Monday, December 24, 2007

Best Buy

Location: , Woodbridge
Industry: Technology
Company: Best Buy

i bought a garmin Nuvi 250 from bestbuy just few days ago when it was $250
Today i saw Dell canada selling it for $149.99
I called bestbuy and request for a price protection. At first the lady talked to me and tell me the product can't be price match because of number 1 beside of the price
(1 All prices exclude taxes and environmental advanced disposal surcharges where applicable. Prices subject to error. Promotional pricing is not combinable with any other offers or volume based or other discounts to which you may be entitled unless otherwise specifically advertised. Availability may be limited. Pre-loaded software does not include documentation and may differ from retail version. )


i explained to her that all the products on Dell website have that on the side of the price. and It's not a limited quantity.
She then tell me to hold the line and after 30 minutes coming back and asking who i am.
after talking to her again. She kinda remember about me asking for a price match.
She then said she is not the person who can make the decision and she did send a request form for me. I asked her so why she put me on hold for 30 mins if you are not the person who can make a decision and tell me it couldn't be match at the first place.
Then she lied to me that she never talked to me before and never saying something like that or make me wait on the line.
She then put me on hold for few more minutes and come back tell me they can't do the price protection because Dell will not ship the next day. (What the heck is going on with shipping the next day )

i then asked to speak with a manager and then she transfer me to someone and this girl just tell me that they will not price match because of the shipping time and tell me they explained it to me already and just hang up the phone.


I'm really pissed at how they treat their customer.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Telephone Repair

Location: Alberta, Edmonton
Industry: Telecom

Company: Telus

We had a Mr. Sam Sanduga come in today, Dec, 18th, to check our telephone service. He said it must be a broken wire and he would return in the afternoon to repair it. WHen he did not return we called him and he said it was not his job to fix it and told us to call 611! When we asked him why he did not call to tell us he was not returning he would not explain why he did not. When we called Telus they can not fit us in until Thursday. We are presently without any telephone service. What poor service!

Telus cellular phones committing fraud

Location: Quebec, Montreal
Industry: Telecom

Company: Telus

Recordings of Telus commititng fraud on youtube, enjoy !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-1V9z6R-E8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY1wh2cjm-Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGprHiikR7s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSgeiJ7p3tM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBjlL3lQ-ZQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlTLC2o1TTI

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Air Canada Paperless Boarding Pass .. On Paper ...

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Transportation
Company:
Air Canada

I travelled recently with Air Canada from Toronto to London and I decided to try out their new "Paperless Boarding Pass". I think they introduced this "Paperless Boarding Pass" few months ago and allowed travellers to checkin with their PDA or cellphone. Here is how it works:

1) You checkin in advance through the Air Canada website
2) They send the boarding pass to your PDA/cellphone as a text message
3) You can also print a paper copy as a reference (I didn't do that cuz I think the whole point is to save paper !)

So I went to the Web Checkin Bag Drop Off counting, and there seems to be a problem with the luggage belt, so the queue moved slooower than the regular checkin line and people are already start complaining. After 20 minutes of wait, it's finally my turn. And here's the conversation with the Air Canada Staff:

Staff: "Where are you travelling to?"

Me: "London"

Staff: "This is for Montreal, please go to counter K"

Me: "Oh I have a connection flight at Montreal"

Staff: "So you are going to Montreal"

Me: "Yes, and my final destination is London"

Staff: "I don't need to know your final destination, where are you going ? Are you going to Montreal ??"

Me (Showing her my booking reference): "Toronto to MONTREAL, then MONTREAL to London. So will my luggage be travelled all the way to London or do I need to re-checkin at Montreal ??"

Staff: "Depends on how your booking is ... Okay it will go all the way to London"

Me: "Thanks."

Staff (Typing and checking): "Did you check in online at home ?"

Me: "Yes"

Staff: "Ok, next time if you checkin at home, please let us know, so that I don't need to look for your boarding pass"

Me thinking: "wow, what's the point of this web checkin bag dropping counter. and what a great integrated web online checkin solution"

So finally I finish with the counter lady and I started worrying about my "paperless boarding pass", will they security accept that ? will the boarding staff accept that ? mmm .. I doubted it.

Anyways, it actually went fine until my connection at Montreal. I show the security the boarding pass and he gave me the look of "What the heck is that ? Are you trying to fool me?". So he brought me to the boarding counter and the counter lady told me I cannot use that, I have to go through security again to get the printed one. After I discussed with her what's the point of having a paperless boarding pass for few minutes, I don't have to go back out to security. She just PRINTED a PAPER boarding pass for me on the spot told me that they are not up to the technology yet.

So for anyone who would like to try the paperless boarding pass, be sure you also print a paper copy with you to save the hassle. I still think it's a good initiative, but the solution and execution has yet to be approved.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

DVD Donkey takes your money & You get nothing

Location: Quebec, Broussard
Industry: Media
Company: DVDdonkey.com

On Nov 16, 2007 I ordered a dvd movie from them & it was supposed to be delivered within 12-14 days. I'm still waiting for the movie to leave Canada. It's been sitting in a Post Office since 12-3 & hasn't moved since then. I was also overcharged for the item. They keep saying I'll get the movie in a few days but it never comes.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

BestBuy

Location: British Columbia, Langley
Industry: Technology
Company: Best Buy
Annoyed by: Girl working at the front-cashier

Went to BestBuy Langley to Pricematch (or PM) Z5500 that was selling at Dell today for $199. After it got approved by a manager in the computer dept., I went to the front checkout with the approval slip.

Big mistake! The b'tch working the cashier (good-looking actually), tried to deny my approved PM. Saying "We only PM from .CA websites, not .COM." I explained to her that it already got approved, and that if you order it from the Dell.ca website - it gets processed (forwards you) through the Dell.com site. Appearently another manager (who she is consulting with) near the front counter is rejecting the PM. Anyways, she ended up calling the original person that approved the PM - and that guy ended up telling her just to PM it which she finally did - "Sorry for the hassle."

Now looking back at what happened, WTF!? Why try to deny something that's already been approved? What a friggen b'tch.

Bell Canada - Terrible Service

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Telecom
Company: Bell Canada

I order a new phone connection last week, a technician came last Friday and said that the main box was on a neighbour house, and they were not there, which is nonsense, he did not do the wiring inside the basement and did not do anything, just left saying that another technician was going to come on Sunday.


Another one came Sunday, named Steven phone number 416-426-2753 not business card or last name, he said that nothing was done, but he made the connection from the main box to the house outside, and he wants to charge 100 dollars for each hole, that he needs to make on the wall to get the line inside, which makes not sense at all, so, my landlord said that he will make the holes, one for the phone and one for the internet, the technician said that he could not wait, that he will come later that same day and pass the wires inside the house and finish the installation, and point a place inside the bathroom ceiling, were he said there was a box, but in order for him to do the installation and save my landlord an extra hole in the wall he should cut the ceiling ans expose the box, so he can work when he come back, we cut the bathroom ceiling were he pointed, and there was not box, I call Monday first thing in the morning and a lady call Shalini from customer service assure me that measures were going to be taken, and she apologize many times telling me that a technician will be that day Monday, between 5:00pm and 9:00pm, to fix the problem, I call again this time to customer service billing section, to complain about all the time the made me waste and the damage on the house, and he said that the installation fees will be cancel.

Monday, I wait for the technician and he did not show up neither he call, after 9:00 pm I call service and repair and they give me all kind of nonsense, telling me that not connection was done that there was a problem, that he could not give any information about when the problem will be solve, and to call customer service again, knowing that it was close, just avoiding any kind of responsibility, a complete unqualified incompetent person like most of Bell Canada personnel, at this point I was completely upset, so I call them again, the repair and service line, and another one answered the phone, after a big argument he call some other people, and put me on hold, telling me later to go outside the house and look for a jack inside the bell box and connect a phone to see if the line was working, which I did, under the rain and cold, thinking later how stupid that was who is going to put a jack outside the house, so anybody can plug a phone outside the house and do long distance call? At that moment I realized what kind of gain this people were playing, so I gave up, what could I do at this point? Around 10:00pm another Lady called to my Landlord house named Jigi, that's what she said, but who know what was her real name was, she claimed that she was from repair and service department, and that the problem will be solve on Tuesday between 5:00pm and 9:00pm and I do not think that it would happens, she just call to covers her department and hold doing another complain this morning, I try to complain in the Bell web site but they just allow you 2000 characters, how convenience.

Companies like Bell should not be allow to monopolized a service, coz, that's what happens later, they do whatever they want, their inside, bureaucracy start hiring, unqualified people, that are related to the ones already inside, paying chip salaries, and not giving there people the proper training, this is really bad, and should not be happening.

Ghost Credit Card Charges

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Tourism
Company: Expedia.ca

I was looking for flights on expedia in Oct/07 and couldn't book due to a "technical error" when confirming the flight at ~$200. I phoned expedia and they tried to book over the phone without success and told me to try later.. Later the price increased to $630 and I did NOT attempt to book.

A week later I get a call from Continental to tell me I need to check into NWA at the airport. I again did not book anything, phoned expedia and they said nothing is booked and my credit card won't be charged.. 2 days before the flight my credit card gets charged $630. I phone continental and they say it was booked through expedia, I phone expedia and they say it shows up as "Not booked". I phone my credit card company and they say there is nothing they can do.


After several late phone calls and waiting hours on hold I get a CSR in expedia that I convince to call continental to see my credit card is charged... They do and offer me credit for future flying, but then look into it more and offer me a refund of $620 in 7-10 business days to my credit card...

It has been 15 business days and no credit back... soon I will be charged interest...

Don't use Expedia website! It may charge your card for no reason whatsoever on itineraries you saved and did not book!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Pizza Hut annoys me

Location: Ontario, Kingston
Industry: Restaurant
Company: Pizza Hut

I'm nursing a bad hangover and decided pizza was the best cure. I called up Pizza Hut and tried to place an order. They informed me that I was out of their delivery area and that I need to call the other Pizza Hut. That was odd to me because the one I called is about 3 minutes down the road.

So I called the other Pizza Hut and they told me the same thing, that I was outside their delivery area and it was the other one that delivers to me (the original one I called). I told them that I was sent to them and that all I wanted was a pizza. They insisted I call back to the original one and place my order there. I vented a bit to the guy on the phone, then hung up.


I called back to the first one, told them what happened and they insisted once again that it was the other one that delviers to me. I became downright angry and told them that I didn't care who delivered to me, I wanted to place an order and they would either take it, or I would order my pizza from someplace else. The person on the phone told me to order from somewhere else then, because their computer wouldn't allow them to take my order (ever heard of a pen and paper??).

I asked for the manager and told her my story. She said she would take my order anyway, I told her to forget it. She offered my 10% off my bill plus a free second pizza. So I took it but told her that there's a good chance I'll never do business with Pizza Hut again, so they need to figure out their problems.

Anyway, just venting about stupid automated phone and computer systems that pizza places have these days.



PeeCeeCeedump

Location: Other, Hong Kong
Industry: Telecom
Company: PCCW Mobile

Back in May, 07 my sis tried to do a simple cellphone termination. Instead, she got a 2 year contract. Of course, they said they have no record of termination but only found the new contract and there is nothing they can do to cancel the new one. When my sis called again in English rather than Chinese then they got rid of the new contract and terminated the phone. Odd but true. A month later she was billed and she called into "customer service" (they should really define this word properly!!!!) to clarify. Another month past and she was billed again. She called with a letter of complain on top. While thinking it is finally over and she got no more bills, she received a lawsuit from PCCW saying she owes them $150.40HKD. THE amazing telecommunication company, it took them exactly 7 months to fully terminate one little cellphone line.

Government Offices!!

Location: Ontario, North York
Industry: Government
Company: Canadian Passport Office
Annoyed By: Government staff!!

I do believe this is a global issue, people who are employed by the government, such as passport offices or HR departments have the WORSE attitudes ever. It's always the first line sector/service sector that have these problems since they have to deal with us, the people who FEED them. I can't understand why the employees working at government offices are always so bitter, especially the ones in Canada! It's really frustrating when you want help and all they do is to hand you a paper and tell you to follow the instructions or that there's nothing they could do. If they made things less complicated, they'd probably reduce their workload as well as what they call, "stupid questions".

It is also hard for me to grasp why it is so DIFFICULT to apply for a canadian passport, we are seeking for convenience and efficiency in today's society...why is canada still sooo behind!
Canada really needs to focus on how to train people in the service sector! If you don't like your job, don't do it, don't be bitter just because you have to wake up to go to work. We all had to wake up just to put up with your attitude, which totally ruined the rest of the day.
This lady today was not mean or super rude, but one could just sense that she was bitter and unfriendly. She had no emotions or expression whatsoever. I just think it's really sad that canada's image get spoiled by these front line staff, they are the ones the public come in contact with first, and it just leaves people with a bad impression of the canadian government. *sigh*
Seriously, i refuse apply for a passport again! But the thing is, they know we are forced to go back, and that's why their service will never improve, since they truly believe we are the ones BEGGING them (yeah right!)...i wish someone could just slap them and let them know that at the end of the day, the public are the ones feeding these lazy bums!

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

www.ArenaFlowers.com: The unreachable company and invisible delivery

Location: Other, London
Industry: Retail mv
Company: Arenaflowers

I was buying flowers for my girlfriend for our anniversary last year. I have to buy this online since she lives in another country. So I gave www.arenaflowers.com a try, a professional looking site with nice product pictures.

So the order was placed in advance and everything's all set. On the delivery date, I received an email confirming that the flower was delivered at 11:50am. While I thought she would be happy with this little surprise, I got a surprise instead. Cuz she hadn't receive anything from arenaflowers.com yet. I was so pissed and tried to send them an email. I tried ALL the emails listed under their company website customer@arenaflowers.com, florists@arenaflowers.com, feedback@arenaflowers.com, technical@arenaflowers.com and I got an "failure to deliver" error. I then tried contact the company no: +44 20 8993 5400 and it wasn't working at all !!!

So at the end, the order never arrived and we weren't able to reach the company. Fortunately, we didn't let it ruin our day.

I did some more research and found out that other people from Canada also experienced same problem: http://www.reviewcentre.com/review216887.html. So I filed a dispute case to Paypal. And thanks to paypal, the case was being resolved in a week and I got my money back.

No response, no apology, no compensation from www.arenaflowers.com.

Hopefully potential customers of www.arenaflowers.com will see this before they make any purchase.

Approaching our 100th bad service story ! We need your support !!

Recently we have received lots of good feedback on iHateBadService.ca, in particular, people are surprised how quickly their stories show up in first page of Google =). Thanks for everyone's support, we are approaching our 100th bad service story and We would need your support !!

If you haven't shared your story, please do so. If you have already shared with us, please do share more (you know you want to) ... If you like our service, please tell your friends and family how great we are. And if you hate our service, please complain about us !

Enough said, it's time for a little update:





Thanks again everyone, we are counting down, only 9 more stories to go !

P.S. If you like our service, please help sponsoring our morning coffee by checking out our sponsor ads or the buy us a beer link. Thanks !


mv

Friday, November 30, 2007

Western Digital Drives - Watch out for slow access times

Location: Other, Everywhere
Industry: Technology

Recently bought a new SATAII WD 500gb drive (WD5000AAKS) from a large Canadian reseller. I ran HD Tune to check out the drive when I got it, and found that while throughput was very good, access time was absurdly poor (19ms). Most people get 13.x ms with these drives. So I sent an email off the WD to ask what might be going wrong, and after a week, still haven't received a reply.


I did ask around in various forums if anyone else has experienced this, and got a bunch of replies from people who've bought this drive in the past couple weeks and found the same thing. Some of us are speculating that WD has done some cost cutting measure on the drives causing the poor access times. One person did manage to get a WD tech on the phone, and they pretty much say they don't discuss "performance issues" but offered to RMA the drives for refurbs!

So, if you're looking for a high performance drive, don't go for any WD drives that have been on the market long enough to avoid any new reviews. I suspect they, like many other computer hardware manufacturers, are putting out a decent product long enough to get good reviews on hardware sites, then cost cutting shortly after.

What especially ticks me off is they're lack of response after a week, when they say they'll respond in one day, three days at the most. They're hiding something.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Don't go to Staples to ship Purolator

Location: British Columbia, Victoria
Industry: Retail
Company: Staples the Business Depot

Took a package to Staples to have shipped to Vancouver. First, they obviously don't have people trained to actually do the work they need to do for doing Purolator shipping. The girl behind the desk had to ask what forms to use, then she just hands them to me and tells me to fill them out. Like I have a clue? She walks away. I fill them out as best I can, then she tells me just to leave the forms and package there. I ask if she needs to know the account number for the person paying for the shipping. "Oh yeah, just write it anywhere". I do then have to ask which slip is my receipt, she goes and asks. Comes back and I get my receipt. Does she then take the box off the counter and put it away? No. It's just left there for anyone to walk off with. I do a bit of shopping (maybe twenty minutes) and look back to see my package still sitting there, right by the door. I walk over, grab the package, tell her I've changed my mind, and walk out. Took it directly to the Purolator office where I was treated with a bit of professionalism.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

I love Timmies, BUT...

Location: Ontario, Brantford
Industry: Restaurant
Company: Tim Hortons

Lately I think the Tim Horton's employees see me coming and decide to bug me- on purpose.

It started at a location on Highway 24 on the way up to Cambridge. It's a fairly new location and there are many students working there (which is great- I'm a student too). I walk in and there's no customers, so I walk right up to order. There are two employees standing there counting cups or something, there's one employee mopping, and some more in the back. I stand there a good two minutes before they even say anything to me. I was so angry, I almost walked out. It's not like they didn't see me or anything, they just ignored me.

The second time was this weekend. It was actually the same Tim Horton's location as above. My boyfriend and I ordered sandwiches at the drive-thru. I ordered an egg salad sandwich toasted on whole wheat with no lettuce. So I get my sandwich- it's not toasted, it's not cut in half and it has tomatoes on it. There's not even supposed to be tomato on the egg salad! My boyfriend's sandwich was perfect, just like he ordered and cut in half.

The third incident was this morning. I ran into the Tim Horton's on Fairview in the Zehr's plaza and there are two older women at the cash register talking about something. Just their own business. There's no line up and I just stand in front of them for about 30 seconds while they finish their conversation. I order a steeped tea, pay and leave. After letting my drink cool for a while, I open it up and realise they gave me coffee.

Okay, i understand that these are all just mistakes, but they could be avoided if these people had been doing their jobs. Their main job is to serve people. I know that they are NOT supposed to be counting cups or chatting instead of serving customers.
It just makes me so angry that these easily avoidable mistakes keep happening. There's just no excuse for it anymore.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Nervous Much?!

Location: Alberta, Red Deer
Industry: Restaurant

I ordered a small pita and the woman making my pita must've been new as her hands were just a shaking as she made my pita. The pita began ripping, and hey, I know this happens time to time and a lil rip here or there will be workable, but this pita was shredded! But she just kept on fidling with it trying to roll it up!! Finally I asked her to put it in a new pita. She did so, still very shakey... took some twisting and turning, but eventually it worked--but only 75% of my pita innings were still there!! Wrapped it up to go, I paid... and it certainly wasn't the best pita I had!

Canon loses my "L" lens not only doesn't tell me, but wouldn't even talk to me

Location: Alberta, Calgary
Industry: Technology
Company: Canon.ca

I my wide zoom "L" lens to Canon's repair facility in Calgary to let them have a look at it. Called to confirm they got it a week later (they did), was told they were "very busy" but would get back to me in a few days.

A month passed and I got no call. Called them, no one available, left a voice message. No reply after a couple days. Called again, got the receptionist, still no one available, left another message. Repeated this daily for over a week before I started getting angry with the receptionist for not putting me through to a real person ("you have NO ONE that can tell me about my repair???").
After an additional two weeks of this, wrote a Fax to the President of Canon Canada. Within the day, the Calgary repair facility called and left a message that they'd "escalate your repair". A week after that, got another call (left on my machine) that they'd lost the lens. So, bascially, they lost my thousand dollar "L" lens, decided not to tell me, refuse to speak with me in the hope I'd just go away.

I finally got a refund, but not for what I could actually buy a replacement for, nor any compensation for the BS they put me through. This lens, btw, was under warranty.

"The customer is never right!"

Location: Ontario, Mississauga
Industry: Restaurant
Company: Montana's Cookhouse
md
After coming from a late event, my family and I decided to go for some good food at Montana's Cookhouse in Mississauga at Courtney Park. We have gone to this location since it opened and thought to be pretty loyal customers. The past year, they have disappointed us more and more, but we thought we would go back because the food is usually pretty good.


We got into the restaurant and weren't even greeted. We stood there like idiots for about five minutes. Then, somebody finally seated us (8:00pm). Because we were really hungry, we all knew what we were going to order in the car, so we closed the menu right away and waited for our server. I waived my hand at the hostess and asked, "Hi, would you be able to get a server for me?". She immediately responded, "I'm not your server". The server came, greeted us politely, and wrote our order down (At this point, I could tell that this server was a trainee because they usually memorize our orders). At 8:15, our drinks were brought to the table. We sat and talked, and as my mother just finished saying "I'm getting hungry, where's our food?", I looked at the clock only to realize it was 8:45pm. I looked for anybody who worked there just to ask the status of my meal.

Here's where it gets interesting. I found the Manager on Duty and asked "Hi, I was just wondering if you could just check the status of my food.". And he said, "Sir, it won't be ready because you just sat down". I replied, "Uhmm, no, I got here at 8:00. We ordered at 8:05.". He said, "No, you didn't. You just sat down five minutes ago". I said "Excuse me, I was here at 8:00. Do not try to second guess me. All I want is to know that my food is coming. Why is it that people who have arrived here after my family have their food first?". He said, "Ok sir, I will check for you. But just know that I think you sat down only a few minutes ago". - HE IS A MANAGER! WHY ALL THE TALKING? It seems like his philosophy of the customer service business is, "The customer is never right".

He returned only to tell me that my order was only submitted five minutes ago. At this point, I was ready to pay for the drinks and leave. He assured me that it was coming soon. In ten minutes, our order was out. He came to our table and said, "Thanks for your cooperation" - might I add, it was extremely condescending.

Our original server came by and apologized. She was extremely sincere so I said, "It's ok, thank-you for your sincerity. You're doing a good job". She was the only sincere personnel we encountered since we arrived.

I'm not trying to say, "Don't eat at Montana's!". But I have been in the customer service industry for 5 years. I have also been in the hospitality industry for 3 years, plus 1 year of chef school. And what I learned was, even if the customer is wrong, you have to treat them like they are right. And moreover, "The customer IS always right". If you want business, this should be your prayer.

My family and I have NOT returned to ANY Montana's since and we don't plan to ever go back.

Futureshop

Location: , Toronto, Ontario
Industry: Retail md mv
Company: Futureshop

I went to Futureshop this week and they have moved to the Dundas and Yonge area and I thought they would change their way of treating their customers. Unfortunately it changed for the worst...
I was going to buy a package of computer and as a customer I decide to ask for a discount/better deal... Their manager said "do you think we are charity here?"

What bugs me there is...
1, Trying to sell their credit card to me
2, Trying to sell their stupid warranty
3, Trying to sell their stupid service for making a recovery disc which should have been in the package deal
4, Trying to sell me a not as good computer said a Quad processor computer is not necessary

They think they are giving great deal ... may be so but I dont think they are cheapest. I can find other stores up at Scarborough / Markham that sells cheaper and better products. SO if you are planning to go there, just BE CAREFUL with their sales' attitude.

Mind you that it is natural to ask for a lower price because I know they were lying about their cost prices vs selling prices. I was going to buy the package but the manager's attitude just didnt cut it. They are not flea markets yes but they sure are dealing with their customers like they were not paying alot of money, in my case 1600 for that package! They would not be in business if they dont make money.( Even their CDs/DVDs make a profit of at least $10 each)
If I were the manager I would not use that kind of tone to my customers and I would just say sorry it is not possible to give a discount for that little margin return. It would be so much better. Dont you think? Customers like me will only test their ability to be a real good customer care sales and not just giving them money for what they are selling.
I was so serious about buying the package that my credit card was out of my pocket at the time. When I heard him saying to me "this is not what you call it....charity." I was like what do you mean "charity" I am paying $1600 and you are telling me it is charity?

Friday, November 23, 2007

Easy my @$$

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Other
Company: Staples the Business Depot

Tonight I had one of the worst possible customer service experiences while shopping at Staples.

It started at the Lawrence & Dufferin store #15. I was looking for an Avery Sign kit. It took them about 20 minutes to figure out what I wanted. When they finally did they said they were sold out and only carry it by special
order. They would determine if there was another store that had it. They told me the store at Keele & St. Clair had 3 in stock. They gave me a piece of paper with the SKU number. I purchased the other items I came for and
immediatly went to the other store. Check out time: 7:44. Time spent waiting around for answers in store 30-40 minutes.

I went immediatly to St. Claire & Keele store #86. We were back to square. They didn't know about the other store confirming stock or what I was looking for. Providing the SKU # did very little to help find the item.
Eventually they found where it was supposed to be. There was one kit on the shelf in yellow and it was damaged. The sku # we had was for white. The
sales person kept running off to try to determine where the item could be. While waiting I had the further annoyance of two different sales people try
to sell me credit cards. Eventully they determined there were none in stock and we were out of luck. I found some alternative solutions. I went to the cashier to pay. I was told the register was closed as the cashier pulled out her cash drawer.

The store manager was dealing with another customer as I was paying. I explained the situation to the manager and asked if he could provide a 5% discount something for my inconvenience. His final story was that the first
store called down and was told the item was out of stock. It was the other stores fault for sending us down. Check out time 8:45.

90 minutes, 2 stores, 1 cranky 3 year old, 1 tired mom.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

No delivery

Location: Quebec, Gatineau
Industry: Other

I paid $90.00 to have a temporary gargage shipped to me. Purolator never even attempted a delivery; they simply left a message on my phone machine, saying that I had to go to their depot (which is far away) with a truck to pick it up because it weighed 190 lbs. and they would not deliver it.

I am disabled, and unable to pick it up. That's why I was having it delivered. Purolator then mucked me around terribly, playing phone avoidance.

And to top it off, the company I bought it from tells me that I cannot return it.

BEST BUY WOODBRIDGE OUTRAGE - Manager throws customers keys into garbage

Location: Ontario, Woodbridge
Industry: Retail mv
Company: Best Buy

I hope this is the right forum, and that someone can help me out, or point me into the right direction.

WHAT HAPPENED?
- A few week ago at BB location (Woodbridge [Hwy 7 and 400]), I parked my car, had my keys in my hand, and an item to return. As I left Customer Service, I was distracted by one of their flyer, so I stood there for a minute or two, and reviews the different sales.

As I walked away to look at a new mouse and keyboard at the back of the store.
I was in and out in 15 minutes, walking out, I quickly glanced to my left at the Security booth, and saw the Security Officer, Manager, and a Sales Rep at the counter. Just then the Security Officer gave the Manager a bunch of keys, on the same instance (said Manager) drop it into the large garbage bin (I did not hear any spoken words).
I decided to check for my car keys, and it wasn't there. In the same instance the Security Officer asked if it was my keys, I reply "possibly", and he reached in and pulled out MY BUNCH OF KEYS.


I took down the Managers name, left the store to compose myself, then went back in, and spoke to another Manager (different from the CULPRIT). He apologized, and agreed to the following:
- There is a store policy for lost/returned items - and this instance protocols were not followed.
- He took my contact information, and noted that he will have someone call me back.
- Advised that because he is a Manager, and on the same hierarchal scale as the other Manager, he could not do anything about it (reprimand), other than take notes, document it, and have a Higher Being (General Manager), call me back.
- Three weeks have past, and I have not received a phone call.

ISSUE ON HAND:
1 - MY FAULT, I should have been more responsible with my keys.
2 - Why wasn't the lost/returned item properly documented, and kept in a safe place, in the case I was to return, knowing well that it was at this location that I misplaced my keys?
3 - Is this how a Manager, under professional conduct, acts in front of other subordinate employee's (Security Officer, Sales Rep).
4 - Is this how Best Buy shows a commitment to their customers?


I'm sure other will scrutinize me for forgetting my keys. I'll take fault to it, none the less it was a mistake, why wasn't protocols followed?

Your questions, and comments, and are welcome

--NOTE: This issue originally happened Jun 21st, 2005 to RedFlag Deals
UPDATE: Nobody followed up or called me about this issue

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

1&1 Internet has no Customer Service

Location: Other, Chesterbrorok
Industry: Technology
Annoyed By: Billing Department

I will make this as short as possible. Details can be found on http://1and1exposed.blogspot.com.

Cousin signed up with them using my credit card on a one time basis. Cousin left the country. Hosting Plan auto-renewed. I emailed/called them to cancel. They refused because I am ONLY the card holder, not the account holder. Followed their instruction to cancel by fax, but they didn't. A week later after several conversations finally the account was cancelled. 1&1 promised to severe all ties to my credit card. (I was leaving the country) They charged me more because the account stayed active in the week of negotiation.


30 days later, I am in Japan now, they charged my credit card one more time. I emailed them and they said there was never a termination of the domain names. Emailed several times and they stopped responding to me all together. It was only for $5.86 dollars, but the fear of them holding my credit card information is a scary thought.

Disputing the amount with my credit card may lead to collection agency harassment. The last message sent to 1&1 Internet was over 1 week ago and hasn't been replied.

TigerDirect online order - Customer service

Location: Ontario, Markham
Industry: Retail

Ordered an PDA phone from TigerDirect.ca. 4 days later, received an email about UPS had dropped the package at front door. I searched around and did not find it. I called UPS Canada customer service and they needed to followed up with the driver on details. UPS asked me to called TigerDirect to file a 'lost' claim.


So I spoke with a lady (TigerDirect) and she started question me why I did not stay at home for the delivery. She said there was email sent out from the company which mentioned about where the shipment was. Once it said in 'Ontario', I should stay at home and wait. It is my fault in this case.

I then asked why there is no signature required on a $400+ product. She said there is BUT I was too cheap that did not 'select' that option so it is my fault - again.
I demanded that there is NO place for 'signature' option and walk thru the online process with her. She found out that she made a mistake but did not say sorry about it.

A new shipment will be resent to me when I request to pickup from store - the answer is NO. Then I explained to her, I cannot stay at home and wait for the product and want to cancel the order - the answer is NO.

I wanted to add 'signature' option on my order - ... of course - NO. This was a replacement order and everything needs to stay the same.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Don't buy fish from Wal-Mart

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Retail md
Company: Walmart

Wal-Mart has a bad customer service. Went there to buy a few pleco fish for my tank so it can eat up all the algae on the window side. The pleco cost about $2.87 each. Some other place sells it for $5.49.

So I went to ask for assistance and see if there are any staff that can help me out. I went to the toy section and asked the person who was in control of the department and asked that I need assistance for the pet department. So he called the PA system for assistance at the pet section. Waited for 20 minutes and no one came. Called again, and waited for another 20 minutes but no one came.

I got pissed and left. Can't believe this was the lame thing. So I went to another pet store and bought the bigger pleco for $10.

Btw, this happened to STC and Markville mall too. So basically, I went to STC first and no one helped me out so I went to Markville mall but still no one helped me out.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Mazda of Orangeville

Location: Ontario, Orangeville
Industry: Automotive

I was in contact with a salesman named Jay several times about a Mazda 6 for sale on autotrader at Mazda of Orangeville. When we talked to Jay, we asked many questions about the car including the usual as well as if there are any issues with it and he said there were none. This is the ad in question:


Today we called Jay in the late afternoon to confirm that the car was still there and he confirmed it was. He took our number down previously so he could contact us. On the way the way to the dealership we received another call from Jay to confirm we were coming. This was his 2nd opportunity to tell us that the car was already sold, but he did not tell us. When he got there he proceeded to show us a totally different Mazda 6. We asked about the one that we called him several times about and he began to pretend that he didn't know that it was sold. We drove 3 hours and 150km both ways to see this car. When he told us this we were obviously very angered, but kept our composure the entire time. He then told us that he would look for a different car to sell us but we asked why he didn't tell us in the first place to avoid having to drive this far and long for absolutely no reason. He told us that that Mazda 6 we originally came to see was "as is anyways". We asked what was wrong with it, he tells us that if we were to buy it certified and e-tested it would have cost us an extra $6,000. This was lie #2 because he told us that the car had nothing wrong with it and also that it was certified and e-tested and had a 5000km warranty. Jay lied through his teeth to lure us there in hopes we would buy a car.

Here is a highlight of the problems I encountered with Jay:
-Continuously lied about the availability of the vehicle
-Lied about the condition of the vehicle
-Lied about the car being e-tested
-Knowingly made us drive from Richmond Hill so he could try to sell us a different car
-Showed us a different Mazda 6 and at that point still didn't mention that the other car was sold. Did he think we wouldn't notice?
-Called us during our drive to check if we were on our way and still didn't mention that the car was sold

Legal Council

Location: Alberta, Edmonton
Industry: Other
Annoyed By: My lawyer and the lawyer representing the company in which I own shares.

I couldn't get my lawyer to do anything for me when I need him to, and now I have discovered that he has left the firm to take a different role. His assistant/secretary cannot seem to get my file together, as though it was a difficult task. Meanwhile, I cannot get things done in a timely manner, and it's costing me in many ways, including psychological. The lawyer representing the company in which I own shares is helping my partners get away with all kinds of crooked behaviour. I am losing out on what I deserve. And, I deserve better service.

How is this site/service going to help me?

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Webserve lives to Starve

Location: British Columbia, Who Knows
Industry: Telecom mv

I'll make this as easy as possible in one line: stay the heck away from Webserve for your hosting needs.

I Started an entertainment website and needed good quality webhosting to display my pages. That wasn't Webserve.

This service boasts several options which range from Shared hosting, to E-commerce hosting, to Reseller hosting for your needs as a consumer. I signed up with shared hosting, needing only the bare basics of disk space at the time.


Got the acct info and DNS server addresses quite timely, which i did like. Keeping in mind that DNS propogation takes 24-48 hours before your site is seen on the web i waited until the following day to log into the control panel.

You're essentially given a share on a directory tree structure with appropriate folder permissions for shared hosting, and can be on several platforms such as Plesk. The control panel was a joke. The permissions for the administrative panel were set way too stringently as I couldn't access 50% of available features. This was done on their end.

The SQL support had about as much stability as a wet feather in a hurricane, I found. 17/24 hours of the day, the SQL server features were unusable. Terrible SQL support. Not only that, halfway through term with these people i observed they locked down SQL on 'safe mode'. useless when you're running a forum.

Let me say something about support. You could probably write your message on your back and get a better response than from these people. When you call the 1-888 bu****** hotline, you get a representative who puts your query on a sticky note and tells you that a technician will respond promptly. Seventeen times called, seventeen messages 'left with the representative' and I have yet to hear from one of them to this day.

"IF you so choose, you can call their real support hotline and someone should help you with your problem" the rep actually said to me in one of the calls, as i was informed of a separate phone number to the company for direct technical inquiries. Lousy structure in my opinion. They tell consumers to call one number from their website, but really the tech person they need to get a hold of is at another.

So in retrospect, this company's organizational structure involves paying someone to sit on their ass and play solitaire away from the action, while our time continues to get wasted as notes are taken but not responded to? makes perfect sense. Would love to shake hands with the founder of this fiasco.

But wait, there's more: Several times out of the seventeen that i called, the employees actually argue that a second number is non-existent and we have to make sticky notes for our concerns.

The final resort involved me making a nasty phone call outlining the fact that they have not responded to any calls and that i would have to terminate my services with them if they choose not to respond.

I did.

When asked why, I think i typed every offensive word in the Urban Dictionary and found a good provider since.

Save your time and money.


Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Rude Manager - McDonald's Queen/Spadina

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Restaurant mv
Company: McDonalds

Most of the time that I go there, the manager (short Asian lady) also tends the cashier. She's always grumpy, rude and impolite. Always, always, I have been polite and cheerful when I order but I just got a frown in return. I thought McDonald's valued their customer service?!

I know that area attracts less desirable characters, but she doesn't have to be disrespectful to the patrons!

Monday, October 22, 2007

Tim Hortons

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Restaurant md
Company: Tim Hortons

I was at Timmies at York U today to get myself a large sandwich, and as I saw this lady doing the sandwich i asked if it was mine and then with the cut eyes she says, "I am doing it NOW"...i was like err..then i was still polite and asked if she could cut it in half for me, since they dun always tend to do that in school..so that lady says, "I WILL CUT IT" with a very rude tone. She then asked if i wanted anything else the sandwich..
i thought for a sec cuz they don't normally ask me that, they just have standard in making the sandwich..and she the said "If you want anything you should've told the mat the cash!" - again super rude, and what's the point of asking me if i wanted anything else if it doesn't say up on her freaking screen?!.. I told her that I didn't want anything else and she just gave me my sandwich and as i took it i said, "You didn't have to be so rude"...at the moment, i'm not sure whether she spoke to me or to her co-worker quietly, but she said "i don't think i was rude at all"...What kind of attidue is that?! So i asked for her manager, and she told me to come back later since the manager was on break, i told her i'll come back and asked for her name then I took off.
I got back after class to speak to the manager and i told her who it was and i realized she didn't even give me her real name and she was already on break at that time...then before i finished speaking with the manager she returned from her break and gave me a look and i was still speaking politely to the manager and supervisor. Now, i'm not sure if she got in trouble but at least i did what i could!!!

CIBC Investors' Edge is scamming the RRSP account users

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Finance

CIBC Investor's Edge now charges $106 for RRSP account users if you don't have over $25,000 in your balance. They will not reverse the charges even if you close the account. This is a much higher threshold than other banks' self investment services. For example, BMO's InvestorLine charges a fee for RRSP Accounts if you have less than $15,000 instead.

Futureshop Return NIGHTMARE!

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Retail mv
Company: Futureshop

Bought an ipod touch on the 11th of October 2007 from futureshop # 053. Before doing so i made sure to ask the rep AND the cashier about the warrenty/return/exchange procedure. They both assured me that i have 30 days warrenty from futureshop and that all i needed was the reciept and all the origional equipment to recieve a full refund or an exchange if there was anything wrong with the unit. I made sure to ask twice because the iPod touch was new and i had heard many problems with them.


After being assured it was under FUTURESHOP warrenty for 30 days i bought my iPod and off i went, thinking that if anything went wrong i could get a replacement or a refund within 30 days.

After using it 6 times within the past week i noticed that the battery life of the iPod is not anywhere near the advertised life. The battery, when charged over night only last 4 hours if i am lucky! And that is just Music use, no wifi or videos.

I wait until the end of the week when i dont have work or school to head to futureshop to see what can be done about this.

The "customer service" rep informs me that the ipod is not in origional condition because it has a few minor scratches on the back. Now in no way did i abuse the iPod, the screen has not but one scratch on it, no dents, just the back due to its design has a few scratches that any iPod owner will tell you is really easy to get even with gentle use!

The rep points to a sign above him, the sign is huge, and tells me our policy is no returns or exchange for items not in origional condition, i tell him that no where on the sign does it say that, not even the fine print. He reads the sign and informs me now that there is no room for it on the sign. He then informs me its on the back of my reciept, problem is i get that after i buy the item and who reads the fine print on the BACK of the reciept? He tells me then i should have asked, which i inform him i did. I then get accused of not telling the truth and he tells me "sorry but its buyers beware" and he cant do anything for me.

The Store mager had just "left" to go home, and i am still left with a ipod that wont hold a charge for some reason!

Is this how futureshop treats its customers? BUYERS BEWARE? i guess they should have put that on the back of the reciept and then no one would be mistaken where futureshop stands. I am totally disappointed in futureshops customer serivce and the lack of backing of their products. I was intending on buying my girlfriend a laptop from futureshop as a birthday gift in a few weeks but after this they will be lucky if i ever spend one cent in their stores ever again.

Funny thing is the first thing he told me was how am i supposed to resell this ipod. I thought to myself, why would an honest business resell something that was returned for being DEFECTIVE in the first place?

So i guess take their word for it, BUYER BEWARE of Futureshop and their lieing and cheating associates who will tell you anything to sell you a product and then wont back it up when it is not working right!


BTW...anyone have a number or email for someone higher up at the corp level for futureshop?

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Jack Astor's A-hole manager, Robert Ross, at Mississauga

Location: Ontario, Mississauga
Industry: Restaurant mv md
Company: Jack Astor's
Annoyed By: Robert Ross, the A-hole manager

My friends and I were at Jack Astor's, Dundas and Winston Churchill location in Mississauga, last Friday for drinks. We were first served by a rude waitress who had left at around midnight, and another waitress took over her shift. When it was time to leave we got the bill and noticed that they had charged us an extra drink which we did not order, and a regular Long Island Ice-tea at Jack-It-Up price. We spoke with the waitress about the mistake, and she asked the manager to speak to us. After waiting for him for over 15 minutes, the A-hole came and told us that he called our first server at home (at 2am?!) as well as talked to the bartender and said the number appeared on the bill is correct. Here's the thing - the bill came out to be around $200, the extra drink plus the jack-it-up charge is only $10. A ten dollar difference to the bill is not that big of the problem. The problem is that the message the manager was sending us was basically saying "you guys are just trying to get a free drink". He basically said "yea, I called the server at home, and I talked to the bartender, they both remember serving you 6 long island ice teas" and just looked at us. We were trying to explain to him that we ordered only 5, and he kept saying the server and bartender remember giving us 6. Our 2nd witness was very nice and kept apologizing to us. Here's another thing that happened - we were filling out the customer comment cards, and we wanted to get the Manager's name. When we asked the waitress to get his attention, we waited for at least 20 minutes. We had to ask the waitress 2 more times, he finally came and we kindly asked for his name and business card. He came back with a business card and said "this is my boss's business card. If you have any problems he will be here tomorrow." We asked him again for his own business card, and he said he doesn't have one. We questioned him and said "you are the manager here, and you don't have a business card?" and he said repeatedly that if we have any problems we can contact his boss. We kept asking again and again, and he finally told us his name and came back with his own business card. Why did he refuse to give us his name and business card in the first place? We feel like he did not want to listen to what we have to say, and was not honest about his name and having a business card. So Robert Ross is the name to remember if you so happen to dine at this Jack Astor's location.

Tim Hortons

Location: Ontario, Markham
Industry: Restaurant
Company: Tim Hortons

I bought two coffees at the McCowan rd/ Hwy 7, Markham Ontario location. After we drove away and tasted the coffees..they were burnt and undrinkable!!! We drove back through the drive-thru, the server asked :Did you really buy these here?"
First off, yes, but second, so what if we didn't./.. the cup says TIm Hortons...buddy gave us new coffees but was very aloff...like we were asking for gold. I was so mad I walked in and spoke with the manager, apologetic, but didn't really seen to care. Well, that's my last TImmie's burnt coffee...ever! I'm going back to COuntry Style....Tim Hortons no longer needs the business, thus really doesnt care about customers...while Country Style really will bend over backwards to make sure you have the perfect cuppa!!!
Karen

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Best Buy, bad service

Location: Ontario, Ottawa
Industry: Retail
Company: Best Buy

I went to Best Buy to get a wire for my home theatre and I had to get someone to help me find it, it took 7 minutes and 3 different persons to find the dawm thing. I went to the cash, paid with a debit card and went out. Before I got to my car, I realized they charge me $10 more than the price tag. So I went back in. The guy at the door told me I had to go to the service counter to bring the wire back...???
after telling him my story again, he told me the same. So I had to get in line with 8 persons in front of me for 15 minutes to be able to talk to the guy who took my receipt and went trying to find the manager to do whatever they had to do with it. Finally, I was able to get my $10 back. I Ieft without the wire. The guy at the door asked me if I found everything I need and gave me a nice "have a goog day", I couldn't believe it!

I have lots of friends, I know a lot of people and I have a very big mouth!

Friday, October 12, 2007

Artist specific store

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Other mv md

I went downtown today to a store that specializes in items that I need for my business (I am an artist). I have been told repeatedly that the service is a little lousy, but their prices more than make up for it.


Boy were all those people wrong. Service that lousy is not worth saving a few dollar!

I got down there and was buzzed in to the shop. I got in and the guy stares at me, asks if I am "in the business" when I say yes and that I am licensed to buy wholesale. I also add that I had never been to this particular shop before and was not sure what their protocol was. He says ok, shruggs and walks away. I continue into the store.

He then rudely informs me that I need to put my purse in the locker and there is a key. I look around, I see the lockers, ok, no sweat. Uh oh. None of them have keys. I ask where the keys are, he rolls his eyes and points in a totally different direction from where the lockers are.

I start looking around, choosing different things. Clearly I am struggling to carry it all. Finally he pulls a basket from behind the counter and says I can use it.

I ask how pricing works, then go on. On the bins there are so many numbers I have no idea how to read them. I am not exactly new to the business, but I have never seen anything even remotely like this.

Finally I get everything I need and go to pay. I get told that it has to be organized and weighed "over there" first. 4 workers in the shop. 2 customers.

I waited 20 minutes for one to notice I was waiting for service (and I called and asked for attention 3 times).

I finally got service, and went to take it all to pay. I just wanted to get out of there.

I got a pen for being a first (and last) time customer.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Cancelling an AOL Account



Call To Cancel AOL

Automated Hello : 4 Min.
Spent On Hold : 11 Min.
Talk With "John" : 5 Min.
Automated Goodbye : 1 Min.
----------------------------------------------
Total Call : 21 Min.

Staples

Location: British Columbia, Langley
Industry: Retail
Company: Staples the Business Depot
Annoyed By: Store Manager (British accent, wears glasses)

FutureShop had a Canada Day sale on the Logitech VX Revolution Mouse advertised for $39 (no rebates), so I decided to take the flyer to Staples in Langley to get a 110% "Price Match" (or PM). Staples had it for $99 at the time.


Spoke to a sales rep about the PM, who in turn went to his manager. The manager (who had a British accent, and eye-glasses) said they couldn't PM because the flyer has a "Web ID", which according him means that price is after a Mail-In-Rebate (MIR), and they don't PM MIR's. I told him that I was just at the Future Shop and there is NO MIR, and $39 is the actual checkout price. I go on to say that the "Web ID" has nothing to do with any MIR's, it's simply the ID of the product so the customer can identify and purchase the product online if they so choose.

This stupid manager didn't get it, and still insisted that there was an MIR involved, refused to PM it and just walked away from me.

I just could not beleive it. Here I have a legitimate ad from a direct competitor and this idiot manager will not honour the Staples Price Match policy. This totally pissed me off, and I felt like punching this jerk manager (with a snoby British accent) in the face.

To anyone reading this, I highly recommend not shopping at the Staples Langley location, especially if you want to PM anything.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Markham Honda

Location: Ontario, markham
Industry: Automotive

I bought my 'new' car over at Markham Honda a few months back. After a few days I noticed the car had quite a few minor scratches on it to be considered 'new'. There were minor scratches on the power windows, center console, and even the driver seat had some wear on it.
The kicker was when I noticed that even all four of the door handles were faintly cracked. It then occured to me that when I was in the showroom before there was a car which was the same colour at that time. However, when I purchased my car the car in the showroom was no longer there. I concluded that I was sold a showroom car and that was the reasoning behind all the minor scratches and broken door handles. I called Honda Canada about this and they did nothing. I emailed the manager over at Markham Honda and again no response. So buyer beware especially over at Markham Honda!

Monday, October 8, 2007

How iHateBadService helps you get back at companies for dishing out poor service

mv
Forget the sternly worded complaint letter, that’s so 20th century. These days, companies can pay a much bigger price for their customer service slip-ups. Thanks to the proliferation of blogs, a global audience is at the fingertips of every ticked-off consumer. Companies continue to learn the hard way that poor-customer-service complaints can make their way from niche web sites to network television.

Here's how we can help. Millions of smart consumers are using major search engines like Google when they are looking for product or service. That's why companies
are pouring tens of millions of dollars to get their websites listed on the first page of Google. On the other hand, with the launch of iHateBadService.ca and the contributions from many of you, some of our bad service stories are already listed on first page of Google within a month since we launched ! Check it out !!

Search Keywords in Google
Listed on Google Page No.
kinkos yonge and eglinton 1
ontariophonecards.ca bad service 1
petro canada locations bc bad service 1
riverside doors kitchener 1
staple business depot bad service ontario 1
shopper drug mart scarborough different price 1
purchase shaw modem ontario 2
ll fornello's richmond hill 2
world fine cars toronto service 2
ramada plaza resorts ofv scam 2

So what would you do if you are a potential customer ?

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Sh*tpatico *rains* on my internet parade

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Telecom md
Company: Bell Canada

For years, every time it rains, you get kicked offline and have to reboot the dsl highspeed 'modem'. This is Bell problem with moisture getting in their phone lines or lightning jolting their system. Who care what it is, I have never heard of highspeed cable going down ALL THE TIME, IN EVERY STORM.
We have told the tech people this many times but it still happens. We are not the only victims of this either, I have seen others in forums complain of the same thing. Weather is unpredictable so if you hear of a storm on its way, DON'T START ANY HUGE DOWNLOADS IF YOU HAVE SH*TPATICO!

Bell Sympatico and Microsatan, oops, I mean 'soft

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Telecom mv
Company: Bell Canada

First of all, Bell Sympatico moved to an smtphm based email server system WITHOUT WARNING ANYONE IN ADVANCE. Probably to weed out bogus and fraud accounts in the process (you are forced to phone the help people-who are in India and hard to understand). Anyway, I have not been impressed by Sympatico's partnership with the biggest thieving corporation on the planet (Microsoft) from day one.
Now, come to find out, they don't "officially support Mozilla Thunderbird". That means you can recieve email with Thunderbird on the smtphm server (complete with 'secure socket layer' protection, aka SSL) but you can't send with the same protocol, you have to use the old, insecure smtp1 server settings to send (actually, you have to change "TSL if available" to "No" also). This to me, is a blatant disregard for one of the most modern, safe, and functional email clients out there, any version of 'Outlook' is unsafe and lacking junk controls (don't know about now, maybe MS woke up and copied the competition AGAIN). Shame on you Bell, you made a deal with the devil and now you are losing my business. Funny part is, I hate Rogers more, but I hate Microsoft and its partners even more so Rogers wins. How frickin' sad is that?!

Friday, October 5, 2007

BAD SERVICE

Location: Ontario, Kitchener
Industry: Other

Was stood up for an appointement. Rescheduled for the next day.

The Following day, called 4 times. Finally showed up 2 hours late.

Unacceptable

Apparently there time is more valuable then mine

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

It has been a month since we launched !

It has been a month since we launched iHateBadService.ca ! We are seeing some encouraging feedback / statistics and we are glad that people actually love our service. Here is our statistics dump from Google Analytics:



Thanks for everyones support and we still have a long way to go. We will do our best to spread the word and let your stories be heard.

Here are some other interesting highlights about iHateBadService.ca
  1. We have 46 posts in total, that's about 1 story per day !
  2. 82% of our visitors are from Canada
  3. In a post regarding Shopper Drug Mart, we actually have an employee from Shopper Drug Mart responding back
  4. The top 3 posts in August are on Rogers, Tim Hortons and the Bad Customer Service Video
  5. The top 3 industries in August are Retail, Restaurant and Health
Please keep supporting us by telling your friends, sharing your stories, subscribing to us, bookmark our site or simply check out our sponsors ads at the very bottom.

You share it, and we will spread the word.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Another Shaw Cable Rip-Off

Location: Alberta, Red Deer County
Industry: Telecom
Company: Shaw Cable

I just finished reading the complaints about Shaw Cable and decided to add my two cents worth.

I had been a customer of Shaw Cable in Calgary for a number of years, so when I relocated to the outskirts of Red Deer on July 1st. I decided to continue their service. I called them in mid-June to give them my new address so it would be ready when I moved in. They informed me that there was no such address on their records and could I give them more information. I tracked down the county lot number and range number and passed it on. Same result...does not exist. I gave them the name of the previous owner as well as his son's name. (The elderly gent had been moved to a health care facility) Again no luck. I chased down his daughter's name in Vancouver. (Many, many phone calls.) Voila! This one produced results. The customer service person thought it was hilarious. Everyone had been looking for the street name as one word instead of two. She thought it was a great joke.
I get told that there was no problem...service would be in by July 1st. I called the next day to confirm and was again told it was taken care of. You already know the result...no service. I call again this time on my cell phone because I had been using Vonage on VOIP. I was informed there was no record of any such order and therefore I could not get the installation until the 5th. Now relocating requires a lot of telephone work and it was all done on my cell at the prepaid rates.
On the 5th. Shaw arrives and the installation goes ahead. The installer tries to sell me on Shaw's VOIP service. It is twice the cost of Vonage with far less services. No thanks, Shaw. he then tells me my modem is out of date and I will need a new one. (I own the modem) After he leaves I reconnect my Vonage router and am glad I can get off the high phone charges. Wrong again. Shaw's modem will not accept the Vonage router. It keeps shutting down my internet connection whenever it is plugged in. I talk to Vonage and they spend an hour trying to get it up and running...no luck. They inform me this is a typical scam by the big telecom companies to shut out other VOIP providers. Shaw, of course, denies this. I purchase a DLink router to try getting in that way. No luck. Another hour on the phone with Dlink and they eventually tell me the only way I can get this thing to work with Shaw is to change all my port settings...a long, complicated procedure. They agree with Vonage about denial of service.
I then called Shaw and told them I wanted my old modem back. (It had a dual jack system) I basically get told to 'suck eggs'. If I want it back I will have to get in touch with their salvage centre in Edmonton and, if it has not been destroyed, I have to provider a serial number and pay for shipping.
I eventually have to sign up with that other gang of thugs (Telus) for a land line and give up the best telephone service I have ever had.
I can't get wireless service here (although I can throw a stone across the Red Deer city limits) but it is expanding and just as soon as it is available I will be switching.
P.S. I tried switching to Telus high speed but they are even worse. Their system is not coampatible with Windows Vista but they don't tell you that until after installation. Also, when I cancelled Shaw I was informed that I could have gotten a different modem if only I had made them aware of the problem!!!!! iHate Shaw and Telus and I hope they get nailed before the CRTC where they are being charged by a host of VOIP providers. I don't hold out much hope though...Shaw and Telus can pay more to the regulators.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

IL FORNELLO at Hwy7 and Yonge,Richmond Hill,ON

Location: Ontario, Richmond Hill
Industry: Restaurant mv

I recently had dinner at Il Fornello located at Yonge & Hwy 7. I have previously been to their other locations many times and have found their food & service pretty decent.

However, this time I went, I had a very different experience. It was a party of 3 where we ordered appetizers and main courses, no drinks except for 2 glasses of regular water, and 1 glass of hot water.
When the bill came, I was very surprised to see a charge of $1.25 for hot water...(now before everyone goes off on a tangent here, yes, I DO realize that we are talking about only $1.25 and trust me, I have no issues with paying that and that's not the point of this thread). However, of all the restaurants I've been to in N. America, Asia, Europe, Australia, etc.. never have I been charged for hot water.

When I asked the waitress and restaurant manager about this charge, I was provided with a meaningless explanation of "it's our restaurant's policy to charge for hot water". I challenged their response some more by asking them to explain to me why a customer needs to pay for something that is FREE (hot water) and why then wasn't I charged for the other 2 glasses of cold water. Their response became even more incredulous. The restaurant manager said (verbatim) "Ma'am, we are in the business of making money. It costs me money to serve the hot water in a cup and saucer. We are also finding that patrons are bringing their own teabags, and therefore, we need to charge them for the hot water."
So I then asked whether this "restaurant policy" would still apply if I had asked him to serve the hot water in a glass instead of a cup/saucer. He shrugged his shoulders and continued to regurgitate the "it's restaurant policy" chant.

I could relate to his argument around people bringing in their own teabags and consequently having to charge them for the hot water to "make their tea". But in this case, the individual ordered hot water because they don't drink cold water (for health reasons). We never asked for the hot water to be served in a cup/saucer, nor do we care how it is served.

Again, I have no problems with paying the $1.25, which I did. I was just appalled by the blatant disregard for customer service, coupled with a rather feable justification of their restaurant policy to charge for hot water. This is awful restaurant practice, and very happy to see that it's not a widespread practice. Who knows, maybe they'll start charging customers for extra salad dressing or a slice of lemon soon.

I welcome everyone else's input, feedback, or similar experiences.

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=491678

Please read the thread.