Friday, January 13, 2012

Why Can't Companies Do Anything Right Lately?


Yes, my life these days seems like Joe Btfsplk's.
You know....that character from the old Lil' Abner comic strip.....the guy with the dark cloud over his head who goes around spreading misfortune.

Ok, so I don't purposely spread misfortune but I don't seem to be able to get out from under Joe's cloud!
Especially, it seems, when dealing with Corporate America!

Let me say first, that I despise using the telephone.  If I go to hell when I die, it will be a big call center and I'll be damned for all eternity to make phone calls.

In December, my cell phone company billed me TWICE for one month of service....twice within 3 days.
So I had to call them and talk to "Robot John".  He talked like a robot and said his name was "John".  From what I could tell, he was in India, spoke a heavily accented English so he talked like a robot to cover up his true nationality(and went by the decidedly UN-Indian name of John).  It didn't fool me. at. all.  And I didn't care who or where he was, I just was pissed I had to call his company's call center for being charged incorrectly.

Then I bought one of those 'social coupon deals'.  It was a gift card that was to be a Christmas present.
I purchased on Dec. 2nd.  The voucher/code was delayed and not ready to redeem until Dec. 14th.  I redeemed it on the 14th and was told the card would be mailed within 5-8 business days.
It's almost the middle of freaking January and guess what hasn't arrived yet? 8-(
So that necessitated another phone call to a corporate entity's CSC(=Customer Service Center).  After 10 minutes on hold(two times!)I was informed the gift card was back ordered(would have been nice to tell me this oh.....a MONTH ago!)and would be mailed out next week.
Shall I hold my breath on this one?

Also right before Christmas, the 3 packs of Orbit gum I bought at Rite-Aid for $1 each, that was suppose to give me 3 x $1 +Up Rewards didn't.  I didn't bother calling about it until last week when I had another problem with something else at Rite-Aid I had to call them about.

I tried the new Rite-aid "electronic e-coupons" that you can load onto your Wellness card(HERE is where I talked about it).  Qs loaded successfully but didn't come off the item's purchase at the register.  After speaking with TWO different people at Rite-Aid CSC(and being hung up on and having to call back!), I was told that a high mucky-muck would be calling me to discuss the issue and work out the "kinks in the system".
This high mucky-muck is supposedly in charge of the whole new e-coupon system and as I am one of the first people to tell them that their system is NOT WORKING!, they want to speak to me and find out why.
Evidently, they really don't want to get it working properly and were just giving me lip-service, since Mr. High Mucky-Muck still has NOT returned my call a week later.
I don't give a crap at this point if their system every works.  I just want my FIFTY FREAKING CENTS BACK for that blasted e-coupon I used!
Next week, I return the item for a full refund, then call back CSC and tell them I am NOT amused and will Twitter evil thoughts about them into the Twitterverse.

And this week?
Oh, you KNOW it has to continue.....this lucky lucky gloomy streak of dispair.
First up....Rite-Aid again!
Earlier this week I bought this.....

1 tube of Ben-Gay, 2 packs of OB tampons and 2 bottles of Visine.(Daughter took one of the tampon packs already.)
SubTotal after 20% Wellness discount was $18.57.
I used a $2/1 Q for each item(either ManuQ from inserts or a IPQ), bringing my total down $10.
Then I used the Sales-Ad Qs for the Bengay($2), Visine(2x$2)and the OB($1/2), for an additional $7 off my total.
After these discounts my total was $1.57.  I had $2 and $3 +Ups to use so very bad planning on my part.lol   I put the $1.57 OOP on my free Rite-Aid gift card instead.

I went into this week with $50 toward the $20+Ups Resolution Reward.  This purchase gave me $19 more toward the $100 needed to earn that reward. (I guess they rounded up from $18.57 to $19?)
There is also a separate J&J Spend $30/Get $10 +Ups reward.  All these items count toward that goal, so I have $19 toward that reward as well.

So I am at $69 toward the $100 mark and $19 toward the other $30 mark.

I go back to R-A the next night and buy this....

2 x Clean & Clear BOGO 50%off($6.29)=$9.43
2 x Axe Body Wash on sale $4.50=$9.00
1 x Bengay w/20% wellness discount=$4.79
1 x Thermacare on sale=$3.00
Subtotal....$26.22

Coupons Used
2 x $2/1 Clean & Clear ManuQ=$4.00
2 x $1/1 Clean & Clear AdPerks/VVQ=$2.00
1 x BOGO Axe ManuQ=$4.50
1 x $2/1 Bengay ManuQ=$2.00
1 x $2/1 Bengay Sales-Ad Q=$2.00
Coupon Total....$14.50

$26.22-$14.50=$11.72
I used $10 in +Ups and put the $1.81($1.72 +.09¢ tax) on my Rite-Aid gift card.
This purchase put me over the $30 spending threshold for the $10 J&J +Ups(which printed)and I received another $3 +Ups for the Thermacare, so $13 in +Ups back.

In addition, ALL THESE ITEMS qualified toward the Spend $100 get a $20 +Up Reward.
So I should be $26 closer to that $100 mark, right.
Nope.....according to my receipt I only got credit for $17 worth of purchases.
I am missing the last $9......which coincidentally is what the 2 Axe body washes add up to.
Hmmmm.....
So I notice that the bottles I bought are "50% more product" bottles.....so not 12 oz, but 18 oz size bottles.
How much do you want to bet that the "50% more product" bottles are NOT CODED AS QUALIFYING PRODUCTS???!!!
So now I either have to call Rite-Aid YET AGAIN and get them to credit my account for this Axe purchase or exchange these bottles for normal sized ones and bet my bottom dollar that the normal sized bottles WILL ring up correctly.  I would get my credit but lose the extra product in the larger bottles.

ARGH.

And to top of my week, I finally get over to Weis(pound you in the ass)Markets to do the Nestle Catalina Deal.
Spend $20 in qualifying products, Get a $5 Catalina Q.

This is $20.43 worth of Nestle qualifying products.
You will notice that there is NO Catalina Q in the picture.
That's because one did not print out.
And it's hopeless to get my Q at this store.  CS is just so clueless about this stuff.
I'm so tired of the 'deer in the headlights' looks and having to explain to them what they should know already.
So now I get the thrill of calling Catalina Corp. to get my $5 CatQ.
(I will add that these were the only 3 canisters of Nestle's Quik in the store.  So much for stocking up on it.)

And you can add in the unmitigated JOY I have been having the last 2 months with the HOMESCAN people(previously known as NIELSON).  Yes, I am one of those schmucks who scans all her purchases via a scanner and reports in to these hallowed marketing gods so they know what kind of crap to put over on sell the American consumer.
That lightning strike we suffered back in late September?  Among the items it took out was the HOMESCAN SCANNER.
Except these nimrods at Homescan don't believe that the scanner if broken and insist I keep using it.
Oh, they are another "piece of work" company which I'll kvetch about another time.

So tired of dealing with companies that suck and telephones.

What companies are on your Shit List this week?
C'mon, spill the beans!
Don't let me wallow around in misery alone....

Sluggy

6 comments:

  1. I'm kind of thinking about the purchases you made and how they're giving us more clues about why these thing are bothering you...
    Bengay... tampons?...
    :) I'm sorry you're having to deal with call centers! They can truly suck.

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  2. I guess I don't have any real beefs this week.

    I felt mild annoyance at a Target employee for very deliberately putting my purchase in a bag when I specifically asked her not to. But that was an individual, not the company.

    Also encountered a restaurant hostess who didn't have the "mostest" as far as courtesy and personality goes. But again, it was the individual. The rest of our visit was fine.

    I returned a purchase to Aldi and the only question they asked was if there was anything wrong with it. Then they cheerfully gave me my money back. I ♥ Aldi.

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    Replies
    1. I am really irritated with ATT. I have ATT phone and internet and am happy with the price I negotiated. But they keep calling to save me money....buy selling me higher priced packages. I tell them I am happy with my current package and they just don't get it. Next time they call, I am going to tell them I am switching to Comcast if I get another call.

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  3. Wow that is a string of crap! It does always seem that it hits all at once. When it happens to Den he starts complaining and saying that he wants to live off the land and move to Montana. Living off the land would mean eating dirt.
    "Weis(pound you in the ass)Markets"-I bet the sign on the front of their stores get a lot of attention.

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  4. Frances,
    I get irritated at ATT because they DON"T tell me about better plans. One guy said he was not allowed to tell me when I called, that they policy was that the customer had to mention the plan first. They never call me! They don't even call back when they say they will.

    I am irritated with ATT, Walmart, and the local gas station. Lowes? I am really happy with them right now.

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  5. McVal--LOLOL Well if I had bought Chocolate, that would have settled it, right?lol

    Annie--Glad nobody gotten under your skin this week. Hope your luck continues. ;-)

    Frances--lol! If they keep it up they'll be saving you LOTS of money because you won't be sending ANY money to them....lol

    SonyaAnn--We should sign Den up for a reality show of him living off the land in Montana. the royalties might let you do your Xmas gift list in style next year!
    RE:the Weis sign....you want a pic of it for your naughty wednesday post? ;-)

    PracticalP--I need to call my cable company. They raised the rates Jan.1 and it's now over my 'acceptable' limit. No competition here tho so I might not get anywhere fast. ugh.

    ReplyDelete

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