, to ask them to take care of this unbearable noise issue. All the methods seemed in vain.

When you are a consumer in a retail setting, the activities are being monitored and reviewed on a continuous basis (i.e. consumer ministry/consumer protection laws). How much right do I have as a tenant of Toronto community housing towards this particular landlord which runs under the system of total monopoly? I don’t know who can really monitor them.

As a model tenant who always pays the rent on time, I deserve to ask for a quiet place to sleep. Can I stop paying rent if this issue not is being resolved? Or I just should look for some other places no matter how much more rent I need to pay? Where can I go for some fairness?

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

Complaint about censorship, intellectual theft and intimidation at Helium.com

Big Brother is alive and well, and, apparently, flourishing at Helium.com, online marketplace for writers, “where knowledge rules”. (Their slogan now strikes me as particularly ironic.)

Before I delve into my own complaint, do a quick Google search on Helium complaints, and it’s a gold mine. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a major article in a newspaper or magazine, given the extent of the complaints against them.

Helium is a website where writers can post articles, have them rated, and, perhaps even earn a few cents. Since the substance of my complaint is in the correspondence below, I’ll not detail it here, except to summarize it. About a week ago, I asked them politely to remove an article I’d written, three years ago, which was now damaging to my reputation. After much back and forth, they not only locked me out while keeping all my articles online, but censored another article I’d written which was critical of their behavior, and then, threatened to report me to the FBI!

The correspondence follows below, and the whole, ugly affair is recounted in more detail on my blog article (http://brokenwholeblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/censorship-tyranny-and-intimidation-at.html).

Sincerely, Keith (last name protected) – see correspondence below.

Keith (last name protected)

From: Helium Help [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 8:20 AM
To: Keith Adams
Subject: RE: Site-generated_help_request He:0094807

Further attempts to access helium.com or any Helium computer systems will be considered malicious and reported to local and state law enforcement, the Internet Crimes division of the FBI and your internet service provider. Your account has been disabled and the original article restored to the title.

=================================
Helium Security
[email protected]

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

My name is Janie and I would like to share my experience with you. My dad is the one who heard about this website on the radio and encouraged me to write to you. This is regarding the Lasik MD in Winnipeg, Manitoba…or any of them for that matter.

Long story short, I want to become part of the police force here in Winnipeg. My vision was not up to their requirements seeing as I have been wearing glasses since the age of 14. My only option was to get laser eye surgery. In January 2009, I went for a consultation at Lasik MD and on January 15, 2009, got the recommended eye procedure done. I was recovering well and everything was going great until June 2009. I noticed my vision was diminishing and I had to wear my glasses at times. They told me that was normal as my vision would be “up and down” for about 6 months after my surgery. It is now December 2009 (nearly a year later…) and I am STILL wearing (now often) my glasses to drive, watch tv, etc…

Unsatisfied with my procedure, I sent them the following letter on November 4, 2009:

Dear Madam, Sir:

c. Better Business Bureau of Manitoba
cc. The Physicians & Surgeons College of Manitoba

After sending this letter, I was called by the Executive Director Christina to come in and “have a chat”. To make an even longer story short, she basically said to me: “because at some point in time after your surgery you did have 20/20 vision, our commitment has been fulfilled and you do not get your money back regardless if your eyes have regressed”.

As you can imagine, I was furious. I now have to get the surgery done AGAIN to have a chance at making it in with the Winnipeg Police Service AND do not get any money back whatsoever. Perhaps I would not make such a big deal of this if the surgery had only cost me $1000 instead of $3580. I was and still am incredibly frustrated and disappointed on how they handled this matter. She told me she would send my papers to the head office in Montréal and see what they say. I have not heard back from neither the head office, nor the executive director here at the Winnipeg Lasik MD location.

If anyone wants to get eye surgery done, definitely make sure to read the fine print and make sure THEY read it over WITH you and insure that you understand, because clearly from my experience that was not the impression I, nor my mother who came with me during the consultation, had when I decided to get the procedure done. One sign says “20/20 or it’s free!” the other says “20/20 or it’s free…….commitment”. I REALLY suggest the advertising company/Lasik MD to revise ALL their ads so that no other client EVER has to go through something like this. If anyone has a similar story, please let me know! Maybe we can help each other out in better solving this ridiculously horrible experience.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

Book-Me-A-Limo: Do not use-please look elsewhere-no respect for customer

For my mother’s 80th birthday I thought I would rent a limousine for 2 hours.
The limusine company I chose was BOOK-ME-A-LIMO. Their office is located in Woodbridge, Ontario. The 2 ladies I dealt with, to arrange this surprise, were very nice. I explained exactly what I wanted to them. I assumed that they wrote the exact instructions for the driver. I also assumed that if the driver didn’t know exactly where to go to, he would either do his homework and find out or ask me when he arrived. He did neither. Never assume !!!

Since my mother is blind I wanted to take her to one of her favourite restaurants:
Red Lobster and the Tim Horton’s down by her home.

I requested that the limo pick us all up at my home at 5:45 pm. Five forty-five came and went. I called the limousine company and asked where the limo was? They put me on hold, came back and said that he is caught in traffic. My response to her was, he should have left in plenty of time to be here at the scheduled time! The limo arrived at 6:10pm. Since reservations are not required at Red Lobster, I asked if they could possibly keep 2 tables aside for me for 6:00 pm. Since the limo was 25 minutes late, I figured that my request at Red Lobster was basically screwed and it was because of this idiot driver.

The limo driver decided to take the long scenic route to Red Lobster which got us there at 6:35pm.

After dinner, we all got back into the limousine. I explained to the driver how to get to our next destination. My directions were very straight forward. (South on 410, east on 401, exit Renforth, south to Eringate Drive, Etobicoke). Did he listen? No he didn’t. He chose to use his GPS. I had no idea where he was taking us. Even my guests were getting concerned. My mother was getting upset and panicky. Since she couldn’t see where we were going, all she heard was me and our guests trying to figure out where the heck we were going?

This driver had driven us to the Tim Horton’s at Finch and the 427 highway.
I asked him “where the hell are we”. The look on his face told me that he didn’t know where he was either. He told me that there was no address for the Tim Hortons, so he didn’t know where to go? I asked him why didn’t he look for address on the internet or have the company look it up. He had the nerve to say: “well, at least it’s a Tim Horton’s”. I was fuming mad. I told him if he had listened to my directions, and done what I said, there would not have been any problems. Now I had to spend my limousine time telling him how to get to the highway and to the Tim Horton’s on Renforth Drive. So instead of me enjoying my limousine time with my mother, I spent it giving him directions. I was livid!

On the way there, someone up front opened the window beside my mother. ( You see, my limousine driver decided to bring along his 10 year old son. ) Now the freezing cold wind was blowing on my mother’s face. This is all she needed to make her sick. When one of my guests yelled at the driver to close the window, the other window opened up beside me. So now we had 2 windows open. I was becoming more and more upset and angry with this guy. Again, my guests were yelling at him to close the windows. I guess he figured it out because they finally closed. So now we were all freezing in the limo. He turned on the heater and eventually we were all melting. I thought to myself: this guy is an idiot.

By the time we got to the Tim Horton’s, my mother was fed up. Instead of having the birthday cakes with her coffee, she said that she just wanted to go home. (What a disaster evening this has been.)

When we finally arrived at my home, I noticed that I still had 20 minutes on the clock. I asked if any of my guests wanted to go for another ride…they all said that they had had enough of this guy and they too just wanted to go home. I was so angry it took all my strength to keep my composure. I told the driver that he was 20 minutes early and he had the nerve to say: oh well, 20 minutes late and 20 minutes early, evens itself out”.

Then I present him with my cheque as the final payment. He said that my cheque was no good, and then makes a phone call. Then he says “give me cash”, I said ‘no’. Whoever he’s talking to (not in english), he then says “give me a certified cheque”.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I finally shoved my cheque in his hand and walked away. (I had contemplated not paying the final balance because of the lousy service we received. But as a show of good faith I decided to pay them and then contact the limousine company regarding what happened). And I think he was actually waiting for a TIP! Can you believe it? (I got the feeling that he was trying to rip me off, when he asked for cash because he should have known that the contract says not to pay the final amount in cash)

I sent an email to BOOK-ME-A-LIMO explaining what happened. I requested that I should be reimbursed for 1/2 of the total cost which was $400. No reply. Sent another email. Received a reply stating that my email had been forwarded to their complaints department and a manager would contact me the following week. The following week came and went: No phone call, no nothing. I waited another week: nothing. I decided to phone them. I was told that the manager wasn’t in…he had a family emergency. I mentioned that I was told there were 2 managers, so why didn’t the other one contact me. They couldn’t give me a solid reply.
By this time I am really P***** Off.

Then I receive a confirmation email for my final payment. And that just struck a nerve in me. I sent an email back stating that I was to receive a phone call from a manager, but that none had been forthcoming and I don’t believe that I will receive one at all.

Then a few days later I get an email from one of the ladies that had arranged the evening. (What happened to the manager that was supposed to call me from their ‘complaints department’?)

Her reply stated that they were very sorry for what happened. That the driver was new. That he had been spoken to. And that they would like to compensate me by offering $50 off my next booking with them. ARE THEY KIDDING?

The following was my reply:
An apology is fine BUT you guys screwed up!
They breached their contract.(Contract states: limo will arrive at scheduled time, a limousine driver, (not limousine driver and son), do not pay limo driver cash for final payment for it can be taken as a tip, not a payment– And this driver asked me for cash!! )

I paid the full amount in good faith. I believe I deserve to be treated in good faith as well.

I then asked for $150: $50 for arriving late and returning early. $100 for driver getting lost, freezing our butts off, upsetting and ruining my evening, my guests’ evening and especially my mother’s evening. I wanted this limousine ride to be a lovely memory for her. Instead it was a nightmare. I am still waiting for their reply. It will probably take another 4 weeks, or none at all.

Please, please, if you ever need to book a limousine, do not use BOOK-ME-A-LIMO. Sure, they are nice to you when you are booking up with them. But when something goes wrong, they forget who you are. It took them 4 weeks to reply to me. And with that all they offered was an apology and $50 towards another booking with them? What a slap in the face .If they were a decent, respectful company, they would have notified me after my first email, offered to reimburse me 1/2 the cost, or at least $150.

If you need a limousine for a special occasion, please look elsewhere. Just look at how I was treated. This company doesn’t play fair, so they don’t deserve your business.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.