I don't feel like I shop a whole lot more than the next girl. I just feel like I get bad customer service a lot more. Now I am not talking about Wal-Mart or Target or other brick and mortar stores. While I have had my share of undesirable experiences in these stores, there seems to be some sort of established grievance process one can go through to achieve desired results. Side note: Target has awful return policies and you should avoid buying anything you think you might have to return there. Seriously.
Back to the main point...I have recently had tons of problems with customer service online. That sentence sounds so simple but represents such complicated, ridiculous issues. I recently read an article in Real Simple magazine (which I love, btw) about evaluating shopping websites. There was tons of great info in the article that sort of seems like common sense but I had never really thought of before. One of their tips was to never make purchases at a website that does not list a customer service phone number, in addition to an e-mail address.
To make a long story short, I disregarded the advice about the phone number on a certain shopping website. I ordered something, it broke immediately and they refuse to return my e-mails. Booooo! And here is the idea I came up with during the restless, insomniac shopping rage (ok maybe rage is a bit strong but still) I experienced in the middle of the night last night.
I am thinking about starting a new blog...yes, another new blog. The Shopping Vigilante. You see, websites like Yelp, Angie's list, etc. include listings on all sorts of stores and services. They have a super broad scope. The Shopping Vigilante (TSV) would focus only on customer service and have an emphasis on online shopping. I thought people could contribute their own stories to me either via e-mail or the comments section of the blog. And then the entires would be searchable and it could become like a database of sorts.
I have a few experiences I can share to start off...but would love to hear your experiences with customer service- both good and bad. I can post them on TSV and the little guys (yeah, that's us) can start to fight back, dang it! 1 part therapy, 1 part revenge, 1 part community service.
So, what do you think? Does it sound like a good idea? Could people use such a resource? Or has my anger taken me to a dark, dark blogging place?
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Death of a Laptop
A little bit of background...
The first laptop I ever had was a hand-me-down from my dad. The year was 2001 but the laptop looked like it was from 1981. At what must have been 15 pounds, it wasn't too terribly portable. After getting made fun of one too many times in class ("Hey Jenna, the 80's called. They want their laptop back."), I had had enough and put the laptop out to pasture (read: sold it on craigslist for about .50 cents).
This made way for my new laptop. It was the top of the line (in 2002) and was a huge improvement from the retro laptop I had been rockin' before that. It served me well for six long years (how many computer years do you think that is...like 300?) before it started to lose it's will to live. Really. For the past six months or so, our laptop would just shut off. I swear it can sense when you are in the middle of a paper you have forgotten to save or about to hit send on that super long e-mail. Then it dies. And it makes this sound right before it shuts down like just to mock you, to let you know that you will lose this info and there is nothing you can do about it. Needless to say, I have a love-hate relationship with this laptop. Turning more to just hate recently.
So, what now? Since we are still recovering financially from the wedding, and will be for a long time, we were torn about what to do next. But, after losing one too many paragraphs from my thesis...I threw in the towel, raised the white flag, yelled a little and gave up. We're already poor...we'll just have to be poorer because we needed a new computer...like yesterday (well, really, six months ago).
As you may or may not know, Keith works at the Apple store on the weekends. He says it is his hobby...that he gets paid for. I miss my husband when he works all 7 days out of the week but he really likes it and, did I mention he gets great discount off computers?!? So, order a new laptop we did. I am currently waiting (very impatiently) for the computer to arrive. Yes!
So, RIP old laptop. We won't miss you.
Do any of you have computer horror stories? Have you ever held on to a piece of technology a bit too long?
The first laptop I ever had was a hand-me-down from my dad. The year was 2001 but the laptop looked like it was from 1981. At what must have been 15 pounds, it wasn't too terribly portable. After getting made fun of one too many times in class ("Hey Jenna, the 80's called. They want their laptop back."), I had had enough and put the laptop out to pasture (read: sold it on craigslist for about .50 cents).
This made way for my new laptop. It was the top of the line (in 2002) and was a huge improvement from the retro laptop I had been rockin' before that. It served me well for six long years (how many computer years do you think that is...like 300?) before it started to lose it's will to live. Really. For the past six months or so, our laptop would just shut off. I swear it can sense when you are in the middle of a paper you have forgotten to save or about to hit send on that super long e-mail. Then it dies. And it makes this sound right before it shuts down like just to mock you, to let you know that you will lose this info and there is nothing you can do about it. Needless to say, I have a love-hate relationship with this laptop. Turning more to just hate recently.
So, what now? Since we are still recovering financially from the wedding, and will be for a long time, we were torn about what to do next. But, after losing one too many paragraphs from my thesis...I threw in the towel, raised the white flag, yelled a little and gave up. We're already poor...we'll just have to be poorer because we needed a new computer...like yesterday (well, really, six months ago).
As you may or may not know, Keith works at the Apple store on the weekends. He says it is his hobby...that he gets paid for. I miss my husband when he works all 7 days out of the week but he really likes it and, did I mention he gets great discount off computers?!? So, order a new laptop we did. I am currently waiting (very impatiently) for the computer to arrive. Yes!
So, RIP old laptop. We won't miss you.
Do any of you have computer horror stories? Have you ever held on to a piece of technology a bit too long?
Friday, July 25, 2008
I've Been Victimized!
Well, that might be a bit dramatic. I did just get a call from a very official sounding guy (I picture him in a suit a la Men in Black) with the office of the Inspector General, a branch of the USPS. He informed me that one of our credit cards (the one we use for our gas) had been intercepted during a criminal investigation! Yikes! So, it goes without saying that I checked our account online to see if there was any fraudulent activity. I have to confess here that I was sort of hoping that there was some fraud involved since our last statement was over $2,500 (yes, we do spend that much on gas) and so if some of that was not authorized...we would get some money back! But, no, the card had not actually been used...just stolen. What's the point of that?
Anyway, that prompted me to think about identity theft. We all hear the fear appeals made in those credit monitoring and related commercials about the perils of identity fraud. And, I have always been sort of curious and interested in getting my credit monitored since I tend to walk on the high anxiety side of life (right, Keith?) but this phone call from the office of the Inspector General pushed me over the edge. I signed us up for LifeLock. I am not sure that their fee is worth what they do but I do know that just signing up for this service made rest a little easier and that is worth it.
So, that begs the question...have any of you ever had your identity/credit card/other info stolen? What do you do to ensure this doesn't happen to you?
Anyway, that prompted me to think about identity theft. We all hear the fear appeals made in those credit monitoring and related commercials about the perils of identity fraud. And, I have always been sort of curious and interested in getting my credit monitored since I tend to walk on the high anxiety side of life (right, Keith?) but this phone call from the office of the Inspector General pushed me over the edge. I signed us up for LifeLock. I am not sure that their fee is worth what they do but I do know that just signing up for this service made rest a little easier and that is worth it.
So, that begs the question...have any of you ever had your identity/credit card/other info stolen? What do you do to ensure this doesn't happen to you?
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Spitzer Tales- Part One
As you may or may not know, Keith and I recently got married. If you know us at all, then that is definitely not news to you. Hey, maybe you were even there. And, if you really know us then you might also know that we (well, really just I) had a sort of informal wedding blog going during the planning process. We loved being able to update our friends and family without sending out mass e-mails and well, I kind of got addicted to blogging in the process. And while addiction was an unintended side effect of the original, now defunct, wedding blog, I just cannot keep from typing about our lives. Thus, Spitzer Tales was born. And with no wedding to plan, the actual content of these musings is yet to be determined. Ah yes, nothing like a blog about nothing. Well, to be fair, it's probably going to be about nothing in particular.
We'll see if we can get this little blog up on it's feet and walking. Hopefully, I actually like blogging and not just the idea of blogging. I am also hoping to get my dear husband in on the action but am not too confident in my ability to make that happen.
I will hopefully be back soon to give some background info on me and Keith and how we ended up married and here in Southern California. But for now, hello, and welcome to Spitzer Tales. Catch you on the flip side.
We'll see if we can get this little blog up on it's feet and walking. Hopefully, I actually like blogging and not just the idea of blogging. I am also hoping to get my dear husband in on the action but am not too confident in my ability to make that happen.
I will hopefully be back soon to give some background info on me and Keith and how we ended up married and here in Southern California. But for now, hello, and welcome to Spitzer Tales. Catch you on the flip side.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
