Monday, October 29, 2007

Mazda of Orangeville

Location: Ontario, Orangeville
Industry: Automotive

I was in contact with a salesman named Jay several times about a Mazda 6 for sale on autotrader at Mazda of Orangeville. When we talked to Jay, we asked many questions about the car including the usual as well as if there are any issues with it and he said there were none. This is the ad in question:


Today we called Jay in the late afternoon to confirm that the car was still there and he confirmed it was. He took our number down previously so he could contact us. On the way the way to the dealership we received another call from Jay to confirm we were coming. This was his 2nd opportunity to tell us that the car was already sold, but he did not tell us. When he got there he proceeded to show us a totally different Mazda 6. We asked about the one that we called him several times about and he began to pretend that he didn't know that it was sold. We drove 3 hours and 150km both ways to see this car. When he told us this we were obviously very angered, but kept our composure the entire time. He then told us that he would look for a different car to sell us but we asked why he didn't tell us in the first place to avoid having to drive this far and long for absolutely no reason. He told us that that Mazda 6 we originally came to see was "as is anyways". We asked what was wrong with it, he tells us that if we were to buy it certified and e-tested it would have cost us an extra $6,000. This was lie #2 because he told us that the car had nothing wrong with it and also that it was certified and e-tested and had a 5000km warranty. Jay lied through his teeth to lure us there in hopes we would buy a car.

Here is a highlight of the problems I encountered with Jay:
-Continuously lied about the availability of the vehicle
-Lied about the condition of the vehicle
-Lied about the car being e-tested
-Knowingly made us drive from Richmond Hill so he could try to sell us a different car
-Showed us a different Mazda 6 and at that point still didn't mention that the other car was sold. Did he think we wouldn't notice?
-Called us during our drive to check if we were on our way and still didn't mention that the car was sold

Legal Council

Location: Alberta, Edmonton
Industry: Other
Annoyed By: My lawyer and the lawyer representing the company in which I own shares.

I couldn't get my lawyer to do anything for me when I need him to, and now I have discovered that he has left the firm to take a different role. His assistant/secretary cannot seem to get my file together, as though it was a difficult task. Meanwhile, I cannot get things done in a timely manner, and it's costing me in many ways, including psychological. The lawyer representing the company in which I own shares is helping my partners get away with all kinds of crooked behaviour. I am losing out on what I deserve. And, I deserve better service.

How is this site/service going to help me?

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Webserve lives to Starve

Location: British Columbia, Who Knows
Industry: Telecom mv

I'll make this as easy as possible in one line: stay the heck away from Webserve for your hosting needs.

I Started an entertainment website and needed good quality webhosting to display my pages. That wasn't Webserve.

This service boasts several options which range from Shared hosting, to E-commerce hosting, to Reseller hosting for your needs as a consumer. I signed up with shared hosting, needing only the bare basics of disk space at the time.


Got the acct info and DNS server addresses quite timely, which i did like. Keeping in mind that DNS propogation takes 24-48 hours before your site is seen on the web i waited until the following day to log into the control panel.

You're essentially given a share on a directory tree structure with appropriate folder permissions for shared hosting, and can be on several platforms such as Plesk. The control panel was a joke. The permissions for the administrative panel were set way too stringently as I couldn't access 50% of available features. This was done on their end.

The SQL support had about as much stability as a wet feather in a hurricane, I found. 17/24 hours of the day, the SQL server features were unusable. Terrible SQL support. Not only that, halfway through term with these people i observed they locked down SQL on 'safe mode'. useless when you're running a forum.

Let me say something about support. You could probably write your message on your back and get a better response than from these people. When you call the 1-888 bu****** hotline, you get a representative who puts your query on a sticky note and tells you that a technician will respond promptly. Seventeen times called, seventeen messages 'left with the representative' and I have yet to hear from one of them to this day.

"IF you so choose, you can call their real support hotline and someone should help you with your problem" the rep actually said to me in one of the calls, as i was informed of a separate phone number to the company for direct technical inquiries. Lousy structure in my opinion. They tell consumers to call one number from their website, but really the tech person they need to get a hold of is at another.

So in retrospect, this company's organizational structure involves paying someone to sit on their ass and play solitaire away from the action, while our time continues to get wasted as notes are taken but not responded to? makes perfect sense. Would love to shake hands with the founder of this fiasco.

But wait, there's more: Several times out of the seventeen that i called, the employees actually argue that a second number is non-existent and we have to make sticky notes for our concerns.

The final resort involved me making a nasty phone call outlining the fact that they have not responded to any calls and that i would have to terminate my services with them if they choose not to respond.

I did.

When asked why, I think i typed every offensive word in the Urban Dictionary and found a good provider since.

Save your time and money.


Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Rude Manager - McDonald's Queen/Spadina

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Restaurant mv
Company: McDonalds

Most of the time that I go there, the manager (short Asian lady) also tends the cashier. She's always grumpy, rude and impolite. Always, always, I have been polite and cheerful when I order but I just got a frown in return. I thought McDonald's valued their customer service?!

I know that area attracts less desirable characters, but she doesn't have to be disrespectful to the patrons!

Monday, October 22, 2007

Tim Hortons

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Restaurant md
Company: Tim Hortons

I was at Timmies at York U today to get myself a large sandwich, and as I saw this lady doing the sandwich i asked if it was mine and then with the cut eyes she says, "I am doing it NOW"...i was like err..then i was still polite and asked if she could cut it in half for me, since they dun always tend to do that in school..so that lady says, "I WILL CUT IT" with a very rude tone. She then asked if i wanted anything else the sandwich..
i thought for a sec cuz they don't normally ask me that, they just have standard in making the sandwich..and she the said "If you want anything you should've told the mat the cash!" - again super rude, and what's the point of asking me if i wanted anything else if it doesn't say up on her freaking screen?!.. I told her that I didn't want anything else and she just gave me my sandwich and as i took it i said, "You didn't have to be so rude"...at the moment, i'm not sure whether she spoke to me or to her co-worker quietly, but she said "i don't think i was rude at all"...What kind of attidue is that?! So i asked for her manager, and she told me to come back later since the manager was on break, i told her i'll come back and asked for her name then I took off.
I got back after class to speak to the manager and i told her who it was and i realized she didn't even give me her real name and she was already on break at that time...then before i finished speaking with the manager she returned from her break and gave me a look and i was still speaking politely to the manager and supervisor. Now, i'm not sure if she got in trouble but at least i did what i could!!!

CIBC Investors' Edge is scamming the RRSP account users

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Finance

CIBC Investor's Edge now charges $106 for RRSP account users if you don't have over $25,000 in your balance. They will not reverse the charges even if you close the account. This is a much higher threshold than other banks' self investment services. For example, BMO's InvestorLine charges a fee for RRSP Accounts if you have less than $15,000 instead.

Futureshop Return NIGHTMARE!

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Retail mv
Company: Futureshop

Bought an ipod touch on the 11th of October 2007 from futureshop # 053. Before doing so i made sure to ask the rep AND the cashier about the warrenty/return/exchange procedure. They both assured me that i have 30 days warrenty from futureshop and that all i needed was the reciept and all the origional equipment to recieve a full refund or an exchange if there was anything wrong with the unit. I made sure to ask twice because the iPod touch was new and i had heard many problems with them.


After being assured it was under FUTURESHOP warrenty for 30 days i bought my iPod and off i went, thinking that if anything went wrong i could get a replacement or a refund within 30 days.

After using it 6 times within the past week i noticed that the battery life of the iPod is not anywhere near the advertised life. The battery, when charged over night only last 4 hours if i am lucky! And that is just Music use, no wifi or videos.

I wait until the end of the week when i dont have work or school to head to futureshop to see what can be done about this.

The "customer service" rep informs me that the ipod is not in origional condition because it has a few minor scratches on the back. Now in no way did i abuse the iPod, the screen has not but one scratch on it, no dents, just the back due to its design has a few scratches that any iPod owner will tell you is really easy to get even with gentle use!

The rep points to a sign above him, the sign is huge, and tells me our policy is no returns or exchange for items not in origional condition, i tell him that no where on the sign does it say that, not even the fine print. He reads the sign and informs me now that there is no room for it on the sign. He then informs me its on the back of my reciept, problem is i get that after i buy the item and who reads the fine print on the BACK of the reciept? He tells me then i should have asked, which i inform him i did. I then get accused of not telling the truth and he tells me "sorry but its buyers beware" and he cant do anything for me.

The Store mager had just "left" to go home, and i am still left with a ipod that wont hold a charge for some reason!

Is this how futureshop treats its customers? BUYERS BEWARE? i guess they should have put that on the back of the reciept and then no one would be mistaken where futureshop stands. I am totally disappointed in futureshops customer serivce and the lack of backing of their products. I was intending on buying my girlfriend a laptop from futureshop as a birthday gift in a few weeks but after this they will be lucky if i ever spend one cent in their stores ever again.

Funny thing is the first thing he told me was how am i supposed to resell this ipod. I thought to myself, why would an honest business resell something that was returned for being DEFECTIVE in the first place?

So i guess take their word for it, BUYER BEWARE of Futureshop and their lieing and cheating associates who will tell you anything to sell you a product and then wont back it up when it is not working right!


BTW...anyone have a number or email for someone higher up at the corp level for futureshop?

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Jack Astor's A-hole manager, Robert Ross, at Mississauga

Location: Ontario, Mississauga
Industry: Restaurant mv md
Company: Jack Astor's
Annoyed By: Robert Ross, the A-hole manager

My friends and I were at Jack Astor's, Dundas and Winston Churchill location in Mississauga, last Friday for drinks. We were first served by a rude waitress who had left at around midnight, and another waitress took over her shift. When it was time to leave we got the bill and noticed that they had charged us an extra drink which we did not order, and a regular Long Island Ice-tea at Jack-It-Up price. We spoke with the waitress about the mistake, and she asked the manager to speak to us. After waiting for him for over 15 minutes, the A-hole came and told us that he called our first server at home (at 2am?!) as well as talked to the bartender and said the number appeared on the bill is correct. Here's the thing - the bill came out to be around $200, the extra drink plus the jack-it-up charge is only $10. A ten dollar difference to the bill is not that big of the problem. The problem is that the message the manager was sending us was basically saying "you guys are just trying to get a free drink". He basically said "yea, I called the server at home, and I talked to the bartender, they both remember serving you 6 long island ice teas" and just looked at us. We were trying to explain to him that we ordered only 5, and he kept saying the server and bartender remember giving us 6. Our 2nd witness was very nice and kept apologizing to us. Here's another thing that happened - we were filling out the customer comment cards, and we wanted to get the Manager's name. When we asked the waitress to get his attention, we waited for at least 20 minutes. We had to ask the waitress 2 more times, he finally came and we kindly asked for his name and business card. He came back with a business card and said "this is my boss's business card. If you have any problems he will be here tomorrow." We asked him again for his own business card, and he said he doesn't have one. We questioned him and said "you are the manager here, and you don't have a business card?" and he said repeatedly that if we have any problems we can contact his boss. We kept asking again and again, and he finally told us his name and came back with his own business card. Why did he refuse to give us his name and business card in the first place? We feel like he did not want to listen to what we have to say, and was not honest about his name and having a business card. So Robert Ross is the name to remember if you so happen to dine at this Jack Astor's location.

Tim Hortons

Location: Ontario, Markham
Industry: Restaurant
Company: Tim Hortons

I bought two coffees at the McCowan rd/ Hwy 7, Markham Ontario location. After we drove away and tasted the coffees..they were burnt and undrinkable!!! We drove back through the drive-thru, the server asked :Did you really buy these here?"
First off, yes, but second, so what if we didn't./.. the cup says TIm Hortons...buddy gave us new coffees but was very aloff...like we were asking for gold. I was so mad I walked in and spoke with the manager, apologetic, but didn't really seen to care. Well, that's my last TImmie's burnt coffee...ever! I'm going back to COuntry Style....Tim Hortons no longer needs the business, thus really doesnt care about customers...while Country Style really will bend over backwards to make sure you have the perfect cuppa!!!
Karen

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Best Buy, bad service

Location: Ontario, Ottawa
Industry: Retail
Company: Best Buy

I went to Best Buy to get a wire for my home theatre and I had to get someone to help me find it, it took 7 minutes and 3 different persons to find the dawm thing. I went to the cash, paid with a debit card and went out. Before I got to my car, I realized they charge me $10 more than the price tag. So I went back in. The guy at the door told me I had to go to the service counter to bring the wire back...???
after telling him my story again, he told me the same. So I had to get in line with 8 persons in front of me for 15 minutes to be able to talk to the guy who took my receipt and went trying to find the manager to do whatever they had to do with it. Finally, I was able to get my $10 back. I Ieft without the wire. The guy at the door asked me if I found everything I need and gave me a nice "have a goog day", I couldn't believe it!

I have lots of friends, I know a lot of people and I have a very big mouth!

Friday, October 12, 2007

Artist specific store

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Other mv md

I went downtown today to a store that specializes in items that I need for my business (I am an artist). I have been told repeatedly that the service is a little lousy, but their prices more than make up for it.


Boy were all those people wrong. Service that lousy is not worth saving a few dollar!

I got down there and was buzzed in to the shop. I got in and the guy stares at me, asks if I am "in the business" when I say yes and that I am licensed to buy wholesale. I also add that I had never been to this particular shop before and was not sure what their protocol was. He says ok, shruggs and walks away. I continue into the store.

He then rudely informs me that I need to put my purse in the locker and there is a key. I look around, I see the lockers, ok, no sweat. Uh oh. None of them have keys. I ask where the keys are, he rolls his eyes and points in a totally different direction from where the lockers are.

I start looking around, choosing different things. Clearly I am struggling to carry it all. Finally he pulls a basket from behind the counter and says I can use it.

I ask how pricing works, then go on. On the bins there are so many numbers I have no idea how to read them. I am not exactly new to the business, but I have never seen anything even remotely like this.

Finally I get everything I need and go to pay. I get told that it has to be organized and weighed "over there" first. 4 workers in the shop. 2 customers.

I waited 20 minutes for one to notice I was waiting for service (and I called and asked for attention 3 times).

I finally got service, and went to take it all to pay. I just wanted to get out of there.

I got a pen for being a first (and last) time customer.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Cancelling an AOL Account



Call To Cancel AOL

Automated Hello : 4 Min.
Spent On Hold : 11 Min.
Talk With "John" : 5 Min.
Automated Goodbye : 1 Min.
----------------------------------------------
Total Call : 21 Min.

Staples

Location: British Columbia, Langley
Industry: Retail
Company: Staples the Business Depot
Annoyed By: Store Manager (British accent, wears glasses)

FutureShop had a Canada Day sale on the Logitech VX Revolution Mouse advertised for $39 (no rebates), so I decided to take the flyer to Staples in Langley to get a 110% "Price Match" (or PM). Staples had it for $99 at the time.


Spoke to a sales rep about the PM, who in turn went to his manager. The manager (who had a British accent, and eye-glasses) said they couldn't PM because the flyer has a "Web ID", which according him means that price is after a Mail-In-Rebate (MIR), and they don't PM MIR's. I told him that I was just at the Future Shop and there is NO MIR, and $39 is the actual checkout price. I go on to say that the "Web ID" has nothing to do with any MIR's, it's simply the ID of the product so the customer can identify and purchase the product online if they so choose.

This stupid manager didn't get it, and still insisted that there was an MIR involved, refused to PM it and just walked away from me.

I just could not beleive it. Here I have a legitimate ad from a direct competitor and this idiot manager will not honour the Staples Price Match policy. This totally pissed me off, and I felt like punching this jerk manager (with a snoby British accent) in the face.

To anyone reading this, I highly recommend not shopping at the Staples Langley location, especially if you want to PM anything.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Markham Honda

Location: Ontario, markham
Industry: Automotive

I bought my 'new' car over at Markham Honda a few months back. After a few days I noticed the car had quite a few minor scratches on it to be considered 'new'. There were minor scratches on the power windows, center console, and even the driver seat had some wear on it.
The kicker was when I noticed that even all four of the door handles were faintly cracked. It then occured to me that when I was in the showroom before there was a car which was the same colour at that time. However, when I purchased my car the car in the showroom was no longer there. I concluded that I was sold a showroom car and that was the reasoning behind all the minor scratches and broken door handles. I called Honda Canada about this and they did nothing. I emailed the manager over at Markham Honda and again no response. So buyer beware especially over at Markham Honda!

Monday, October 8, 2007

How iHateBadService helps you get back at companies for dishing out poor service

mv
Forget the sternly worded complaint letter, that’s so 20th century. These days, companies can pay a much bigger price for their customer service slip-ups. Thanks to the proliferation of blogs, a global audience is at the fingertips of every ticked-off consumer. Companies continue to learn the hard way that poor-customer-service complaints can make their way from niche web sites to network television.

Here's how we can help. Millions of smart consumers are using major search engines like Google when they are looking for product or service. That's why companies
are pouring tens of millions of dollars to get their websites listed on the first page of Google. On the other hand, with the launch of iHateBadService.ca and the contributions from many of you, some of our bad service stories are already listed on first page of Google within a month since we launched ! Check it out !!

Search Keywords in Google
Listed on Google Page No.
kinkos yonge and eglinton 1
ontariophonecards.ca bad service 1
petro canada locations bc bad service 1
riverside doors kitchener 1
staple business depot bad service ontario 1
shopper drug mart scarborough different price 1
purchase shaw modem ontario 2
ll fornello's richmond hill 2
world fine cars toronto service 2
ramada plaza resorts ofv scam 2

So what would you do if you are a potential customer ?

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Sh*tpatico *rains* on my internet parade

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Telecom md
Company: Bell Canada

For years, every time it rains, you get kicked offline and have to reboot the dsl highspeed 'modem'. This is Bell problem with moisture getting in their phone lines or lightning jolting their system. Who care what it is, I have never heard of highspeed cable going down ALL THE TIME, IN EVERY STORM.
We have told the tech people this many times but it still happens. We are not the only victims of this either, I have seen others in forums complain of the same thing. Weather is unpredictable so if you hear of a storm on its way, DON'T START ANY HUGE DOWNLOADS IF YOU HAVE SH*TPATICO!

Bell Sympatico and Microsatan, oops, I mean 'soft

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Telecom mv
Company: Bell Canada

First of all, Bell Sympatico moved to an smtphm based email server system WITHOUT WARNING ANYONE IN ADVANCE. Probably to weed out bogus and fraud accounts in the process (you are forced to phone the help people-who are in India and hard to understand). Anyway, I have not been impressed by Sympatico's partnership with the biggest thieving corporation on the planet (Microsoft) from day one.
Now, come to find out, they don't "officially support Mozilla Thunderbird". That means you can recieve email with Thunderbird on the smtphm server (complete with 'secure socket layer' protection, aka SSL) but you can't send with the same protocol, you have to use the old, insecure smtp1 server settings to send (actually, you have to change "TSL if available" to "No" also). This to me, is a blatant disregard for one of the most modern, safe, and functional email clients out there, any version of 'Outlook' is unsafe and lacking junk controls (don't know about now, maybe MS woke up and copied the competition AGAIN). Shame on you Bell, you made a deal with the devil and now you are losing my business. Funny part is, I hate Rogers more, but I hate Microsoft and its partners even more so Rogers wins. How frickin' sad is that?!

Friday, October 5, 2007

BAD SERVICE

Location: Ontario, Kitchener
Industry: Other

Was stood up for an appointement. Rescheduled for the next day.

The Following day, called 4 times. Finally showed up 2 hours late.

Unacceptable

Apparently there time is more valuable then mine