Consumer Curmudgeonry

Is It Just Me? 04.25.03

Idiots are everywhere. Today I ran into them at the bank, and I wasn't prepared.

In just a few weeks, the national Do Not Call registry will go into effect and telemarketers will be prohibited from calling anyone on a big list maintained by the FTC. Surprise! They're bitching about it.

Amazon.com is Plenty Dopey 03.22.04

I've gone a few rounds with Amazon.com before, so it's no surprise that they're not that bright and they don't have very good customer service. But, still.

I hate Canon 05.26.04

That was fast, wasn't it? Well, awful customer service can really change your mind quickly.

Buy Two Of Everything 06.19.04

I'm preparing for my Schadenfreude Detector to hit OVERLOAD… last night, my TiVo died in its sleep.

It's the customer service, stupid 06.20.04

I'm traveling to Chicago Thursday thru Saturday for a conference, and I'm flying American because they had the best direct flights.

"We'll buy you a pony." 12.03.04

Dealing with phone-based customer service is never much fun, but it's particularly painful if you're trying to cancel a service. And God help you if that service is a long distance plan.

I Get Raped by a Big Corporation 01.21.04

Yes, this column's title was influenced by the fact that I recently finished Al Franken's book, the chapter titles of which often begin with "I Do Such and Such," or "I Meet So and So." And then I stole this blurb from Arksie's "Average Mulder" column which used a similar convention. Sue me. He is.

By the way, did I mention? Fuck Best Buy. 02.03.05

People like me, we fight for the things we love. We don't back down from insurmountable obstacles that stand in our way, and we won't be dissuaded by logic or reason. Yes; I'm talking about the cow creamer.

Priming the Pump 02.04.05

I hate to be a grumpy codger twice in one week, but I've told you all about my semi-boycott of Best Buy and completely forgotten to tell you about my semi-boycott of Amazon.com. Now that Amazon's trying to woo me back, it's time to catch up.

# Amazon.com: The Death of Customer Service Link

Amazon.com is like a lot of big corporate websites – they make it ridiculously difficult to find a customer support phone number. As if e-mail-based customer service were anything but a sick joke.

DVD Misery from Sony 02.21.05

One of my Seinfeld DVDs is pretty massively defective – not like a scratch or a skip; broken. But do you think the company who made it, who sold me a drink coaster in a box with Kramer's picture on it, cares? If you do, this is clearly your first time reading this site.

Ticketmaster: The Sweet Spoils of Pseudo-Monopoly 11.21.05

Begrudgingly, I bought some tickets on Ticketmaster today. I avoid this whenever I can, but I have done it often enough by necessity that I know the drill: pants down, waist bent, ankles grabbed.

United We Suck 06.01.06

Profits are down at the airline companies. Using their services, it's pretty easy to imagine why. Nobody screws up more often, or treats customers worse. Oddly, their solution to their own flagging sales seems to be further alienation of their travelers.

Identi-T Theft 07.31.06

Last week, someone apparently hacked into my eBay account, initiated a bunch of fake auctions, and then made a bid on another fake auction from my account. By the time I was made aware of this, eBay had already canceled all the fraudulent auctions and sent me e-mail to tell me what had happened, and how to create a new password to protect my account, then get it reinstated. (They temporarily blocked me from selling/buying so the bad guys couldn't keep up their malfeasance.)