To those savvy shoppers & used to customer service issues

klmno

Active Member
OK- #1 is that I got my reimbursement for travel quicker than I thought so I purchased myself a mattress set tonight that will be delivered tomorrow. :) Thank goodness because this air mattress developed a bad leak and won't even hold air thru the night. Needless to say, my back, shoulders and neck have been about to kill me. Anyway, I still had a tight budget unless I was willing to wait until mid-January and I wasn't. So I got a euro top because the regular traditional mattresses in this discount store just hoovered. The euro top seemed ok but I'm not familiar with them and was wondering what others' experience has been. Also, the floor model squeaked if I pushed down hard on the edge. The salesman assured me my new one would not and even wrote that "guarantee" on the sales ticket. How bad is this going to be? I figure if I'm not happy with it, difficult child will get it and I'll get myself a better set. Sad, I know, but I spent a lot of years giving him the best of whatever "we" had and how did he do me? Besides, he'll either make it and I'll be able to afford to get him better within a couple of years after he gets released or he won't and he won't be at home- again- anyway.

Now, bigger issue- the last place I lived, I had all internet, phone, and cable tv thru one company. I gave the house up thru foreclosure/bankruptcy. As the bank requested, I worked with a realty company representing them and set a date to turn keys over to that company so we all could avoid eviction. Fine. The last day there I gathered all equipment for the communications co. except the modem- but here's why- they had previously told me that only a technician was to install or remove that modem and ALWAYS had a tech come to the house to do so, even though once I just needed to swap it out because one died. The second reason was that when I tried to disconnect the modem to take it in anyway, I found that the cables were on so tight there was no way I could get them off- even with a wrench. Yes, I tried. So, I turned my keys over to the realtor, drove to the communications co., turned everything in except the modem but ecplained to the lady about the modem. I figured if need be, I could beg the realtor to arrange something with the communications co. to let them in to get it. The lady at the company told me not to worry about it. I asked "Are you sure?" and she said yes, don't worry about it. I should also mention that a few days before I moved out, I called to schedule disconnection of all services, and told them the day I would be bringing equipment in- the same day as disconnection was scheduled- and the clerk never said ONE word about needing me to bring the modem or having a tech come and get it and frankly, I forgot to specifically ask.

So imagine my surprise to get something forwarded in the mail from this company telling me since I didn't turn it in, they were going to charge me up to $500. I called to explain. The man was obnoxious and twisted my words, saying "oh, now you are trying to tell me a tech came and got it"- no, I never said that at all. There was obviously not going to be any reasonable communication with him so I finally hung up on him. So nnow I'm wondering what they can and will do. I didn't have a deposit with them because I'd had that company so long that at the last move (to that house) they didn't require one from me. I did owe them money when I left but have been paying on it monthly so now I only owe them one more check and that will pay off everything I left owing. But, they do have my current address. I honestly dfeel like I made every effort to meet my obligations with them and to get back to them everything I had and am not happy at all about their current insistence that I owe them and possibly as much as $500 for this modem, given what the clerk told me that day. If she had told me this would happen, I would have asked the realtor to meet me back there, cut the cables and taken the darn thing to the company.

Suggestions?
 
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HaoZi

Guest
Whoa, what modem costs that much? Even if it was the agreement, that's WAY overcharging for it. I always bought my own modem (never over $100) and did my own hook-ups. Can you tell them that you thought it had been arranged for tech to remove it after you moved out and did they ever contact the real estate agent as you told them to?
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
As per the cable co call and speak with a manager. If they get snotty, ask to speak to their boss, if they get snotty, demand the district managers number...........and so on. Squeaky wheel and all that. Trust me, usually just asking for the distric manager's number is enough to make them MOVE yesterday.

Put up a major stink, go down to the office and throw a full blown difficult child tantrum. Seriously. Works best if it is crowded with customers paying their bills, and talk LOUDLY, not yelling but LOUD enough for everyone else to hear of their LOUSY customer service.

Sweetie, haven't you heard? The customer is always right!:devil:
 

klmno

Active Member
Well, going to that office again would require taking about half a day off work to get back to that city- and the move transpired almost 3 months ago.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Skip the supervisor routine. Too much hassle. Look up Hoover's Online and find the corp HQ and president/CEO's contact info. You should be able to find that from the free info. Then call the CEo's office. It will help if you have the name of the person who told you it was not a problem.

I have given up on the supervisor and his boss routine. Too much of my time invested. CEO's do NOT like to be called about issues that the reps should handle, ESP if the reps are rude. So they get these things handled fast and usually far better than a lower power person will.
 
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Mamaof5

Guest
*snark* they are just telling you upwards of 500 to scare you. No modem costs that, not even Bell Canada would pull that BS.

I'd write a letter stating you want everything in writing. Do you remember the receptionist's name? The name of the person you did the disconnect with? Have them pull up the records, they usually record all calls too. Ask for the recording, if they can't produce it, they can't prove it. Lay it all on them to prove their case not the other around. Make them do their jobs, leave the real estate number with customer service and tell them to go get their dang modem. I used to be an inbound\outbound CSR and if you ask for the supervisor three times within the same convo they have no choice but to give you a supervisor, same for a manager, same for district manager, same for the director of the CSR department.

If you give me the company name I bet I could find the VP\prez email for you and you can go directly to them with your problem. I had to do it with Bell Canada a few years back and I got everything I wanted and needed. Even the highest services for the lowest services pricing because of their mess ups. You can come out on top with this.
 

klmno

Active Member
Thanks all- I certainly can't afford that costs and really feel like it's outrageous. Plus, I think I excersized due diligence in accordance with what they told me. Most people wouldn't even bother trying to pay them what they left owing, if they were in the shoes I was in, but I have. I don't recall the clerk's name but I know I kept the receipt of when I turned things in and I'm sure she would have had to include her name in the computer when she logged in the equipment I did turn in. I'm too honest and humble sometimes and many people try to use the hard-nosed bully approach to run over me. It has been a life long problem. It was better until difficult child got involved in the legal system and my family and PO started trying to do this but I had learned to stand up for myself by then. The problem is that I still project that vunerability, I guess, so people still try that approach, forcing me to fight back to prove I'm not a doormat, I think. I tend to believe this is a lot of difficult child's problem too- he projects he's a geek, gets piushed to limits, then breaks the law to prove he's not a geek. He's a natural born geek but personally, I think he should be happy and go with it and he should never have been picked on because of it. But it happens. And I digress. LOL!
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Be aware that a LOT of CSRs will do all that is possible to avoid giving you to their boss, so once you have asked just repeat that you want to speak to their supervisor. If that is the route you choose. The online business directory at Hoovers is usually a very fast way to get the top banana's info.

Making them prove the debt is an excellent policy.
 
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