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

[alkira6]

I'm on the verge of never shopping at an online store again.  I've been buying soap and lotion products from a place called Bulk Apothecary, and for the most part it's been okay.  They have decent prices on stuff, and they've pretty much always had what I need.  However, they just revamped their website, and now have a feature that's driving me crazy.  If I go to the website, sign in, and add things to my shopping cart but don't check out, I get daily emails urging me to come finish shopping.  I've even gotten twice daily emails a few times!  Meanwhile, I'm waiting until they get a product back in stock so I can order everything at the same time, and not have to pay extra shipping for one item!  If I can't figure how to make the emails stop, I will probably stop using their website.  I can understand one email, in case you got distracted and forgot what you were doing, but daily emails?  Not cool.

Amazon did that to me once and I joked to my DH that they were stalking me. I used to like that I could add things to my "cart" that I was pretty sure I wanted, research them a bit more, and purchase when I was ready. Now I put things on my wish list, which is fine, but that would annoy the heck out of me on a site without the WL option. 

Go back to Bulk Apothecary, sign in to your account, look for "e-mail options" and unclick reminders.  It may have changed, this worked a couple of weeks ago. also "savings 10" is their current coupon code.

[LadyClaire]

My sister had a pretty bad experience with Dell after a laptop she bought arrived dead. Customer service kept giving her the run around, and weeks passed with no resolution. She ended up sending an e-mail blast to every higher up she could find the address for, including the president, CEO, and a few other corporate people. Suddenly customer service was able to help and her laptop was replaced within days.

[Kaora]

I got a good laugh today.  Our family just got a piece of mail for a lawsuit against eMachines, from 1997.  We never got that computer running long enough to see the floppy drive fail, it was out of the box, failed boot, and back to the store.

Our Grandpa had a Dell tower, which is why I don't like them.  It was cheaply made, not just the parts like the floppy drive (which also failed here), but the major components, I.E. motherboard and RAM, looked to have been fairly offbrand, and the case was flimsy.  Meh, I'd just save up and get a nigh invincible Thinkpad, if it were me, but.

[jedikaiti]

Dell computers.
I bought a brand new computer in early January. My previous computer's screen got accidentally smashed during an earthquake, and I use my computer for school, so it was very important to me to get a working computer as soon as possible. A week later, I open the package and plug the computer in, and it doesn't work. I'm not talking doesn't boot correctly, or doesn't have windows on it, I'm talking about it making a hideous beeping and grinding noise and then shutting itself off. To make a very long and irritating story shorter, six phone calls over two and a half weeks, probably 10 to 12 hours on the phone, and several outright lies about repairing my defective computer later (including the repair shop lying to Dell that they had talked to me, which believe me they hadn't), I gave up. For the final call, I told them that the options were to replace my computer or to give me a refund. They replaced it, three weeks after I got the defective computer.
I cannot imagine what they do to people who are able to turn their computers on before they stop working. I cannot imagine what they do to people who have software problems. All I know is that the simplest of problems, that of a obviously defective computer that had never turned on was such a hideous ordeal of customer service hell that I have vowed to never buy another Dell. And told my friends and family what their customer service is actually like, hoping that they won't either.

A friend of mine used to work for Dell in one of their tech support call centers. The horror stories he told me convinced me to never buy from that company. He genuinely tried to help his customers, but the company's rules made that difficult.

I wonder if things will improve if Michael Dell's buyback bid succeeds.

Oddly enough, Dell is my FAVORITE computer brand - because I've always gotten great service from them. I had one computer, long ago, that arrived with dead speakers. They sent me new speakers before they sent me a return shipping label for the dead ones.

My previous laptop was one of their giant XPS gamer machines, purchased through my university, and I got the 4-year extended warranty. I usually don't, but repairs on a laptop are a pain. That thing was AWESOME for 3 years, then started falling apart. They kept having to send a tech out to repair or replace bits and pieces, and finally just decided to replace it. If only I'd been able to afford to extend the warranty on the replacement machine...

The last non-Dell machine I had was an HP that developed a bizarre display issue (white pixels on the screen liked to appear blue, or blue in a pinstripe pattern) that was never actually diagnosed despite being shipped to the repair center several times - on one occasion they booted it and left it running for 3 weeks and never observed the problem. As soon as I got it back and turned it on, it was blue. Then, as I was re-formatting the HD fo the 2nd time and reinstalling the OS before getting rid of it, the power supply died. Totally. No power, no way, no how. I sold it for parts or repair on e-bay.

[Kaora]

With the HP, the dead pixels maybe were related to the dying power supply.  We got an absolute lemon of a fruity iMac (remember when they first came out?  Technically, it was Blueberry! )

It ate through four or so different power supplies before Apple just offered to replace it.  We still shop with them, because that was a one off, but...

Only once did it try catching on fire! 

[Kaora]

We'd stop shopping there if we could, but...

FedEx has delivered another package beyond reasonably damaged.  I've taken plenty of pictures of the damage, so maybe I could post a few a bit later, but...

It looks like it was used as a ball in the World Cup!

Which is horrible, because it has a cellphone in it...

Extra points if the package clearly says "Do not load or deliver if damaged - lithium ion battery"?

I'm beyond upset, my mum has gotten a driver to come back and pick it up.  The guy refused to stop when we tried to flag him down (and he had another drop off on our very small, enclosed block, so it's not like he had the excuse of not seeing us run down a sidewalk flailing our arms!)

This is absolutely Deity's forbid awful service.

[VorFemme]

I still remember UPS trying to drop off a printer with a hole in the top of the box that went thru the box - big rectangular donut.  I tossed them into Tech Tales.....forklift damage, UPS got to pay for the repairs.

[MissRose]

One of my friends had constant problems with her Dell, so she went with another brand.

I prefer to buy my parts and have my desktop custom built to my specs and without the extra software that is often installed.  That is a benefit of working at an ISP, many people know how to build and/or repair computers.

[ladyknight1]

I haven't bought a desktop in 15 years. We build a new one every few years for gaming and donate the old one.

Laptops, however, I don't think I would build. 

[Cami]

Our latest "never shopping there again" was with a travel agent. I'd sworn off travel agents after one had screwed up a trip to Disney years ago and done all of our trip planning myself.  We have been lucky enough to have been given a cash gift and have been trying to book a trip to Europe as a milestone wedding anniversary present. Because this trip involves multiple foreign countries and I am incredibly busy right now, we wanted help with a particular detail. You'd think in this economy, that a TA would be jumping to take our money.

Apparently not.

I met with TA in person and gave her our requirements and told her we wanted to book within 10 days. Our requirements are fairly simple except for one detail and aside from that one detail, I could do it all myself. But I am busy, hence the desire to have a TA take over. I GAVE her the flights and so on that we wanted -- essentially did 90% of the work for her. I was very clear and in fact, handed her a written sheet of information and our questions. I also asked if handling that detail was a problem. She insisted it was no problem at all for her and "that's what a travel agent is for -- to take care of messy details like this!" She said she'd get back to me the next day. She got back to me with the barest of information... which was included in the information I'd GIVEN HER and did not include anything about the detail of importance. I responded to her via email laying out our requirements once again and reiterating our questions about that one detail. Two days later, she got back to me with a smidge more information, but nothing even remotely close enough to make ANY decisions. I reiterate the requirements AGAIN. She responds back asking for my birthdate. Nothing else. That was a week ago. I emailed her first thing this morning asking for an update as our 10 day deadline has now passed. Still haven't heard from her.

In the meantime, I'd contacted another TA and asked them to help with that one detail. TWO, count 'em, two travel agents from the agency responded asap, but... didn't respond to my specific question. I told them, "I do not need to know the generalities, I need to know the specifics of this detail. Can you help me?" They said they'd get back to me. That was five days ago.

No wonder travel agencies are failing.

I guess I will figure out this detail on my own.

[Snooks]

I guess I will figure out this detail on my own.

You could ask eHell, people here are pretty clever when it comes to all sorts of things.

My never shopping there isn't so much a company as one person I will not deal with again at our bank.  He'd already messed up my savings account a couple of years ago but I went in to do something I'd been led to believe was a fairly quick switch "How bad can it be?" I thought to myself.  Every question I asked he directed the answer at DH, he tried to put incorrect information in our application telling us "it doesn't really matter", then he tried to get DH to sign a document which had some clauses which didn't make any sense "Just cross that bit out" he said, he didn't look too happy when I asked him to initial where he'd crossed out and give us a copy.  He's clearly of the opinion that women don't know what's going on because he put DH as the main name on the account which had he asked we would have told him not to do because I deal with it all.  He's going to get a heck of a shock when he finds out that silly woman who asked all those pesky questions has lodged a complaint against him for mis-selling us a product (I suspect to get his commission).

[ica171]

It's a free service, so I'm sure they'll be hurting from my loss, but...

Next year I will be using a different tax preparation service. I always use the TaxAct online free version. We have very simple taxes; we have one W-2 and a student loan deduction, plus three kids. It took me less than half an hour to do them. I filed last Saturday and it was accepted Monday. I didn't get a message from TaxAct like I have in the past, but I found out on the IRS website's "where's my refund?" section. I told DH, "that felt like it was way too easy. I'm expecting problems."

We checked the IRS's website daily; after a few days it said "return received." OK, now we wait for it to go to "return accepted" and after that is "refund issued." Our return is pretty straightforward, so hey, maybe we'll get it as early as February 12!

It sat at "return received" for a few days, then it started saying that the information we'd entered returned no matching records. It stayed that way for three or four days and we decided we should call the IRS. Today when DH got home from work he called. The guy looked into it and found that there had been an error on our return. One part of it was supposed to be X, but it had been entered as X+$95. The return had been pulled out and was being corrected. OK, fine. It didn't affect the end date we would get the return, it would just be $95 less. The reason I blame TaxAct is that they automatically figured that amount and they figured it wrong. Plus--and this one might be on the IRS--I didn't get a message from them saying that the IRS had had an issue with my return. I've gotten messages like that before using TaxAct. When DH and I were first married I put my married name on the return, but didn't remember I hadn't changed it at the Social Security office. TaxAct sent a message telling me that I needed to fix it, I did, it was fine.

Also, this year I noticed a lot more pushiness on the paid federal filing service and on the paid state return service. State returns cost $15 each to fill out and file, and our refunds are fairly small. We usually have to pay in to one state and get roughly an equal return from the other, and I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself for free. In previous years it would say "do you want to fill out the state returns? This will cost $XX." Then you could say no and it would move on. This year it just started telling me I needed to fill out the state return with no mention of cost and no "skip this return" option, then gave me a bunch of "there are errors in your state return!" messages when I clicked on the federal checks button to skip ahead to the federal filing. I've also received two emails telling me to come finish my state returns, even though I chose the "I do not want to fill out my state return" option.

I've used TaxAct for several years now, but I don't like that they screwed up looking up an amount from a table. Since it's a fully automated process I can't really figure out how they messed it up, but I know I'll be looking for another filing service next year.

[iridaceae]

Our latest "never shopping there again" was with a travel agent. I'd sworn off travel agents after one had screwed up a trip to Disney years ago and done all of our trip planning myself.  We have been lucky enough to have been given a cash gift and have been trying to book a trip to Europe as a milestone wedding anniversary present. Because this trip involves multiple foreign countries and I am incredibly busy right now, we wanted help with a particular detail. You'd think in this economy, that a TA would be jumping to take our mone

No wonder travel agencies are failing.

I guess I will figure out this detail on my own.

If you are American and belong try AAA; their travel agents tend to be quite good. Dad really likes the one he uses.

[LadyClaire]

I guess I will figure out this detail on my own.

You could ask eHell, people here are pretty clever when it comes to all sorts of things.

My never shopping there isn't so much a company as one person I will not deal with again at our bank.  He'd already messed up my savings account a couple of years ago but I went in to do something I'd been led to believe was a fairly quick switch "How bad can it be?" I thought to myself.  Every question I asked he directed the answer at DH, he tried to put incorrect information in our application telling us "it doesn't really matter", then he tried to get DH to sign a document which had some clauses which didn't make any sense "Just cross that bit out" he said, he didn't look too happy when I asked him to initial where he'd crossed out and give us a copy.  He's clearly of the opinion that women don't know what's going on because he put DH as the main name on the account which had he asked we would have told him not to do because I deal with it all.  He's going to get a heck of a shock when he finds out that silly woman who asked all those pesky questions has lodged a complaint against him for mis-selling us a product (I suspect to get his commission).

I once had a bank branch manager tell me to have my Dad call him about what to do with the money in my savings acount (a little over $11k). I'd saved that money for a car and wanted to transfer it over to my checking account since I was going to go buy the car later in the week. I was also 25 years old, the account was in my name only, and that money was entirely my own..every penny had come from my job. No contribution from my parents, and besides that, my father was so bad with money that I wouldn't trust him with $5, let alone $11k. The bank manager was arguing that I needed to leave the $11k in the bank and finance the car entirely through them.

A pity for him that I was also a secret shopper for that bank. I wrote a very negative report about my experience. The next time I went in, he was no longer employed there.

[RegionMom]

The travel agent story reminded me of the last time I used an agent--DH received a travel voucher/coupon for a work anniversary, that had to include airfare, and be booked by this one company.

before calling the agent, I researched and chose the city and even the flights and possible tours we wanted, and with combined deals, had a nice combo package.  All I needed was a hotel with breakfast provided in a nearby location to selected events.

Well, the agent claimed that her flight deals were better, with the same airline, but her prices were higher and her times were worse.  (kids were at camp so had limited time)  She claimed she could not get package deals.

I finally got her permission to book everything myself, I did all the work, but because of the company voucher deal that I had to "use it or lose it", she still got a decent "cut" and received payment for nothing.

And since she was basically the owner, no one I could report to. 

DH no longer works for the company that gives away anniversary vouchers, but I heard similar tales from a friend who received the same voucher from the same company.  She did not take the time to do her own research, and afterwards found that the family spent about 2k to "use" their 1k voucher.  yikes!

With my on-line shopping and deals, we almost pennied out to 1k.  And had a great time without the kids! 

Admittedly, the friend took her whole family on a longer trip, further away...but I am sure she could have saved more doing her own work.

I, too, will avoid travel agents in the future.


As for banks, there are many many reasons I really like my credit union.
For one, both my teens have accounts there, and they have always been treated with respect.