I can't really think of a telecommunications company that hasn't at some point annoyed me. When you can get an entire industry to buy-in to the ridiculous concept of having 2 year contracts for a service, the consumer is sure to get ripped off. I guess they all have to buy-in because consumers are too stupid to realize that a lower price with a 2 year commitment isn't a better deal. If that's what the customers are signing up for, that's what everyone will be offering.
It extends to other services too. Like wireless internet access from T Mobile. I signed up for 30 days free before going on a trip once so I could use their service in the airport. Imagine my surprise when I got a bill for $30 dollars not long afterward. I called them and they said I had signed up for the one year contract at $30 per month. I said, no I didn't. They said, yes you did. I said, there were choices on the signup page and I specifically opted for a pay as you go plan that got me the free 30 minutes rather than the one that has the contract. They said, nuh uh. And I said, uh huh. And they said, nuh uh. And I said then cancel my service. And they said, you owe us $200 for cancellation--per the terms and conditions of this offer.
I said, you are evil. And they cackled mercilessly.
So, I disputed the charge to my credit card. So far, that has worked well. I've probably disputed 5 or 6 different charges over the last several years, and they have always been in my favor. The trick is, you have to keep the terms and conditions when you sign up for something so you can prove that you aren't just trying to cheat the company and they are, in fact, evil. So the T-Mobile story has a happy ending. I win, they lose.
The last telecom story for now is AT&T calling card. Basically, they annoy me for 2 reasons. 1) You buy minutes at a certain rate and then they use the minutes as currency in arbitrary ways. When I first signed up, it cost 15 minutes extra to make a call from a pay phone. At 3 cents a minute, that was cheaper than putting change in the phone and way more convenient since I have the calling card number memorized. But then after I bought a thousand minutes, they changed the pay phone surcharge to 50 minutes. No notice. No recourse. Just, suddenly, what you paid for becomes depreciated to a third its original value. And 2) their calling card will only work sporadically with our cordless phone at home.
Whatever happened to just paying for a service and both parties feeling like the business transaction benefited them?
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Vonage and Sprint
After reading Coach’s post about Cingular I was reminded of my own telephone woes. When we moved here we got Vonage service for our home line. I mostly like the service itself. It’s a pretty reasonable monthly price for all the domestic calls I want to make. If we talked on the phone I’d think we ought to keep it. But we don’t. And we both have cell phones, with contracts.
So I came to the conclusion that we have too many phones, and the home line drew the short straw. This is when I started getting irritated at them. First I noticed that their policy is that you need to notify them that you want to close your account 10 days before the next billing cycle starts or you get charged for another whole month. Second, because we want to cancel after less than a year, we will be charged a “cancellation fee.” Then I thought, “Well, maybe I don’t want to cancel.” (Look at me playing right into their hands! Aaaah!) I looked into changing our plan to a cheaper one. That has a fee too.
Again, canceling the account seemed like the thing to do. But you can’t cancel online, so I called the number their website said to use to cancel—their 24 hour customer service line. But when we called that one they told us we had to call another number to be able to close our account. We called that number and got a message that this line was only answered during standard business hours. Aaarrrgggghhh!
So here it is, almost a month later and we still have Vonage.
And while I’m on the topic of phones, I might as well tell everyone why I don’t plan on sticking with Sprint when my contract is up in a few months.
Last year I was doing things on my account online and I got an offer to take a survey and get 100 free anytime minutes. Great! I like free minutes. Plus, I was using up most of my anytime minutes on a monthly basis at that point. So I took their survey.
Because I got those “free minutes” this somehow made it so that for the next FOUR MONTHS all of my minutes became “mystery minutes.” I could not check my usage—not by calling their little number or by checking my account online. If I called a Sprint store, they could tell me, but that was it. So every month I’d call the Sprint store to check on my minutes and complain that I couldn’t check my minutes myself.
And then, on the fourth month of dealing with this, I called to check my minutes, and they told me I was 97 minutes over. What?! I threw a fit. Somehow because of the stupid system of theirs, the 100 free minutes were now costing me 97 overage minutes! Could I apply those free minutes (which I had never used any of) to this, I asked. No, they were a special offer and if you don’t use them, you lose them. Eventually I was mad, loud, and obnoxious enough that the manager gave me a credit for those 97 minutes and warned me that he wasn’t going to do it again and any minute I was on the phone for the rest of the billing cycle would be an overage minute (unless it was a night or weekend).
Does anyone have a cell phone service that they can really recommend?
So I came to the conclusion that we have too many phones, and the home line drew the short straw. This is when I started getting irritated at them. First I noticed that their policy is that you need to notify them that you want to close your account 10 days before the next billing cycle starts or you get charged for another whole month. Second, because we want to cancel after less than a year, we will be charged a “cancellation fee.” Then I thought, “Well, maybe I don’t want to cancel.” (Look at me playing right into their hands! Aaaah!) I looked into changing our plan to a cheaper one. That has a fee too.
Again, canceling the account seemed like the thing to do. But you can’t cancel online, so I called the number their website said to use to cancel—their 24 hour customer service line. But when we called that one they told us we had to call another number to be able to close our account. We called that number and got a message that this line was only answered during standard business hours. Aaarrrgggghhh!
So here it is, almost a month later and we still have Vonage.
And while I’m on the topic of phones, I might as well tell everyone why I don’t plan on sticking with Sprint when my contract is up in a few months.
Last year I was doing things on my account online and I got an offer to take a survey and get 100 free anytime minutes. Great! I like free minutes. Plus, I was using up most of my anytime minutes on a monthly basis at that point. So I took their survey.
Because I got those “free minutes” this somehow made it so that for the next FOUR MONTHS all of my minutes became “mystery minutes.” I could not check my usage—not by calling their little number or by checking my account online. If I called a Sprint store, they could tell me, but that was it. So every month I’d call the Sprint store to check on my minutes and complain that I couldn’t check my minutes myself.
And then, on the fourth month of dealing with this, I called to check my minutes, and they told me I was 97 minutes over. What?! I threw a fit. Somehow because of the stupid system of theirs, the 100 free minutes were now costing me 97 overage minutes! Could I apply those free minutes (which I had never used any of) to this, I asked. No, they were a special offer and if you don’t use them, you lose them. Eventually I was mad, loud, and obnoxious enough that the manager gave me a credit for those 97 minutes and warned me that he wasn’t going to do it again and any minute I was on the phone for the rest of the billing cycle would be an overage minute (unless it was a night or weekend).
Does anyone have a cell phone service that they can really recommend?
Thursday, April 27, 2006
About Cars and Buying Cars
Wow! I love My List, ya'll! This is my second post in one day!
I wanted to let consumers know about a great vehicle - the Nissan X-Terra. Actually, my family and I have all had great luck with Nissan - my brother and parents both drive one, and until recently, I drove the X-Terra, and I loved that little thing. I bought it to be my "fun single girl car," and that's exactly what it was. Eliza and I were girls-about-town in my blue beast. When I bought it, the sales guy said, "These things are little tanks," and it's true. An X-Terra, the best I understand, is basically a Nissan Fronteir truck frame with the X-Terra body. I bought it in Little Rock, AR in 2000, and drove it from AR to San Francisco in 2001; from San Fransisco to Eastern Washington and back in 2002; from San Fransisco to Iowa in 2003; from Iowa to Arkansas and Texas and back to Iowa in July of 2004; from Iowa to Texas (when we moved) in August of 2004, and from Texas to Arkansas and back a few times before we traded it in for the van that we now have, which was September of 2005. And that X-Terra never, ever gave me a bit of trouble. All that driving, all those miles, and my trusty X-Terra was there for me. My brother commented on how well it handled mountain driving as we passed through the Sierra Nevadas and other various mountain ranges on our way from CA to IA - while other vehicles were sucking gas, my X-Terra stayed smooth and steady, passing other cars as though they were standing still, and we were hauling a U-Haul trailor to boot! Sadly, I had to part with my lovely SUV in favor of a more family-oriented vehicle, though we have not been disappointed with our Dodge Grand Caravan, but I do miss the fun I had in my little X-Terra. I guarantee that it would do you well should you purchase one.
As for the car-buying experience, we went to CarMax when we made the trade from SUV to minivan, and I highly recommend going there! I couldn't believe how easy it was - the price you see is the price you get. There is absolutely no pressure to purchase a car. Our sales guy was like, "These are the cars we have that you are saying you want and that are in your price range. If you like one, great. If not, no problem." When we need to change vehicles again, or purchase an additiona vehicle in the future, we won't think twice about going to CarMax. It was the most pleasant and easiest car-buying experience I've ever had.
I wanted to let consumers know about a great vehicle - the Nissan X-Terra. Actually, my family and I have all had great luck with Nissan - my brother and parents both drive one, and until recently, I drove the X-Terra, and I loved that little thing. I bought it to be my "fun single girl car," and that's exactly what it was. Eliza and I were girls-about-town in my blue beast. When I bought it, the sales guy said, "These things are little tanks," and it's true. An X-Terra, the best I understand, is basically a Nissan Fronteir truck frame with the X-Terra body. I bought it in Little Rock, AR in 2000, and drove it from AR to San Francisco in 2001; from San Fransisco to Eastern Washington and back in 2002; from San Fransisco to Iowa in 2003; from Iowa to Arkansas and Texas and back to Iowa in July of 2004; from Iowa to Texas (when we moved) in August of 2004, and from Texas to Arkansas and back a few times before we traded it in for the van that we now have, which was September of 2005. And that X-Terra never, ever gave me a bit of trouble. All that driving, all those miles, and my trusty X-Terra was there for me. My brother commented on how well it handled mountain driving as we passed through the Sierra Nevadas and other various mountain ranges on our way from CA to IA - while other vehicles were sucking gas, my X-Terra stayed smooth and steady, passing other cars as though they were standing still, and we were hauling a U-Haul trailor to boot! Sadly, I had to part with my lovely SUV in favor of a more family-oriented vehicle, though we have not been disappointed with our Dodge Grand Caravan, but I do miss the fun I had in my little X-Terra. I guarantee that it would do you well should you purchase one.
As for the car-buying experience, we went to CarMax when we made the trade from SUV to minivan, and I highly recommend going there! I couldn't believe how easy it was - the price you see is the price you get. There is absolutely no pressure to purchase a car. Our sales guy was like, "These are the cars we have that you are saying you want and that are in your price range. If you like one, great. If not, no problem." When we need to change vehicles again, or purchase an additiona vehicle in the future, we won't think twice about going to CarMax. It was the most pleasant and easiest car-buying experience I've ever had.
What's Real and What's Not
Just found
snopes.com
It seems to be helpful in distinguishing what offers are real and which are not regarding unsolicited e-mail promotions and pop-ups. Thanks to Coach's post regarding free stuff on the web, it has become a recent interest of mine. Others might find snopes helpful.
snopes.com
It seems to be helpful in distinguishing what offers are real and which are not regarding unsolicited e-mail promotions and pop-ups. Thanks to Coach's post regarding free stuff on the web, it has become a recent interest of mine. Others might find snopes helpful.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
On The Pedestal
I've been doing a lot of cleaning lately. It's embarassing to admit how much certain parts of the house needed it. Particularly the kitchen. The range was charred, the fridge sticky, and the fossilized fingerprints on the cupboards weren't budging. Into this mess came two cleaning products that saved my sanity. (And perhaps my life, as the random mixture of household chemicals I was using before these beauties came along was probably toxic.)
Krud Kutter is amazing at getting up, well, crud. Like that greasy stuff that collects on the hood above the stove, trapping hair and dust and who knows what else, until it's thick and sticky and immovable. Immovable for everything but Krud Kutter, that is! It even dissolves those baked on drips on the burner pans. My sweet mother-in-law gave us a bottle of this stuff a few years ago. When that ran out, I bought a gallon jug of it because I never want to be without it again.
I'm not the first to praise Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser. All I have to add is that it's all true. Scuffs and marks that have resisted half-a-dozen cleaning products and acres of elbow grease were quickly (and easily!) rendered obsolete by this little baby. I honestly thought I'd have to repaint my kitchen cabinets, until I tried the Magic Eraser on them. I have no idea how it works, but you really just add water. It's amazing. (And disturbingly fun.)
I realize that my enthusiasm for these products may be a little excessive. I'm so used to being disappointed that I'm not sure how to act when a consumer product exceeds my expectations. It disorients me. (Or maybe it's the fumes from the oven cleaner.) Be that as it may, you really should try these out. And let me know if there are other products I really need to know about. Both of the above were recommended by members of our studio audience, so I bet there's more where those came from.
Krud Kutter is amazing at getting up, well, crud. Like that greasy stuff that collects on the hood above the stove, trapping hair and dust and who knows what else, until it's thick and sticky and immovable. Immovable for everything but Krud Kutter, that is! It even dissolves those baked on drips on the burner pans. My sweet mother-in-law gave us a bottle of this stuff a few years ago. When that ran out, I bought a gallon jug of it because I never want to be without it again.
I'm not the first to praise Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser. All I have to add is that it's all true. Scuffs and marks that have resisted half-a-dozen cleaning products and acres of elbow grease were quickly (and easily!) rendered obsolete by this little baby. I honestly thought I'd have to repaint my kitchen cabinets, until I tried the Magic Eraser on them. I have no idea how it works, but you really just add water. It's amazing. (And disturbingly fun.)
I realize that my enthusiasm for these products may be a little excessive. I'm so used to being disappointed that I'm not sure how to act when a consumer product exceeds my expectations. It disorients me. (Or maybe it's the fumes from the oven cleaner.) Be that as it may, you really should try these out. And let me know if there are other products I really need to know about. Both of the above were recommended by members of our studio audience, so I bet there's more where those came from.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Cingular (or the former AT&T Wireless)
As if they knew I was ready for more posting material, Cingular went ahead and sent me a statement today for a cell phone account--an account we closed about three years ago. It shows an account balance in our favor: $1.17 credit, just as it has every month for all these years.
When Diana and I were married, we decided to economize on the cell phones. We figured with a pager and a land line, one cell phone ought to be enough. We therefore cancelled one of the numbers. I faxed Cingular (AT&T wireless at the time) a note notifying them they were no longer authorized to automatically charge my credit card, and we sent in a check covering the balance for the final bill.
But then they charged my credit card anyway. As if to say, "What are you going to do about it, punk?" they flaunted their disregard for my specific written and signed deauthorization. Despite that I had at that point a balance of $0 and had closed my account, they charged the amount that was shown due on my last statement. Peeved, I called the credit card company and disputed the charge.
Big mistake. They are still punishing me, as the statement in my hand attests.
Now, I feel like I've spent the better part of my adult life participating in customer service phone calls. It doesn't bother me particularly to call in to sort these things out, unless there has been a history of repeated incompetence in dealing with a problem. I quickly realized with AT&T wireless, that I was going nowhere fast. The CS person was so friendly and willing to help me out that she insisted on sending me a check. I was reluctant because I explained that with a charge in dispute, they wouldn't be owing me money in a week or two. They sent a check anyway. And then the credit card dispute was ruled in my favor. And then I owed them the balance again. So I sent a check again.
Magically, all these futile charges going back and forth to settle this debt created a dollar and seventeen cents from nowhere. But, as they explained several months later when I politely asked if they would stop sending me statements, they could not issue a check for less than $10, so I would never see that dollar and seventeen cents. And because the balance is not 0, the statements keep coming. Despite my repeated calls to them asking them to please save a forest by keeping the dollar for themselves and not sending me any more statements, the bureaucracy that is Cingular is incapable of troubleshooting this stuck cog.
We will not be sending them a forwarding address in June.
When Diana and I were married, we decided to economize on the cell phones. We figured with a pager and a land line, one cell phone ought to be enough. We therefore cancelled one of the numbers. I faxed Cingular (AT&T wireless at the time) a note notifying them they were no longer authorized to automatically charge my credit card, and we sent in a check covering the balance for the final bill.
But then they charged my credit card anyway. As if to say, "What are you going to do about it, punk?" they flaunted their disregard for my specific written and signed deauthorization. Despite that I had at that point a balance of $0 and had closed my account, they charged the amount that was shown due on my last statement. Peeved, I called the credit card company and disputed the charge.
Big mistake. They are still punishing me, as the statement in my hand attests.
Now, I feel like I've spent the better part of my adult life participating in customer service phone calls. It doesn't bother me particularly to call in to sort these things out, unless there has been a history of repeated incompetence in dealing with a problem. I quickly realized with AT&T wireless, that I was going nowhere fast. The CS person was so friendly and willing to help me out that she insisted on sending me a check. I was reluctant because I explained that with a charge in dispute, they wouldn't be owing me money in a week or two. They sent a check anyway. And then the credit card dispute was ruled in my favor. And then I owed them the balance again. So I sent a check again.
Magically, all these futile charges going back and forth to settle this debt created a dollar and seventeen cents from nowhere. But, as they explained several months later when I politely asked if they would stop sending me statements, they could not issue a check for less than $10, so I would never see that dollar and seventeen cents. And because the balance is not 0, the statements keep coming. Despite my repeated calls to them asking them to please save a forest by keeping the dollar for themselves and not sending me any more statements, the bureaucracy that is Cingular is incapable of troubleshooting this stuck cog.
We will not be sending them a forwarding address in June.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
UIHC
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics made the list long before the list even existed. Right now there is a payment sitting in my flag-up mailbox addressed to their billing department that will end a saga of unpleasantness that stretches back to September of 2004. That's right, it has been more than a year and half.
It all started innocently enough. My insurance changed and a doctor's visit was submitted with an out-dated card number. I was charged several hundred dollars when insurance was denied. I called to work it out and I was assured that it would be. I think my brain has blocked much of what followed during the subsequent months as a coping mechanism, but I'm pretty sure it involved a call to their customer service once or twice a month, being put on hold, occasionally disconnected, being the go-between calling the insurance company to say "they said that he said that they would...", meeting with actual people face to face who promised it would be taken care of, but it never was.
Every time someone tried to step in and fix this problem it got worse. Confounded to the n-th degree! During the most recent few months it was not unusual for us to receive 10 or 15 statements from UIHC a month. Sometimes 3 in a day. Why? Because they are insane. And single-handedly determined to let their inefficiency run the entire healthcare industry of these United States into the ground.
When the insurance issue was finally resolved (hooray) I happily sent my credit card number in on one of the dozens of invoices I had sitting in our family mail inbox. That didn't stop the madness. Weeks later I was still getting them. So I called and gave my credit card number to the nice agent over the phone who charged it and assured me it was taken care of. That didn't stop them either.
Finally, this last week, I got a call. I can only assume this dramatic change in who is initiating the ongoing effort to solve this problem means that the world is coming to an end. They pointed out I was receiving an unusally high number of statements and did I in fact owe them any money anymore? He actually asked me this. I said, "Please. Please. Please take my money and leave me alone." He chuckled. I think he may have thought I was joking.
The credit card charge was showing on the computer, but inexplicably it didn't go through. It wasn't denied. It wasn't stopped by any known force of the universe. It just mystically was not to be. So, I offered to send a check. And that's what is sitting in my mailbox right now with the little flag up waiting to end this chapter of my consumer angst. Hallelujah. The end. I hope.
It all started innocently enough. My insurance changed and a doctor's visit was submitted with an out-dated card number. I was charged several hundred dollars when insurance was denied. I called to work it out and I was assured that it would be. I think my brain has blocked much of what followed during the subsequent months as a coping mechanism, but I'm pretty sure it involved a call to their customer service once or twice a month, being put on hold, occasionally disconnected, being the go-between calling the insurance company to say "they said that he said that they would...", meeting with actual people face to face who promised it would be taken care of, but it never was.
Every time someone tried to step in and fix this problem it got worse. Confounded to the n-th degree! During the most recent few months it was not unusual for us to receive 10 or 15 statements from UIHC a month. Sometimes 3 in a day. Why? Because they are insane. And single-handedly determined to let their inefficiency run the entire healthcare industry of these United States into the ground.
When the insurance issue was finally resolved (hooray) I happily sent my credit card number in on one of the dozens of invoices I had sitting in our family mail inbox. That didn't stop the madness. Weeks later I was still getting them. So I called and gave my credit card number to the nice agent over the phone who charged it and assured me it was taken care of. That didn't stop them either.
Finally, this last week, I got a call. I can only assume this dramatic change in who is initiating the ongoing effort to solve this problem means that the world is coming to an end. They pointed out I was receiving an unusally high number of statements and did I in fact owe them any money anymore? He actually asked me this. I said, "Please. Please. Please take my money and leave me alone." He chuckled. I think he may have thought I was joking.
The credit card charge was showing on the computer, but inexplicably it didn't go through. It wasn't denied. It wasn't stopped by any known force of the universe. It just mystically was not to be. So, I offered to send a check. And that's what is sitting in my mailbox right now with the little flag up waiting to end this chapter of my consumer angst. Hallelujah. The end. I hope.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Yahoo! Geocities
I thought I would venture into capitalism and see if posting my biochemistry tutorial online would generate enough traffic to make a few cents off advertisements. Well, I didn't get far out of the gate before there were major problems. I chose to host with Yahoo!'s Geocities, as we've had good experiences with them in the past. They only charged $5 a month, and as a promotion I could get 25% off of that too.
Well, I won't bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that Macromedia Flash generated files are not properly delivered from their servers, but they will not support this because it involves third-party software. Nevermind I have demonstrated to them that the compiled files work perfectly well from any other servers on the web and it is their advertising scripting (or something like it) that is probably to blame. After exchanging well over a dozen e-mails, they still have not solved the problem, cancelled my account as I requested when it became clear they could not help me, or fixed the incorrect credit card charges they had initiated (they failed to give me the 25% off that was offered when I signed up). Every message is answered by a new person who sends me a unique new irrelevant form response. It's been a delight. And for my persistent efforts, I'm hoping to eventually be rewarded with two $1.25 credits on my MasterCard. Hooboy! I'm such a sucker for principle.
Well, I won't bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that Macromedia Flash generated files are not properly delivered from their servers, but they will not support this because it involves third-party software. Nevermind I have demonstrated to them that the compiled files work perfectly well from any other servers on the web and it is their advertising scripting (or something like it) that is probably to blame. After exchanging well over a dozen e-mails, they still have not solved the problem, cancelled my account as I requested when it became clear they could not help me, or fixed the incorrect credit card charges they had initiated (they failed to give me the 25% off that was offered when I signed up). Every message is answered by a new person who sends me a unique new irrelevant form response. It's been a delight. And for my persistent efforts, I'm hoping to eventually be rewarded with two $1.25 credits on my MasterCard. Hooboy! I'm such a sucker for principle.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Preface
Let's face it, it's hard to keep track of grudges. Forgiveness creeps in. Memories fade pleasantly into the past.... And yet there are so very many people who have annoyed us. So, in order to keep these grievances fresh and thriving, we plan to document them right here on the net where everyone can see them. Holding on to these grudges--every last one of them--should be well facilitated by a blog.
I've heard that angry customers tell a number of their friends about their bad experiences, but few happy customers share their feelings. That will probably be reflected on this blog too. Among the tirades and rants you may find an occasional account of excellent service or a good product review. Hopefully these tales will help you avoid bad experiences and allow you to patronize companies who deserve it.
The point of this blog is, in a word, consumer awareness. Well, two words. Maybe a hyphenated... consumer-awareness. Or compound: consumerawareness. Anyway, consumer, consume.
I've heard that angry customers tell a number of their friends about their bad experiences, but few happy customers share their feelings. That will probably be reflected on this blog too. Among the tirades and rants you may find an occasional account of excellent service or a good product review. Hopefully these tales will help you avoid bad experiences and allow you to patronize companies who deserve it.
The point of this blog is, in a word, consumer awareness. Well, two words. Maybe a hyphenated... consumer-awareness. Or compound: consumerawareness. Anyway, consumer, consume.
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