Complaints From Me

TireDiscounters oil change fees

2011-11-22T15:21:00.001-08:00

I was very disappointed with my recent trip to the TireDiscounters on Kenwood Road. I had heard the ads on the radio for the $19.95 oil change special, so we stopped in.

I knew that some places charge extra "hidden" fees, but given that most of your advertising mocks other places for these hidden fees, I did not expect it from you.

But sure enough, in addition to the $19.95 oil change charge, there was an additional $1.20 for "Miscellaneous Shop fees".

I realize this is only a little over a dollar, but compared to a $20 bill, that's 6% of the total.

Very disappointed and this experience makes it unlikely that I will frequent TireDiscounters for oil changes in the future.

Quizno's complaint

2011-08-31T14:40:00.001-07:00

Another guest complaint

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To whom it may concern:

I have enjoyed visiting the Quiznos restaurant near my place of work for over three years now. At my peak I visited the restaurant 3-4 times per week. I enjoy Quiznos primarily for the level of quality in your toasted subs. Even though there are closer and cheaper dining options to my workplace I felt visiting Quiznos was worth the time and expense. That is until my visit on Tuesday, August 30th.

I'd first like to say that this franchise used to be one of the best run counter-service restaurants I had ever visited. A man and his son ran the dinner and lunch shift, respectively, and were excellent hands-on managers. I don't know if the owners sold the store or simply stopped running things day to day, but quality and service have gone drastically down hill.

In general, there have been three large areas of regression. First customer service is simply less friendly, less fast, and less welcoming than before. I used to be recognized when entering and wished a good day when leaving, no longer. The trash cans now overflow forcing trash onto the ground, which was previously unthinkable. The employees, perhaps suffering from high turnover, don't know the menu well. I often have to correct them about what sauces or toppings go on a certain sub, even featured items being advertised in the restaurant!

Despite these issues I continued to frequent my local store, partially though nostalgia, and partially because despite the service the subs themselves were still delicious. Sadly my most recent sub order was far from what I expected...

I entered the store as the only customer, and ordered my usual Bourbon Grilled Steak sub (I know the sub as a the Black Angus Steak and the old staff would prepare it when that name was requested). The sandwich maker grabbed the steak packets, but rather than placing them in boiling broth to heat them she walked them out of site into the back of the restaurant. I noticed the water/hot plate area was missing and assumed it was being refilled or similar, something that I've encountered once or twice, and while I don't terribly enjoy my sub being partially made out of site, I did not think it was worth a comment. What did provoke a comment and a sudden exit was when the employee returned, placed my meat in a small soup container, and placed both IN THE MICROWAVE. I asked her if she was microwaving my sub filling and she confirmed she was. I told her I wasn't interested in a microwaved sub and departed.

To be perfectly frank Quiznos subs are supposed to deliver premium quality, and they charge a usually justifiable premium price. I am shocked and appalled Quiznos has a policy to ever microwave meat, especially without giving the customer the option to pick a different sub instead. If your Arlington, VA based store wishes to maintain its premium image I recommend it not engage in practices more fitting for the local McDonalds.
Thank you for reading my feedback.

Popeye's Chicken

2011-08-31T11:41:00.001-07:00

Guest Complaint!!

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To whom it may concern:

I enjoy visiting Popeye's restaurants for the combination of good food and convenient hours even when I have to work or attend class late. Even though there are closer and cheaper dining options to my home I felt visiting Popeye's was worth the time and expense. That is until my visit on Sunday, August 28th.

Two positive points: the person on phone when I called to check hours was nice enough, and mash potatoes were tasty and fresh. Everything else went badly wrong, and I will not be returning.

Upon entering at 10:20pm nearly half the tables were occupied with employee papers, books, and laptops. Customer service was not friendly and I was generally served in silence. My chicken was cold. Not "not hot enough," but literally room temperature. I actually held a piece to my cheek and verified it was no warmer than the air and much colder than my own hand. Finally, upon trying to leave I had to unlock the door after being locked inside the restaurant...at 10:40pm, 20 full minutes before scheduled closing. Needless to say I didn't get a refill of iced tea, as the container was long gone.

If your store has no interest in keeping to their posted hours nor cooking fresh food a full 40 minutes before closing I suggest they alter their hours accordingly.

Thank you for reading my feedback.

Best,

McDonalds charging for water

2011-07-15T06:22:00.000-07:00

I was at the McDonalds at 7916 Montgomery Road, Cincinnati OH last night, and with my food order, I requested a small cup of water for myself and my dining companion. I was informed that water costs 25 cents.

I was very disappointed. Not only is the assumption that water is generally free at restaurants, but there was no sign indicating water cost money, nor was it on the posted menu. Additionally, the previous two times I had been recently to this same McDonalds (both within the past week), I was not charged for water.

It is certainly your prerogative to charge whatever you want for water or anything else, but I would just ask that if you are going to charge for water (again, something that is generally free in most restaurants), that you a) put it on the menu or indicate what it costs with a sign of some sort and b) enforce it consistently

Marriott

2011-03-31T06:03:00.000-07:00

Guest complaint from my co-worker Jenny

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I will be attending a conference in that is being held at the Doubletree in Nashville, TN beginning on September 21, 2011. Since I am a loyal Marriott customer, I intended to stay at a local Marriott brand instead of the Doubletree. However, when I called the Courtyard downtown and asked them to match the conference rate, I was told they couldn't and the lowest rate available was $180 per night. Considering that both hotels are comparable in diamond and other similar rating systems, I have a hard time with Courtyard not matching Doubletree's rate. We will be staying at the Doubletree for these 4 nights & I'm not quite so loyal to Marriott anymore.

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Marriott's (underwhelming) response

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Thank you for contacting Marriott. We appreciate the opportunity to provide you with information.

Hotel pricing is based on a number of factors, including availability, demand, hotel location, and the amenities offered by a specific property. At Marriott, we strive to be competitive in the marketplace by providing our guests with the best value for their money. Marriott offers a wide variety of discount rates for senior citizens, government employees, and members of an association, such as AAA. Many of our hotels also offer special weekend rates, "Stay for Breakfast" rates, leisure packages, and advanced purchase rates. We encourage you to check Marriott.com for the latest packages and promotions at the following website:

http://www.marriott.com/specials/default.mi

We recommend using the Marriott.com reservation feature as a convenient way to check rates, availability, and room information for all of our hotels. On the following webpage you will find a guide to the online booking process:

https://www.marriott.com/suggest/faqs_reserve.mi#question1

If you need assistance, please feel free to reply to this email or contact an Internet Customer Care Associate by phone at 800-721-7033 (toll-free in the United States and Canada). We are available to help you 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.

For our international guests, a listing of international reservation offices is available at the following site:

https://www.marriott.com/reservation/worldnum.mi

If we can be of further assistance, we invite you to reply to this email.

Regards,
Steve P. McQuinn Jr.
Marriott Internet Customer Care

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Transformer that doesn't transform

2011-03-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

A letter from my son to Hasbro

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Hello,

My name is . I went to the store to buy a toy for my birthday. I was very careful and took a long time to choose toy I wanted.

Finally, I picked out a Transformer. But when I got home, I realized that the transformer didn't transform. That made me feel very frustrated and sad. I went to my room for 10 minutes.

Then we went back to the store and exchanged that transformer for another transformer.

I think that you should not build transformers that don't transform.

Thank you for reading my email.

Age 9.

Silverton Midas

2011-02-26T08:59:00.001-08:00

I am writing to express my displeasure with recent service at the Silverton Midas on Montgomery Road. I've been going to this Midas for several years now. I really enjoyed the work of one of the previous general managers, Don Saul. But unfortunately it seems that Midas likes to keep moving their folks around, as he left, then came back, then left again.

I took my van in for an oil change recently. When I came to pick it up, the manager showed me some things that he wanted to repair, costing over $1000. That in and of itself is not a problem - I expect that and it's fine. But when I explained that I did not have time to have him do those right now, I got "the look". If you've spent much time with folks who don't know much about cars, you know "the look" I'm talking about. The one that says "you are a complete idiot".

Then when I showed the things to one of my more car-knowledgeable friends, he scoffed at the recommendations of the Midas man, saying that while there might be a small leak of oil, a much better solution is to just put a quart of oil in again occasionally, and it would be fine. Let's see, a couple of bucks every month or two, or over $1000? The choice was obvious to me.

Ever since Mr. Saul left, I had been meaning to explore other car care centers, and this incident pushed me over the edge. Although this incident happened a few weeks ago, I only now remembered to write you about it, on my way from getting my other car's oil changed (at Meineke)

Thank you for your time

Clickinks.com

2011-01-13T07:56:00.000-08:00

I have ordered several times in the past from Clickinks.com and went back this morning to try to order. I ordered 3 cartridges ($22) and used a coupon code that I have, which was for 10% Off and Free Shipping.

When I applied the coupon, your website alerted me that I had qualified for free shipping.

But when I went to the checkout page, it still charged shipping.

I called your 1-800 customer service number, and the lady told me that it was only if I spent $30 or more, which was not displayed or mentioned when I applied the coupon - in fact on the shopping cart page it showed Shipping: Free.

She said that there was an asterisk next to the free shipping, which would show me that it was only for orders of $30 or more. There was in fact an asterisk, but it did not mention anything about $30 - instead it just said * - Continental US orders only.

Several hours later, I went back to your website, which has apparently been updated in the meantime to now display the $30 minimum order required, which I find fairly deceptive to switch the website on me and not honor what your website said at the time of my order.

But all is not lost, for I was able to visit compandsave.com and buy the same ink for 50% less.

Middletown Library

2010-11-11T17:42:00.000-08:00

I am writing to complain about the complex and completely unnecessary qualifications for selecting a library PIN.

Shouldn't *I*, the account holder, be responsible for what kind of PIN I want?

Do you REALLY think that there are tons of people out there that are just DYING to hack into someone's library account and reserve or checkout books on it??!?! Seriously?

Cmon people throw me a bone here! It is highly frustrating that not only do I have to request a PIN reset every time I want to do something at the library because I can't possibly even remember the overly complex PIN I was required to submit, but then it takes me 3 times to even put a new one in (which I have already forgotten and it's only been 10 minutes). First it's not long enough, then it's not "secure" enough. Sheesh.

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I probably shouldn't have written that while I was still angry about it but I sent it anyways :-). Note too the correct usage of PIN instead of PIN "number"

Enterprise Rent-a-car

2010-11-08T09:14:00.001-08:00

Hello,

I would like to let you know about my recent weekend car rental with your company. I was planning a weekend trip to Atlanta and was lured in by one of your promotional emails for a $9.99 per day. I went all the way through the process only to find, just before submitting the order, that it was a 300 mile limit, which obviously would not work for a 1000 mile trip.

But that's not a big deal - it was probably on me for not reading carefully and I caught it before submitting the order, so no harm done.

I drove to the rental car office Friday morning at 8:30 with my "free double upgrade" email (from a different promotional email you sent me). Even though I had this free upgrade, I kind of wanted to just stick with the compact. There were only 2 of us traveling, and not much luggage, so the better MPG was more attractive to me.

But when I got there, I was told that the only compact available had no cruise control! Seriously? In 2010?!?! So I went with a standard size (Dodge Avenger). The car itself was nice, but it smelled of cigarette smoke. It wasn't overpowering, but it was definitely noticable to me (a non-smoker).

I was confused since it was made abundantly clear to me upon checkout that smoking (and pets) were not allowed in the car, subject to a large fee. I don't know if this was a new policy, or if the person that checked this car in previously either did not notice or did not care, or maybe if they thought that it was "good enough" to re-rent. I know that different people have different tolerances for the smell of smoke (often depending on whether they themselves smoke or not)

In any case, it did not ruin the car or the weekend, but it was frustrating and I thought you should know.

Qfact

2010-07-30T09:40:00.001-07:00

Despite the fact that the market research emails from you (though I realize they are automated) say

"If you qualify, you will receive a very brief phone call from Qfact, at which time we may confirm some additional information with you, and then hopefully invite you to participate in the study. "

and

"THIS “NEW PROCESS” WILL ALLOW US TO MINIMIZE THE NUMBER OF TIMES YOU RECEIVE A PHONE CALL FROM US.AND WHEN WE DO CALL YOU, THE CALL WILL BE MUCH SHORTER!"

Whenever I'm called from QFact, they proceed to ask me the same questions I just filled out online? It's extremely frustrating and nearly enough to make me want to resign my panel membership!!!

I just filled out an email survey about bathroom faucets. I apparently pre-qualified and was called by someone today, who took 15 minutes to ask me, WORD FOR WORD!, exactly the same questions I had emailed. No additional questions - just exactly the same ones I had emailed in last night. I got to the end, only to be told that ooh sorry I didn't qualify.

What is the point of that? Do you think people will lie online and so the phone call is to confirm it? Wouldn't they just lie again on the phone?

Help me understand!

Kroger crackers

2010-06-25T10:19:00.000-07:00

Guest complaint from Carolyn!!

Last week I bought some Kroger brand Thin & Crispy Saltines Original Crackers. I am very disappointed with them. I've discovered that nearly every single cracker in all 4 sleeves is broken. And if the cracker wasn't already broken when I opened the package, several of them broken when I picked them up. Most of the box of crackers were in crumbs and completely useless. I bought these crackers because they cost less than the national brand, but seeing as I had to throw almost all of them away, I didn't save any money at all.

And the response
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Thank you for contacting The Kroger Co. I apologize that the Kroger Saltine Crackers were all broken. I can understand your disappointment.

I am forwarding your comments to quality control for review. I am also sending you a $4 coupon.

If you have any further concerns or comments please feel free to contact us at 800.632.6900.

Sincerely,

Duke Energy lightbulbs

2010-05-10T09:17:00.001-07:00

You guys sent me coupons for a 6-pack of CFL 60 watt bulbs (value $11.97) a few weeks ago. I was excited to receive them, but they were only good at Walmart, and after going to 3 different Wal-Marts 5 different times, I was NEVER able to find any in-stock. In talking with store employees they said that they did not expect to get any in any time soon.

This was very disappointing and frustrating. What's the point of sending out these coupons if nobody is ever able to redeem them?

Domino's pizza followup

2010-04-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

So following up on my Domino's pizza complaint, they sent me a coupon for $5. That will not buy a medium pizza, at least not here, so I re-complained

I had contacted you recently about a Domino's coupon (for a free medium pizza) in a board game expiring before I bought it.

I was pleasantly surprised with the quickness of your response, but when the coupon actually came in the mail, it was not a coupon for a free medium pizza, but just $5 in "Domino's cash".

I'm not sure what part of the country you guys are in, but $5 will not buy a medium pizza in Ohio. On your website, a hand-tossed 1 topping medium pizza prices out at $10.78.

So while I do appreciate the thought, I would prefer either a coupon for a medium pizza itself, or at least a gift certificate big enough to actually buy a medium pizza.

Thank you.

Domino's pizza followup

2010-03-23T06:25:00.000-07:00

LIGHTNING FAST! (Like seriously - within 10 minutes)

Thank you for contacting us at our World Resource Center. I do apologize about the coupon expiring. I will mail you a coupon in appreciation of your business. please allow 7-10 business days for the coupon to arrive.

Sincerely,

Ryan
Domino's Pizza Customer Care T.E.A.M.

Domino's pizza

2010-03-23T06:17:00.001-07:00

Hello,

I bought the game "Guess Who" at a Target store last week (3/14/2010). One of the reasons that I bought the game is that there was a sticker on the box offering a free Domino's pizza with the purchase of the game - to put on a "Family Game Night".

Imagine our disappointment when we opened the box only to find that the coupon expired 2/28/2010! Our family was very disappointed. I'm not sure how long that had been sitting there on the shelf. Usually in such scenarios, the coupon won't expire for several years - I was disappointed to find it so short-dated (and expired).

Heard back from Rewind 94.9

2009-09-23T11:39:00.000-07:00

Got the following email from Jay Kruz, a DJ at Rewind 94.9:

Hi Carolyn,

Thanks for writing. We appreciate honest and candid feedback from our listeners on how our station is serving them. I am sorry to hear that you were not happy with your Class Reunion Lunch playlist. We truly value our listener participation and will use your constructive feedback as we continue our Class Reunion Lunch feature.

I’d like try to make things right and want to make sure you enjoy a “Lunch” on us with a gift certificate to Jeff Ruby’s Carlo and Johnny restaurant. Please reply back with your full name and phone number so we can have the certificate available to pick up from our receptionist at our studios.

I sincerely hope you’ll continue to listen to and be a part of The New Rewind 94.9.

All the best,

Jay

Today I went down to the station to pick up my lunch gift certificate. I figured while I was down there I may as well get that DVD that I won, that I didn't want to pick up before. I still don't want the DVD, but hey, it is mine. Maybe I can sell it. While I was down there Jay Kruz came out to meet me. He told me that "they" talked about my comments and that "they" take comments and suggestions seriously. So what ever that really means, I guess it's nice that they didn't just ignore my email. Maybe other folks who participate in the Class Reunion Lunch will actually get the songs they picked played on the air.

Over all I'm very pleased with how they handled my complaint.

Dear Humana

2009-09-19T03:19:00.000-07:00

This is an email that I sent to Humana. I just wanted them to know that I think their customer service stinks. I have as little hope of them responding to this letter as I did to them taking care of any of these bills in a timely manner.

I would just like to say that I am extremely unsatisfied with the service that I have received from Humana. When my son was born on _________, my husband added him to our insurance policy. Humana did not add my son to our policy until January 1,_________. This led to a pile of bills between those dates that were not our responsibility to pay. My husband and myself have been on the phone dozens of times with the hospital and with Humana, trying to sort out these various bills. Over and over again, all Humana has to say is to tell my hospital to resubmit the bills. And over and over again the bills were not paid. It took months for most of these bills to ever get resolved, during which we continued to get bills in the mail saying we were late with payment. This alone is completely embarrassing because those bills were not my responsibility. In the end, it seems all of those bills were paid except one. Yesterday I received a letter from a collections agency. I felt like I was punched in the stomach. I am an honest person and I pay my debts. I feel infuriated to have a collections agency after me for money that is not my responsibility to pay. It all makes me completely sick to my stomach. I feel hopeless when dealing with your company. Each time I call to try to resolve these bills I feel like your people are running me in circles. I feel like no one really cares and that no one really wants to help. Your customer service is a joke. I loathe your company. But I feel like I am stuck because my family needs health insurance. It seems I shall have to continue to "deal with the devil" so to speak.

(I edited this from the original, removing the dates in question.)

94.9 WREW Class Reunion Lunch

2009-09-18T07:31:00.000-07:00

I would like to express my disappointment with your Class Reunion Lunch. A month ago I got a phone call from someone at 94.9 saying that my play list was selected for the Class Reunion Lunch. Of course I was quite excited because I rarely win anything. First off, I was not impressed with the prize. The DVD was not even worth my time to go down to your offices to pick up, so I didn't bother. But I was quite excited that the songs that I selected from my graduating year were going to be played on the radio. In fact, I told all of my family and friends to tune in.

Yesterday (Sept. 17th) I tuned in to listen to my songs, and things started off OK when two of the songs I picked out where played. Then I got really annoyed when 6 songs were played that I didn't even pick. Sure, they were songs that were popular from 1995, but they were NOT songs that I selected or even like! I have to admit that I was embarrassed that my friends and family were listening to songs such as I Can Love You Like That, and assuming that I picked it out. I don't even like that song! I find it so annoying that you asked for my favorite songs from my graduating year then proceed to ignore most of my suggestions and play the songs that you think were best from that year.

I was especially frustrated because I was led to believe that songs from my actual play list would be played. Granted, you did play two songs that I picked, but what about all the other songs?? Not my picks. So what did I "win" from the Class Reunion Lunch? A crappy DVD that I didn't even want to go pick up and a bunch of songs that I don't even like. Thanks so much 94.9.

Duke Energy

2009-09-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I am writing to complain about your automatic Bill Pay service. EVERY SINGLE OTHER bill that I have to pay (that would be phone, cell phone, Internet, water, cable, credit cards, mortgages, etc) allows you to a) sign up online and b) pay your bill for free.

You offer neither. You have a form that has to be printed out and faxed / mailed out, and your service charges a monthly fee. True, it is only 30 cents per month but literally EVERY other company I pay has no such fee. Why would you want to discourage people from paying you automatically? It just doesn't make sense.

I understand that you contract with another company (Billpayer 2000) but every single other company has managed to figure it out so I don't know why you guys are any different.

I am very disappointed.

Kroger followup

2009-09-03T06:28:00.000-07:00

Followup on my email to Kroger

Thank you for contacting The Kroger Co. I do apologize for your experience and I will be forwarding this report to the store director. I have also sent you out a coupon for your inconvenience please allow up to ten business days for the coupon for arrive. Thank you for taking the time to e-mail us. We appreciate your business.

Sincerely,

Nicole B
Consumer Affairs

Buffalo Wild Wings

2009-08-21T10:53:00.001-07:00

To whom it may concern:

I am writing to share my experience at a BW3 restaurant (Store #3334 in Mason, Ohio) this afternoon (Friday 8/21). In these tough economic times, I usually bring my lunch, and so when I take the opportunity to go out to lunch, I hope more than usual that it will be worth my time and money.

The waitress did not point out the lunch specials that were available. I was looking through the regular menu (at things that were at least $2 more expensive) for quite awhile before one of the other guys at my table found the lunch menu.

The food took an inordinate amount of time. As I said, I do not go out to lunch very often so I don't have a great sense for how long things "should" take, but when I commented on it, the other members of my party agreed that it was a longer than normal time. They were surprised since the restaurant was not busy at all.

I ordered the Cheeseburger Slammers lunch menu, with no lettuce, tomato or onion. When my meal finally came out, I found that those items were included. Apparently they come on the side, so that was good enough. And sure, I ended up just taking them off and it was not the end of the world, but to me, good customer service would not have put them in the basket. I mean, somebody somewhere in the restaurant (whether it was the cook, the server or someone else) had to put them on there at some point! When the food came out, another guy at my table who had also ordered the Cheeseburger Slammers mentioned that mine had the no lettuce, tomato or onion (he ordered his with those and wanted to make sure that we each got the right one), only to find out that both did. The server did not apologize, nor offer to remove or exchange them, but instead just said "They're on the side". Again, I don't want to make a huge deal over this and if this was the only thing maybe I would not have brought it up.

The food was decent. My burgers were cooked a little longer and were a bit cold (if that combination makes sense). Perhaps this is related to the longer than average wait time? The bottle of ketchup that was on the table was nearly empty. I am sure that this is not the waitresses fault and it wasn't a huge deal since I just grabbed a bottle from a neighboring empty table. In a positive note, I did appreciate the speed with which my drink was refilled, including a time when the waitress just brought a refill without asking when she saw my cup was low. I always appreciate that.

When we paid, the server brought our checks and we put our money or cards on the trays. When our change was brought out, I found that my receipt / change was switched with the gentleman sitting next to me. Not a huge deal since it turned out that although we ordered separate meals, our meals both were the same amount and we had both paid with $20 bills.

Thank you for your time in reading this. I am sure that you pride yourselves in trying to foster a good dining experience and I hope that these comments will help you as you try to improve your overall customer service.

UPDATE - GRR I HATE WHEN COMPANY'S FEEDBACK FORMS LIMIT THE NUMBER OF CHARACTERS I CAN WRITE. I TOOK THE TIME TO WRITE A NOTE WITH DETAILED FEEDBACK ON HOW THEY COULD IMPROVE - THE LEAST THEY CAN DO IS READ IT!

So in their feedback form I wrote

I had a poor experience at lunch today. I wrote a very thoughtful and detailed note describing the different areas of service but because you have decided to limit me to only 1500 characters, it would not fit.

So I have had to publish it on the Internet in order for you to be able to read it.

And then I linked them to this post.

Kroger cart locks and bikes

2009-08-19T08:25:00.001-07:00

To whom it may concern:

I am writing to express my frustration about 2 experiences at the new Norwood Kroger in Surrey Square in Norwood, Ohio. This is not the closest Kroger to my house, but it is nearby, and occasionally I shop here. So with the opening of the brand new building, I thought that I would give it a try.

I was amused to see the messages in the shopping carts about how the wheels would lock up if you removed the carts from the parking lot (as marked by the yellow boundary lines in the parking lot). The message was just such a contrast from the brand-new and fanciness of the building. But that was fine, since it is generally not my intent to steal shopping carts.

I purchased a few things and then headed back to the car, which I had parked on the north end of the parking lot, near the McDonalds drivethru. As I took my cart out to my car, the wheels locked up on me a full 2 rows from my car. I saw that the yellow boundary line was still a good 10-20 feet away. Needless to say, I did not enjoy having to carry each bag of my groceries from my locked up cart to the trunk of my car.

Then last week, I was out for a bike ride, and I got a flat tire near the Norwood Kroger. My patch kit was unable to fix it and so I walked my bike towards the store. It was my intention to check if Kroger sold bicycle patch kits or anything that might help me. I didn't think that they would but since it was a new Kroger that seemed to have more general merchandise items that it was at least worth checking before I had to call my wife to come pick me up.

I took my bike inside with me so that I could make sure to buy the right kind. Obviously I did not ride my bike in the store. But it didn't matter as the security guard told me I had to leave. I tried to explain but he was not interested. So that was disappointing.

I guess I will have to continue to do my shopping at Meijer, Sams, Biggs, Aldi or possibly some of the other Krogers nearby.

Thank you for your time

National City branch visit complaint

2009-08-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

To whom it may concern:

I am writing to express my frustration with the new National City branch building at 5550 Ridge avenue in Pleasant Ridge in Cincinnati. It looks very nice from the outside but the method of entry leaves much to be desired.

I don't know why the decision was to limit entry to 1 person at a time. I can only assume that it is some sort of security measure, though upon first glance it seems of dubious merit. Not to mention that I don't really feel like Pleasant Ridge is a particularly dangerous part of town, where a bank might need enhanced security measures.

If it was just me entering, I'd have no problem. But this past week I came with my whole family. I had been needing to get something notarized with my wife and I both signing it, and it can prove challenging to get both of us (which necessitates bringing our 5 young children as well) at the same place at the same time during a bank's normal operating hours. But I was off work last Wednesday (August 12th) and so on our way down to the museum, we stopped by the Ridge branch.

While my wife was getting the baby out of the car, I attempted to go in with the other 4 kids. I saw the signs to enter only 1 at a time, but I went ahead anyways because I had all my kids with me and couldn't just leave them there. I don't know if you have kids, or how old they might be, but the odds of successfully explaining the correct procedures for entering the bank to an autistic 9 year old, as well as 7, 4 and 2 year olds is approximately 0%.

Obviously we were unable to enter the bank. After awhile, a woman came over the intercom and asked how many people were in the vestibule. I replied "1 adult and 4 children". She said "Normally I would make you go out and come in 1 at a time but I will let you in this time." So we finally made it in! Then my wife came in, pushing our baby in the stroller. And unbelievably she had it even worse! Obviously we could not leave an 8 month old to try and enter by himself, so they both went in to the vestibule area. She also appeared to speak to someone over the intercom (I couldn't hear what was being said) but eventually she got the door unlocked, but because the vestibule was so narrow, it was nearly impossible for her to push the door open since the stroller was in front of her. And there was no room to get around the stroller or turn it around. It took 3 tries before she was able to get in.

After that, the rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. The wait was longer than I wished it was, but we were able to get our documents notarized and head out. I can't really fault the customer service of the teller. And the manager-type man who notarized our documents was very nice.

But I would like to ask that this method of entry to bank branches be stopped. Or at the very least limit it to branches that really ARE in bad neighborhoods, where I wouldn't want to take my kids anyways.

Thank you

Dave and Busters complaint

2009-08-19T07:54:00.000-07:00

To whom it may concern:

I am writing with a complaint about the Dave and Buster's store in Cincinnati, Ohio. This summer, my family and I chose to do a "staycation" where we stayed in town and did activities here locally.

One of the activities that we chose to do was to visit Dave and Buster's and play some games. I had a gift certificate for a $10 power card and so we set off on the last day of our staycation, Wed. August 12th, before I had to go back to work the next day.

When we got there, we were informed by the girl who was working the front desk that the fine print on my gift certificate indicated that it was not good on "Half Price Wednesdays". Apparently (as you are no doubt already aware), on Wednesdays all games cost half as much.

Now, to me this seemed reasonable. It seemed that D&B management wanted to avoid turning the $10 gift certificate into essentially a $20 gift certificate. So I suggested that if games were half price, that she just give me a $5 power card for my $10 gift certificate, since that would essentially be the same thing. She rotely repeated that she could not help me. Perhaps this is just not allowed, or perhaps she did not understand me, or perhaps she wanted to get back to the doodling on her paper that I had interrupted.

The kids were EXTREMELY disappointed. At least we got to take a picture outside with D&B in the background and the family all growling our disappointment, for the blog recap and Facebook picture upload.

So we ended up coming back this past Monday (the 17th). It was a bit more inconvenient, since I had to meet up with them after work and still get back before too late since school is now back in session and it was a school night. I had no problem getting the $10 power card.

But then, in a revelation that made things EVEN MORE GALLING, I learned that the $10 power card that I received on Monday is good any day. So there is nothing to prevent me (other than having to make 2 trips) from getting the $10 power card on Monday and then returning on a Wednesday for $20 in games! So essentially I was denied usage of my certificate on Wednesday, forced to listen to nearly a week's worth of kid disappointment, all for NOTHING!

We were extremely disappointed in our experience with Dave and Busters and we thank you for taking the time to read this.

Update - Apparently Dave and Busters has no way to email them from their website? What is this, 1995? I'll show them - I'll tweet this over to them!

Cole Garlic bread response

2009-07-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

Got a letter back from Sue at Coles - she apologized and said she sent me 2 VIP coupons as well as 2 $0.30 off coupons. There was only 1 free coupon though. I emailed back asking about that but am not really expecting them to send me another one. Still, free garlic bread!

Cole Garlic bread

2009-06-30T09:03:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I don't buy a lot of garlic bread - we do eat a lot of pasta, but usually it just stands alone, or maybe with some biscuits. Recently however, there was a good deal on Cole garlic bread mini loaf, and so we bought 2 loaves.

But each of them had major problems - the instructions say to open the garlic bread to cook it, but for both loaves, this proved impossible - they stuck together, making one side have very little of the garlic and spices (since it all stuck to one side). Even trying to defrost or microwave it a little to soften it up proved fruitless.

We were very disappointed in our experience with Cole Garlic bread.

Thank you for your time

Walmart wheat sandwich bread

2009-06-02T10:39:00.001-07:00

Hello,

I am writing with a complaint about the Ridge / Highland Wal-Mart store (#2250) in Cincinnati, Ohio. I shop at this store fairly regularly, and usually on Saturday mornings. I understand that Saturdays are sometimes the end of a sales cycle, and that merchandise deliveries don't always come every day, but very frequently, when I get to the store on Saturdays, the Great Value wheat sandwich bread (in the orange-ish bag) is out of stock.

This is a problem for me as I am forced to either a) go to another store, b) buy white bread that my family does not prefer or c) spend $3-4 extra to buy 4 loaves of more expensive bread.

Since this is not a one-time occurrence - while not every week this does happen with some regularity, I wish that you would stock more of the wheat sandwich bread!!!

Unfortunately, even as I write this, I despair of anyone reading my comments much less following up on it, as the past 2 times I have written to Walmart I have effectively been ignored.

Kroger raincheck followup

2009-05-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr. Miller:

Thank you for contacting Kroger in regards to the rain check issue you had from out customer service desk. I want to apologize for this. I have sent this concern to store management for immediate review and resolution. I assure you this will be addressed. Thank you again for bringing this to our attention.

Sincerely,

Amber S
Consumer Affairs

Kroger raincheck fiasco

2009-05-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Last Saturday, May 16th, at approximately 5:00 p.m. I went to the local Kroger store in Norwood Ohio. I was interested in stocking up on several items from your "Lowest prices of the season" ad, specifically Oscar Mayer bologna, Kroger frozen potatoes and Kroger brand peanut butter, all listed at 99 cents.

When I got to the store, all 3 of those items were out of stock. I was disappointed but not particularly surprised (it was a Saturday afternoon, I understand). So I went to the customer service desk to get rainchecks. I waited in the extremely long line. There were 2 gentlemen behind the desk, but for whatever reason they were only serving customers one at a time. I did not get to catch their names, but one was a Caucasian gentleman in his 40s or so and a somewhat younger African-American gentleman.

When it finally became my turn (no exaggerating - it was probably at least 10-15 minutes), I asked for my rainchecks. The older gentleman said that these were "summer specials" and would be good through the whole summer, so (his words) they didn't need to write me a raincheck. I was somewhat skeptical, but had no way to doubt him and plus my family was waiting in the car.

So this week I went to Kroger to verify the prices and what do you know - the manager's comments were NOT true, and everything was back to its regular price!

So whereas, it was my intention to stock up (similar to your 10 for $10 sales) with 10 bologna, 10 frozen potatoes and 10 peanut butter, for a total of $29.70, now to buy those same products, I must pay $26.90 for 10 Oscar Mayer bolognas, $16.90 for 10 frozen potatoes, and $17.90 for 10 peanut butters, for a total of $61.70. So I am out $32.

And even if somehow I am able to make it down to that Kroger to try and explain, I have to a) spend the gas to drive down to that Kroger (it's not my regular Kroger - we were just in the area eating at a nearby restaurant), b) hope that particular manager is working when I stop in, c) hope he remembers our conversation from a week ago and d) hope that he is willing to honor the raincheck.

All in all, an extremely frustrating and disappointing situation

Thank you for your time in reading these comments

Dan Miller

Cici's pizza compliment

2009-05-21T07:56:00.001-07:00

I know this is a complaints blog but I thought I'd share my recent compliment email just to show I'm not a total curmudgeon

Hello,

I would just like to take a moment to express how satisfied I was with my recent experience (Saturday May 16th @ 4:30 pm) at the Norwood Ohio Cici's Pizza restaurant. The employees there were extremely friendly and helpful. I had found several of the "Free Buffet" pennies as part of your recent promotion. In my experience, whenever you are getting something for "free", often times employees treat you differently (i.e. worse) than they might treat paying customers.

But I did not find this to be the case at Cici's - on the contrary, the staff was extremely courteous and helpful. I know from past experience that the staff is trained to be somewhat "over the top" in friendliness but my family and I enjoyed my experience there.

Thank you

Kroger bagel followup

2009-05-15T11:45:00.003-07:00

Dear Mr. Miller:

Thank you for contacting The Kroger Co. I apologize for the poor quality of the product; I will forward your comments over to our Consumer Affairs and Manufacture for review. I also see you left your address so I will be mailing out a $5.00 dollar coupon to purchase any Kroger Item in the store you wish, it will take up to three weeks for this to reach you. And if you experience this issue in the future we carry a quality guarantee on all of our items. And you can return them back to the store for a replacement or refund.

Sincerely,

Bryan N.
Consumer Affairs

More Kroger bagels

2009-05-12T07:31:00.000-07:00

Hello. I wrote a letter on April 29th talking about mold growing on 2 bags of Kroger brand bagels that we purchased at Kroger. Nobody bothered to respond to me, and I forgot about it. Apparently though, I am a glutton for punishment as this past Saturday (May 10th) I again purchased Kroger brand bagels (plain). This morning (only 3 days later), we once again noticed mold on several of the bagels.

Needless to say I am extremely disappointed. I had already decided to buy my future bagels at Aldi, since they're cheaper ($1.25 vs. $1.59), the bagels themselves are bigger, and there are 6 in a package rather than 5. But now I am extremely hesitant to even buy ANYTHING out of the Kroger bakery.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Hamilton County Auditor

2009-05-01T06:27:00.000-07:00

While I'm in a posting mood - another one I did a few days ago to Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes

Mr. Rhodes,

I would like to register my disappointment at your recent site change which eliminates the ability to go directly to the property search page. I noticed this a few weeks ago but hoped that it was just a temporary glitch that would resolve itself. I see now from your blog that it was an intentional (and likely permanent) change.

This is extremely frustrating to me. I don't know if it was done for some sort of technical reasons or if it was an attempt to force people into going to the main auditor's page (or something else entirely), but it is something that is very frustrating for me. I've long been very pleased with the service that you have provided and have commented on it to my friends and neighbors. So I felt it was only fair to share with you my disappointment at this latest decision

Thank you for your time in reading this

Response -

Thanks for your e-mail and candid comments. I’m glad our website has been helpful to you over the years.

The change was made because we often have important information on the main page which needs to be known by citizens and people working with our office. Bypassing the main page means people had to make an extra call or e-mail to us for information that was there – but they didn’t see it.

Additionally, some agencies and companies were using our information and presenting it as their own. I’m sorry for the inconvenience but we think it is important that users know where the data is really coming from.

----Dusty Rhodes----

So basically, too bad Dan, you lose. Oh well. Maybe I'll vote him out of office!!! :-)

Miami University triathlon

2009-05-01T06:24:00.000-07:00

I wrote an email complaining about the lack of split times and general bad times at the Miami University triathlon that I did a week or so ago. You can read my race report over on my blog.

Anyways, HFP Racing, who kind of runs the race, responded.

Dan,
Thank you for your constructive comments, and of course we will always take the time to read letters from our participants. We take feedback very seriously and grow and learn from it. I have forwarded some of your comments to Miami U. organizers as they are more applicable to their realm of responsibility.
I would like to offer you 50% one of our Wheelie Fun Series events as consolation for the loss of split times. Let me know if you would like to select one and I will give you a 50% off discount code.

I responded - Thanks for your reply. I looked at the Wheelie Fun races and unfortunately, all of them are on Sundays and I don't race on Sundays. I would be interested possibly in a 50% discount code for the 2010 Miami race. I understand you might not have those set up yet but if it works for you, I could just forward this email on to you when you have them set up in a few months and if I plan on racing it

And got a response. Notice me not making fun of her Big 10 grammatical error :-)

Hi Dan,
I hope you're week has been productive. I contacted the Miami University Race Director and requested a 50% off discount for you to race next year. I respect your choice to not race on Sunday's and have struggled with that issue myself. In any case, Mr. Marcechko said that he would be fine with providing you the discount to compensate for problems you experienced on race day. He has reviewed your constructive criticisms as well.
Thanks, and have a wonderful weekend.

So I got that going for me, which is nice.

Kroger bagels

2009-04-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday (April 25th) I purchased 2 packages of Kroger bagels, that were on sale 10 for $10. When we brought them home we refrigerated them as instructed on the package. This morning, when we went to use them for breakfast we found that they were growing mold!!!

Needless to say this was unexpected and disappointing only 4 days after purchasing them.

We do still have one of the packages - I looked for any kind of code or sale by date but did not see any obvious one.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sycamore Township traffic problems

2009-04-28T09:25:00.002-07:00

I am writing to express 2 areas of traffic unpleasantness on Montgomery Road in Sycamore Township.

#1 - Early in the mornings (say, before 8:00 a.m.), the traffic light pattern for the traffic light between Nordstroms and LCA Vision is not commesurate with the traffic. At that time of day, traffic is at least 90% either coming from or going to Interstate 71. There is almost never a car that is coming out from Nordstroms or from the LCA / Staples / Old Navy shopping area (since they're all closed that early in the morning). Similarly, even with the construction at Nordstroms, there are almost never cars trying to turn left off of Montgomery, and even when there are, the traffic is light enough that a left turn is easily accomplished.

It's just frustrating as I'm heading off to work, that I have to sit at a red light for 30-60 seconds as no cross traffic takes advantage of it and then, to add further insult, sit ANOTHER 30-45 seconds as nobody takes advantage of a left turn arrow. Such a traffic pattern is definitely called for after say 9:30 or 10:00 a.m. when the mall and shopping areas open, but not before that.

My recommendation would be to re-program that traffic light for early morning times to be "on-demand", and only provide a green light for cross traffic when there actually IS traffic to use it.

#2 - Slightly further north on Montgomery, when going southbound, it is extremely frustrating having to be backed up by someone turning left into the Starbucks plaza. Since there is no dedicated turn lane, and usually heavy traffic coming northbound, it can really back up southbound traffic. There may not be anything that can be done about this, since I'm sure the businesses in that plaza would not be in favor of forbidding left turns into the plaza, and there may not be enough road to have a turn lane there, but I just thought I would express my frustration in the matter.

Thank you for your time in reading this and your attention to this matter.

Sams Club followup

2009-04-07T08:55:00.001-07:00

Received a letter from the membership manager at my local Sam's. Now, normally, I don't like to pick TOO much on people's spelling / grammar, but this lady IS a manager, and...well, you'll see.

Mr. Miller,

I understand your frustration with the difference of Sam's Club pricing and would like to explain why our prices are different at each location. Each club comps prices within their local area on a weekly basis. For example, Tri-county and Fields Ertle (sic) (two stores you mentioned) will comp their local grocery stores, but they also comp Costco pricing, as eash (sic) of these stores have a Costco in their local range. Eastgate will comp their local GFS. Until recently, the Oakley store has had no one to comp but the local Meijer and Krogers (sic) which is easy for us to beat prices on (sic). However, we have just started comping Restaurant Depo (sic) as well, which will make a significant difference in our pricing as it is actually someone to compeat (sic) with. We have just gained access to comp them as of last week, so you should see a drop in our pricing. I hope this better explains why you find a difference in pricing between stores as each store has a range we are allowed to comp within as well as pricing autonomy on low on hand items and/or display units (sic for massive run-on). If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact myself or any other manager at the club.

Respectfully,

Ashley xxxxx
Membership Manger

=====================

To which I responded:

Ms. Byrd,

Thank you for your response. I understand your reasoning, since it is your (and your fellow associates') responsibility to maximize profits for your store. I am sure that you will also understand that since it is my responsibility to provide food for my family at the lowest price possible, until such time as the prices come down, I will be doing my weekly Sam's club shopping at the xxxxx store.

I am not familiar with Restaurant Depot, though it appeared that they sell more supplies rather than actual food. I did notice that you did not mention comping with the Aldi on xxxxx, which has lower prices than you on many food items.

Again, thank you for your time. It was nice to actually get a response back (as opposed to previous times I have contacted Sam's)

Dan Miller.

The "Quality" of Pampers

2009-04-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

To Whom It May Concern,

I've been wanting to write this letter for a few weeks now. We have two children: an almost 2-year-old and a 5-month-old. When we had our first child, we tried just about every diaper brand out there and ultimately decided, rather early on, that Pampers was by far the most absorbent and best-fitting brand of diapers. We have not used anything but Pampers for almost two years now. However, within the past few weeks, when we go to put a diaper on one of our children, we often find that one of the tabs completely rips off, rendering the diaper utterly useless. This has happened about 7 or 8 times now and is unacceptable. Diapers are way too expensive, especially these days, to just say, "Oh, well." We have always loved the Pampers brand for our children, but we are very seriously considering switching to another brand. Huggies, for example, is available at Costco and is cheaper than getting Pampers elsewhere, which is what we have always done in the past, because we believed Pampers to be the best. We don't feel this to be the case anymore.

Thank you for your time, and I hope that you will improve the quality of Pampers so that the problems that we have been experiencing do not happen again.

Sams Club

2009-04-02T07:33:00.000-07:00

Hi,

I am calling to complain about the high prices at the Sams Club that is nearest my house (Club #xxxx). I got a Sams Club membership (again) a little more than a year ago and for the most part have been very happy. You have a good selection and better prices on some items than a typical grocery store.

But recently, while I was at a different Sams Club also in the Cincinnati metro area, I noticed that the price on cheese was lower than I remembered. Then, after I got home and did a little research on your website, I found that this was not a fluke, that in fact, the prices at my Sams Club were consistently higher (and not insignificantly).

I compared 4 clubs that are near my house: Club xxxx (8 mins away), Club xxxx (22 mins), Club xxxx (15 mins) and club xxxx (23 mins), for the items that I typically buy at your store.

Here are a few of the items, with the prices at each of those 4 clubs
5 lb Cheddar Cheese - $8.24, $8.28, $9.16, $9.22
5 lb Mozzerella Cheese - $7.93, $8.05, $8.53, $8.56
American cheese - $7.42, $7.79, $8.12, $8.12
Pancake mix - $5.68, $5.72, $5.72, $6.48

I did find a few items (mostly non-perishables) that appeared to be the same price at each club.

I just find it frustrating that in order to achieve the "every day low prices" that your company always touts and advertises, that I have to drive around to several different clubs WITHIN YOUR SAME COMPANY!!!

I would like to send this to the manager of my local store (#xxxx) to let him know that he will now be losing my business due to his prices, but found no way to contact an individual store on your website.

Thank you for your time.

Dan Miller

To NBC, RE Kings

2009-03-29T17:41:00.001-07:00

I heard a rumor that Kings may be on the chopping block. (as in the proverbial one, not the horrible TV series one).

Please in the name of all that is good about television, do not cancel this show. Finally My wife and I have found a drama that interests us as much as early ER and 24. We have been looking for a long time and have found disappointment after miserable disappointment, but we love Kings.

Great acting, compelling story lines, and intelligent writing make it a show we look forward to.

That said, we do watch it on DVR, so if you are going solely by the ratings, we aren't helping any, I don't think, but remember that there are those of us out there that think this is a great series and will be sorely bitter if you cancel it.

Cheers!

Compliment for Garage Doors of America

2008-11-23T10:51:00.001-08:00

We had a garage door problem a few weeks ago and did not know where to turn. We tried the Home Warehouse chains and did not find much help there, so I looked online to see what I could come up with. Your website was one of the first that I found and within minutes of finding your site and signing up for help, we had a contractor scheduled to come out and fix our garage door. And the 15 dollar coupon was helpful as well.

Keep up the good work!

A Letter to XM Radio

2008-11-14T15:29:00.001-08:00

This was a letter that I sent to XM Radio regarding the format change from the old channel called POTUS 08 that was devoted to the presidential elections. I understood that some changes would be needed after the election was over, but, as you will read, certainly don't like the way that they are going.

What happened to my POTUS? It went from being the first and usually the last destination on my XM dial to being just another talk channel. What's up with having commercials? What happened to commercial free in the land of the free? Where did the good programs go. At least you still have the Press Pool, but please tell me you aren't seriously going to keep Pete Dominic around. Please. I can accept that everybody will have a little bias and a little bent to their opinions, but this guy is so far left he makes Obama look plain conservative. I have listened to his show a few times this week (how can I help it, it is always on!) and I have heard him insult just about everything that I stand for. I have heard him tell a man who was abstinent from sex due to religious preference that he was dumb and should "get laid", I heard him say that God doesn't exist, I heard one of his callers swear several times in the course of an anti-American (the caller was from Canada) rant and not get censored or at least reprimanded, and on and on. And even if I agreed with his politics, this guy is so full of how great he is and how novel his talk show is that he feels that he needs to tell us. Every 5 minutes.

I can't be the only POTUS listener who is sorely disappointed in the direction that this channel is taking. I don't need a whole slew of hosts who espouse my views (I don't really like most of the right wing shows anyway) but I just want what you had set up before - a channel where I could listen and get facts and even occasional opinions that were non-insulting and fair and interesting.

For many months POTUS 08 has been the biggest factor keeping me subscribed. If it keeps in this direction then I'll just go back to land-based radio because if I want blowhards I can get them anywhere.

Sincerely,

A disgruntled listener

Kroger shredded cheese

2008-11-14T05:50:00.001-08:00

To whom it may concern:

Recently I had some trouble with a bag of shredded mild cheddar Kroger brand cheese. While most of my experiences with Kroger store brand products has been positive, this one was very frustrating. On the top of these bags of cheese there is a strip of plastic that rips off, allowing you to open (and reseal) the bag. But this particular bag's strip would not rip correctly. I tried ripping it from each side, and it only partially tore, rendering the bag unopenable. Eventually I had to carefully cut the top with a pair of scissors.

While this was only a minor inconvenience, I thought you would like to know so that you could try to improve your manufacturing process. I tried to look for a manufacturing code or something like that to further aid you in tracking down the problem, but was unable to find one.

Thank you for your time in reading this.

Pampers followup

2008-10-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

Unlike certain cracker companies, P&G is on the ball

==============

Thank you for sharing your disappointment with our product. Our goal is to produce high quality products that consistently delight our consumers and I'm sorry this wasn't your experience. Please be assured I'm sharing your comments with the rest of our team.

Since your satisfaction means a great deal to us, I'm following up with you by postal mail. You should receive my letter within the next 2-3 weeks.

Thanks again for writing.

P&G Team

Pampers

2008-10-28T10:13:00.001-07:00

I frequently use Pampers Cruisers for my children. We're currently using size 4 of this product for my toddler. We've never had a problem with your diapers before. We just opened a new pack of Pampers Cruisers a few days ago, and already 4 tabs have ripped off, either on application or when taking the diaper off. Each time it was always the right tab. (The tab on the right hip of my child.) I wanted to alert you to this problem since this package seems to have several defective diapers in it.

I must say, I'm very disappointed. I expect more from Pampers products.
Thank you for your time.

Austin crackers

2008-10-23T05:32:00.000-07:00

Guest complaint from Carolyn!!

We frequently purchase Austin variety pack of cookies and crackers. Of course, everyone has their personal favorites. But I must ask, why do you include 10 each of the peanut butter crackers and only 5 each of all the others? I like peanut butter crackers the same as the next person, but they clearly can't compare to the cookies or even the cheese crackers. My kids always complain that there's nothing left in the box but the cheese and peanut butter crackers, which no one feels like eating. Can't you more evenly divide up the cracker selection in the box? Or perhaps include more of the REAL FAVORITES, like the cookies? I mean, come on...what child is going to pick peanut butter crackers over cookies?!

I know my family would be very pleased to see more cookies and cheese crackers in the variety pack and fewer peanut butter crackers. Thanks.

IHOP followup

2008-10-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

I complained again about my not having gotten an email from my initial complaint.

Response:
=====
Thank you for taking the time to contact IHOP.

We definitely do not condone any bad food or service, or any other "mistreatment" of our guests. Most of our restaurants (including the one you visited in Cincinnati) are independently owned franchises. As such, they are ultimately responsible for their own customer service. As a courtesy to them and their customers, we here at IHOP Corporate help the Franchisees by relaying any guests concerns that we receive. However, it is the sole decision of the Franchisee what steps he or she wishes to take to resolve any guest issues that arise concerning their restaurant. Most owners do wish to make their guests happy and do make every attempt to resolve their concerns.

We have received your comments on 10/1/2008. I have already forwarded your original message to the FBC who works with the franchise owner of this restaurant. They will inform the Franchisee of your comments and will recommend it in the best interest of the Franchisee to contact you soon. Please allow 7 – 10 business days for a response.

I sincerely hope that this has explained in more detail how our system works. Thank you again for contacting IHOP.

Sincerely,

IHOP update

2008-10-01T11:53:00.001-07:00

Dear

Thank you for taking the time to contact us concerning your experience at the IHOP in Cincinnati. While it is always disappointing to learn that we have not lived up to our guest's expectations, it is invaluable to receive feedback so that we are able to continually improve our level of guest satisfaction.

We are sorry to learn of the difficulties you encountered at this location. Please be assured that the matter will be shared with the proper individuals to address your concerns.

I have forwarded your concerns to IHOP's Franchise Business Consultant for the North region. They will contact the franchise owner regarding your recent dining experience in this restaurant. We are confident that the franchise owner or his representative will contact you shortly to better understand your concerns. It is our hope that you will once again allow us to earn your patronage.

Thank you for keeping us informed.

Sincerely,

Guest Services Representative
IHOP Restaurant Support Center

Bad experience at IHOP

2008-09-30T06:21:00.000-07:00

Again - the web form character limit. This time it was 2000 characters, so I had to shave about 500 characters off. I'll put in first my original message, then the one I actually sent them

===========================
Hello. I am writing to inform you of a bad experience that I had a recent IHOP store (4825 Marburg Ave, Cincinnati Ohio). As parents of several young children, my wife and I do not often get to have a night alone, away from the kids. So when we do, it is especially important to us that the evening be as good as possible, since this might be the only "date" we get for several months.

Recently we were able to have someone come over and watch our kids for an evening, so we decided to get something to eat and then go bowling. We had eaten at a barbecue at around 4 p.m., so at 8:30, we were a little hungry but not enough for a full meal. We decided to head over to our local IHOP for a light meal.

The restaurant itself was fairly clean, and we were shown to a table right away. Actually placing our orders took significantly longer than expected. I do not mean to denigrate the server there, as she appeared to be the only server working and was probably just doing the best she could. But it was significantly longer than I would have expected - at least 5 minutes from the time when we said we needed some more time to the time she came back.

The food itself was excellent - we had the eggs and hash browns combo, an extra side of hash browns, and a strawberry crepe. Value was also extremely good. Even though it was only intended to be a light meal, even feeding 2 people a *light* meal for $7.11 is outstanding.

So, to this point, it was an average experience. Food was good and cheap - service was slow but not the end of the world. Then we got to the restrooms on the way out.

The men's room was decent. The only frustrating part for me was the sink. I know you're probably trying to save money (and the environment) by installing the hands-free "automatic" faucets, but they never work, and this one was no exception. Although I futilely waved my hands under, over and around the faucet, trying to mentally will it to turn on, eventually I had to concede defeat.

But this was nothing compared to my wife's report from the women's room. There were 3 stalls. In 2 of them, the toilets were stuffed with toilet paper and feces. The 3rd had the door shut and apparently in use (obviously to avoid the stench of the other stalls). After waiting awhile, she realized that the 3rd stall was not in fact being used, but the door was just stuck shut. She was able to wedge it open and complete her business.

Thank you for your time in reading this report. I hope that you will use it to improve the service level and ambience of your restaurants.
==============
Hello. I am writing to inform you of a bad experience that I had a recent IHOP store. As parents of several young children, my wife and I do not often get to have a night alone, away from the kids. So when we do, it is especially important to us that the evening be as good as possible, since this might be the only "date" we get for awhile.
Recently we were able to have an evening out. We had eaten at a barbecue at around 4 p.m., so at 8:30, we decided to head over to our local IHOP for just a light meal.
The restaurant itself was fairly clean, and we were shown to a table right away. Actually placing our orders took significantly longer (5-10 mins) than expected. I do not mean to denigrate the server there, as she appeared to be the only server working and was probably just doing the best she could.
The food itself was excellent - we had the eggs and hash browns combo, an extra side of hash browns, and a strawberry crepe. Value was also extremely good. Even though it was only intended to be a light meal, even feeding 2 people a *light* meal for $7.11 is outstanding.
So, to this point, it was an average experience. Food was good and cheap - service was slow but not the end of the world. Then we got to the restrooms.
The men's room was decent. The only frustrating part for me was the sink. I know you're probably trying to save money by installing the hands-free "automatic" faucets, but they never work, and this one was no exception. Although I futilely waved my hands under, over and around the faucet, trying to mentally will it to turn on, eventually I had to concede defeat.
But this was nothing compared to my wife's report from the women's room. There were 3 stalls. In 2 of them, the toilets were stuffed with toilet paper and feces. The 3rd had the door shut and apparently in use (obviously to avoid the stench of the other stalls). After waiting awhile, she realized that the door was just stuck shut. She was able to wedge it open and complete her business.

Keebler coupon received

2008-09-30T06:19:00.001-07:00

Update on Keebler 1 and 2.

I got the coupon in the mail and contrary to the comments from the peanut gallery, it was for a free Keebler product, up to $3.99. The irony is that Carolyn seems to remember that the graham crackers in question were actually $4 something but hey, probably not worth a follow up complaint.

So chalk one up for the good guys!!!

Keebler update

2008-09-24T06:22:00.000-07:00

Update on Keebler

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Thank you for contacting us about Keebler® Honey Graham Crackers Selects. We are sorry that your experience with this product was unsatisfactory, when trying to treat your family.

A report has been made to our Quality Assurance Department. Our goal is to provide consumers with wholesome, high quality products, and we have established strict control measures for each part of the manufacturing process from the delivery of ingredients to the distribution of finished packages. The information you provided will help ensure that our products and services continue to meet the highest quality standards.

During the processing and packaging of our products many inspections are conducted to prevent damaged product from reaching the consumer. However, in the process of distribution, our shipping containers are sometimes subjected to rough handling which causes the package contents to be shaken and damaged without the package itself being crushed.

We hope you will be pleased with your next purchase, and are sending a coupon for you to use the next time you shop. Please allow 7-10 business days to receive via US Postal Mail.

Sincerely,

Consumer Affairs Department

=========
If this coupon is anything but a coupon for a free one they're going to get another complaint email. $1 off or something is not going to cut it. Update - it was

Keebler graham crackers

2008-09-22T17:11:00.002-07:00

I am writing with an unpleasant experience with your Keebler Graham crackers.

I went to the store to buy the ingredients for Smores for a family treat. I originally was going to buy the store brand graham crackers because I could not believe how expensive graham crackers were! ($3.99 for Keebler vs. $2.09 for the store brand).

But they were out of the store brand, so I thought "Well, Keebler is a good brand name that I think I can trust - I will give them a try".

But when we got them home, nearly half of the graham crackers were broken! Obviously making them unusable from a Smore perspective. The taste was all right, but it was disappointing to not be able to make as many Smores as I would have liked.

Perhaps you should package your products more securely so they don't break so much in transit.

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update received

Meijer brand tortillas

2008-09-22T17:11:00.001-07:00

To whom it may concern:

I bought some of the Meijer brand tortillas (soft taco size) this past Saturday. I was extremely disappointed in the quality - almost all of the tortillas stuck together and when you tried to pull them apart they ripped.

I don't know if you have any kind of store brand quality guarantee like other stores, but I was extremely un-satisfied

Lowe's update

2008-09-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Follow up to my Lowe's experience.

After sending my email on the 12th, I got a response on the 13th

=============
Dear :

Thank you for contacting Lowe's. We apologize for the problems you experienced with our Norwood, OH store.

We have forwarded your e-mail to local store management so they can address your concerns. They will contact you within 24 hours.

If you have additional questions or comments, you may contact us by replying to this e-mail.

Thank you,

Lowe's Customer Care
==================
My response:

Sharon,

I appreciate your quick response. I sent the email about 10 a.m. on the 12th, and you responded within 24 hours, and I appreciate the concern that you showed in quickly responding to me.

Unfortunately, it appears the local store manager does not share your concern. Even though he/she was supposed to contact me within 24 hours, it is now the 21st (i.e. 8 days later) and I have not received a response.

Without any further information, I can only assume that either:

a) Somehow the store manager has lost the information that you sent to him or her.
b) The store manager does not really care about the poor customer service that I received at his store
c) There have been so many incidents of poor service at Lowe's that the manager is still wading through all the emails and I am still in the queue.

I hope that you will help to resolve this situation - I have to say that this delay has definitely made me more likely to do the majority of my home improvement shopping at Home Depot or my local Meyer's Hardware

Thank you,

Kroger success!!!

2008-09-21T05:56:00.001-07:00

Following up from my letter to Kroger, I got an email from the store manager.

===============
Dear ,

I apologize for the less than satisfactory experience that you encountered while shopping at Madeira Kroger. We strive everyday to offer our customers superior customer service. Unfortunately, this was not the case in this situation. Please accept my apologies and your next cake order for free. All you have to do is bring in this email and I will give you a complimentary cake of your choice.

Sincerely,

Store Manager
Madeira Kroger
========================

Score!!! I haven't decided if I will use this for my next work cake or just get a cake for our family with this or something else.

Lowe's

2008-09-12T06:15:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I am writing to complain about a series of extremely frustrating incidents that happened recently at my local Lowe's store (Store #1585 - Norwood, Ohio).

First of all, as part of a deck that I am building, I bought a 1# box of 16-penny ring shank nails. A few days later, when I went to use them, I noticed that the package had been opened and re-taped, apparently returned by someone and then re-put on the shelf. Apparently this person was a bit unscrupulous, as half the nails were missing and in their place were a few assorted bolts, other kinds of nails and screws (maybe to make up the weight of the nails).

This was extremely frustrating as when I buy something from a store, I like to have confidence that what I am purchasing will be high quality and what I need - not half-used material that is put back on the shelf.

So I made the trip (back) to Lowe's and returned the nails. I had no issues getting my money back so I went back to find a (hopefully unopened this time) box of nails. I found the marking where those nails were supposed to be, but on the shelf above that marking were just straight nails (not the kind I needed). I looked for an employee and after several minutes finally found one. He looked but said he didn't know anything about this and suggested I go check with the man up by the key making machine. He was busy fixing something but at least took the time to call me over the manager of the hardware department. After a few minutes, she came by and we looked back there. She opened the various cabinets and looked on the various shelves and overstock space but could not find any. She looked in the computer and said she was supposed to have 24 of them, but there were none in the entire store.

After striking out with the nails, I went to the paint department to purchase some paint. I gave the employees my paint swatch and they set to tint my paint. After waiting around for awhile, she gave me my paint. As I walked away, luckily I checked the paint droplet that she had put on the top because the shade did not look right. I can sometimes have trouble distinguishing colors and of course sometimes wet paint does not look exactly the color it will be when it dries, but I took this back to the counter just to make sure. Sure enough - she had given me someone else's paint!!! I waited around for a bit more and finally got my paint.

Now I made my way to the checkout in somewhat of a hurry. I had not counted on spending over an hour in Lowe's and was running a bit late. To top things off, the cashier miscounted the amount of money I gave her. An honest mistake and it was only 5 cents, but it really was the topper to an afternoon full of mistakes at Lowe's.

As a professional rehabber, I have always kind of been of the impression that Home Depot and Lowe's were essentially the same store - that you could pretty much find the same stuff with the same service, etc. But if this is the kind of experiences that I am likely to receive at Lowe's stores, I know which chain will be getting my business!!

Thank you for your time

Dan Miller.

PS - In the end, it kind of worked out well, since after leaving Lowe's, I drove 1/2 mile down the street to Home Depot, where the nails were over 30% cheaper!!! ($3.59 vs. $5.39 for a 1# box)

===========
Update: I had to follow-up to this email when nobody answered

Walmart Price Scan

2008-09-12T06:07:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I am writing in frustration from the level of service that I received recently at the Deerfield Walmart Supercenter (Store #1441 - Mason, Ohio). I am typically not a Wal-Mart shopper, since the Wal-Mart that is closets to my house (Store #2250 - Highland / Ridge) is not in the best part of town and always seems a little dingy if not outright scary. But I had a Wal-Mart merchandise card from a return I had recently made and there is a new Wal-Mart that recently opened on my way home from work, so I thought I would give it a try.

I came in because I needed to purchase a plain white T-shirt for my son to take to school for a tie-dye project that they are doing. I went in, and asked the greeter where the boys' clothes were. He pointed me in the general direction and I headed back that way. So far, so good. I got to the shirts. Although I only needed one, plain white T-shirts were only sold in 3 or 5 packs. After comparing a few different sizes and brands, I settled on a 5 pack of shirts that was marked as being sold for $5.00.

I took them up to the cashier where they rang up at $5.50. I told the cashier that they were marked at $5.00 and we kind of awkwardly looked at each other for awhile. So I decided to just take them back and go double check that I had a) read the sign correctly and b) grabbed the correct package. I went back and verified that both of those were true - they were truly marked at $5.00, not $5.50.

So I went back to the checkout lanes. The cashier I had first talked to had people in our line, so I went to the open lane next to her. I explained to her that they had rung up at $5.50 but they were priced at $5.00. Most stores that I go to would have just accepted my word on that, counting on the fact that most people will not sacrifice their honor or integrity for 50 cents!!!! But apparently it is different at Walmart.

We ambled back to the shirts at approximately the speed of an advancing glacier. We got back there, sure enough, they were marked $5.00 and we (again slowly) marched back to the checkout lanes. On our way back, I asked if Walmart had a price-scan guarantee where you get the item for free if it scans wrong, similar to Kroger. Rather than just answer the question, she laughed at me! As if this was the silliest thing that she had ever heard, rather than the actual policy of the nation's largest grocery store company!!

I did get the item for the marked price of $5.00, but if this is the kind of service that I can expect at Wal-Mart stores, I guess I will go back to my life of not shopping there.

Thank you for your time

Dan Miller.

PS - In just doing some Internet searching, it appears that Wal-Mart DOES have this kind of price scan guarantee after all!! Way to add insult to injury there!

================
Ed note: I did send that PS as part of the comment - also, like some stores Walmart does limit the number of characters you can send. But at least it's 3000 (instead of 1400) so I was able to fit it in. I had a few good metaphors for how slowly we walked back there but I went with the glacier one. I was going to apologize for making fun of the elderly but I didn't want to waste the characters :-)

Kroger cake fiasco

2008-09-12T05:54:00.001-07:00

Hello,

I am writing to complain about some poor service I received this morning at my local Kroger store (#402 - Madeira Ohio). At my work, we have a team meeting each month and as part of that we buy a cake to share as a birthday treat for the members of our team who have had birthdays during the past month.

Today was the first month of it now being my responsibility to buy this cake. I headed to Kroger early this morning and started browsing the cake selections. They all had various prices on them but there was one without a price. I held it up to the worker behind the bakery counter and asked how much this cake was. She said $8.99 - this seemed like a good deal compared to the other cake prices so I put it in my cart and headed to the checkout.

When I got there, it rang up $15.99. I told the cashier that the bakery worker had told me it was $8.99. Apparently $8.99 is the standard price for 1/8 sheet cakes, whereas the one I got was a 1/4 sheet. I asked her to call back to bakery on the phone which she did. Rather than modify the price to $0 (which would seemingly be the thing to do per your price scan guarantee), or even apologize for not seeing the size of the cake I held up (after all, an honest mistake), the bakery worker told the cashier THAT THE CAKE I HELD UP WAS A 1/8 SHEET CAKE!!!! Umm, no, no it was not.

If this is the kind of service I can expect from Kroger stores, I will be making my future monthly cake purchases at Meijer.

Thank you for your time

===============
Update 21-Sep-2008 - success!

In which National City does not read my email

2008-09-04T12:12:00.001-07:00

Following up to the last post this is what I get back from National City

=======================
Dear ,

We appreciate you taking the time to contact us by e-mail on September 4, 2008, concerning your account.

I understand your concerns and apologize for any inconvenience. If the item pending is a check we cannot verify at that time who the check was made out to. This amount could also include one or more checks in one total. They will then be separated when they actually post to your account that night.

We do appreciate your business.

Should you have any additional questions or concerns, we will be happy to assist you. Online Banking Specialists are available Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to midnight EST, and Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST. You may contact us directly at 1-888-622-4932.

-Online Banking Support

===================

to which I responded

==================
Thank you for your very timely response. I understand that policy and have no problem with that. The reason I emailed is because I was extremely frustrated that the lady SAID she could help me when, according to the policy you just quoted me, she could not.

Rather than listen to me when I explained my problem, she just read from her "script" telling me "Sure I would be happy to help you with that"

That was and is the source of my frustration

I can help you with that I mean no I can't (National City)

2008-09-04T11:35:00.000-07:00

Me and National City are foes. Foes so much to the point that I should probably just ditch them.

Now this particular instance was not as bad as how they routinely job me with overdraft charges that take me days to get reversed, but it was still annoying

======================
Hi,

I recently had a poor experience with a customer call center support technician and would like to pass it on to you, in the hopes that you will use it to improve your call center and keep my (and other customers') business.

I was viewing my accounts online (I like to periodically monitor them since even though I am supposedly signed up for balance threshold email alerts, I never seem to get them until my balance drops below zero and I get charged $34 overdraft charges). As I was viewing them, I noticed a pending check for $600. Since I don't remember writing a check for $600 (and neither did my wife), I called up National City to see if they could shed some light on what exactly this check was.

After going through the various options and getting to an agent, the conversation went a little something like this:

Me: Hi, I have a pending check for $600 and was wondering if you would be able to tell me what this check was for.
Her: Sure, I'd be happy to help you with that

She then verified my identity and the account and such.

Her: Yes, there is a check or checks that is pending for $600.
Me: Okay, can you tell me who they were written to or anything about them?
Her: No, I wouldn't be able to tell you anything about them until midnight tonight.
Me: (Confused since she earlier said she could) Okay, thanks

Now I understand if you have technical system limitations that prevent her or anyone from knowing this information yet, and I understand that she is probably just reading from a script when she said she could help me but I had already explained my problem - if she couldn't help me WHY DO YOU HAVE HER SAY THAT SHE CAN!?!?!?

It was very frustrating

Thank you for reading my report.

Home Depot update

2008-09-03T04:50:00.000-07:00

Despite some people thinking that my kind words to Home Depot would ALSO net me free stuff, it did not (nor did I expect it to)

But in the interest of full follow-up, here is what they responded back

Dear Dan,

Thank you for contacting The Home Depot.

We appreciate you taking the time to forward your kind words! Our
company was built on the core value of providing excellent customer
service. We are glad to hear that you received this kind of service from
our associate.

We will forward your comments to the Store Manager of the Pleasant Ridge
Home Depot store. Thank you again, for taking the time to let us know
that we exceeded your expectations.

We look forward to your continued patronage and assisting you with all
of your home improvement needs.

Regards,

Amit
The Home Depot

Home Depot

2008-09-02T04:46:00.000-07:00

So to start off my career posting at Complaints from Me, I thought I would totally mix things up.

#1 This is not a complaint
#2 It is not from "me" at least not from Braden who originally conceived of this blog.

I like to inform companies / stores when I receive bad service. This is in part to get people to improve their performance / service and in part for free stuff. When I tell people I know about this, many times they just write me off as a whining blowhard who is up to no good. So I thought I would share a note I just dashed off to Home Depot about some actual GOOD service.

============================

I would like to write to congratulate you on the excellent service that I received at your Pleasant Ridge store in Cincinnati, Ohio yesterday (9/1/2008). I wrote a few weeks ago to complain about some poor service so I felt that I should also write when I receive outstanding service.

I was at your store to buy a few things for some fall projects - towel rings, towel bar, a few toilet paper holders, and a 36x60 mirror for our bathroom. As I was loading the mirror into my car, it fell and broke. I was not sure what to do so I went with my son back into the store with the mirror. I was not sure if it could be exchanged or not.

I got to the customer service desk and asked what could be done. The lady at the desk said she would have to call for the return. Eventually she said it would be okay and to just go pick out a new mirror.

I was extremely grateful since I did not have another 60 dollars to buy a mirror and if she had not allowed me to exchange it I would have had to just go back home to my wife and family and explain how we would not be having a mirror on our bathroom wall.

I'm sure that she would have been within her rights to disallow the exchange and I would probably have accepted it, but it is actions like this that make me glad to return to shop at your store

Thank you for reading this

Dan Miller.

My Letter to Subway

2008-09-01T09:12:00.001-07:00

To Whom It May Concern:

After a long 12 hour shift at work my wife asked me to stop by Subway on the way home to get a couple of foot-long subs so that we wouldn't have to worry about taking time to make any food and could enjoy the evening and go to bed. I got to subway and waited while the only employee was busy trying to help customers as fast as she could. I told her that I wanted my sub on the Italian herbs and cheeses bread. She told me that they were out of that bread, so i asked for an alternative kind of bread. They were out of that bread. So I called my wife to ask her what she wanted and we finally settled on plain white bread, much to our disappointment. We continued to order our food as normal, and the employee tried her best to help me out. When we got down to the fresh toppings, I asked for tomatoes, only to find out that there were also no more tomatoes available.

So in the end, I had to wait longer than normal to get my sandwich on my third choice of bread with no tomatoes. By no standards the end of the world, but an annoyance nonetheless, and it seems like this is a problem that you should consider addressing, as I am not a little less inclined to stop by Subway after work. After all, the big draw to subway is the fact that I can get exactly the sandwich that I want at a good price and very quickly. If you start taking away these benefits, you risk losing customers.

My Letter to IHOP

2008-08-06T14:14:00.001-07:00

My wife and I love to eat at IHOP. Delicious food at reasonable prices bring us back for more. Today I went by myself just as a chance to get away and enjoy a good omelet, and good food is exactly what I got. The service from my waitress was unremarkable - neither good, nor bad. Unfortunately, what ruined the entire meal for me and left me with a sour aftertaste is the way that I heard the wait staff treating the kitchen staff.

My table was only separated from where the orders are dropped off my a thin half-wall, and throughout the time that I was there I constantly heard the wait staff (one in particular, though I don't know her name) yelling condescendingly at the kitchen staff. I heard things like, "I said extra crispy bacon, this is extra limp" and "I told you to add strawberries to that pancake, can't you do anything right?" and "I'm still waiting on that order of fries I told you about" and on and on. Now perhaps it is true that the cooks were having a bad day or really weren't good at filling orders properly (though my food was excellent, as usual), but there needs to be a better way to handle situations like this other than getting up attitudes and yelling across the kitchen so that everyone can hear.

As I waited in line at the cashier's station, the cashier was having trouble figuring out which table the customer in front of me was from, and the waitress who had taken care of that customer came up and with a "well duh" attitude pointed it out and brushed off some concern that the cashier had (it was all in restaurant jargon, so I didn't really understand what the problem was) and said, walking away, "she's still really new here. She's only been here a year." That kind of statement, said with a joking smile, would not affect me normally, but today it was just the last straw in a bad experience. Next time I want a good omelet, I will find a Denny's or a Shari's, or maybe if I really feel like IHOP, I'll drive to a different one.

My Letter to BuyingPartners.com

2008-08-05T12:43:00.001-07:00

To Whom It May Concern:

I recently ordered a large number of pens and pen refills from your company. This order was completed late on a Saturday night. Imagine my pleasure when the order was dropped off at my door on Tuesday morning! I was very happy about the speed of delivery.

Unfortunately, when I opened the box, my pleasure turned into disappointment as I saw that the order received did not match the product advertised. I bought from your company instead of the several other companies selling the same product (Papermate Flexgrip Ultra Retractable pens) because you advertised a three-pack of black colored pens where other companies seem to be advertising a three-pack including one black pen, one teal pen and one purple pen. Please see your advertisement at http://www.buyingpartners.com/product.php?prod_id=10199.

Sadly, what I received from you was the set of pens that I did not want. I chose the black colored pens because where I work and where I use my pens I try to dress and appear very conservative and I do not want bright, flashy colors to interfere with my serious job. It might seem somewhat frivolous, but to me it is important nonetheless.

I hope that we can find some way to rectify the situation, as I was duly impressed with your prices and your speed of delivery. The pen refills that you sent are exactly what I expected and work properly so I do not need any replacement or modification regarding that product.

I look forward to hearing back from you regarding this issue.

My letter to Arco

2008-08-04T14:11:00.001-07:00

My gas tank was riding the "E" line today. I have been busy the last several days and hadn't noticed that it was so low. I made a straight line for the nearest gas station that I could find to fill it up. It happened to be an Arco. You probably know that Arco doesn't have a great reputation for quality gasoline, so I wont stress that, but at this point I just wanted to throw a couple of gallons in the tank to stay afloat. I pulled up to the station and opened the tank. I took out my debit card and entered it in the computer.

"Arco will charge a service fee for this transaction" came back the computer's reply.

Well, guess what? There was a 76 station just a mile down the road, and I was willing to risk the distance. They had no problem accepting my business.

I'm afraid Arco is now off the list of gas stations I will shop at.

I hope you enjoy your service charges from those willing to pay them.

The Benefit of Feedback from Customers

2008-08-04T13:58:00.001-07:00

I started this blog to chronicle the feedback I give to businesses after I have particularly good or particularly bad experiences.

I recently e-mailed several establishments after bad experiences and this has prompted me to do so more often.

I work in the service industry as a Nurse in a busy ER, so I understand the importance of good customer service, but even more importantly, I understand the importance of getting feedback about what is going wrong and what is going right.

I hope that with this blog - provided I don't get bored of it - I will be able to write about some of my experiences, what made me want to write to customer service about them, and what kind of response I get.

Stay tuned.