I’ve had a trifecta of stupidity recently.

First one was Verizon. Wife traded in a phone in March but didn’t get the correct trade-in deal (699.99). So I called VZ, spent an hour on the phone and then had to drive an hour round trip to the corporate store, assured by both that they screwed up and they’d fix it. Waited over an hour there before I was given the thumbs up and told the fix was in the works and it should show up on one of the next billing cycles.

Waited a month and nothing, so chatted with them online. “Oh yes, we see your fix, no worries you’ll hear something within 24 hours, we will be sure to email you, but you’re definitely good to go”.

Nothing.

Waited another month, same chat session, same nothing.

Called a couple days ago. Spent almost 2 hours on the phone. First rep found everything and apologized, saying that he could definitely see where I was told I should have received the incentive, but it wasn’t applicable and had been denied. I asked him why nobody ever notified me…all involved told me I was eligible and it was good to go, no phone call (and you’re the ones who gave me the damn phone number, so it’s not like you don’t know it!). No explanation. Offered me $150. I politely said hell no, escalate this to the next level.

His boss said the same thing. Said he could give me $350, but that he was the end of the line for situations like this but despite the failures on their part, VZ was not going to offer/honor the $699.99 and $350 was the best option I was going to get. All cordial and without drama. I gave up and took the $350. But what a waste of time with shit follow through. I still don’t have an explanation that makes sense. Their rep I initially spoke to saw the issue and the guy at the store when I went back in was completely baffled that she didn’t get the $699. It was an active promotion that several of my friends in the area got at the time. WTF. My guess is somebody really dropped the ball and a deadline was missed and they aren’t going to fix it, but they won’t come out and say it. Been with them for 17 years.


So that’s number 1. Number 2 bitch for the morning…we’ve got a freaking fantastic outdoor activity center called the National Whitewater Center nearby. Last year we decided to plop down the money for annual passes because the kids love it and are finally big enough to make use. They have high ropes courses, zip lines, 100’ controlled jump, flat water kayaking and paddle boarding, rock wall climbing, hiking and biking trails, food, beer, and a massive man-made whitewater system with class 1-4 rapids.

As you can imagine, the rafting is in high demand. Slots fill up. Before covid you could go online or call and reserve a raft slot at $5/person if you were an annual pass holder. Whenever you buy just a day pass you have to pay $5 to reserve a slot. Well now they have changed that for annual pass holders. There is absolutely no way to reserve a spot to raft before hand if you hold an annual pass, you must show up in person and reserve, hoping to be there early enough to beat all the people who get day-passes online and can reserve their raft slot days in advance. We’ve already been turned away once this summer (and were told to just call ahead next time).

Well, called ahead Friday and got told it wasn’t an option, and that there was NO option for reservations for us anymore. Sent the admin an email and was told the same thing. Mind you, I’m not asking for anything free, or any special treatment, just the equal opportunity to reserve a rafting slot as any other day pass purchaser, so my excited kids aren’t disappointed after we load up and get there. No dice, they give zero shits. What the fuck. I politely asked the guy to send our email chain to his bosses so they can read about how they are penalizing people spending a crap ton of money to be patrons when there are certainly other options in the area.


Which brings us to situation of shit customer service #3. If you’re still reading you must be bored…

My credit union. So about three weeks ago my 13yo’s checking account’s debit card was pilfered. The credit union, in their defense, caught it. Everything was handled well and quickly and life moved on.

Zero other communication from them about anything else.

Fast forward to Thursday, I go to the branch to draw some cash. My debit card won’t work (the only place it’s ever been used is their ATM). I go inside and make the withdrawal, and ask about the ATM attempt and am told the log shows it was an incorrect PIN.

Interesting.

The next day I get a new debit card in the mail. Unsolicited. The current one was active for another year. Interesting.

Late that night I log in and see a new credit card account in my profile that had been opened in the last 24 hours. Quite interesting, as my credit is locked with all the companies and I’ve heard nothing about this. It was around midnight Friday so I sent them a message through their app. Next morning I see they have replied saying there was a data breach and they were issuing a new card (the reason I was seeing the new CC account) and I should update any auto pays (the only thing that card is used for is to pay my EZPass toll fees monthly to keep it open).

Ahhhhhh…nice of you to FINALLY tell me WTF is going on. Not as if I was physically present in front of one of your employees two days ago when you obviously already knew about this. Or not like I’ve got a phone or an email. God knows if you want to sell me some insurance crap you’ll send me a letter, but if all my shit’s in limbo because of a data breach, I’m just supposed to figure that shit out on my own. Gotcha. Great customer service.

Spent 45 minutes on the phone straightening all that out yesterday. Still don’t really know anything, including if the account we pay all the bills out of is screwed up or not. Amazing. “New” credit card I didn’t need should be here by Friday though.

Some craptsstic customer service this week.

Damn, trifecta of stupidity is right. My frustration meter pegged just reading this!

For #1: Should've demanded your original phone be returned due to company representatives misleading you.

For #2: Demand a full refund due to unequal and unfair treatment of annual pass holders (start an online petition where other annual pass holders demand same if you'd prefer the rules be changed)

For #3, A well worded and signed letter to the CEO about his/her business' [lack of competent] customer service might bear some fruit.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
For #1: Should've demanded your original phone be returned due to company representatives misleading you.

For #2: Demand a full refund due to unequal and unfair treatment of annual pass holders (start an online petition where other annual pass holders demand same if you'd prefer the rules be changed)

For #3, A well worded and signed letter to the CEO about his/her business' [lack of competent] customer service might bear some fruit.

+1 to all of these.