MediaOne, our local cable company. They suck in ways you can't possibly begin to imagine. We have had the most amazing problems with this company. We lost cable for two weeks in January 1998 because of a lame service problem (they kept changing their excuse for why we didn't have cable), and we only recently allegedly received credit for it on the bill. And we still don't have a working cable box! Yet we've had consistent billing problems with them for the service we're not receiving. We call the service department about the broken cable box and they say, "You have an outstanding balance on your bill, we can't help you until it's taken care of." We call the billing department and tell them that we're being asked to pay for service we're not receiving and we get crap from them. UGH! The list goes on and on and on.
During the whole episode, Trace called Media Effing One, and actually apologized to a Customer Service rep for her tone, as she was (understandably) very frustrated with our service. The service rep gave her a ration of crap about how rude she (the CUSTOMER!!!) was being. Whatever! Fire the wench! And here we innocently thought customer service meant to provide service to the customers. Guess it means something else to MediaOne.
If "This is the way," we wanna go somewhere else.
Capital One: Trace's tale of woe.
Is it something about putting the word "One" in a company's name that makes them just chuck the idea of customer service out the window? No sooner do I begin to sleep comfortably knowing that the infidels at MediaOne will be in for a real $#@&storm of complaints from me, but now it's my credit card company!
Get this, I've had my credit card with Capital One for four years. In November 1997, I missed a payment - no big deal, happens to everyone, right? The firm double-charged the Late fee for it. That resulted in an Overlimit fee. So I got my bill, sent in payment and disputed the charge. BAM! Another Overlimit fee because they took two months to respond. So I wrote to them immediately when I got the next bill - weeks before payment was due - and said, "Now I have no clue what my balance is. Fix this. Send me a new bill and I'll pay it." Nothing. So I get another Late fee, and another Overlimit fee.
This goes on and on. I got a letter from them in March 1998 that basically said, "Go screw, it's your own fault for making a late payment in the first place." (Uh, I paraphrased that a bit!) But it actually contained what I can only describe as a veiled threat to the effect that I was more than welcome to dispute charges and not pay them while they were being investigated. If the charges prove to be valid, however (which they think this is), then I'm not only responsible for the Late fees for not paying it, but they'll retroactively report me as Delinquent for not paying the bloody thing I was disputing!
Letter #5 to Capital One on the topic actually contains the words, "Excuse me?" and "That's charming." I also went on to say, "I'm pleased that Capital One is apparently doing so well that it can afford discourtesy to its customers over a matter of about $100. I'm also pleased that $100 is as important to a multi-million-dollar firm as it is to someone who makes $30,000 a year. It's too bad that customer service isn't as important to you as it is to me, however. If it were, I would be happy to continue my four-year association with Capital One. As it is, I believe I'll be shopping around for a firm that cares about its customers."
That letter also contained this URL, with a notice that they’d found a place in our Hall of Shame here. Big surprise – that got a response! I got a letter from an actual person (instead of the generic computer-generated responses I’d been getting) that apologized for all the troubles. The Capital One rep. pointed out that they still thought they were right and I was wrong, but because I was so pissed off, they’d be happy to refund all the various charges to keep me happy as a customer. Fine by me.
As of December 1998, I still have my account with Capital One. I had some other problems with them this past summer when they didn’t send me statements for three months and then started this Late Payment crap again, but they were much quicker to respond this time around.
CiCi's Pizza: We're going out to see a movie, we're hungry, we don't have a lot of time, so we stop at the CiCi’s pizza in the shopping center at the intersection of North Druid Hills and Lawrenceville Highway, across from North Dekalb Mall. Ed and Nicole get in first and, since there are no large tables available, they grab two smaller ones that are a foot apart and push them together. Immediately the manager comes running over, bitching about "Lost seating." No, "Please push the tables back when you are done," oh no, he makes us push them apart right then and there because he's concerned about what will happen after we leave. Apparently the busboys aren't competent enough to push the tables back on their own. So we're forced to sit apart from our friends, when tables built for eight are being used by one or two people. Whatever! Hey CiCi's, you've just lost a lot of seating. All of ours.
Wendy's: How hard is it to work in a fast food place? I mean, really. It's an icky job, but how hard is it to get an order right? We go into the Wendy’s on Piedmont, just down the street from “Franco’s.” Trace orders her burger, and they get it wrong. Fine, accidents happen. She goes back to get it changed. They hand her someone else's burger, then try to give her another one that someone else has been handling to determine it's not his. They give her yet another one, and guess what, it's WRONG again. So this time she just asks for her money back 'cuz she doesn't want to deal with it anymore. And the cashier is rude to her about it. Time to shop for some new employees, Dave.
Kentucky Fried Chicken: Are open sores acceptable for someone in the fast food industry? Should someone have a gaping, scabby wound on their arm when they're serving your food? We think not. We advise avoiding the KFC in the Lindbergh Plaza shopping center, at the intersection of Piedmont and Sydney Marcus.
Wachovia: Another tale of woe from Trace.
File this under You Get What You Pay For.
My mom wass kind enough to send me a little money. She sent it to me in the form of a U.S. Postal Service money order so I didn't have any problem depositing it. I went to deposit it right away so I could continue my unchecked Christmas spending without a hitch. I walked over to the Riverwood Parkway branch of Wachovia, where I have an account set aside just for Christmas money. I even went into the bank so I wouldn't have the one day delay by depositing the money through the ATM. I had my personalized deposit slip, all filled out neatly, and I even waited until I was in the presence of the teller to endorse the check. Everything looked grand.
"I'll have to put a hold on this," the teller said.
"Excuse me?"
"You don't have enough money in your account to cover the check."
"It's a money order," I corrected, foolishly thinking that Wachovia, like every other American institution which deals with money, distinguishes between the two.
She just stared at me.
I re-iterated the obviously useless phrase, "It's a money order" and the teller just blinked at me in clear lack of recognition of what a money order may or may not be and why she should care.
"Well, how long will it be on hold?" I asked, thinking the answer would be "24 hours" or something equally acceptable like that. I should've known I was in real trouble when the teller, who, in theory, should deal with this sort of stuff all the time, toddled off to go call someone to ask. Oy vey.
Five minutes later, after a brief conversation with someone twenty feet behind me, the teller returned to her station, sat down and just stared at me. No greeting. No explanation of the conversation. No answer on the hold. She just sat there. So I dared to ask the foolish question, "So, do you have to put a hold on it?"
"Yeah."
Yeah. Not, "I'm sorry, ma'am, bank policy. Your money will be available in 24 hours. We apologize for the inconvenience." Nothing like that. Just Yeah.
You'd think I'd have learned my lesson the first time around with such a line of questioning, but no: "Ooookay... how long will the hold be?"
"About five business days." I'd like to note here that you're really in trouble when bankers use words like "about" to describe what's happening with your money. "Sorry for the inconvenience, but you'll have your money then."
"I don't think so," I told her, "NationsBank will give me my money tomorrow." and I asked for my check back.
You know, I pay NationsBank like $20 a month for my checking account there. This "extra" account with Wachovia is free as part of my benefits from my job. I was thinking of closing the NationsBank account and moving everything over to Wachovia, but I don't think I'll be giving that idea much further thought. It's true that you get what you pay for.
I called Wachovia customer service and asked them about the policy on deposits like this. They told me there actually is no set policy, it's up to the individual teller's judgment. Greeeaaat!
So if you bank at Wachovia on Riverwood Parkway (Cumberland Circle, near the Cumberland Mall) in what I think may be Vinings, avoid the teller Tracy Lane like the black plague, is my advice.
UPDATE: Six business days after the incident (coincidentally the day my money would’ve finally been freed from the grip of those swines), I got a call from the branch manager, Dana Roberts, about my complaint. The conversation was a disappointment. Ms. Roberts told me that money orders are just like checks, and therefore subject to holds, because they can be forged. She went on to say that if I ever have trouble with another teller in their bank, I should go to the service desk in the bank, since they can see more details concerning my account than tellers can – such as the fact that my account was opened through my firm’s group banking arrangement. She mentioned that detail three times, actually. I got the distinct impression that my firm’s business is very important to Wachovia, but not mine as an individual.
As soon as our conversation ended, I opened a savings account with NationsBank… the nice bank that had the funds from the money order available the next day.
Abercrombie & Fitch: Trace’s Tale of Glee
In 1991, I visited their store in the Cambridgeside Galleria in Cambridge, Mass., looking for a birthday present for my boyfriend at the time. I was poking around the cologne counter, and a salesman came by and offered his help. I tried to politely shoo him away, to no avail. Finally, feeling bad, I said, “Look, I appreciate your help, but to be honest, I may not even buy anything in here. If I do, I probably won’t spend more than $30-40 dollar. You might want to help someone else.” Undaunted, the salesman said that was okay, he was there to help. He proceeded to ask me all kinds of questions about my boyfriend’s personality and career and tastes, and he helped me pick out what I eventually came to think of as the perfect gift. At the check-out counter, they had those little comment cards, and I paused to find out the clerk’s name and tell a little bit about hoe helpful he was. Two weeks later, I got a personalized, hand-signed letter from the president of Abercrombie & Fitch, thanking me for my comments. He also told me they’d given that clerk a raise because of my compliments, and many others like them they’d received. How cool is that? So even if it’s a bit more expensive than other clothing stores, I urge you to give them your business. They rock!
Mori Luggage & Gifts They rock, too! Trace has a satchel from Tumi, which guarantees it for life and will repair anything wrong with it – but you have to get it there yourself. The satchel was purchased in California in 1989, so getting it back to the original vendor wasn’t going to be easy. She brought her satchel to Mori Luggage & Gifts in Lenox Square in Atlanta, to ask how she could send it to the manufacturer. They offered to send it away for her, and covered the UPS costs and everything at no cost to her! They were so nice about the whole thing. Good service, and the store has some pretty slick gifts. Go there.