Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, what “taking my talents to South Beach” should be code for, what’s next for Juan Manuel Marquez, or those damn Devil Rays, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
After installing FroYo on my Evo 4G, I decided that I was going to commit to the phone and reactivate it. This is a big deal for me as I have all sorts of commitment issues. I figured A) it’s a great phone that was free, B) I’m eligible for an upgrade straight away, and C) I get a service discount as a Google I/O attendee. After 25 minutes and three CSRs, I was unable to activate the phone with the discounted plan.
I’m amazed that all three reps had no what I was talking about. Each of them insisted that I needed a Sprint employee’s email address and ID number. I have a sell sheet from the conference that clearly states that I’m eligible for the discount. It’s one thing for them not to know about Google I/O, but it’s another to be completely ignorant of a discount offer. I’m going to drop by a Sprint store today to try and activate the phone; I’m positive the CSRs there will also fail, but it should be good for a laugh. *sigh* This is why I went to T-Mobile….
Anyway, I’d love to hear some of your customer service nightmares. Whether it’s games, electronics, Internet service, or Real Dolls, I’m sure you guys and gals have some great stories to share. Let ’em fly (please)!
Verizon charged me $727 two months after I ended services with them. They called it a billing error. They fully admitted we were charged incorrectly. However being Verizon they told us to fax them a copy of our account to prove there was a debit. Let me remind you that they can see the credit on their end. So after them losing the fax twice in one week their treasury dept told me they would issue a refund in 30-60 days. WTF!!??
Long story short I was reimbursed 3 days later once I had a local news station get involved. PR nightmare for them since I told them I couldn't afford baby food and stuff. I have no kids, it was just cheaper than an attorney.
When I lived back in PA a few years ago, I had Verizon for my home phone and DSL service. When I moved out here to AZ (5 years ago now), I called and canceled my services. They disconnected my phone, but for some reason, not my DSL.
Because I had moved across the country, I didn't recieve my bill for the service I had canceled until 3 months later. I then spent the next 6 months calling back and forth with Verizon trying to get them to reverse the charges that I did not incur from the other side of the continent.
I thought I'd finally gotten it all squared away until I went to buy my house a year and a half ago. That's when I discovered that the incident with Verizon was on my credit report. I ended up calling them and giving them shit again. They had cleared my account, but not reported it clear to the credit companies.
Long story short, the situation took 4 years and 30 or so phone calls to be completely resolved.
And judging by the 3 stories told so far today, telecommunications companies all suck.
Man I work in a call center so I'm going to wait and see everyone's horror stories because I'm kind of biased on this topic. Allthough I'm not making any excuses for incompetence.
Cable companies suck as well. In May Charter decided to raise our rates. We used the online chat part of their website to inquire if there was a way we could lock in to a price for 24 months since that is what they were advertising around here. We have 25meg internet and basic tv. We have basic tv because at the time it was cheaper to have it instead of not having it. The guy on the other end of the chat told us the best he could do was add a home phone to our current services and the price would be the same that we have now. He told us this after we reiterated that we do not need or want a home phone. 10 minutes of chatting and the guy would not stop trying to sell me a phone I didn't need.
Sprint emailed me and said to go to a store. Ha!
EA strikes again! You have to buy NBA Elite if you want NBA Jam on the Xbox or PS3. You can only use the downloadable code inside Elite to pull down Jam. How crappy is that? Buy this subpar game in order to get access to NBA JAM. Guess they know 2k11 is a better game…especially with Jordan and all.
Just changing the name to 'Elite' doesn't make it so. Unless they've figured out how to make a decent basketball sim, I'm not interested.
ATT
Called again recently to see make sure I would get to keep my unlimited data plan when I switched smartphones. They said NO. My friend sitting next to called and they told him yes. I called again and was again told NO. He called again and they said Yes so he told them to note they had said that in his account. I again called and was told YES i could keep it. I made them note it in my Account.
ATT
Friday I was 18 days away from being due for my upgrade. My dad broke his phone so I called ATT to buy 2 new phones. She said it was no problem to upgrade with 18 days left. Sadly they didn't have the phone my dad wanted (Samsung Rugby 2). So I went to a Corporate store. The manager told me NO I didn't qualify and I would have to wait the 18 days. I asked why and he said I don't spend enough per month on my account. I asked WHAT $230/mo isn't enough? No but you can upgrade and pay an additional $75 per line today. FU. Went to a retail store and the guy said no problem. Got 2 new phones. Call Friday evening to ATT Customer Service to ensure insurance was placed on each new phone. "Sorry sir you have to get insurance within the first 30 days" I explained I just upgraded and she said to call back Monday because it wasn't showing up that I upgraded. Monday (yesterday) called back and was told the same thing (sorry 30 days blah blah). Got new phones without renewing my contracts is what has happened so far. If they fix it its fine if not Even Better.
@SG
I had the same issue but with Alltel.
ATT left our area and replaced with Alltel. ATT bills had to be paid to Alltel They also told us at the store to get new Alltel service we had to give them our old cell phones. I bought 2 phones over the phone with my bank card, They arrived and I activated my service. Had the phones for 3 days and never had much of a signal. Went into the Alltel store and they told me the phones need to be sent off for firmware updates. I JUST GOT THEM. I canceled my service on day 3. I then got a bill for $1300. I called they said it was the first months service ProRated costing my $100 for 3 days because of data and cell usage. Then $300 for each phone and $200 per line early termination fee.
They have a 21 day satisfaction guarantee so I got out of the early termination fees. They said I never paid for the phones and they were charging me for them. I asked if it was customary to mail out up paid for phones and they said its impossible. So I asked how the hell I got them then. Then then needed to see my bank statement with the charges. I got out of paying the full $1300. Then I get a check for $130 from Alltel. Cashed it. 2 Months late I get a debt collection call from ATT. Alltel didn't pay my bill and that was the refunded money.
I have more….ATT
I called 2 weeks ago because my internet was SLOW. Speed test indicated 4.6kbps down and 3.2up.
They asked if I had signal. Yes 5 bars and capital 3G. She said sir it doesn;t matter if it is capital or not. I said then why do I have a lower case and capitalized version of each. She said it must just be something Blackberry does. I told her my connection speed and she asked if it was normally any faster than that. SERIOUSLY?!? I said yes it is typically 1.5 Mbps. I don't know the difference sir, will you please hold while I transfer you to a senior technician to help resolve this issue.
I could keep going but I doubt anyone is reading. lol. Its okay though it just helps to vent.
Looks like there's a team lunch today, so I won't be able to post stories at lunch. Sorry about that! I wanted to get more gaming stuff up. I'll try to write more tonight, but for now please chat away!
@slicky
i'm reading just not posting much. I don't have that many CSR nightmares only that one from the gym, that no one probably read. I'll see if i can find it, it's much easier to copy and paste than to re-type. dude you seriously have some bad luck with services and products. *knocks on wood*
@ Slicky
I'm reading.
I had to do all this to get $30 back from my gym membership. I was double billed so i pulled up my Chase app and showed them where i was double billed. Unfortuantely, it took about 20 mins for the lady to get that i was double billed. I started my gym membership on the 23rd so i have to pay for it by the 23rd. I signed up for auto-pay so it pays for it on the 23rd. So it removed my payment on the 23rd and then again on the 2nd. The girl tried to explain to me that it the second payment for the 2nd was correct. I’m like how if from the 23rd to the 2nd isn’t 30 days or a month. I explained it to her in many different ways and my sister was saying that i was talking down to her but it was frustrating to explain from i.e. july 23rd to Aug 2 is not 30 days. Eventually she got it and claims that someone changed my start date from the 23rd to the 2nd. So they had to pull up my contract and see that i started it on the 23rd. It could’ve been an easy 5 minute conversation if she would’ve just listened and not try to think i’m trying to swindle them out of money.
@if youre (Rpad) taking your talents
i would think that you would be bringing your awesome verbal entertaining skills to south beach to investigate those all women nude beaches.
@JMM
i hope he retires. I don't want him to end up in the hospital or with any type of condition that will rob him of his golden years.
@Rays Baseball Team
yeah i hate them, they ruined my 7 win streak in streak for the cash. it was my highest to date and took me out of contention for the lead. :(
@slicky
You sir have amazing resolve.
@SG
I generally end up getting pretty angry with them and get set to the escalation department. I like it there. The people all speak english and are very friendly. They will do just about anything for you at that point. That is how I got 8 Cell phones in 2-3 months.
I like your style
This isn't quite the same but
We were at a Mexican restaurant ran by my friend's dad. We asked the waiter for the manager. He walked into the back, and brought us a mayonnaise jar. Yay for language barriers!!
@ Everyone
I am so sorry I haven't been on too much lately. I've been getting swamped these past few working days and haven't had much time for anything besides graphics, websites, and email account hosting issues.
Maybe you all will forgive me one day.
@N8R I blame you for the site's plunging Alexa ranking.
*joke*
@n7r
is that your name? i forget
jk, hows the new job going?
The CSRs at the Sprint Store sucked as much as the ones on telesales. *sigh* Perhaps I'll just wait for the dual-core Snapdragon Android phone heading to T-Mobile. Those guys have been fantastic with customer service.
@everyone
This girl has been teasing paraguayan soccer fans (and me) throughout the world cup and now is determined to do it again. Both links nsfw!
http://www.sportsgrid.com/media/paraguays-larissa… http://www.milenio.com/node/500680
@tokz
that might be one of the best looking women ive ever seen…..
speaking of HOT women…have you guys seen the eva mendes sex tape??
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/0a4d42beff/eva-m…
haha. I've seen better sex tapes, but that one isn't bad.
yeah its pretty stupid, i just have always been a fan of the eva mendes
@thundercracker
that was pretty funny. good for her that her sex tape will work in the dark with two guys for about 20 mins.
@ Thundercracker
So far, so good. Keeping me busy that's for sure.
@Tokz and Thudercracker;
If you guys ever lived down here, you'd be walking around like Ron Burgundy in a Sex & Scotch warehouse. It's so prevalent that you really become desensitized to hot women after a while (a long while, to be sure). Believe it or not, Eva Mendez is actually pretty standard for a Miami chick. Don't get me wrong, she is hot, but she wouldn't stand out in a nightclub down here if nobody knew who she was. Living down here is great if your single… not so much if you're married or want to start a family.
-M
@iceman
ive been to both spain and italy, nothing compares to the ass in barcelona or rome
i guess it depends on preference, im into european and south american women (who isnt?)