The Consumer Complaints Blog

I’m Bill from Ottawa. I stumbled across your site while googling for “customer complaints”, and have spent the last hour or two entertaining myself with the stories and comments… well now, “entertain” doesn’t seem right, but you know what I mean. I can tell you though, Ottawa just as bad as Toronto when it comes to customer service. I have so many stories, I’m amazed anything gets accomplished at all in this world.

Now I’m a very easy-going guy, the counterweight to my bone-deep cynicism. I take most things in stride, including money, but there is one thing for which I spare very little patience, and that is stupidity. As a computer programmer and technician, retail and customer service environments have been central elements in my career, so I guess I’m a harsher critic of the jaw-droppingly moronic strangers who disappoint me every day. I’m going to relate to you my latest story, possibly the cheapest so far, regarding $2.50 worth of food. It is a cheap, but iconic anecdote of the chronic incompetence that pervades today’s youth. I’ve posted it to my own blog, but feel free to reproduce on yours if you so choose, and I will gladly link it.

McStupid is as McStupid does

This evening, I stopped at McDonalds after work (I know, junk food is bad – whatever!). Now I have a habit of placing large take-out orders, with “large” being around $40, and almost every time the McLackeys make fun of my large order, as they seem to think it is different than serving four people separately for the same items. Apparently they just can’t deal with numbers greater than two. Anyway I placed my order, and the guys dutifully prepared my food with impressive skill and speed, when another employee, who presented himself as “Steven”, ran in from the back to “help with the rush”, a rush of me! He was randomly putting things in bags and waving them over the counter, hoping someone would claim each bag. He had not been present when the orders were placed, so he had no clue who wanted what. I pointed to my receipt and repeated the list of items, and finally he packed my order, though I had to correct him several times as he was too hurried to pay attention.

Once I got home, I realized I was missing two small burgers. It was nothing big, and frankly I wasn’t about to walk all the way back just for a couple of burgers, but a credit or even just an apology would have been courteous. I called the restaurant, and wound up talking to buddy Steven. I explained the discrepancy, and he immediately got defensive, stating he was absolutely certain he had bagged my order without error, and that it was I who was mistaken. I casually restated my case, that I had eight burgers where there should have been ten, and this time he accused me of trying to cheat them out of two free burgers. I still don’t understand why he would accuse me of trying to defraud them out of $2.50 worth of food on a $42 total, but I guess not everyone is blessed with the gift of common sense. I was starting to lose my patience with this sad little peon, so I hung up and my wife called back a few minutes later. She is a far better diplomat than myself, and yet was barely able to get the employee’s name and his manager’s after much arguing, and he wouldn’t even tell us said manager’s schedule so we will be calling blindly until we can get a hold of him.

It goes without saying that the poor manager will get an earful about the many ways in which his underling has disappointed us, but I have to wonder why and how someone in a customer-facing job can be allowed to fail so miserably. He could have said “I’m sorry for the mistake, would you like your burgers ?”, an offer I would have politely declined and that would have been the end of it. Instead, he winds up with a formal complaint on his record, and the manager will be sending us gift certificates, which I will gladly accept and make a point to use when Steven is on-duty. Part of me wishes he would learn from the experience and grow as a person, but the cynic in me knows better. I can only hope Steven will find another job that is a better match to his abilities, or lack thereof. In the mean time, I will make a point to refuse service from him, when I next indulge in my favorite artery-clogging snacks.

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 live in suburban Chicago; where unfortunately we have a Best Buy (WORST BUY) store in almost every suburb around, which makes it difficult to ignore them. So when few weeks ago I got the Best Buy Sunday advert marketing a Compaq Presario Laptop for $399.00, I thought that would make a great Christmas gift for my 10 year old, that way he has his own and will leave mine alone. He can practice speed typing, do his homework, e-mail his grand parents, and with the right parental control settings, he can search the Web for school assignments, even download games and cheats for his WII, PSP games.

Well they didn’t have that item in stock that Sunday or any another day since! Even when the price increased to $449.00 they continued to advertise the same item, but none in stock to be had in their stores or on thier site

Then this week they had another good deal, or so I thought, this time it was for an HP G60 for $499.00, a good deal for what the Laptop offered, except this time they sent me on a wild goose chase, I drove from the Woodridge store to the Lombard store on to the Orland Park store and finally ended up at the Joliet store, and every time I’m told the item is out of stock although I made sure the previous store called ahead and talked live to someone in the Computer Dept. to make sure the Laptop is in stock and to hold one under my name.

Well let me just say that “BEST BUY PERSONEL INCLUDING STORE MANAGERS ARE A BUNCH OF MENDACIOUS AND BUNGLING FOOLS” from the folks in the Woodridge computer department to the idiots at Lombard and Orland Park stores (Brian was helpful but clueless), to Ian (Manger) and Stephanie (Computer Dept.) at the Juliet store whose Customer Service skills are severally lacking. All were oblivious to the features and specification of the goods they are selling, (which by the way is printed on the side of the manufacturer’s packaging), they had no idea what they have in stock, and as far as I’m concerned the Best Buy Computerized Inventory System can’t keep track of the fingers on one hand, which makes me speculate on how many millions is Best Buy losing in misplaced inventory?

At the end of the day I drove over 100 miles, after which I decided “I’m the bigger fool” for giving them another shot at my business, LESSON LEARNED.

The sad thing is, in this economy where fewer retailers in the field, will only encourage a sub par vendor such as Best Buy (WORST BUY) to further mistreat and take advantage of the consumer.

SO BEST BUY … EITHER CRAFT A DISCLAIMER SUCH AS “THE COMSUMER WILL BE DEALING WITH YOU AT THEIR OWN RISK, TIME AND MONEY ” OR BETTER STILL DO US, THE COMSUMER, A FAVOR AND GET OUT OF THE RETAIL BUSINESS ALL TOGETHER FOR GOOD?

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 Kenmore fridge (model no. 10652602100) was purchased in 2002. It has a ten year warranty on it. It stopped working on Dec 21, 2008. My wife contacted Sears and they said their technicians were all booked up before Christmas. So my wife called a local appliance store to get a technician to take a look at it, hoping that it was something small that he could fix. The technician diagnosed that the compressor was dead and needed to be replaced. I called Sears on Dec 26, 2008 (it was a Saturday) about the fridge and indicated the compressor needed to be replaced and the operator told me that a technician would contact me on Monday about the costs of replacing the compressor and he would come to fix the fridge on Tuesday around noon. I left the operator my home phone number and cellular phone number. I received no phone call on Monday and Tuesday morning.

I called Sears at 1:30 PM Tuesday and asked if the technician would ever come that day as I did not hear from the technician at all. She said she would get the technician to call me in 30 minutes. One hour had passed and I got no call from the technician. I stepped out to get some groceries at around 2:30 PM, thinking that the technician could contact me on my cell phone number when he can come. After I got home, I got a phone message left by the technician at 2:45, saying that he called but nobody was home and I needed to reschedule the appointment. So I rescheduled the appointment for the next day. Again I was not given a specific time window that the technician could come and I waited at home for him (3 days in a row. That was how I spent my holidays). At around 1:00 pm, the technician called and he said he did not have the compressor and he had to order it and the cost to replace the compressor was $400. I thought to myself why should I spend $400 for such bad service. I called the same local appliance store for a quote for replacing the compressor and they said they charged $250.

I called Sears and told them I did not like their service and they charged a lot for replacing the compressor. I said since the compressor was still under warranty, I would like to have it and get somebody to put it on my fridge and return the defective compressor to them after. Then they said that that was not how the warranty worked and they needed to do the work themselves. If I just wanted to have just the compressor alone, I had to pay $260.

If I add $260 and the cost of extended warranty together, it is around $400.00. That means, I am paying for the part (and labour) myself!!! The extended warranty is useless. This is how Sears does their business.

My in-laws also have a Kenmore fridge. They had the compressor replaced within 5 years of purchase. I also searched the web for Kenmore fridge problems. I found that they had a lot of compressor problems. This will tell you about the quality of the Kenmore fridges.

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 attached the following letter I written to the company that describes Sear’s horrible customer service

I have been a long time customer of your company but recently I bought furniture from your Scarborough store for the first time. I have had a horrible experience with your company since. Your logo reads “Quality, Value, Service, Trust” but your company fails in all four of these areas.

I bought a sofa and a set of tables from your William Kitchen Road Scarborough store on August 24, 2008. It was set to be delivered more than one month later on October 8, 2008 from 12 noon to 6pm. I took that day off to wait for this delivery. I received a call the morning of Wednesday, October 8, 2008 from your delivery department telling me that the items I purchased “did not get on to the delivery truck in time” and hence my delivery had to be rescheduled and the next available delivery date was the following week. I was very unhappy about this given I cancelled my patients that day in order to be home to open the door for the delivery people. I settled for having the delivery rescheduled for Thursday October 16, 2008 from 5pm to 9:30pm. I confirm this delivery the day before and the morning of. I cancelled my plans for the evening in order to be home again. I then got a call on October 16 at 6:30pm from the delivery man stating he was at 55 Rosedale Avenue West. I told him I was at 55 Via Rosedale. I told him I did not understand how he could be at the wrong address since my Sears receipt specifically has the address 55 Via Rosedale printed on it. Nevertheless, this delivery man refused to turn around (he states he was heading south and not north) even though he was only a 15 minute drive away. As you can understand, I became very angry as this was the second mistake your company made and the second day you caused me to waste. I phoned your delivery inquiry line. They were very unhelpful except to tell me that the saleperson Pedram at the Scarborough store entered my address incorrectly on the delivery system. They then transferred me to your corporate customer service line. There I spoke with an agent named Sarah who told me the best she could do was to arrange a special delivery with another truck for the following Saturday with a narrower delivery time window. She states she will call me back in a couple of hours to confirm this delivery time. When I did not hear from her by 9pm, I called your corporate customer service line again and spoke with Meridith and explained my whole story again and she states she could not help me and whatever Sarah promised to do was between me and her. And Sarah never ended up calling me that night.

I called your customer service line again the next morning at 8am and spoke with an agent named Tina. I had to explain my whole story again since she did seem to know what was going on with my delivery. She stated that my address on the delivery system was 55 Rosedale Avenue West. I told her that this was the wrong address and I did not understand why it has not been corrected yet. She told me that she will call me back after she looks into the situation. I got a call back from yet a different agent at around noon telling me that a Saturday delivery was not possible now and the next available delivery date was October 20 from 1 to 6pm. I told her I could not cancel more patients in order to wait again for this delivery for the third time. She told me that the next evening delivery date was October 22 from 1 to 9:30pm! I asked her why was the delivery window larger than previously offered? She told me that this was the only option offered in my area. That was ridiculous! Basically, your company made no attempts whatsoever to make up for its mistakes. Your company instead expected me to settle for an inconvenient larger delivery time window and expecting me to waste more of my time. I got very frustrated and asked this representative to cancel my order and to get a refund. She told me that she will notify the store. I could not believe that I already paid my bill in full and still have not received the items I bought almost two months ago.
Given the experience I had with your company staff not keeping their word and the evidence of poor communication within your company, I drove all the way back to Scarborough from Brampton to speak to the salesperson Pedram on October 18th. I explained the situation to him. The store had no idea that I requested a refund. Pedram had the audacity to ask me what the problem was since the furniture was scheduled to be delivered on Monday. Not only did he not apologize for entering my address incorrectly on the delivery system, when I told him that I wanted a refund, he brush me off and walked away stating that he could not help me any longer. Luckily, I got help from another office staff and got my refund on my American Express card. I could not believe how rude Pedram was and how he did not show any regret on his sloppy, inaccurate computer entry that cost me wasting my time. It is also ironic that when I got home, I got a phone message from your delivery department stating the furniture was set to be delivered Monday. Again, this is evident of your company’s poor communication within itself.

The bottom line is that I can’t believe that a big company like yours would have such poor customer service. Part of the problem is outsourcing your delivery service; having sales people who are rude and do not treat customers with respect and who do not take any responsibility for their mistakes; and having customer service agents who do not take any responsibility nor follow up on what they say they will do. I spent $20 on prepaid calling cards on my cell phone alone just talking to your customer service department. I am totally frustrated and am seriously contemplating on whether or not to ever shop at any of your stores again and whether or not to share my experience with the larger community. Basically, your company can never make up for the frustration and time I have wasted as a physician. But the least your company can do is offer an official apology from your company and from Pedram. I am asking that Pedram get reprimanded for his disgusting customer service. I appreciate you reading through this letter. I may be only one customer but having poor customer service like this will eventually affect your bottom line if not already. I hope lessons can be learned from this case so that your company improves and another customer will not have to go through the same horrible experience as I did.

Sincerely,
Lien Luu

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 chose North American to handle my move based on a service level that was promoted and promised by one of the contracted agents – Randy who worked with East Coast moving. He conducted an assessment of our needs, sized up the location, he arranged for the driver and crew assembled to handle the move.

Upon arriving, the tractor trailer was too large to properly navigate the driveway. It ended up tearing up a significant portion of my lower driveway as well as denting a significant portion of my front lawn. They did not go for another vehicle because they were in too much of a hurry. No offer of compensation was made. In fact, the driver told us that NorthAmerican would not even cover his costs of a dented fender. There appears to be a trend here with the company not acknowledging responsibility in any manner.

In Northamerican’s response letter to my initial complaint, they asserted the Driver was not instructed to load the treadmill. That is factually incorrect. We walked through the house with the driver and movers, gave specific instructions on which items were to be moved and which ones weren’t. The treadmill was labeled with a tag to be moved and even listed on the move sheet. In spite of this, it was not moved. The driver further admitted to us in Calgary that he recalled the treadmill, that it was supposed to be included with the filing cabinet and that he “…should not have had the 16 year old kid do the final walk through”. The fact was, they delegated and were in too much of a hurry.

In addition to not following proper instructions, the movers were also advised that specific items that were instructed not to be moved (front porch wicker furniture) and yet they were loaded. When we caught the mistake while they were still loading, they advised us that it was too far in the truck and would require a major effort to unload to get to it and that they did not have time. Again – in too much of a hurry.

They then claimed it was a courtesy to return later to attempt to get the treadmill, when in fact it was their responsibility and a major inconvenience for us to have to come back. We were called by the movers on Friday (two days after the load) at my parents – who accepted the call. The moving team advised my parents that they were 30 minutes away (at another location in New River Beach, New Brunswick) and would be down around 3 pm that day. Given that we were handing over possession of the house at 5 pm that day, we waited until the very last minute for the movers to arrive. They showed up around 6 – at which time the house was locked and we no longer had access. The only things that could be recovered were the outdoor lamps (which also then went missing in the transition).

They claimed that all items were delivered to our place of residence. This is also incorrect. The driver advised us on arrival that he had a crew available but only a short window of time to unload and that it would be quicker not to use the check off list on items delivered. Once again we get the “hurried” statement. He advised us that in signing the move sheet, we were not confirming receipt of all items, just acknowledging that they had made delivery of inventory on the truck. He struck out the treadmill off the sheet and indicated that this was to validate that it should have been moved, but did not arrive. He assured us that we could resolve this in filing a claim through Randy (the initial sales Rep we worked with).

When we contacted Randy, he told us he had “sold the contract” – in essence saying “I’ve got paid – no longer my responsibility”. There wa sno offer to follow up on our behalf. It was only at this time that we realized that he was not an employee, but an agent. He advised us that we should call the owner of east Coast Moving (subcontracted by NorthAmerican I assume) and resolve the issue with him. When we called the owner, he said that he would make an attempt to pick up the filing cabinet and treadmill at a time when “it was convenient for them” – saying that it should be picked up and shipped within 2 – 4 weeks. We never received any phone call or update for two months. When I called back after that time I learned that he had the filing cabinet sitting in a warehouse “for a while” and that the treadmill was unaccounted for. I advised him that I would be filing a claim.

I then talked with Sirva (parent company of NorthAmerican), I received an initial customer feedback form. I completed it with similar information, but never received a response.

In my responses with Sirva they said on three different occasions that they would get back to me within a certain time. This never happened and I was the one who had to call back a few weeks later on each event.

The reasons why provided them saying that the claim should be paid as requested
· The driver was specifically instructed to include the treadmill and filing cabinet.
· These items were tagged (verified by myself, my wife and even acknowledged by the driver) to be picked up. This was further validated in the fact that it was initially recorded on the sheet to be picked up and then voided on the other end to indicate it never arrived.
· The driver acknowledged that these items were missed at time of pickup and even admitted he made a mistake in sending a 16 year old back through the final walk through
· We were never advised that it was our responsibility to be present for the final walk through. The driver’s left before the scheduled departure time – another indication of them being in a hurry.
· My driveway and lawn were chewed up in the process of trying to navigate the driveway with too large a vehicle – even though the moving agent (Randy) had assessed the location previously.
· The movers demonstrated a further inability to follow instructions in loading the wicker furniture. They were reluctant to unload when the mistake was found
· Clear lack of and misleading information was provided to us the customer when we were not made aware that we were dealing with an agent and a subcontractor of the moving company and not directly with North American
· We were incorrectly advised by the Driver that it was not a big deal to use the check-off list at the point of delivery and in fact, we would be helping the situation by not using the sheet. We were also improperly advised what a signature on the sheet represented and what crossing off the treadmill represented

There obviously seems to be an approach that says, what can Northamerican do to avoid paying a claim to a customer or resolving this situation. This, even though and the company representatives have admitted mistakes and misled the customer. We were very fair and patient in our claim and response. The service, response and follow-up we have been given is unsatisfactory.

This situation represents an extremely poor service-minded approach. Northamerican made mistakes that were preventable on their part. They caused damage to the property I was selling and various representatives show a high disregard for the customer and made direct misleading statements that must be acknowledged and responsibility taken for the fallout of those issues. I am very upset about this.

When I provided them with a week to resolve in my third follow up, I received absolutely no response – even to this day (5 months later). This in spite of the fact, and I directly quote from their representaitive:
It is our desire to promptly handle all claims in a manner which will be equitable to all concerned. You will always find us with an open mind, and a cooperative attitude toward our mutual efforts to conclude your claim in a proper fashion.

This company takes an approach “not our responsibility” and “what can we do to avoid resolving this with the customer”.

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.