Cuisinart Customer Service Rocks!

I was pleasantly surprised by the results of my customer service claim with Cuisinart (a Conair company).

My two year old Cuisinart Coffee Maker recently started to leak.  It was a slow leak but became apparent when there was a puddle of water accumulating on the counter.  While looking for troubleshooting advice in the user manual I was reminded that there was a three year warranty on the product.  I called the Cuisinart customer service phone number listed in the manual, and after describing the situation, and concluding that the leak was inside the main unit itself and not the replaceable water reservoir, they agreed to replace the entire thing.  I was told that I would have the replacement unit within 70-10 business days.  I received it in only three days.  

 Kudos to Cuisinart on the great customer service!

 

No Returns

It always seems that whenever I have a simple unopened-box-with-receipt store return I get stuck behind somebody who has a return more complicated than the federal tax law. Recently at Target I got stuck behind a woman returning 20 jars of baby food. I overheard her explain that she no longer had the credit card she purchased the items with (WTF?), complicating the transaction. The clerk had to scan each and every jar, and I swear he did it at least three times. Of course there was a long wait for the manager to come over as well.

That really makes my lunch want to return from my gut.

Redbox

Dear Redbox,

Since you charge me per day to rent videos, it is ridiculous that the box was "Full" when I went to return the video. What is even more outrageous was the fact that I went to a Redbox at another store, and it was "Full" as well. You need to provide sufficient "room" in your boxes to accept all returns. The next time this happens, I'm stuffing peanut butter in the return slot. Seriously.

That really makes me see red!

Beware: After looking further into the company, it is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau:

On November 21, 2008 the BBB of Chicago contacted Redbox regarding a pattern of allegations contained in consumer complaints filed against the company. The pattern of allegations includes billing errors, unauthorized and/or illegitimate charges to consumers' credit cards or bank accounts, and the company's failure to produce receipts for transactions.

Most complainants allege returning movies to Redbox in a timely manner, but still received late fees. Because the company did not produce receipts to consumers with the date and time they returned their movies, consumers were unable to verify that they in fact returned the movie on time. Consumers also allege having difficulties contacting Redbox to resolve these issues.

Redbox failed to respond to the BBB when it brought these concerns to the company's attention; therefore, the company was revoked from BBB Accreditation due to failure to address and/or eliminate the pattern of consumer complaints.

Comcast Customer Disservice

As far as customer service goes, Comcast is one of the worst. Their approach to customer service is fundamentally flawed. If you try to call your local service center, you are redirected to their central customer support, and they don't know ANYTHING about your specific local needs.

I had to contact customer service because my cable box is on the fritz. After several iterations of useless by-the-book troubleshooting ("OK, what I want you to do is turn the box off for 30 seconds and then turn it back on..."), I realized my only real option was to return the box and see if a new one works better. This is where things really break down. The customer service representative was not able to too give me the proper location of my local service center (nor did the "Service Center Locator" on the website work). I was given the location of several service centers, but they were not the correct service center. I asked specifically if I would be able to return my box to any location and was told that I could. I tried to call ahead to the local service center, but as I mentioned before, the phone# for the local service center redirects to the main call center. As it turns out, they would not exchange my equipment at the service center I went to because the equipment was different than what they had there. Grr. I went home and called customer service again to find MY local service center, and they simply couldn't tell me where it was. The service rep eventually used an external website (411.com) to track down my local service center.

It is insane that a company doesn't have a directory of its own service centers.

FIOS here I come!

Verizon Center

Dear Verizon Center,

I want to thank you for having a parking garage directly underneath the stadium, how convenient! Charging $20 seems a bit much for parking at a Capitals game, but I at least felt confident that I would be getting quality service.

I was a little nervous when the parking attendant made me double park and leave my keys in the car, but he gave me a claim ticket, so I know that they understood my concern and were going to carefully inspect the claim ticket to make sure I was the rightful owner before letting me get back into the car after the game.

Here is the part that puzzles me, WHERE THE FRACK WAS THE PARKING ATTENDANT AFTER THE GAME? There was not a single garage employee anywhere to be found when I entered my car and drove off. It seems like you perfected the "give out the claim ticket" part of the job, but failed on the "watch over the car and safely return to proper owner" part.

Next time, I'm leaving with a nicer car...

Quiznos

I stopped by Quiznos the other night to take out 2 toasty subs. Yum yum.

When I pulled on the door, it was locked. The employees were all standing there at the counter. I glanced at my watch - 8:58pm. I glanced at the hours posted: close - 9:00pm. I figured if I stand there for a minute, they might let me in, or tell me that they were closed. They just stared at me for a while. Eventually I left. When I got to the car, the car clock said 9:00.

So, my punctuality award of the day goes to Quiznos. They do not waste any time locking the door on Saturday night.

More Convenient ATM Deposits?

Bank of America has introduced a new and "improved" process for depositing cash and checks at ATM machines. They call this new approach more convenient, but it is decidedly not so. Let me give you a comparison based on my recent experience...

Old Way
1) I drive up to ATM machine.
2) I grab an envelope (50/50 chance of box being empty - a smarter person would keep spares in the car).
3) I put ALL my checks and cash in envelope.
4) I shove the envelope into the ATM machine.
5) I drive away happy.



New Way
1) I drive up to the ATM machine.
2) I try to insert my first check into the machine. It gets rejected. After 5 tries I give up.
3) I try to insert my second check into the machine. It is hard to align it with the slot because the ends curled up from sitting in my wallet, and it's also kinda windy out.
4) After I straighten out my check and carefully align is using both hands (carefully stretching out my car window), I manage to convince the ATM machine to accept my check. And I also get it to accept another one!
5) I start on my fourth check, which gets rejected 10 times. The car behind me honks impatiently.
6) I give up on the two checks that failed and pull over and park.
7) I head to the ATM machine in the lobby of the bank to give that a try.
8) I insert my ATM card and see "This machine is not able to provide a receipt, do you want to continue anyway?". I hit cancel.
9) I head to the counter. I first look for deposit slips in the lobby but can't find any.
10) I tell the cashier that I'd like to deposit the two checks.
11) He asks "Do you have a deposit slip?" No.
12) He asks "What is your account #?" I don't memorize my account#, that is why I usually use the ATM machine.
13) He agrees to deposit my checks with just my ATM card and no deposit slip (the silver lining to the bad experience).
14) I make a promise to myself to switch banks.

Shopping for Clothes

Like probably most men, I HATE shopping for clothes. My objective is to get in and out of the store as quickly as possible, and I often give up in frustration if I can't find anything fast. And if you do find something, it is disappointing to determine that they don't have it in your size or it doesn't fit. Stores make no effort to simplify the process.

Here are some suggestions for clothing retailers to make more sales by making it less frustrating to shop:

1) Put up a sign that indicates what sizes are available. I can't tell you how many time I have searched piles and piles of pants only to find that the store doesn't even CARRY my size in that brand. Some stores have charts, most do not. And make it easy to identify the size. If I have to spend 20 seconds per item searching for the size, I might go on a rampage before I finish searching the entire rack.

2) Make sizes STANDARD. Two pieces of clothing with the same size should fit the same. It's not rocket science. If the electronics industry kept such poor standards we'd all still be listening to 8-tracks and playing Atari.

3) Have a bin in the fitting room area for us to discard clothes that we try on but don't want to purchase. You don't want me trying to refold a shirt. I promise that I won't remember where I got it and will just shove it any random shelf when nobody is watching. Even libraries are smart enough to realize that patrons should not be trusted to restock the shelves.

4) Make sure that the shelves are restocked properly every day. Clothes should be arranged by size and brand. Fix the mess that the patrons made the previous day. Of course, if you have a discard bin as mentioned above, keeping the stock in order will be easier.

5) Stop the practice of Mystery Pricing.

I don't like the way that sizes up!

Thanks For Your Business

Ok, I appreciate when the auto repair guys try not to get the mat soiled in the car, but do they really need to leave behind the filthy paper mat that says "Thanks For Your Business"?


"Thanks for your business. Now look for a trash can where you can pull over and discard the thick, crumpled mass of paper we left behind."

Delivery, Installation, and Service

Why is it so hard to give people a reasonable time estimate for arrival when making a house call? Like many people, my job keeps me AWAY from my house during the day. It is most certainly not convenient for me (the paying customer) to be sitting around my home waiting for service. I can't imagine that it would be so difficult to provide a narrow window of estimated arrival time, so I must assume that those providing the service just don't care.

Earlier this week I bought a sofa and paid to have it delivered to my home. The furniture store said that it would be delivered "some time on Friday" and that they would call on Thursday with a time slot. When they called on Thursday, they informed me the delivery truck would arrive between 10am and 3pm. What kind of time slot is that, 5 hours?!? They do the runs from 10am to 3pm every day. Why did they even bother to call me on Thursday? They could have told me the same thing when I bought the stupid sofa. When I explained that I refuse to sit at home all afternoon (I've got a job), they tell me that the truck crew will call me in the morning with a better estimate, and that I will probably be the first stop.

When I don't hear from the truck crew in the morning, I head into work (20-30 minute drive). Around 10:30am I get a call from the furniture store telling me the truck is outside my house, why am I not there? I explain to them that they forgot to call me. Now that I have heard from them, I can be there in 20-30 minutes. They decided that they will do another run and come back between 11:30-12:30. OK, great. I go home at 11:30 and wait around an hour. When they don't show up by 12:30 I call the store and explain I will be leaving for work soon if they don't show up. The store has no way to contact the truck. Great system they have...their drivers can't afford a cell phone? Where do the huge delivery charges go? Fortunately (for them), they show up 10 minutes later, just before I get into my car to drive away. They then have the nerve to grumble and complain that they had to make two trips to my house. I can't say I feel sorry for them. It seems ironic that they would complain about my wasting their time after they were so willing to waste mine.

That really butters my muffin.

Asking for the Number Again

About 20 years ago, customer support phone systems started asking us to punch in our account number. Then when the person came on, the first question they would ask is to say the same account number that we just wasted our time punching in.

What gets me is that, 20 years later, this still happens a lot of the time. There should be a rule that no one is allowed to work on any robots or other fun stuff until they figure out a way for a number I punch in to show up on someone's screen when they take my call.

Also, I am annoyed by the double standard. If my software forced people to provide the same information twice consecutively, the product would not be released and the whole team would probably be fired. But somehow this is ok for customer service. The resaon is that nobody ever checks on customer service when they buy something - only price and features.