Star Market

I moved to the Boston area about a year ago. While I know that I should have taken care of it right away, I didn't transfer my drivers license to Massachusetts until a few months ago (the day after I got pulled over and the police officer seemed displeased that my license did not match my registration, which is technically illegal). But whatever, I was still driving legally and had proof of age and identification.

Well, one day in February I went into Star Market on my way home from work. It had been a particularly bad day, I don't remember why, and so I decided I'd buy a bottle of wine to go with my dinner (nevermind that I probably had nearly 2 dozen bottles at home at the time). The signs in the liquor department say that you need proof of age to buy liquor and show a generic drivers license - I checked. I head over to the checkout line, where there's a young-looking guy. When it comes to my bottle of wine, I hand him my drivers license (I usually have it ready) - he calls over a manager, saying that he needs her to check it because it's out of state. When she comes over (a few minutes later) and takes my license, she looks and me and then walks away with it. I'm feeling distinctly uncomfortable at this point, but no big deal. Another several minutes pass, and she comes back to tell me that she cannot accept my license because it's out of state and they don't have to. Okay, now I know that Massachusetts is a lot stricter than other states I've been in about in-state and out-of-state identification as far as purchasing liquor goes, but if that's the case, why make me go through that in the first place? Why not tell me that you can't accept it, instead of calling someone over, making me wait, walking away with my license, making me wait, then coming back to say you can't accept it, depriving me of my bottle of wine, wasting my time, and making me look like I'm doing something wrong EVEN THOUGH I'VE BEEN LEGALLY ABLE TO PURCHASE ALCOHOL FOR 2 1/2 YEARS.

I went back the next day to complain to the store manager, who said my license looked fine to him. I hate that because I look young and am young, I have to endure so much criticism to get a glass of wine (how many underage kids do you see who spend hours looking at and selecting the perfect wine? I bet none).

Ohh, and they accepted my license the week before and then again the week after, without having to call anyone over. Consistent policies, I see.

Capital One

I'm moving this weekend. Part of moving includes changing the mailing and billing addresses on way more things than should be necessary. While I wish that there was ONE FORM I could fill out to change all of my addresses, this is not what this post is about.

My Capital One credit card was #17 on the list of addresses I changed the other day. I pushed it so far down the list because they did not have an easy web form for address changes, and I unfortunately had to call.

First of all, Capital One is one of the many companies that require intense navigation of their phone menu. Press 1 for English. Now enter your 16 digit account number. Now listen to our menu of 2309578342975 choices to find the right one for you! I usually try and circumvent these menus by pressing random numbers until I get a person, but Capital One will not be fooled! Now they want my social security number! And for "security" purposes (having my account number and social are clearly not enough), could I please type in my phone number? Sure, anything you want, Capital One!

Finally, finally, finally I get a real live person (in India, it seems, but whatever - I take what I can get). What is the first thing she asks me? MY ACCOUNT NUMBER! WHY MAKE ME GO THROUGH ALL THAT NONSENSE TO ASK ME TO REPEAT IT ALL. I actually wouldn't be upset except a) it's a waste of my time and b) I actually hate giving my account numbers and social security numbers out over the phone - voicing those so that all of my coworkers can hear seems like it could one day get me in trouble (not that I don't trust them, I do, but you never know). So I'm annoyed by this, and discuss with her why I shouldn't need to give her my account number (after all, clearly I needed to have already put in all of that information to be able to speak with her, and what were they verifying my phone number against? a blank screen? REAL SECURE). So what does she do? SHE HANGS UP ON ME.

I'm of course seething mad at this point - now I have to call again, navigate through the menu again (account number, social security number, press these 239587345987234 numbers, now verify your phone number, etc...) and finally get someone who thankfully doesn't ask me my account number. She changed my address and I demanded a supervisor, because hey, they wasted my time, now I'm going to waste theirs by complaining. The supervisor (still in India!) tells me that she's sorry, but there's no record of the call because I never gave my account number. She also informs me that there's no direct way to get through. Thanks for being totally customer unfriendly.

Best Buy

Last week I ordered a wireless keyboard and mouse from BestBuy.com. Unfortunately, I almost immediately realized that the keyboard and mouse would not work, because it had a PS/2 connection, and my work laptop only supports USB. When looking around on the site, I saw that one of my options for cancelling the order was emailing Customer Care. This seemed like a good option to me, because I hate calling customer service departments (ha! I wonder why). The email was pretty quick and to the point - needed to cancel the order I'd just placed.

2 days passed and I noticed that my order had shipped. Clearly, they did not cancel it. So now I HAVE to call Customer Care. They inform me that I can't cancel the order because it's already shipped. DUH! That's why I tried cancelling it right away! And hey, don't put that as an option if it doesn't work to email it in! Yes, I know that the store is just down the street from work and that I can return online purchases there, but if I wanted to do that, I wouldn't have tried to cancel the order in the first place. After telling me there was no supervisor for me to speak to, the woman does put her supervisor on the phone (of course). He tells me the same thing - apparently, sometimes you can't cancel an order even minutes later because they ship them out so fast. It didn't ship until the next day, so let's try not to pull that one shall we? In the end, I find them utterly unhelpful.

Sunday, four full days after I placed my order and subsequently cancelled it, I received a response back from Customer Care. Here it is:

"Elizabeth,
Thank you for contacting Best Buy about your order # BBY01-77634006462. I'm Garnett with Customer Care.

We appreciate your concern about canceling your order.

Your order has reached a point in the processing stage where it is beyond cancellation. If you do not wish to keep the item, returning is easy. Just take it to your local Best Buy retail store, and they'll be happy to assist you with your return. To find the Best Buy closest to you, go to:http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat12090&type=page&isCarFi=null

If returning to the store is not an option for you, just follow the instructions on the back of the packing slip. Once it's returned, we'll credit you for the full amount of the product. Shipping charges, however, will still apply.

Thank you for sharing your comments with Best Buy. Please do not hesitate to contact us with additional questions or concerns.

Best wishes from Best Buy,
Garnett and the Customer Care Team"

I'm not exactly the nicest person when it gets to this point, so I'm sure you're not surprised that my reply back wasn't exactly pleasant:

"Thanks, Garnett, for making it impossible to cancel my order by not responding to me until FOUR DAYS after I made my request to Customer Care. This may be the last time I use BestBuy.com, as your service is terrible. If I wanted to go through the "EASY" hassle of returning the item to the store (which requires going to the store) or via whatever instructions are on the packing slip (which requires going to the post office), I wouldn't have tried to cancel the order in the first place.

Your telephone customer care was equally unhelpful. Your menu was difficult to navigate and the people I spoke to were entirely unhelpful, by not answering a single question that I asked.

I would suggest either replying to email inquiries faster or not having it at all, because if you're not going to get back to the customer until their item is almost delivered, there's really no point in having email/web service (if you want to call it that).

Thanks for not helping me at all. "

I was really surprised at horrible this all was, as previously I've had nothing but good things to say about BestBuy.com. But hey, apparently bad customer service is in these days.

Citibank

I have student loans through Citibank - a lot of them. I'm pretty responsible about such things and long before my loans came out of grace period (in early December), I went through the process of consolidating the federal loans and putting the rest on a graduated payment plan. My salary is nice, but not nice enough to handle level payment with as much student loan debt as I have.

When I got my loan statements from Citibank in December (about 15 days before payment was due), I saw that there was no way that I was going to be able to pay that much. So I called them up. It was explained to me that the best thing for me to do would be to put the loans on a 1-month deferral and request to be put on a graduated payment plan. The woman sent me the forms, and I did just that.

Now January comes and I'm issues new statement. Guess what? Some of the loans made it to graduated payment and some did not. Actually, only some made it to deferment and some did not, despite me sending in two sets of forms. And I called Citibank again. This time I spoke with a truly wonderful woman who told me that it was not possible to do what I was trying to do, despite what I was told. She also felt the necessity to remind me that I am responsible for paying my student loans - right, because I'm on the phone with you thinking I can get out of them. And I should have followed up more on the forms - despite having never been told that there were two sets of forms (one of which they apparently never received) and had only filled them out because I was confused. And here's a really good system... when your loans are placed on deferment, they go back into a level repayment plan and supposedly have to remain there for a month. Who thought up that? If I can't afford to make a level payment, why would you ever issue me a statement that said I could. Ohh, and no one can explain to me why some of my loans had already made it into graduated payment, but some did not - some stupid computer rollup thing. Guess what? I'm not a computer and don't care about your bureacracy - just fix my problem.

I clearly got rid of that person, asking to speak to her manager, and got someone else, who told me the only thing I could do was put them on deferment (again!) and she would watch my account to try and get them on graduated payment, but didn't guarantee anything. So she says she'll send me the appropriate paperwork. And I wait. And it doesn't come in the 10-14 days it's supposed to. After 3 weeks (note my payments are due now), I call again - and this woman informs me that I can just download the forms off the website. I do that, fill them out and send them in. A little while later I get a notice saying that it didn't go through - something wrong with the paperwork. When I called to find out what happened, I'm told that I filled out the wrong paperwork and the form I needed to fill out was not available on their website. Frustrated much? To this point (and it doesn't get better), everything these people tells me is a lie.

I then fill out the appropriate paperwork and fax it in (I'm running out of time here - I need to get the payments in before they consider them deliquent). They go through. But my loans are STILL not put on graduated payment when I get my new statement. Now, note that because there's absolutely nothing by my phone call and written statements telling them to do this, I have no idea if my loans are on graduated payment until I get the statements. And once the statements are issued, Citibank refuses to do anything. This cycle helps no one. Ohh, and they issued late fees, even though I was told they wouldn't (lie much?). So, guess what? I CALLED AGAIN. I explain the WHOLE situation to her, and she informs me that there's nothing she can do, but I can put the loans on deferment again. I explain to her that after having done this twice, I do not trust that it's going to solve my problem, and they need to do something different. After getting nowhere with her, I demand to speak with her supervisor. She says he'll call in 24 hours later.

24 hours comes and goes, and no call. So I call again and speak to another manager, explaining that someone was supposed to call me and didn't. She says she doesn't understand why (nevermind that she was the manager I spoke to who never sent me the right forms), but she can have someone else call me (she won't help me either, of course, because they hate me, it seems, and student loans are not as convenient as everyone tells you when you're 17 and deciding where to go to college). This isn't acceptable, because no one called me. I ask to speak to her supervisor: he can only call me back; she can't transfer me. I ask to speak to the woman I spoke to the day before (I had her name): she's in a different office so she can't transfer me. Can I call there? No, it's totally random which office you'll get when you call. I'm getting NOWHERE with these stupid bureacratic policies. So I request that this woman's supervisor call me AND the woman I spoke with the day before. Of course I'll hear from someone else within 24 hours.

I'm sure you'll be very surprised after the wonderful treatment I've received that NO ONE CALLED ME BACK. Seriously, what sort of holes do I have to jump through to get answers? I'm not trying to get out of paying my student loans - I'm trying to pay them and Citibank was fighting me every step of the way. One more time I call them. I get another manager. I explain the situation. Finally, finally she helps me. She tries to find some answers, can't get much, and the only thing is another deferment. But she gives me an administrative deferment, which requires no paperwork, and promises to follow up with me the next month to ensure the loans go on graduated payment. And they are. And she does.

So there is one valuable employee in the Citibank customer service department. Sandy Weill, I hope you're happy with how your company treats alumni of your alma mater, because I sure as hell am not.

Verizon Wireless

Last summer I had the joy of changing my cell phone number from an Ithaca, NY, number, to a Boston, MA, number.

I did this over the phone, because as it turns out, changing your telephone number over the phone sitting on your couch seems a lot more convenient than going to the actual Verizon Wireless store.

Apparently, because Ithaca and Boston are not in the same "region", this requires you use a service called "EZMove," which, as it turns out, is not as easy as it sounds.

So, they go through some spiel about giving me a new customer number and my voicemail being reset - fine. And I get my new number.

A few days later, I try and log onto the Verizon Wireless site with my username and password, so that I can pay my bill, and it doesn't work. So I call them up - in issuing me a new phone number and customer number, they closed my old account.... which means I can no longer log in and have to re-register. AND, I can't have my old username and have to choose a new one. Totally unacceptable. Ohh, and all of those statements online that I'm supposed to have access to for 6 months? Now unavailable. Nevermind that's where I save them from. I can't even pay my previously bill online. Why on earth Verizon Wireless would think that this is a good policy and convenient for their customers is beyond me, because it most certainly is not.

I spend several phone calls with these ridiculous people trying to sort out the statement issue. They won't help me, unless I want to pay some amount of money for each one of them. First they offer to give them all to me, but then refuse to do that. I eventually sort this one out by going into the Verizon Wireless store (remember me trying to avoid doing that?) where the nice guy printed them out for me.

I also had problems with my statement. In issuing me a new customer number, they also changed my statement date. Plus, they double-billed me. Hello, Verizon Wireless, when you issue a statement on the 8th of August where you charge from August 8th - September 7th, and then issue a bill where you charge from August 16th - August 22nd, and August 23rd to September 22nd, THAT IS CALLED DOUBLE BILLING. I know what I'm talking about and your customer service representatives do not. Besides that, I did not want a billing date of the 23rd - I've been a customer since 2001 and was very used to my billing date of the 8th. But according to about half a dozen people I spoke with, I was stuck with this date and everyone in whatever the hell region I'm in is on the same billing date. At one point I was told I could change this, but then everyone else said I couldn't. Guess what? I eventually found someone who was willing to change my billing date, because it is indeed possible. You know why I kept calling to try and have it done? BECAUSE EVERYONE THERE IS A LIAR AND HATES TO ACTUALLY HELP YOU.

This of course was not my first run-in with Verizon Wireless telephone customer service. Back in 2002, I was having problems making calls. When I called Verizon Wireless about it, they informed me that it was because it was a prepaid number so I couldn't make calls outside my area (why I was given a prepaid number in the first place was beyond me), but they couldn't give me a new Ithaca number - they didn't have any. The woman then proceeded to change my number to a Cortland number WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. Guess what? I didn't want that! I had to call back the next day to get a new number, where someone was able to find me an Ithaca number.

I have no qualms with the service I've received in the store but nearly every person I've spoken with on the phone is a complete moron. I now demand to speak to a manager first thing, because I'm tired of repeating myself to people who aren't trained to give me the sort of assistance needed.

Intro

Welcome to my blog for customer service rants and raves. I've been lucky enough to deal with many people at various companies regarding their treatment of accounts and product purchases. After hearing about (or just overhearing) these phone conversations, it was suggested that I start a blog about it. So here it is. Feel free to leave comments with your own customer service complaints. We've all been there.