Credit Card Scam?

I realize that I complain a lot sometimes.  But what irks me is lousy customer service (in case you haven’t noticed!) especially when it is because of just bad, or dishonest practices.  I woke up early thinking about this, so obviously it really annoys me and, here I am writing about it.

Happily, I live in Canada, where the banking system has been and continues to be stable, since we have a fairly robust set of laws that hopefully won’t allow our banks to do overly corrupt and hair-brained things like make bad mortgage loans to people who can’t afford them, thereby causing a financial meltdown.

This doesn’t mean of course that banks in Canada don’t do incredibly stupid things, like falling for fraud schemes that are so completely transparent that a 5 year old could have determined that fraud was occurring (this happened to us recently). This caused such a big problem that our lost faith in the competence of the bank’s employees will result in us moving to another financial institution in the near future.

The other week I went into my local major Canadian financial institution branch (this is a different bank than the one mentioned above re: fraud) to do a basic cash withdrawal.  A few weeks later I received a visa card in the mail from said bank.  I could not figure out for the life of me how I got the card, and of course, it made me a little bit paranoid that I received a credit card for which I didn’t apply.

I phoned the institution’s customer service to cancel the card which wasn’t a problem (unlike trying to lose Comcast cable service in the USA, which was like trying to lose an arm).  I also asked the agent how it was that I came to receive a credit card for which I didn’t request, and I was told that I “applied” for the card when I visited my local branch.  I never even mentioned the word ‘credit’ while dealing with tellers at this particular branch.

My feeling is that this is a two-part problem.  The employee who decided to facilitate the false credit application was first and foremost dishonest.  The reason she was dishonest though is probably because the bank expects its employees to meet unattainable sales targets, and this particular employee felt she needed to prop up her sales numbers by sending me a credit card.  I just cancel it, no harm no foul, and either way this employee gets her ‘sale’.

The problem with this dishonest practice is that people like me receive a credit card and worry that there is some kind of identity theft at worst, or, at best, end up annoyed and inconvenienced by having to cancel a product that was forced.  What if I was an elderly customer whose family member was stealing money?  A shiny new credit card would make online shopping easy, for example.

Since I sometimes feel like a little powerless consumer up against big bad corporations in a world where no one seems to give a crap about ethics or customer service, the least I can do is write about it here!

Have I mentioned that Comcast has abysmally bad service?

Screw you, Comcast.
(Used under Creative Commons license CC BY 2.0.  TheBird by Dave Dennis)

Today was the third (and fourth) time I phoned Comcast to cancel my internet service.

After entering my telephone number 3 times; twice to the electronic phone system and once to a human, my account information would not come up based on my phone number.  I find this odd, and this is obviously a failing of Comcast’s IT system, assuming the customer service agent was telling the truth in not being able to bring up my information.  I also find it very ironic that customer information can’t be found when customers call in, given Comcast’s line of business.

I was told by the customer service agent that even though I could verify my address and name, I could not cancel my account because I would be required to verify the account number.  Well, guess what?  I’m moving, and my bills are packed, Comcast. Since I wasn’t allowed to cancel three weeks ago, I now don’t have a bill readily available with my account information, and your system should be able to bring it up after I had entered it THREE times in one phone call.  I logged into my online banking, and provided the last 5 digits of my account number to the agent, but this wasn’t the WHOLE account number, so she would not allow me to cancel.

When I called back, for some reason the system magically pulled up my customer information based on my phone number. I was then able to cancel.  Weird, no?

Moving isn’t stressful enough; I need Comcast to make life more difficult. Thanks a lot.

Now I have to return the modem, and you can bet your ass that I will be taking pictures of this process when I drop it off at UPS, in case it accidentally gets ‘lost’.

Let’s hope the final bill is correct, but at this point it is a crap shoot.

Another Comcastic Experience

So it’s been awhile since I posted, but I thought I would complain about Comcast one more time.  There still may be another rant forthcoming, but that remains to be seen.

My partner attempted to cancel our service with Comcast, but since he wasn’t the primary account holder, he couldn’t do it. Fine. But that isn’t the problem.

I spent 10 minutes on hold today, with the intention of cancelling my Comcast service (10 minutes isn’t too bad, but that isn’t the point).  I had to give them my account number.  After finally speaking to a human, giving her my account number again, and waiting for her to input all of my customer information,10 minutes later I was told that I couldn’t cancel my service until 2 weeks prior to moving.

20 minutes of my life I won’t get back.  20 minutes of my partner’s life he won’t get back.

Is this not useful information to give customers on a pre-recorded message, or at least as soon as they tell someone they are cancelling?  For example, when my partner called 2 days ago, this information wasn’t important enough to tell him so as to preclude me from wasting my time?

You’d think having cable service with this company was rocket science.  Except that it isn’t.

Have a Comcastic Day!

In light of the nightmarish experience Ryan Block had in trying to disconnect his service with Comcast, today I had the pleasure of spending over one hour on the phone with Comcast, only to move my internet service.   That’s it, simple.  Move my service to another address.  Yep, that’s right.  It took well over one hour to do this.

The employee taking care of my account was not a very good communicator, in that when I was in the middle of giving him my information, he would say “yep” and cut me off so he couldn’t hear me, this way I had the pleasure of repeating myself several times.   This happened until I finally asked him to please stop talking and listen when I was speaking. I was put on hold for outlandishly long periods of time — I will give the employee the benefit of the doubt in perhaps there were ‘issues’ with Comcast’s computer system, but it seemed strange that when I was put on hold twice, there was just radio silence on the other end. I would estimate I was on hold for 10 minutes at a time, until I said “hello?”  to check if someone was actually still there.

The employee didn’t grasp right away that I didn’t want to sign up for a bundle with cable TV, as twice I explained that I did not have a television, and therefore paying for that service would be completely pointless.   So I then said, “No, I do not want a bundle”, after which he finally understood that no meant no.  He later confirmed that I was signing up for cable internet only, told me what the fee was, stating that there was a promotion for a smaller bill than we currently have.  This I find confusing, given that every time we move, the price of cable internet goes up and down for some reason.  Depends on Comcast’s mood, I guess? I’m not complaining that the employee did this, and hopefully he is saving me money so in that case it is appreciated, but I just don’t understand how the price fluctuates constantly.  Anyway.

This customer service person didn’t seem to understand that I didn’t want to have my service moved right away, not until next week.  I had to specify this; otherwise he assumed that the changes would take place immediately.  Furthermore, he tried to impose sending me a new modem, and the $10 charge along with it.  I did not ask for a new modem.  I wanted to move the one I have, and had to be very specific about this, otherwise, I would have gotten a 2nd modem.  The last time I phoned Comcast to move my service, this wasn’t even an issue, so I’m not exactly sure why I was being told that I would be receiving a new modem this time.

At the end of the call, I asked this person for his name and employee number.  Conveniently, he told me he couldn’t ‘remember’ his three-character long employee number.  I then had to wait another 3 or 4 minutes for him to ‘look it up’.

I was then transferred to billing.  I explained that for 3 months I hadn’t received a bill and that  I did not recall asking to be signed up for paperless billing.   I was told that if there was an e-mail address associated with the account, that paperless (“ecobilling”, Comcast likes to call it) would be automatic.  This was news to me.

I have nothing against paperless billing, but it would have been nice if last time while speaking with a Comcast rep, I was told that ecobilling was automatic (i.e., someone actually requested my consent for paperless billing…which of course, never happened). It would have also been nice if, after having ‘signed up’ for ecobilling, that I actually received e-mail telling me I had a bill. But I did not receive any e-mails, for like, two or three months.

The billing person of course could not just wipe off the late charges immediately that accumulated since I didn’t get any bills. She had to ‘put in a request’ to wipe them off the account and this process, if approved, will take 1-3 days to be applied to my account.  So if it isn’t approved, I will have to call back, because, somehow it’s my responsibility to make sure that Comcast doesn’t mess up the billing.  I may potentially get to waste another hour of my life.  Let’s see.

What’s great is, like a person with a record of misdemeanors, now that I was “late” to pay, if a screw-up happens again in the future, I’m sure it’s less likely that I won’t get charges wiped off my account because then it will look like I don’t pay my bills on time.  It’s convenient that Comcast has a monopoly on high-speed internet where I live.

On another note, I sent a complaint about the lousy service I experienced with American Airlines and its inconsistent customer compensation policies due to last-minute cancelled flights, to the US Department of Transportation.  Good luck to me.

Maybe I can become a full-time complainer, kind of like an obsessive, pain in the ass Ralph Nader.

Ralph! I bet you wouldn’t be happy with Comcast either? Just guessin’. (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Nader)

 

 

 

 

 

 

American Airlines Part 2

So it’s been one week since I contacted American Airlines via e-mail to complain about the fact that their staff told me to sleep at O’Hare Airport when my flight was cancelled.

Today I attempted to call a 1-800 customer relations number to speak to a real person.  I looked online to find out that one can only make reservations with a real person, but cannot complain to one (this can only be done in writing – this fact was confirmed by the reservation agent I spoke to over the phone).

I asked the agent how long I might expect to wait to receive a response to my complaint from American Airlines, and was told that the response time when submitting electronically is typically 3 days or so, assuming that the situation wasn’t too ‘complex’.  The complex complaints apparently can take up to 2 months.  As I said, I’ve now been waiting 7 days and I would argue that my case is not complex.

This is a scary trend it appears – some airlines, including Air Canada for example, will accept customer complaints only in writing. On one hand, I can see how receiving complaints in writing could help the airlines to deal with complaints more efficiently, and would eliminate staff having to be on the receiving end of verbal abuse from angry customers.

On the other hand, this writing/e-mail only system really helps the airline staff to get away with providing lousy service as I imagine that many people would find it easier to speak over the phone to complain.  If it’s more difficult to complain, less people will do it.  Not to mention the fact that this type of system is about as faceless and kafkaesque as it can get.  How exactly can I negotiate a settlement if I can’t speak to a person?  Not very easily of course.  This way, the airline can ultimately decide when and how it wants to settle, because I doubt that someone would really want to go to the trouble of replying to the airline’s settlement offer via e-mail a second, third or fourth time.

If the airline provided generally good service in the first place, then it should see fewer complaints, right?

In the meantime I’ll keep posting about this – let’s see when and how American Airlines responds to what I would consider a reasonable request for a refund for the hotel and transportation to and from the airport.

Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks airlines act in a kafkaesque manner!
(from http://www.andysinger.com)

 

 

 

American Airlines and One O’Hare-y Experience

I was scheduled to fly out of Chicago the other night, having caught a connecting flight into Chicago which was delayed due to poor weather.  In fact, most flights were grounded from Chicago O’Hare and given that it is an extremely busy airport, any delays completely mess up the arrival and departure schedules.  That is a given.

While I was in the air coming into O’Hare (yes, I know that rhymes), American Airlines had delayed, then cancelled my connection out.  No problem.  There was bad weather and flight safety is paramount.  The next challenge is, did American Airlines help me to deal with the fact that I was stranded in Chicago until late the next morning?

The answer is no.

I arrived in Chicago at about midnight and looked at the departure schedule to discover the flight cancellation.  I went to talk to an American Airlines agent, who said she could not guarantee me a spot on the earlier flight out the next day, which was fine, so I told her to put me on the later flight with a guaranteed spot.  Not a problem.  Then I asked what the policy was for hotels, where should I stay overnight, etc.

“American Airlines will compensate you for half of your hotel stay,” said the agent.  I said, “You’re kidding me?”.

Okay, I get it.  Bad weather is an act of God.  No one can control it.  But only half?  Not even for the taxi?  Nothing?

But, the problem was that American Airlines didn’t want to even help me to find a hotel.  They just didn’t care.  I had to ask the agent questions about where to go in an unfamiliar city, which is a major hub of American Airlines, so my expectation was that as a company, they would have some kind of familiarity with Chicago; enough to help me find an overnight accommodation without me having to ask a thousand questions.

The agent’s response was to pass me a Travelliance “Discount Coupon” which had almost no information on it except to call a 1-800 number to book some random hotel.  So I went away, much to the agent’s satisfaction I am sure, to call the number.  When I phoned the number, I heard an automated message that said “Sorry, all hotels are booked”.  Sorry, piss off and spend the night in the airport.

I went back to see the American Airlines agents to see what else I could do.  This time another agent looked at me and said “Well you can go to blablablla area and pick up a blanket and pillow”.  That’s right, sleep in the airport, he said.  Keep in mind there was NO ONE ELSE standing at the counter.  Just me.  He didn’t care to help me at all, to find a hotel, or even to tell me where the hell the supposed airport sleeping area was.  I mean, he knows Chicago well, so I guess I should too.

So disgusted, I went away to call my partner.  LUCKILY, at midnight, there was someone I could phone to help.  I guess American Airlines assumed I would have someone to call for help.  It was amazing how easily my partner could find me a hotel.  It could have been just as easy for the airline to do the same, but they refused.

On a related side note, Chicago O’Hare is still living in the dark ages of internet access.  One can only receive 20 minutes of free wifi service, after which, customers have to pay for it.  Are you kidding me?  One of the busiest American airports needs to CHARGE people for internet?  That is a shame.  For that reason I won’t ever transfer through Chicago again.

American Airlines must have also assumed that I had access to the internet as well, so I could easily find a hotel.

When I got outside, there was a mile long line up for a taxi.  I have to say for a bunch of tired travellers, everyone was very orderly in waiting for their taxis, and the line moved quickly.  So after a $50 cab ride, I arrived at the hotel.  Lots of other people had the same idea so, there was also a line up at the hotel.  The hotel folks were very quick and friendly sorting out rooms for everyone, unlike American Airlines staff, given they were rammed with people at 1:00 am.

Unfortunately, after hearing the stories of the other folks in the hotel lobby, there seemed to be a major problem with taxis in Chicago.  People were charged various amounts for the same taxi ride.  Some people were given a coupon for a free taxi ride from their airline to be transported to a hotel, but the taxi drivers would not accept the coupons and were threatening to phone the police if their customers did not pay for their cab rides.

So Chicago O’Hare, I recommend you better organize your taxi transportation, and while you’re at it, get with the times and provide customers the convenience of free wifi internet service.

American Airlines, your customer service sucked, and I recommend you provide customers with the minimum standard of service.  If not, there is always the option to rebrand as “Shitty Airlines”.  One thing I can guarantee though is that I won’t be taking American Airlines, or Shitty Airlines, ever again.

Hello, Shitty Airlines, can I help you take your order please?
(from http://www.southparkstudios.com)

 

 

Unemployment Update – Part 1

I just got back from the unemployment office.  I was standing in front of the employees’ desks waiting to speak to someone, when I noticed the person I spoke to before (twice) sitting at her desk working on her computer, ignoring me, even though she could see me standing there waiting to be helped.  Luckily another employee wasn’t too busy and had time to help me.

I explained to the new person helping me that I was tired of explaining my situation each time I came in. This person put me on the special “please call” list for people who desperately need unemployment (ie., getting the runaround though — still no money) and said that maybe it was a good idea to have reapplied for unemployment (keeping in mind I applied about five months ago) just in case my request for backpay was denied!  Yeah, right!  Apparently to request for backpay I learned, one is supposed wait approximately one month after not hearing anything from the government, and inform them of this – d’oh! I should have known that! It’s my fault I that I fell through the cracks!

I explained again that the system doesn’t make it clear that I should be submitting reports since it gave me messages that new information had been received and that my claim was being processed.  I was told that the system was ‘complicated’ and that the reporting system and the messages I could see when I logged in were somehow not connected to each other.  How can it be complicated?  Because the government makes it complicated.  How can the systems not be connected?  When I log in and the first thing I see is something like, “we’re processing your claim, just wait”, how would I suspect that I should be submitting reports?

I was told again to call the 1-800 number and that it should be only around 20 minutes to get through during off-peak times.  I said that the 1-800 number was useless.  Surprise – I called when I got home and the system hung up on me because the call volume was too high.

I am going back in three days if, or when no one calls me.  In the meantime I’ll keep trying the 1-800 number…