All Customer Service

Outback Steakhouse Manager Overreacts To Spilled Beers -- But In A Good Way
Most of the e-mail we get into our tip line, especially with regards to restaurants, is about rude waitstaff, awful food and uncaring managers. So it was a very pleasant surprise to hear this story from Consumerist reader Rob, whose visit to Outback Steakhouse started sourly but ended happily. More »

U.S. Airways Does Me A Solid & Waives Change Fees Even Though I Booked The Wrong Flights
Marc was in a jam after he accidentally booked his mother on the wrong flights to come visit — he had her starting in her destination city and going back to her starting city. In short, it was a big ol' mess and he was facing change fees and a fare difference of around $200. But luckily, U.S. Airways reps felt like being kind. More »

Someone At Mediacom Forged My Signature On A Service Contract
Stephen G. moved into a new apartment and decided to sign up for service for Mediacom Cable (not to be confused with the London-based media agency MediaCom). He called the local representative on an ad he'd been given, and was told he didn't have to sign a two-year contract, so he didn't. Later he found out his name was on a Mediacom contract anyway. Surprise! More »

Gold's Closes Your Gym, Traps You In Contract Anyway
There happens to be a Gold's Gym right inside the building where Cynthia works. How convenient! She took her employer up on an offer to subsidize part of her membership, and was happy with the arrangement. Three months later, the building Gold's announced that it was closing. Not to worry, though: Memberships limited to only that location would change so members could visit any local corporate-owned Gold's club. That's pretty standard when a branch of a chain gyms closes, but Cynthia is annoyed that she joined so close to the change and has to pay for a membership she's unlikely to use. Someone must have known that branch was doomed, but would the front-line and sales employees have known? More »

Overseas, Groupon Pockets Money From Unredeemed Vouchers
Oh, Groupon. Always offering to make life better with half of Middle Eastern fare or with a discount waxing, then turning around and getting all grabby and greedy. It's worse overseas, as apparently, Groupon gets to pocket the money from any unredeemed vouchers. More »

Before You Shop, Check Out The Best Printable Coupon Sites
Whether you're into saving a little money or a whole lot (have you seen extreme couponers at work? It is nuts!) it's helpful when collecting printable coupons to make sure you're getting the real deal. For all the various sites out there offering a deal, many offer counterfeit coupons or are otherwise hard to redeem. More »

Canceling Verizon Without ETF Over Fee Increase Is Hard But Doable
Some readers have tried out the info from yesterday about using an increased regulatory fee Verizon is charging to get out of contract without paying an early termination fee (ETF). The most successful so far was commenter doogz, who got his ETF cut in half. Here is his story: More »

You Could Be Under Sidekick Contract Or Not, Depending On T-Mobile's Whim
Chad is a T-Mobile customer who used to be a Sidekick user. He also still is a Sidekick user, depending on which situation is more advantageous to T-Mobile. See, he signed a new contract and got a shiny new Sidekick last February. Earlier this year, that phone died and he bought an inexpensive Android phone to use while he waits out his contract. T-Mobile is ending Sidekick service soon, and has offered users still under contract the choice of leaving their contracts with no early termination fee, or switching to a different subsidized phone and sticking around. Chad is still under the original contract that he signed when he got his Sidekick last year, but at the same time is not under a Sidekick contract according to T-Mobile, so neither option is open to him. More »

What You Buy From The Apple Store, You Must Return To An Apple Store
Apple recently introduced in-store pickup at all of its retail stores. They call it "Personal Pickup." order an item online, and you can go fetch it in person at your local Apple retail store, assuming that you have one. But you can't perform this trick in reverse. At least, that's what Randolph was told when he tried to return a sealed AirPort Extreme without taking it to a retail store. More »

Best Buy Screws Up Gift Return, Causes Family Awkwardness
Whenever we post a Best Buy story, commenters scold the tipster: don't they read the site? They should have known better than to shop at Best Buy in the first place! It's impossible (I hope) to blame Todd, though—his mother-in-law bought him a gadget gift there. A car dock for the wrong type of smartphone, along with a gift receipt. This should have been a smooth and simple transaction, right? Of course not. More »

Amazon Wants To Make Sure Your Tiny Purchase Has Lots Of Breathing Room During Shipping
Heaven forbid a four-pack of valve caps, weighing maybe about an ounce, not have enough room during shipping to spread out, breathe and generally feel the calming effects of roomy comfort. That must have been the thought process when Amazon decided to send Tara her purchase in a huge box instead of a more appropriately-sized conveyance. More »

Need Comically Oversized Boxes? Don't Worry, The Stupid Shipping Gang Is Here
It wastes resources, money, and shipping companies' resources. It generates extra trash and annoys customers. What is it? Companies' insistence on employing members of the Stupid Shipping Gang to send packages!
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Void Your Mobile Phone Warranty: Move Somewhere Humid
Until recently, Israel was a happy and loyal T-Mobile customer of almost a decade. He's also that person left who's still using a BlackBerry. He sent his phone in for a warranty exchange, dutifully checking the liquid damage sensor first to make sure his phone hadn't been dunked. But TMo charged him a fee for water damage anyway, because the real moisture sensor is buried inside the phone, and told a different story. Because Israel had dared.... to live in Miami. More »

You Can't Fix A Washing Machine With A Microwave Door
Lori's front-loading Whirlpool washing machine is broken, and has been since the end of November. This would be less infuriating if Lowe's hadn't sent six large boxes of the wrong parts to her house, as well as two repairmen who can't do anything because the correct parts still haven't shown up. She wrote to Consumerist in what is clearly a laundry-induced rage. More »

Residents Of NJ Neighborhood Say Comcast Can't Fix Oft-Interrupted Service
Comcast may care, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's competent. A chronic, unidentified problem is reportedly wrecking customers' phone, cable and internet service in a Holiday City, New Jersey neighborhood, and the problems continue despite countless service calls. More »

Yes, There Is Such A Thing As Bad Publicity
This week, a massive customer service clusterfracas swept the gaming world, then the rest of the Internet. It involved a game console controller that was late in shipping, a a marketing firm in over its head, a popular webcomic, the unholy wrath of the Internet hate machine, and one humble customer who just wanted to know whether he was going to get his gadget by Christmas or not. What did we learn here? That there is such a thing as bad publicity, and that sometimes people on the Internet actually are who they claim to be. More »

Sears Sent My Order To Another Company To Deal With & I Got A Cheap Product I Don't Want
Candy got quite a surprise when she ordered one product from Sears, and received something that wasn't what she wanted from another company, on behalf of Sears. The surprises kept on rolling, when she was told that Sears had wiped its hands of her transaction. More »

Verizon Refuses To Admit To Me That The Nationally Reported 4G LTE Outage Happened
Brian is one of the many customers nationwide who was affected by the data outages Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE network has suffered recently, including an incident this week. He complained to customer service about the frequent outages, and asked for a $20 credit on his account. Their response? No outages happened whatsoever! More »