"I'm never shopping THERE again!" Share your story!

[oogyda]

So, the fruit has arrived.  It is fresh and of good quality, but the flavor has been tainted by the lack of service. 

And the two phone calls from the delivery person asking how to get to our place.   

[Kariachi]

And the two phone calls from the delivery person asking how to get to our place.   

At least he called.

We get that problem too, nobody knows where we live. We once had to wait an extra hour while my dad talked the delivery boy from a pizzeria fifteen minutes away through the directions. He'd had to go back to the restaurant after failing to find us.

He also had driven by our house three times times in his attempt to find us.

My sister has had to stand in the yard waving her purse so her friends can find us.

The only person that knows where we are is the delivery girl for a local restaurant with crappy food. 

[Captain Hastings]

eBay! Rawr!!

I don't actually consider it polite when a CSR gives me misinformation, or says something totally contrary to what is actually true, script or not, and no matter HOW they say it.

That's a good point--it IS rude--but I consider it rude on behalf of eBay, not on the CSR. I can't justify dinging her any more than I could, say, a cashier at a retail store for not letting me return an item in a way that violates that store's return policies, even if my wanting to return the item was perfectly reasonable.

I suppose I could have escalated it, asked for a supervisor, etc., but I held out in the hope that the seller would take care of it, and fortunately they did.

[Dindrane]

I'm about ready to say I don't want to shop at Everyday Minerals anymore.  I'm not there yet, because I do still really like their products (and I actually buy most of my makeup there so it would be a pain to replace so many products), but they have been seriously frustrating to shop from for months now.

They've raised their prices, made it difficult to impossible to get samples of most of their products (even if you're willing to pay), discontinue products without actually saying anything, and just in general are uncommunicative and can be kind of snippy.  I wrote them an email back in January to provide them with some feedback about their business model and product packaging (because both were making it very frustrating to get the products I wanted), and they didn't even answer me until I wrote them another email a month later.  They don't even have an actual email address listed on their "Contact Us" page -- just a stupid form that has a pretty low character limit.  It doesn't help that the form has a drop-down for the subject of your communication, and while they list "love letters," there is nothing about providing other types of feedback.

At this point, I'm basically paying a lot more money for the same darned products, packaged in ways that make them harder to use.  I can't get samples of the majority of the products that I would otherwise want to try out, which means that I pretty much won't be looking to buy anything from them that I don't already use.  And since they like to discontinue products randomly and without warning, they might just eventually discontinue their way out of my custom.

I just don't understand how a company that does all of its business online (and through the mail) can think it is sustainable to change their product lines as often as they do without, you know, telling people about it.  They have a "news" page that doesn't talk about their product line hardly at all, and I feel like I should be able to find information about what the heck they're doing without having to sign up for a newsletter (which, if they just email what's on their news page, would amount to signing up for spam).  And making it harder or impossible to get samples of products is just plain ridiculous.  Who buys makeup without getting to at least see it in person?  And since the cost of their products is now slightly higher than drugstore, who spends that much without being able to test it out a little?

It would be so easy for them to make the mail-order thing a huge bonus, too.  Getting to try out samples (even if I have to pay a little for them) in my own house and in my daily routine is a much better way to gauge how they look than a quick sample on the back of my hand or a quick application under store-lights.

The whole thing is just frustrating, and it makes me wish I could find a viable alternative.  I've already stopped purchasing products that I haven't used before, because I don't have the money to toss after products that have a decent chance of looking awful on me.  If they keep discontinuing all of my go-tos, they might just discontinue their way out of my custom.

[jayhawk]

Dindrane, i like www.mineralhygenics.com. google for a coupn code if you order.

[blueyzca01]

Here's another person who will never fly Delta again. .....


redacted

My older sister used to work for Delta...she's the one who taught me that Delta stands for Don't Ever Leave The Airport.

[MNdragonlady]

And the two phone calls from the delivery person asking how to get to our place.   

At least he called.

We get that problem too, nobody knows where we live. We once had to wait an extra hour while my dad talked the delivery boy from a pizzeria fifteen minutes away through the directions. He'd had to go back to the restaurant after failing to find us.

He also had driven by our house three times times in his attempt to find us.

My sister has had to stand in the yard waving her purse so her friends can find us.

The only person that knows where we are is the delivery girl for a local restaurant with crappy food. 

This type of thing is why we never ordered again from the Domino's Pizza in our first apartment. DH and I moved in with just the two of us to get stuff in (no real furniture, thankfully), and so had wrangled some help from some teenagers in the building that had a free afternoon. I ordered pizza to feed them as a thank you. We waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, after 45 minutes I called the place. The driver couldn't find us and had returned to the store.

Really, can't find the 300 unit apartment building surrounding the lake at the end of the main road in a town of 6000 households?  He could have driven all the way around town in about 15 minutes, that's how small the place is.

I remember trying to get some kind of discount for all the trouble, but I don't remember what happened. Pretty sure I made them make us fresh pizzas, though. I know that we never ordered from them again. Thankfully Pizza Hut could find us without difficulty.

[AllyKat]

And the two phone calls from the delivery person asking how to get to our place.   

At least he called.

We get that problem too, nobody knows where we live. We once had to wait an extra hour while my dad talked the delivery boy from a pizzeria fifteen minutes away through the directions. He'd had to go back to the restaurant after failing to find us.

He also had driven by our house three times times in his attempt to find us.

My sister has had to stand in the yard waving her purse so her friends can find us.

The only person that knows where we are is the delivery girl for a local restaurant with crappy food. 

This type of thing is why we never ordered again from the Domino's Pizza in our first apartment. DH and I moved in with just the two of us to get stuff in (no real furniture, thankfully), and so had wrangled some help from some teenagers in the building that had a free afternoon. I ordered pizza to feed them as a thank you. We waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, after 45 minutes I called the place. The driver couldn't find us and had returned to the store.

Really, can't find the 300 unit apartment building surrounding the lake at the end of the main road in a town of 6000 households?  He could have driven all the way around town in about 15 minutes, that's how small the place is.

I remember trying to get some kind of discount for all the trouble, but I don't remember what happened. Pretty sure I made them make us fresh pizzas, though. I know that we never ordered from them again. Thankfully Pizza Hut could find us without difficulty.

I got this when I lived in residence while at university. In first year we ordered from Dominos, who had left flyers on all our doors. The person who took the order didn't know where the campus was. Over the five years I was there we only had two drivers who didn't have to call us to find campus. You know, the giant piece of land full of hungry students who eat pizza for every other meal?

In my third year one of the drivers called from campus asking where our building was. It was pretty much around the corner from where he was, but he wanted us to walk over to him. He didn't get a tip.

[Namárië]

Ah, I am reminded of why my SO and I no longer order from Domino's. We were exhausted one night and ordered delivery. After waiting nearly two hours, the driver finally got kind of close to where we live. He was on the phone on and off with my SO, trying to figure out where our house was.

He kept arguing that there was no #32 on our street... Eventually we figured out that the driver was on Green LANE instead of Green AVE. Which would be an understandable mistake, if it weren't for the fact that you had to go *on* Green Ave to *get* to Green Lane (a tiny little side street that is barely noticable, I have no idea why he went there). When the driver finally listened to my SO and drove down the street, he screamed at my SO for giving the wrong address. My SO asked for the paper showing the address... and it was quite clearly correct. It was so awful. We did report the guy, but it really turned us off from getting Domino's ever again.

[Wulfie]

Ah, I am reminded of why my SO and I no longer order from Domino's. We were exhausted one night and ordered delivery. After waiting nearly two hours, the driver finally got kind of close to where we live. He was on the phone on and off with my SO, trying to figure out where our house was.

He kept arguing that there was no #32 on our street... Eventually we figured out that the driver was on Green LANE instead of Green AVE. Which would be an understandable mistake, if it weren't for the fact that you had to go *on* Green Ave to *get* to Green Lane (a tiny little side street that is barely noticable, I have no idea why he went there). When the driver finally listened to my SO and drove down the street, he screamed at my SO for giving the wrong address. My SO asked for the paper showing the address... and it was quite clearly correct. It was so awful. We did report the guy, but it really turned us off from getting Domino's ever again.

That is the same reason that I stopped ordering from them. We live on 4th Ave SW, There is also a 4th Ave S. Both streets are about 1/4 mile from each other on the same major cross street. The driver called because we did not answer the door. I asked if he was at the 4th Ave with the light or not as I was standing at the front door and he was not on our porch. He said the one without the light. I explained that he was at the wrong 4th Ave. He needed to go to 4th Ave SW. He hung up and I assumed that he was coming to our street so I waited at the door.  After about 15 minutes I called the store as I did not see him and he was not answering his cell phone.  I was told that the driver attempted delivery but we were not home.  It did not matter how many times I tried to explain that we WERE home but the driver went to the wrong 4th Ave and they confirmed that they had 4th Ave SW on the delivery slip, they would not redeliver the pizza and threatened to charge my credit card.

[CakeBeret]

There was a Chinese place near my house that had, hands down, the best takeout in the city. None of the workers spoke more than 20 words of English. They did offer delivery, though I had my doubts about their ability to do so.

I was at work one day and was told to order Chinese delivery from this place. We'd had carryout from there before, but that day the bosses wanted food delivered. I was really very doubtful, but I placed the order.

It is important to note that my workplace, as we joke, is inside a black hole. GPS navigators can't find us. Some maps don't show our road. To get there, you have to go past a landmark, take an unmarked turnoff, turn onto an unmarked road, and turn into an unmarked building. (All the "unmarked" stuff is ridiculous, FWIW, but nobody listens to me )

So I call and place the order, and I pay by credit card. They do not speak enough English to take my CC number. The order-taker hands the phone to someone who speaks clear English. I strongly suspected that she asked some random customer who happened to be there for help. I go ahead and give them the CC number. (We have a corporate CC and the fraud department is fantastic. If the CC number was stolen, it wouldn't be a huge deal, so I went ahead and took the risk.)

About 45 minutes after placing the order, I get a call from a hardware store about 6 miles away. The hardware store clerk says "I have a delivery driver here who says he's looking for your business, and he's lost." I give the hardware store clerk directions, and he relays them to the driver.

Another 40 minutes later, I get a call from the gas station less than a mile from us. The same story--the delivery driver is there seeking directions. Success! It's very easy to find our place from the gas station. I give the clerk directions.

Half an hour later, I get a call from the hardware store clerk again. How did the driver end up back there?! I apologize to the clerk for the inconvenience, give directions again, and thank him profusely for his help.

Just shy of an hour later, I get a call from the restaurant. The delivery driver as returned, unable to locate us. They will refund our money, and we will not get any delicious Chinese food.

We did actually keep going to that Chinese place (like I said, the food was fantastic), but they went out of business several months later. I was unsurprised, but highly disappointed. Their food was SO GOOD, and we've never found another place that could compare.

[Snooks]

No-one can ever find out house because you can't see the front door from the road.  What drives me insane is that we live in a development of flats that all have their own front doors, one on the front of the building, one on the back.  You drive down the road past 5 or 6 blocks which you can clearly see two doors on, you see the drivers looking at both sets of doors then they get to our block and just turn around.  Thankfully the chinese takeaway delivery driver knows where we are   Pizza people can never find us, I once had the guy give the phone to a random passerby so I could give him directions, despite me saying I can see you just turn around and keep walking he couldn't figure it out.

[LadyJaneinMD]

No-one can ever find out house because you can't see the front door from the road.  What drives me insane is that we live in a development of flats that all have their own front doors, one on the front of the building, one on the back.  You drive down the road past 5 or 6 blocks which you can clearly see two doors on, you see the drivers looking at both sets of doors then they get to our block and just turn around.  Thankfully the chinese takeaway delivery driver knows where we are   Pizza people can never find us, I once had the guy give the phone to a random passerby so I could give him directions, despite me saying I can see you just turn around and keep walking he couldn't figure it out.

I had the opposite problem.  I used to live in an apartment complex, and MY apartment was Right Up Front - you could see it from the main road.  But, no matter how many times I explained this to the restaurant(s), every delivery person apparently headed deep into the complex, then complained that they couldn't find my building.  I told them over and over, "If you can't see the main road, then you've gone too far"

[weeblewobble]

I'm on page 102, but one of the stories there made me remember this from the Lexus dealer located in Reno.

I was in the market for a new car, and I really loved this Lexus sedan...the IS convertible. DH and I discussed it ahead of time, we could make it work with our budget, and he wanted to buy me that car because I never ask for anything and my current car was over 10 years old at the time.

Important note for later on in the story: I am in my 40's.

We arrived at the dealership. Not a soul was shopping there. We meet with a saleswoman. She asks me what I'm interested in. I tell her I want to test drive the IS convertible. She refuses to let me. She tries to steer me over to the Lexus SUV as more suitable for me. I tell her I'm not interested in the SUV and I would like to test drive the IS convertible, please. She stops, looks me up and down and tells me she will not let me test drive the car but she would let me sit in it for a minute. When we ask her why she will not let me test drive the car, she tells us that the target demographic for that car is people in their 20's and I'm clearly "outside" of that demographic.

I was FURIOUS. We left the dealership. To this day, I will not consider a Lexus of any type because of this woman's behavior.

So... let me get this straight? A car with a $50K price tag for a base model is being marketed to people in their 20's... who probably cannot afford to buy it. But I'm older and can afford it, and am therefore, not allowed to buy the car because I'm TOO OLD???  Oh sorry about that, I guess my money spends differently than someone in their 20's.

Yeah, I understand why no one was shopping at that dealership. I wonder if they are still in business.

So did you buy the car somewhere else? 

(I would have driven the new Lexus by the dealership just so I could wave at the twit.)

[weeblewobble]

The horrible car salesman story reminds me of one that happened to a lady my husband works with. She had purchased a car from 'dealership' and it arrived off the delivery trailer with several small marks on the door and one on the hood. When she complained the salesman said (warning: put down all sharp implements, swallow drinks before reading) "Why do you care? You're a chick, you'll just have more dings on this thing in no time!"

She refused to accept delivery of the car until all the marks were fixed. She complained about the salesman, but I don't know what (if anything) was ever done about him.

My husband thinks we should warn salespeople before we walk into a computer/techno-toy store that if they ignore me in favor of talking to DH that the following will occur:

1) DH will not be able to ask one intelligent question because he doesn't understand anything technical.  I'm lucky he can operate the toaster.

2) I will picture sea monsters feasting on the salesman's cuticles

3) I - the person who operates and maintains said electronics and you know, MAKES THE PURCHASING DECISIONS - will take our business elsewhere.

Seriously, I've tried shopping without him, but that means I'm either ignored by the sales staff as they huddle in a corner and chat about WOW or when I finally flag someone down, and name the exact model that I have researched to fit our needs, the salesman tries to steer me towards something more expensive.  I once had a salesman redirect me to a model than was $300 more because "This one's purple!"

And to this day, I refuse to walk back into that "Optimum Purchase" location.