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

[siamesecat2965]

I would quit my bank if it wasn't such a hassle  .

The Thursday before Labor Day (so about Aug. 29), I called to report my debit card missing and probably eaten by an ATM.   I assumed someone was ordering a new one ASAP.  I know it takes 10-14 business days to get the new one, so I didn't ask again until I hadn't received the card by Sept. 16. 

They had no record of my call, nor of ordering me one.

This time I was speaking with someone from my own branch, not corporate, so I assumed all was well and asked them to expedite the new card. 

Today, Sept. 23, a week later, I happen to be in the branch and ask about the new card.  I knew it hasn't been 7 days even, but they could track it.

They had no record of my call, nor of ordering me a new one!  And this was with the person I spoke to standing right there  .

So here we go again.  I had them order the new one while I stood there.  We'll see if it comes in 7-14 business days (no, they wouldn't hustle it).

At least I can cash checks, and this has forced me to go on an all-cash budget, which is a good thing.  So I'm actually more amused than cross by now.

I had this happen to me at my credit union.  Luckily, they charge a $5 new card fee, so when I didn't see it after a couple of days I called back.

My credit union will give you a new card right then and there. 10 min wait, maximum.

[Emmy]

I won't order off of Macy's.com again.  They promise easy returns.  If the return I had was easy, I'd hate to see a difficult one.

I ordered a king sized bed sheet on sale from Macy's website and they sent me a California king (different dimensions).  So now I have this sheet I have to return which is a hassle because there isn't a Macy's close to me and I have a 2 year old and a newborn.  Today I decided to return the sheet since I had a doctor's appointment in the general direction of the Macy's.  To make a long story short, it took 20 minutes to do an exchange.  That would be bad enough if I was just wasting my time, but entertaining a 2 year old for 20 minutes while standing in one spot is challenge.

[Piratelvr1121]

Oooh, you have my sympathies.  Mine isn't 2 yet but he's awfully close and is starting to act like one!

[siamesecat2965]

I won't order off of Macy's.com again.  They promise easy returns.  If the return I had was easy, I'd hate to see a difficult one.

I ordered a king sized bed sheet on sale from Macy's website and they sent me a California king (different dimensions).  So now I have this sheet I have to return which is a hassle because there isn't a Macy's close to me and I have a 2 year old and a newborn.  Today I decided to return the sheet since I had a doctor's appointment in the general direction of the Macy's.  To make a long story short, it took 20 minutes to do an exchange.  That would be bad enough if I was just wasting my time, but entertaining a 2 year old for 20 minutes while standing in one spot is challenge.

Oh that stinks. I have a couple near me, and have never had issues returning stuff I ordered online.

[jedikaiti]

Now see I love DirectTV.  It's comcast I can't stand

I, too, had a great experience with DirectTV, back when we lived in a town where satellite TV was our only option. They also bundled with Qwest, which was our only landline phone option, and as the down did not have a cell tower, there was no cell service.

Actually, both Qwest and DTV were great - after our 1-year promos were over, they found us new promos to keep our bills down. When Qwest got bought by CenturyLink (after we'd moved and had other options for service), we had TERRIBLE service. We'd already cancelled DTV as we couldn't put a dish on our house. We used VOIP phone service with Qwest, which CL decided to discontinue - fair enough. So I call to get us switched back to a land line, and get some doofus who tells me they can't port our number, we have to get a new one.

Multiple phone calls, our old number still working even after we were theoretically switched to a new number, untold hours on hold, and a few weeks later, and we were finally on a landline with our old phone number.

After that I switched all our services to Comcast. They've been so much better to deal with!

[o_gal]

Actually, both Qwest and DTV were great

Qwest was actually one of the worst offenders with slamming - they paid a $1.5 million fine to the FCC and another big one to one of the states.

They slammed our second phone line, which we only used for dial-up service back in the 90's. It took us months to figure out, since the way that AT&T wrote our bill, it looked like it was on the main line and every time they checked, everything was fine and they'd cancel out the Qwest charges. Until one day when we needed to test the second line, made a voice call on it, and that showed up on the bill as coming from Qwest. Who then adamantly denied that they had slammed us. We switched it back to AT&T and put a change hold block on it.

[LadyClaire]

My Laurel made a salmon pink houppelande for a knight once. She asked if he was sure he wanted pink, and he pointed out it wasn't candy cotton pink, it was a manly pink.
And yes, whenever I hear parents worrying about their sons wanting to have Disney Princess stuff, I always think, 'Make him a PRINCE costume, for pity's sake! He wants the shiny, slippery, plushy fabrics, he doesn't REALLY want to be Belle.' 

My 1 year old nephew is obsessed with lush fabric. He was over at my house one day and got his hands on a beaded, sequined silk chiffon half-jacket I have that has black satin ribbon ties. He wrapped it around himself and was petting the fabric and cooing over the ribbon. He also goes nuts for a silk velvet jacket I have, and a particularly plush fleece pullover that my husband has. The little guy will just sit by soft, silky fabrics and stroke them and babble to himself.

[ladyknight1]

Get that boy a velvet waistcoat, stat!

[Lorelei_Evil]

Agreed.  Velvet Prince costume for Halloween, stat!

[Hillia]

DS loved dramatic clothing when he was young - Cruella deVil in her fur coats was his role model!  When he was about 6, I made him a cape, long enough to trail behind him, out of blue velour.  He wore it everywhere he could (I nixed school) and loved stomping up and down dramatically to make it swirl and fan out behind him.

At 20, he's a major fashionista and is very careful about his 'look'.  He doesn't wear the cape any more, though. 

[LadyClaire]

Get that boy a velvet waistcoat, stat!

I was going to make him a quilt out of scraps of lush fabric. Right after Halloween is like the perfect time to raid the fabric remnants at the craft stores, because everyone has been buying the fancy fabrics for their costumes.

[heartmug]

Get that boy a velvet waistcoat, stat!

I was going to make him a quilt out of scraps of lush fabric. Right after Halloween is like the perfect time to raid the fabric remnants at the craft stores, because everyone has been buying the fancy fabrics for their costumes.

What a great idea!

[ladyknight1]

I will have to get some velvet to make evening bags then too.

[baglady]

Ah, the phone company.

In the early/mid-1980s, when I lived in NYC with roommates, our phone was shut off for nonpayment. Thing is, I had mailed a check -- it got lost in the mail, although it was only going across town.

I stopped payment on the check, went across town, paid the bill in person, with cash, and got our service restored. Several weeks later, I got a bill for a bounced check surcharge. Lost-in-the-mail check had finally arrived at its destination, but because I'd stopped payment, it bounced, and I was on the hook for the fee.

I was reminded of Lily Tomlin's telephone operator routine from the '60s: "We don't care. We don't have to. We're The Phone Company."

Thirty years later, I am very happy to have a choice of Phone Companies. And email, so I don't have to use the phone as much as I used to!

[StarDrifter]

mmmm lush fabrics. Baby Wolverine loves the velvety side of her bunny lovie.

back on topic.

At this rate there will only be two baby clothing stores (out of about twenty) in this town that anyone in my mothers' group will go to - because apparently the places that sell baby clothes don't want people with babies going in there.

As a mums' group we met up on Tuesday in the park at the centre of town. I had Wolvie in her Baby Bjorn, two other mums had similar carriers, and the other three had their prams. We had lunch, fed the babies (all between 5 and 6 months old) then went for a walk towards the shops.

First baby shop we went to - doorway was too narrow for any of the prams to get through. Okay, onwards!

Second - the woman who was manning the counter watched us all with such a hairy eyeball that we hightailed it out of there within two minutes - and she practically chased us out, waving a can of Glen 20 (Lysol, I think, in the States? antibacterial aerosol spray) and sprayed everything we'd touched BEFORE WE'D CLEARED THE SHOP!

We figure maybe these two are anomalies. So we go into a third baby shop - a couple of blocks away.

The two ladies at the register are talking to each other while folding tops, so we browse and look and one other mum found a top she liked, but only in size 000 - she took it to the counter and asked if they had any bigger sizes.
Cue a snotty look and 'I don't think so, and it's twenty dollars, a bit out of your price range."
All six of us, who had been talking to each other and had very obviously come in together, looked at her and as one dropped what we'd been looking at (I'd been considering a $80 sleeping bag, and one other mum put down at least $250 worth of bottles and linens) and left the store.

And then we all got home afterwards and talked about these experiences on Facebook.

Funnily enough, the only decent shop we went into all day was Target - the staff in the baby section were *wonderful* and even pointed out a tear-off-coupon that gave each of us 25% off what we were buying.