Showing posts with label fail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fail. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
CNN Money UX Fail
I'm sure many others hate the 1 per page lists that big news sites seem to push, forcing your reading experience into something that takes way too damn long, but this is just absolutely ridiculous:
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Kobo Origins: A Great Community Manager Story + Classic Big Corp. Sucks Story (Don't they always go together?)
So I recently posted the Super Early Review of the Kobo, but I left out the story of how huge of an ordeal it was to get one!
Last Friday I won a contest hosted by the wonderful people at Red Canary! Around noon I DM'd them on twitter to get the details of how I could obtain my new prize! I must have thought for some reason that Trevor Stafford was some sort of Super Octopus to still be able to run as the Red Canary community manager in addition to his already numerous community manager roles and twitter accounts (not to mention he moved to Waterloo from Toronto)...
Turns out it was someone else in Toronto (so it couldn't be as convenient as going to the AC to pick it up!), a wonderful person by the name of Heather Holmes. She worked with me back and forth via twitter, email and phone to try and get me my Kobo as soon as possible as she realized shipping it to me might take awhile. I told her I was close to Chapters Waterloo and so she called to buy one over the phone so I could pick it up in the store. Unfortunately, it turns out you can't buy stuff over the phone with your credit card! #FAIL! Ridiculousness to the max aside, we were running out of options as I didn't want to wait for shipping or drive to Toronto (and Heather didn't want me to wait either!). The next solution was to just send me gift cards online, or e-certificates. So she goes and buys those online for me, told me I'd get 4 as she couldn't just state one price (again, go Chapters, woo!). An hour later I still didn't have them so I followed up to let her know the status, and she called them to find out what was going on. She remained incredibly helpful through the whole experience and went above and beyond what I expected! She calls Chapters and they say it should arrive in the next 6 hours! She's flabbergasted, and I'm shocked as well, but not surprised. You'd think sending an electronic gift certificate would be instant these days, you know with the technology and speed of light thing that most sites take advantage of, but no, not with Chapters, sorry! She apologized and kept in contact with me many times to help get me that Kobo, and I appreciated the dedication!
Nothing arrived that night (I checked my email a lot too!) and now it was the weekend meaning the Chapters monkeys weren't at work. Long weekend too mind you, luckily I was occupied anyways! Heather emailed me Tuesday morning bright and early saying they'd be in by Wednesday morning at the latest and was quite embarrassed for Chapters, and I can't blame her! luckily I got them by 11am, all 4 of em. I did go to research the comments on buyers of e-certificates and most the comments were over a year old, but they were all extremely negative saying it took weeks to get them and ruined everyone's plans, how could they possibly take that long?
So I open my emails to figure out how to use them and it turns out I can only use them to buy from online! I can't use them at a store and they are non-refundable! I also cannot buy online and just pick up from store stock. Great, so now I still have to order the device. I go to order the black one and I get free premium 2-4 day shipping, but it says next to the device (3-5 weeks). Hmm, which will it be? Turns out it was still 3 -5 weeks, and the 2 - 4 day shipping is on top of that, what a fucking pile of shit! Glad I didn't have to pay for premium shipping! Guaranteed arrival date was July 5th, and the current day was May 25th! I was leaving for Kenora on July 6th so if I missed delivery I would have probably missed the 5 day holding period too at the depot! I told Heather about the situation and she was blown away by all of this! She was on the phone with Chapters in a heartbeat and got me some more info. Apparently you can cancel within 50 minutes of ordering online, and then you can actually transfer your e-balance on to a gift card to use in a store! So I call customer service and luckily get in on first ring, no wait time, and had a great person to talk to who asked my story, was very understanding and helped me through the whole thing. She canceled my order with only a minute to go, was a close call, and she asked if I got the order email right as I got it too so I thought I was too late. Here's a funny detail I forgot, as soon as I bought the Kobo online I got an email confirming a purchase, but saying I will get the actual order number and details in 6 hours, so I was kind of flying blind when I called, could only give my email address!
So I finally have the money on my gift card that I luckily had found in my wallet, lest I would have had to go out and buy one, then go home to transfer it, then come back. Heather is excited that it worked and gives me the phone number of my local Chapters to call and make sure they are in stock before I go over there. The online stock said 2 so I wasn't going to call, but I called anyways for some reason as I did have that number conveniently in front of me, and I'm glad I did as I discovered that there was an online stock error! The woman on the phone at Chapters gives her condolences after I tell my whole tale of how I'm trying to get this device that I won and then she goes on and explains to me why it's such a great device and why I'd love it, which I appreciate as it seems the employees are passionate about the thing, but I didn't need to hear it as I was already getting one for sure! Turns out every store in KWC+G were sold out and no one knew when they were shipping or if their store would actually get any more units. They said it would actually be faster to order online as they are still building and shipping them and those people get priority over the stores. Great! I'm back at the July 5th if I still even get that date :S They said call each morning though to double check. So I'm looking all over Southern Ontario and these things are hard to find! I could probably get one if I drove an hour and back, but I didn't want to do that! I look back online and turns out the shipping is 1-2 weeks with a white unit versus 3-5 with the black. So I decided to just keep calling around and maybe taking a trip out somewhere on the weekend to go buy one and do something else at the same time.
The next morning I call all the KWC locations again, leaving Waterloo last, and my luck they actually said they had one white Kobo in stock! I reserved it and went to pick it up. I asked if they got a new shipment in and the cashier said no. I asked why there were none yesterday and how they got this magical one unit; she said someone ordered it to the store, it arrived, but they canceled their order! What luck!!!
So I got a white one, but I think I'm ok with it as it might be cooler in the sun, looks less like an iPad, and I think it would be easier on the eyes then the black one.
Heather was finally able to give the real congrats after that long journey and she was so incredibly helpful the whole way, a very dedicated person who went above and beyond to keep me happy. I can't really complain about the situation as it was a free gift and I tried to keep a humourous take on the whole thing with Heather along the way, giving her an easy out that I could just wait if I had to, but she stuck with it and was invested.
To make a long story short, Chapters has a few (to say the least) user experience issues to deal with (Heather mentioned she'd attempt to follow up personally with their UX team), but I must admit that the Chapters phone support was very good (Heather said her person was very helpful too). The staff I spoke to when calling the stores were also very helpful and took the time to explain how it all worked (manufacturing, shipping, ordering to store, etc.) and to give me the best options for getting a Kobo. The Kobos are selling like Wii-Fits (the new age proverbial hot-cakes) and are damn hard to get!
I have to say that Heather is a great successor to Trevor as the Community Manager for Red Canary and has not only met, but exceeded my expectations of what a good community manager does.
From one community manager to another: Thanks!
Last Friday I won a contest hosted by the wonderful people at Red Canary! Around noon I DM'd them on twitter to get the details of how I could obtain my new prize! I must have thought for some reason that Trevor Stafford was some sort of Super Octopus to still be able to run as the Red Canary community manager in addition to his already numerous community manager roles and twitter accounts (not to mention he moved to Waterloo from Toronto)...
Turns out it was someone else in Toronto (so it couldn't be as convenient as going to the AC to pick it up!), a wonderful person by the name of Heather Holmes. She worked with me back and forth via twitter, email and phone to try and get me my Kobo as soon as possible as she realized shipping it to me might take awhile. I told her I was close to Chapters Waterloo and so she called to buy one over the phone so I could pick it up in the store. Unfortunately, it turns out you can't buy stuff over the phone with your credit card! #FAIL! Ridiculousness to the max aside, we were running out of options as I didn't want to wait for shipping or drive to Toronto (and Heather didn't want me to wait either!). The next solution was to just send me gift cards online, or e-certificates. So she goes and buys those online for me, told me I'd get 4 as she couldn't just state one price (again, go Chapters, woo!). An hour later I still didn't have them so I followed up to let her know the status, and she called them to find out what was going on. She remained incredibly helpful through the whole experience and went above and beyond what I expected! She calls Chapters and they say it should arrive in the next 6 hours! She's flabbergasted, and I'm shocked as well, but not surprised. You'd think sending an electronic gift certificate would be instant these days, you know with the technology and speed of light thing that most sites take advantage of, but no, not with Chapters, sorry! She apologized and kept in contact with me many times to help get me that Kobo, and I appreciated the dedication!
Nothing arrived that night (I checked my email a lot too!) and now it was the weekend meaning the Chapters monkeys weren't at work. Long weekend too mind you, luckily I was occupied anyways! Heather emailed me Tuesday morning bright and early saying they'd be in by Wednesday morning at the latest and was quite embarrassed for Chapters, and I can't blame her! luckily I got them by 11am, all 4 of em. I did go to research the comments on buyers of e-certificates and most the comments were over a year old, but they were all extremely negative saying it took weeks to get them and ruined everyone's plans, how could they possibly take that long?
So I open my emails to figure out how to use them and it turns out I can only use them to buy from online! I can't use them at a store and they are non-refundable! I also cannot buy online and just pick up from store stock. Great, so now I still have to order the device. I go to order the black one and I get free premium 2-4 day shipping, but it says next to the device (3-5 weeks). Hmm, which will it be? Turns out it was still 3 -5 weeks, and the 2 - 4 day shipping is on top of that, what a fucking pile of shit! Glad I didn't have to pay for premium shipping! Guaranteed arrival date was July 5th, and the current day was May 25th! I was leaving for Kenora on July 6th so if I missed delivery I would have probably missed the 5 day holding period too at the depot! I told Heather about the situation and she was blown away by all of this! She was on the phone with Chapters in a heartbeat and got me some more info. Apparently you can cancel within 50 minutes of ordering online, and then you can actually transfer your e-balance on to a gift card to use in a store! So I call customer service and luckily get in on first ring, no wait time, and had a great person to talk to who asked my story, was very understanding and helped me through the whole thing. She canceled my order with only a minute to go, was a close call, and she asked if I got the order email right as I got it too so I thought I was too late. Here's a funny detail I forgot, as soon as I bought the Kobo online I got an email confirming a purchase, but saying I will get the actual order number and details in 6 hours, so I was kind of flying blind when I called, could only give my email address!
So I finally have the money on my gift card that I luckily had found in my wallet, lest I would have had to go out and buy one, then go home to transfer it, then come back. Heather is excited that it worked and gives me the phone number of my local Chapters to call and make sure they are in stock before I go over there. The online stock said 2 so I wasn't going to call, but I called anyways for some reason as I did have that number conveniently in front of me, and I'm glad I did as I discovered that there was an online stock error! The woman on the phone at Chapters gives her condolences after I tell my whole tale of how I'm trying to get this device that I won and then she goes on and explains to me why it's such a great device and why I'd love it, which I appreciate as it seems the employees are passionate about the thing, but I didn't need to hear it as I was already getting one for sure! Turns out every store in KWC+G were sold out and no one knew when they were shipping or if their store would actually get any more units. They said it would actually be faster to order online as they are still building and shipping them and those people get priority over the stores. Great! I'm back at the July 5th if I still even get that date :S They said call each morning though to double check. So I'm looking all over Southern Ontario and these things are hard to find! I could probably get one if I drove an hour and back, but I didn't want to do that! I look back online and turns out the shipping is 1-2 weeks with a white unit versus 3-5 with the black. So I decided to just keep calling around and maybe taking a trip out somewhere on the weekend to go buy one and do something else at the same time.
The next morning I call all the KWC locations again, leaving Waterloo last, and my luck they actually said they had one white Kobo in stock! I reserved it and went to pick it up. I asked if they got a new shipment in and the cashier said no. I asked why there were none yesterday and how they got this magical one unit; she said someone ordered it to the store, it arrived, but they canceled their order! What luck!!!
So I got a white one, but I think I'm ok with it as it might be cooler in the sun, looks less like an iPad, and I think it would be easier on the eyes then the black one.
Heather was finally able to give the real congrats after that long journey and she was so incredibly helpful the whole way, a very dedicated person who went above and beyond to keep me happy. I can't really complain about the situation as it was a free gift and I tried to keep a humourous take on the whole thing with Heather along the way, giving her an easy out that I could just wait if I had to, but she stuck with it and was invested.
To make a long story short, Chapters has a few (to say the least) user experience issues to deal with (Heather mentioned she'd attempt to follow up personally with their UX team), but I must admit that the Chapters phone support was very good (Heather said her person was very helpful too). The staff I spoke to when calling the stores were also very helpful and took the time to explain how it all worked (manufacturing, shipping, ordering to store, etc.) and to give me the best options for getting a Kobo. The Kobos are selling like Wii-Fits (the new age proverbial hot-cakes) and are damn hard to get!
I have to say that Heather is a great successor to Trevor as the Community Manager for Red Canary and has not only met, but exceeded my expectations of what a good community manager does.
From one community manager to another: Thanks!
Monday, November 23, 2009
UPS Can Go To Hell!
So it's a Monday and I still haven't gotten my bundle of $100 worth of business books I've been excited for, and I wonder when it will arrive! I decide I should go check Amazon's site and see what the hold up is, and to my surprise, my books have already been shipped and delivered!
Apparently I am reminded on the Amazon page that I ordered the books on Nov 12th (has it really been that long already?) and they were delivered on the 16th (the Monday after the Thursday of ordering)! It's 9:31am on a foggy November 23rd and I know that no one has come to the door yet. I'm furious because apparently my books were delivered a week ago and nobody was informed of this. Had my books been stolen? Delivered to the wrong address? Maybe my GF signed for them and hid them from me for some sort of surprise.
I start looking around and didn't see a box anywhere, and considering I've asked several times last week upon returning from work, I doubt my GF would have hid them. I then recall something I saw several days ago when coming in the side door, a small box that appeared to have fallen off the top of the recycle bin and in between the cement stair and bin. It was about the same size as a box someone sent me for my birthday on November 4th, and I recalled it having an Amazon logo, but I don't remember ordering or receiving an Amazon gift. As I was on my way in the house, I didn't give it much thought, maybe Sarah ordered something and already recycled the box which blew off the top of our overflowing recycle bin I thought, and then forgot about it.
This morning as I go outside to look, I notice it's grubby as hell, dirty looking, but actually un-opened! Could this box hold all 5 of my books??
I bring it inside, cut it open (most of the papertape was still in tact), and there are my precious new books. They don't appear to be water-damaged or growing mold, some of the books are slightly wavy, but I'm not sure if it's because of the moisture or not yet, it's the only non-hardcover. Eithery way they are damp and I am pissed off ot the max!
So I guess it's now protocol for UPS to deliver a package and if it doesn't fit in the front door where the mailbox is, they won't take it back and leave a slip, they'll go around to the side door and wedge the box nice and hidden like between a giant cement step and a blue box full of cardboard, and lets also push it back towards where the window alcove is, next to other fallen recyclables, that should help hide it even more! And to make this even better, let's not leave a note, a delivery slip, or even send an email telling me my package has been delivered!
I can't even find where to complain on either of Amazon's or UPS's websites, which just pisses me off even more. Big companies love to make people mad, but what they love even more is when people are forced to bottle that rage because they are given no outlet into which we can complain!
I can't fault Amazon too much as they shipped fast and for free, but I wish they wouldn't have picked shitty ass UPS to do the job wrong, and they are the ones who should be reimbursing me!
3 simple words to end this post: Fuck You UPS
Apparently I am reminded on the Amazon page that I ordered the books on Nov 12th (has it really been that long already?) and they were delivered on the 16th (the Monday after the Thursday of ordering)! It's 9:31am on a foggy November 23rd and I know that no one has come to the door yet. I'm furious because apparently my books were delivered a week ago and nobody was informed of this. Had my books been stolen? Delivered to the wrong address? Maybe my GF signed for them and hid them from me for some sort of surprise.
I start looking around and didn't see a box anywhere, and considering I've asked several times last week upon returning from work, I doubt my GF would have hid them. I then recall something I saw several days ago when coming in the side door, a small box that appeared to have fallen off the top of the recycle bin and in between the cement stair and bin. It was about the same size as a box someone sent me for my birthday on November 4th, and I recalled it having an Amazon logo, but I don't remember ordering or receiving an Amazon gift. As I was on my way in the house, I didn't give it much thought, maybe Sarah ordered something and already recycled the box which blew off the top of our overflowing recycle bin I thought, and then forgot about it.
This morning as I go outside to look, I notice it's grubby as hell, dirty looking, but actually un-opened! Could this box hold all 5 of my books??
I bring it inside, cut it open (most of the papertape was still in tact), and there are my precious new books. They don't appear to be water-damaged or growing mold, some of the books are slightly wavy, but I'm not sure if it's because of the moisture or not yet, it's the only non-hardcover. Eithery way they are damp and I am pissed off ot the max!
So I guess it's now protocol for UPS to deliver a package and if it doesn't fit in the front door where the mailbox is, they won't take it back and leave a slip, they'll go around to the side door and wedge the box nice and hidden like between a giant cement step and a blue box full of cardboard, and lets also push it back towards where the window alcove is, next to other fallen recyclables, that should help hide it even more! And to make this even better, let's not leave a note, a delivery slip, or even send an email telling me my package has been delivered!
I can't even find where to complain on either of Amazon's or UPS's websites, which just pisses me off even more. Big companies love to make people mad, but what they love even more is when people are forced to bottle that rage because they are given no outlet into which we can complain!
I can't fault Amazon too much as they shipped fast and for free, but I wish they wouldn't have picked shitty ass UPS to do the job wrong, and they are the ones who should be reimbursing me!
3 simple words to end this post: Fuck You UPS
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Zappos DOES NOT EQUAL A Good Example of Customer Service in Social Media
You know, I'm sick and tired of constantly seeing posts about how Zappos is equivalent to great customer service! It seems like it's the only example out there for social media, but I know it's not!
Zappos sure as hell wasn't great for me in terms of Customer Experience; in fact, I do believe that my experience was far much worse than it would have been if I had never know that they were supposed to be synonymous with customer service!
Several months back I was looking for new shoes and I said hey what the hell, the local FootLocker sucks and seems to be staffed by inept kids that leave you waiting for 25 minutes listening to the worst goddamn mutherfucking music ever made while they try to find if your shoes are at another store or when they'll be in stock. It was so aggravating I said to myself, there has to be an easier way to get my shoes, I know exactly what I want, I get the same pair over and over because they are great!
I check out this Zappos thing people are wild about, although I have no idea how online shoes can be that exciting, at least if you are a guy. I check their site, it seemed nice enough, finding my shoes wasn't tough, and hey they were a good price with free shipping and free returns! Wow, these guys are good I thought, so I go to try to buy, but sorry I live in that far off mystical land of Canada that doesn't exist in the same universe as America, let alone the same continent. I'm pissed and yell FAIL. So I look for an alternative, perhaps they have a Canadian site? If they are so great they must!
Lo and Behold! They do! But hey, is this even the same company? The site looks completely different, like it's made from crap and aimed at people who aren't as important or who don't care about looks for functionality like Americans do. Funny how most sites seem to think that when they expand to Canada...
So I look for my shoes, and boy was that fun. 10 minutes later and after looking through every pair of shoes, I couldn't find my basic pair of New Balance running shoes! And WTF is this? $10 to ship on more expensive shoes then they'd be in the states? and $15 return? It even says they are shipping them from the US!!! If that is the case, why don't they just let me use their beautiful site that is fully stocked and pay for the shipping? Why do I have to pick from a lesser more expensive group and still have to pay for shipping? What kind of Bullshit are they running?!
So Anyways, I complain over Twitter making sure to mention Zappos and showing that I was unhappy (I even used a frowny!), and of course I've heard that over 200 of their employees are monitoring twitter. I expected someone to swoop down to my rescue any minute, or to at least appologize for lack of international service.
Several months later I still haven't heard a peep from them. Good customer service my fucking ass! Maybe if I was born under the American Flag I would have gotten some reception, but for a company that is synonymous with social media and great customer service, at least one fucking person could have said "Sorry, we're still working on our Canadian store", or "how can I help you pay us?". Seriously, WTF, high expectations, incredibly low results, seems pretty sad to me, and not even a reply from a Canadian Zappos employee, if they actually have any, or anyone in Canada. Perhaps I only had one tweet, but with the tools available at the time and 200 employees, someone must have saw my tweet.
I'll never use them as an example of Good customer service, just as one that is bad. Are they good because they offer free shipping and returns? Maybe that's it? Well so does well.ca and I know they are nice people who respond to you on twitter! Perhaps it's their culture? What fucking good does their culture do me if they don't help me (200 employees not helping me)? I really hate to say it, but at this point I believe Rogers (...shudder) does a better job of customer service using Social Media. Take that!
Anyways, I've been meaning to get this rant out for a long time, but seeing a recent tweet about zappos = customer service just got me riled up again.
Zappos sure as hell wasn't great for me in terms of Customer Experience; in fact, I do believe that my experience was far much worse than it would have been if I had never know that they were supposed to be synonymous with customer service!
Several months back I was looking for new shoes and I said hey what the hell, the local FootLocker sucks and seems to be staffed by inept kids that leave you waiting for 25 minutes listening to the worst goddamn mutherfucking music ever made while they try to find if your shoes are at another store or when they'll be in stock. It was so aggravating I said to myself, there has to be an easier way to get my shoes, I know exactly what I want, I get the same pair over and over because they are great!
I check out this Zappos thing people are wild about, although I have no idea how online shoes can be that exciting, at least if you are a guy. I check their site, it seemed nice enough, finding my shoes wasn't tough, and hey they were a good price with free shipping and free returns! Wow, these guys are good I thought, so I go to try to buy, but sorry I live in that far off mystical land of Canada that doesn't exist in the same universe as America, let alone the same continent. I'm pissed and yell FAIL. So I look for an alternative, perhaps they have a Canadian site? If they are so great they must!
Lo and Behold! They do! But hey, is this even the same company? The site looks completely different, like it's made from crap and aimed at people who aren't as important or who don't care about looks for functionality like Americans do. Funny how most sites seem to think that when they expand to Canada...
So I look for my shoes, and boy was that fun. 10 minutes later and after looking through every pair of shoes, I couldn't find my basic pair of New Balance running shoes! And WTF is this? $10 to ship on more expensive shoes then they'd be in the states? and $15 return? It even says they are shipping them from the US!!! If that is the case, why don't they just let me use their beautiful site that is fully stocked and pay for the shipping? Why do I have to pick from a lesser more expensive group and still have to pay for shipping? What kind of Bullshit are they running?!
So Anyways, I complain over Twitter making sure to mention Zappos and showing that I was unhappy (I even used a frowny!), and of course I've heard that over 200 of their employees are monitoring twitter. I expected someone to swoop down to my rescue any minute, or to at least appologize for lack of international service.
Several months later I still haven't heard a peep from them. Good customer service my fucking ass! Maybe if I was born under the American Flag I would have gotten some reception, but for a company that is synonymous with social media and great customer service, at least one fucking person could have said "Sorry, we're still working on our Canadian store", or "how can I help you pay us?". Seriously, WTF, high expectations, incredibly low results, seems pretty sad to me, and not even a reply from a Canadian Zappos employee, if they actually have any, or anyone in Canada. Perhaps I only had one tweet, but with the tools available at the time and 200 employees, someone must have saw my tweet.
I'll never use them as an example of Good customer service, just as one that is bad. Are they good because they offer free shipping and returns? Maybe that's it? Well so does well.ca and I know they are nice people who respond to you on twitter! Perhaps it's their culture? What fucking good does their culture do me if they don't help me (200 employees not helping me)? I really hate to say it, but at this point I believe Rogers (...shudder) does a better job of customer service using Social Media. Take that!
Anyways, I've been meaning to get this rant out for a long time, but seeing a recent tweet about zappos = customer service just got me riled up again.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Privacy Fears from my Bank? Maybe not...
Originally I wrote this as a comment on Larry Borsato's blog here.
I feel a bit better now that despite how much
Wowee! I need one of these! And I have to fill out the back of the pamphlet to order it, I can’t do it online! Just 4 easy payments of $49.99!
I can’t even begin on how wrong on so many levels this is for me! It’s virtually insulting at how stupid they are to waste paper, ink, and my time with this garbage! It’s funny though, in a shock and awe kind of way.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Old but Fun post from Facebook: Kijiji housing adventure, possible Nigerian scam?!
The following is a post about an experience my GF and I had last year while looking for a house. It involves Nigerian Scammers!
My girlfriend and I are looking for a place to live in September and as such I've been sending emails to people on kijiji looking for more info on places that have no picture and poor details...Honestly, do these people not understand how to market their places? this isn't the newspaper where you pay per letter, write me a fucking book and give me a virtual tour!
Anyways, here is a great response I got and the following chain and conclusion:
I send an email asking for an address and pictures, in response I get:
Wow...none of my questions answered, and now this confusing poorly written and spelled email! first off, why does he caps and bold his name and places?! is it furnished, why wouldn't he say that in the ad? This guy is on a fucking CRUSADE?! WHO GOES ON CRUSADES! I thought that is what happened when christians tried to take over the world! Maybe he meant cruise, that is what he must have meant, I look up Nigeria and see it's on the ocean...Wait, Nigeria?! Isn't that where the scams are from? oy, anyways, what is this about me having to pay for maintenance? that is not my duty, that is landlord's duty, and if money is not an issue, then pay someone to do it for you! what the hell? So now this guy is also going to come and check up on the place from New Jersey and Nigeria? for what? and is he going to just come into the place while I live there?! What does it mean to stand ON your word?
So he asks me to talk to his wife Christina, who I hope has better english skills, but apparently a faulty phone? how much are phones? so he gives me his number, which I almost died laughing when I saw it, thinking, WTF IS THIS?! Is this a real number? Looks like way too many digits, but I look up the area code for Nigeria, and sure enough it's a proper length number. Wow I don't feel like calling that long distance.
This all seemed pretty weird and sketchy, so I said fuck it, but then decided later to email back just for fun to the wife. I wrote:
Yes I forgot to mention that this house had a "bonus room". What is that anyways? like an extra bedroom, an extra office, a room I win for taking the house? can't they just say 2bedroom + office or something?
So anyways here is the wife's response:
allllrighty then, not much better for writing...it's almost as if they both went to the same writing school. And MY GOD HE IS ON CRUSADE!!! WTF?! When I hear someone leaves North America to go to an african country to kill innocent people because god told them to, I'm a little worried about this person being my landlord...So none of my questions were answered except for utilities, and wait, if he is on crusade, why did he not have time to just sell house when transferred? Hey guess what everybody? A MAJOR ROAD IS NEARBY! WOO! wtf does that shit mean? you can't tell me even what street it is on? So I google for Extra Foods locations in Kitchener, and the website doesn't list anything near the region, and google didn't turn up anything, so that sure didn't help me figure out which major road. So now I have to pay up to 3 months rent on moving in? I'm pretty sure that is illegal and makes no sense and western union is always sketchy. So it's almost as if they didn't really read what I wrote. You'll notice it says they attached pictures, but the 9 links were of this format:
which tried to sign me into their friggin hotmail, like what is that? did they try to attach the webpage that attaches pictures? This is seriously retarded, so I send one more email to see what is going on:
Response:
Wow, wtf, I didn't say anything but I guess I proved I was honest and clean. I didn't even bother reading the rest of that form, but lots of spelling mistakes and weird stuff at the end. Seriously f'd up. So after writing about this I just did a google search for MR. TERRY ADENIJI and found this:
http://kingston.kijiji.ca/c-housing-house-rental-FRAUDULENT-AD-from-TERRY-ADENIJI-TERRY-JULIET-CHRISTINA-W0QQAdIdZ56036647
which basically states this guy is a scam and this was from kingston! just wow, and I saw that damn 4 copper leaf place in kitchener almost everyday updated on kijiji and craigslist and was like, stop friggin reposting!
He is on facebook, and check out his one friend that is listed:
it's a picture of some spam housing website!!!
Other sites detailing in wayyy more detail about the scam and phone numbers:
http://chicaneryconsscams.blogspot.com/2008/01/scammers-in-your-neighbourhood-from-cdn.html
What a douche.
My girlfriend and I are looking for a place to live in September and as such I've been sending emails to people on kijiji looking for more info on places that have no picture and poor details...Honestly, do these people not understand how to market their places? this isn't the newspaper where you pay per letter, write me a fucking book and give me a virtual tour!
Anyways, here is a great response I got and the following chain and conclusion:
I send an email asking for an address and pictures, in response I get:
Hello,
Thanks for your email and it is my gladness to hearing from you.I am MR TERRY ADENIJI,the owner of the house you are making enquiry of.Actually I resided in the house with my family,such as my wife and my only daugther before and presently we had packed due to my transfer from my working place and now situated in BLOOMFIELD NEW JERSEY USA and presently my house is still available for rent for $1000 per month including the utilities like hydro,washer and security,it is furnised.Moreso Now, i went for a Crusade in the WEST AFRICA (NIGERIA) and i will like you to get in touch with my wife in the state for more discussion as She is with the keys and the document to the house.Pls i want you to note that,i am a kind and honest man and also i spent alot on my property that i want to give you for rent,so i will solicit for your absolute mentenance of this house and want you to treat it as your own,is that taken,it is not the money the main problem but want you
to keep it tidy all the time so that i will be glad to see it neat when i came for a check up.i do that once in a while.I also want you to let me have trust in you as i always stand on my word.
Email my wife Christina on favour.willsterry@hotmail.com and she will attends to you better. and also you can also call me aswell on my phone always so that i can attaend to you because my wife phone is faulty at this time and here is my phone # +2347033440517.
Thanks and you are welcome
Thanks
Wow...none of my questions answered, and now this confusing poorly written and spelled email! first off, why does he caps and bold his name and places?! is it furnished, why wouldn't he say that in the ad? This guy is on a fucking CRUSADE?! WHO GOES ON CRUSADES! I thought that is what happened when christians tried to take over the world! Maybe he meant cruise, that is what he must have meant, I look up Nigeria and see it's on the ocean...Wait, Nigeria?! Isn't that where the scams are from? oy, anyways, what is this about me having to pay for maintenance? that is not my duty, that is landlord's duty, and if money is not an issue, then pay someone to do it for you! what the hell? So now this guy is also going to come and check up on the place from New Jersey and Nigeria? for what? and is he going to just come into the place while I live there?! What does it mean to stand ON your word?
So he asks me to talk to his wife Christina, who I hope has better english skills, but apparently a faulty phone? how much are phones? so he gives me his number, which I almost died laughing when I saw it, thinking, WTF IS THIS?! Is this a real number? Looks like way too many digits, but I look up the area code for Nigeria, and sure enough it's a proper length number. Wow I don't feel like calling that long distance.
This all seemed pretty weird and sketchy, so I said fuck it, but then decided later to email back just for fun to the wife. I wrote:
Hey,
I didn't quite get the questions I was looking for answered.
Where is this house located, like the exact address. Also do you have pictures of those house, and utilities are included? Does the house already have furniture? Would you get billed for any maintenance and problems as you would be out of the country and unable to fix? What is a bonus room?
Yes I forgot to mention that this house had a "bonus room". What is that anyways? like an extra bedroom, an extra office, a room I win for taking the house? can't they just say 2bedroom + office or something?
So anyways here is the wife's response:
Hello ,
Thanks for the email and also Yes,my husband in respect of MR TERRY ADENIJI owned the house and i also want you to know that it was due to my husband transfer that makes us to leave the house and also want to give it out for rent and looking for a resposible person that can take very good care of it as we are not after the money for the rent but want it to be clean at the time and the person that will rent it to take it as if it were its own.So for now,Am here in the State in BLOOMFIELD NEW JERSEY USA our new house and also with the keys of the house,we try to look for an agent that we can give this document before we left but could not see and we are as well as dont want our house to be used any how in our present that is why we took it along to us here and as you know that,my husband over in the WEST AFRICA for a mission of God,so i hope you will promise us to take very good care of the house.So get back to me on how you could take care of our house or perhaps experience you have in renting home.Hope you are okay with the price and its included the ultilities with hydro,heat laundry facilities,air condition and so on. and also the rent is $1000
FEATURES
Our House is very clean and includes all the ultilities and well maintained and the features a excercise facilities in the House i have also
attached the pictures for you to see..
Living Room: 13.2 x 18.6
Dining Room: 11 x 11.6
Kitchen: 9.10 x 7.7
Master Bedroom: 14.11 x 10.2
Bedroom: 12 x 10.2
Rec Room: 28 x 9.10
*marble fireplace/stove,
*internet access
*hardwood foyer,
*stove, fridge, dishwasher,
*washer/dryer connections.
*Private parking for 3 cars,
*Laundry
*Patio / Porch
*Parking, off-street(private)
*Fireplace
*Hardwoods
NEIGHBORHOOD AMENITIES
the House is close to schools, shopping. It is within walking distance of Extra Foods, restaurants, A major road nearby.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Heat, water , internet access and one outside energized parking stall is included in the rent. Dog and Cats are permitted with pending approval of
pet application.
TERM OF PAYMENT
You can rent my house for as long as you want, but as for a start for rent fee , you will deposited 1 TO 3 Months rent charges for your move
IN Start that is if you which, and the payment method is through Western Union Money Transfer by the tenants .
I look forward to hearing from you ASAP so that i can forward you an application to fill out and discuss on how to get the house for
rent,also are you ready to rent it now or when?
I have attached the pics of the house for you to view.
Thanks,
Await your reply.
MRS CHRISTANA ADENIJI
allllrighty then, not much better for writing...it's almost as if they both went to the same writing school. And MY GOD HE IS ON CRUSADE!!! WTF?! When I hear someone leaves North America to go to an african country to kill innocent people because god told them to, I'm a little worried about this person being my landlord...So none of my questions were answered except for utilities, and wait, if he is on crusade, why did he not have time to just sell house when transferred? Hey guess what everybody? A MAJOR ROAD IS NEARBY! WOO! wtf does that shit mean? you can't tell me even what street it is on? So I google for Extra Foods locations in Kitchener, and the website doesn't list anything near the region, and google didn't turn up anything, so that sure didn't help me figure out which major road. So now I have to pay up to 3 months rent on moving in? I'm pretty sure that is illegal and makes no sense and western union is always sketchy. So it's almost as if they didn't really read what I wrote. You'll notice it says they attached pictures, but the 9 links were of this format:
http://bl133w.blu133.mail.live.com/mail/ReadMessageL ight.aspx?Action=ScanAttac hment&AllowUnsafeContentOv erride=False&AttachmentInd ex=0&AttachmentDepth=0&Fol derID=00000000-0000-0000-0 000-000000000003&InboxSort Ascending=False&InboxSortB y=Date&IsMessageSafe=True& MessageCodePage=1252&ReadM essageId=c36e3b4f-8511-453 7-af7b-0a19ba7d0553&n=3387 43599
which tried to sign me into their friggin hotmail, like what is that? did they try to attach the webpage that attaches pictures? This is seriously retarded, so I send one more email to see what is going on:
Hi,
can you give me an address or street and intersection of where the house is? I can't decide if I don't know where the place is located. Also, the pictures didn't attach properly, can you try and resend or upload to a site and send me the link?
Response:
Hello
Thanks for your response, we are very Glad to see your mail and to here that you are an honest clean person and its great . me and my husband have been doing good in the home before we get moved and we need someone that will take it clean and nice always. i have attached the application form for you to fill and every thing can moved on and also i want you to forward a copy of the application to me and my husband as soon as you fill it out via email. and the pictures are attached again and here is the location is 4 Copper Leaf St,Kitchener ON Canada
APPLICATION TO RENT
(Please list above all proposed rental properties you âre interested in applying for)
Occupancy Date Desired:
** PLEASE NOTE THAT INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE PROCESSED! WE REQUIRE A SEPARATE APPLICATION FOR EACH ADULT ** PERSONAL INFORMATION:
Last Name: First Name: Middle Initial:
Date of Birth:
Social Insurance Number:
(optional)
Drivers License or BCID #:
Telephone Number:
Alt. Telephone Number:
The total number of proposed occupants including yourself (please circle one) 1 2 3 4 5 6+
RENTAL HISTORY:
CURRENT Address:
City:
Province:
Move-In Date:
Move-Out Date:
Owner/Manager Name:
Owner/Manager Contact #:
Reason for moving:
PAST Address:
City:
Province:
Move-In Date:
Move-Out Date:
Owner/Manager Name:
Owner/Manager Contact #:
Reason for moving:
PAST Address;
City:
Province:
Move-In Date:
Move-Out Date:
Owner/Manager Name:
Owner/Manager Contact #:
Reason for moving:
EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION:
Job Title: Company Name:
Length of Employment: Supervisor/Mgr. Name:
Employer Address & Contact Information:
PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION:
GENERAL INFORMATION:
Please check off the following:
Do you have water-filled furniture/aquariums? YES_____ NO_____
Do you own a vacuum cleaner? YES _____ NO _____
Do any household members smoke? YES _____ NO _____
Do you own a lawnmower? YES _____ NO _____
Do you have any pets? YES _____ NO _____
If you checked off 'yes' for pets - please list size(s), breed(s), and name(s):
REFERENCES:
?? Name: Phone Number:
Address: Relationship:
?? Name: Phone Number:
Address: Relationship:
?? Name: Phone Number:
Address: Relationship:
I hereby represent that all of the above information is true, accurate and complete, and hereby of the abauthorize verification over items, including but not limited to the obtaining of a credit report/and or recovery of monetary claims, and agree to furnish additional credit references on request.
DATE: ..........................APPLICANT SIGNATURE: .......................... ...
Wow, wtf, I didn't say anything but I guess I proved I was honest and clean. I didn't even bother reading the rest of that form, but lots of spelling mistakes and weird stuff at the end. Seriously f'd up. So after writing about this I just did a google search for MR. TERRY ADENIJI and found this:
http://kingston.kijiji.ca/
which basically states this guy is a scam and this was from kingston! just wow, and I saw that damn 4 copper leaf place in kitchener almost everyday updated on kijiji and craigslist and was like, stop friggin reposting!
He is on facebook, and check out his one friend that is listed:
it's a picture of some spam housing website!!!
Other sites detailing in wayyy more detail about the scam and phone numbers:
http://chicaneryconsscams.
What a douche.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Samsung is the new Sony (and that's bad)
Introducing the story
The following is an account of how my favourite Brand shot me in the back. I imagine what I am feeling is akin to having your hero betray you, and rip away from you all that passion and love you had. What Samsung has done is turned me from a fiercely loyal customer and evangelist into an embittered and disappointed lost soul.
Imagine your favourite brand and how proud you are to own it's products and services. Now imagine that brand betraying you, and how you would feel, how foolish you would think you seemed for spending so much time promoting them to your friends and colleagues; think how you'd feel after spending the extra money to get their offerings over another company's. Think about how you would feel for not even considering an alternative product?
I'm sure we've all dealt with something similar, but it's not often that it's your favourite brand that kicks you in the nuts and tells you they don't care, so that's why I think this foray is only the beginning into my campaign for justice.
The following covers how I built up brand loyalty with Samsung, followed by how my recent interactions with the company brought me to this point. Samsung used social media to try and help me and ended up making things much worse than they already were. I started off having an issue with their products and their false advertising, but what was more troubling was their customer service and lack of care for their loyal customers. I've detailed each communication between myself and their company below for you to understand the hypocritical nature of their actions.
Quick preamble on how I got into Samsung
I used to love Sony, think they were the best and sexiest, they were the peak of cool and good quality electronics, well that is what I thought up until about 9 years ago. I scraped up all my hard earned money to buy a clie, quite an expensive yet nifty little tool that I thought was going to change my life! It would get me organized and moving at a faster pace to be more effective, and at such an early age! But nope, the second day I had it, it broke. In my pocket. With the cover on. While I was just sitting.
That caused the screen to have a giant crack in it, it stopped working right, and boy was I upset! I called out the deathknell to Sony, they would never ever ever have my business again. And for the most part they haven't, apart from a $20 pair of ear buds. Of course, Customer Support didn't help, after a maze of different call lines, and transfers, they said they could send me a box, and I can ship it to them to fix, but it would cost about $275, which was just under the price to replace the whole unit altogether! I told them that it broke with the case on in my pocket, how is that my fault, replace it for free, and they said "No, you probably dropped it and you won't tell us the truth, do you want the box or not".
I wish I could remember more of what happened, but it was long ago now, although I still probably have the letter somewhere that they sent me. I think it was along the lines of, if you don't want it fixed, you can pay us $110 and we'll dispose of it for you. Yes, it was that ridiculous.
Anyways, I don't want to pull up those old scars, but when I went to the tech fair at the University shop, I tore the Sony Booth's representative a new asshole, and my friends were just dying laughing.
Anyways, on to Samsung!
Ever since that day I looked for new cool brands and I found Samsung, had another sexy S name, good looking electronics, high quality and price; it seemed to be the brand to aspire to buy. If you had Samsung, you had the best high quality stuff.
My first flatscreen monitor was my first real Samsung purchase (I think my old cell was a nicel little Samsung flip, but I won it). It was a 19", great stats, more expensive than the rest, but it seemed worth it. I got that probably 5 years ago. I still have that monitor and up until yesterday it was my 2nd monitor. It served me well, although recently I've discovered a few dead pixels and it definitely has suffered some burn-in. I'm hoping that will go away as it is an LCD and I was hoping it shouldn't have that problem, I might have to try a program to try and flash it away or something.
Since then I've bought a Samsung laser printer. A sexy box that was under $100, less than ink cartridges, and it lasted so goddamn long on it's starter toner; I'm still amazed to this day! I just recently bought a replacement toner, which was still cheaper than ink which barely lasted 3 months. And I went through printing out every sample midterm and final (10-20 pages each) for most of my courses for at least SIX University terms! Plus all the other printing for reports and assignments I'd normally do. I'd usually run out of inkjet ink by end of one term after printing samples.
Since then I bought a 22" widescreen Samsung flatscreen, it was great, slim, and sexy; my first black coloured Samsung device. It worked great and I only replaced it this last Christmas when I found that the Samsung 2443BW was on sale and could pivot. My dream was a pivoting monitor so I could code or read long documents. Of course that's when it all started. We got my girlfriend's dad to buy it for us for Xmas, and it was cheap at Future Shop. I fucking HATE Future Shop, they sold me the clie in the first place and wouldn't take it back under the extended warranty crap they sold me. I try to shop there as little as possible, but that's more of another story.
Of course, we get the monitor for Christmas, I open it up and I'm happy, but I'm scared. The box seems too small. I've moved enough times to remember how big my other monitor boxes are, and this one didn't seem like it could hold a Height Adjustable Stand (HAS). We get home, I open it up, and bam, it has the shittiest little tilt stand and that's it!!! The internet told me there was a HAS so you can actually Pivot it, and where are the USB ports?? So I go deep into the Internets to find that there are actually 4 models!! You can only tell the difference by looking at the tiny product code and seeing the last 2 letters. Of course Future Shop sells the shittiest possible model, and Canada Computers just so happens to sell the best one. The other 2 models were one with HAS and USB and one without HAS and with USB. So I search around at other popular big computer stores like NCIX, etc. None of them carry the shitty model at all! It's so hard to find I realize that's why I didn't know it even existed! But leave it to Future Shop to sell you garbage! And then put that garbage back on sale the week after you buy it!
So we had to fork out an extra $100 bucks to cover the extra cost for the real model, which of course also wasn't even in stock for like 2 or 3 weeks. I get it home, set it up, and then later I try to do the pivot. There is when the fun really started.
I started to get dizzy, my eyes went googly, and I started getting a headache. Something was wrong. One side of the screen seemed lighter than the other, and it appears like I was looking at the monitor from the wrong angle, where it gets all dark and sheerish. I'm looking at it exactly straight on too. If I turn it on a huge angle, it appears a bit nicer, but still off, and why would I want it on a huge angle? I tried it for about 20 minutes, but I just felt too sick, I had a headache for the rest of the day, and boy was I pissed! I finally get a Pivoting monitor after 3 years of wanting one, and it doesn't work worth shit. The vertical viewing angle is so bad, that you cannot see the monitor properly looking straight on. I started reading more reviews and yes the bezel bleeds light like nuts, and you see these spots or lines where its just too bright. The monitor just doesn't seem that high quality. I expect quality from Samsung. I expect a product that WORKS.
The little apps were pretty sketchy too, not very updated, and not very well written. So I stick with just using the monitor normally width wise, with my mostly reliable, but now burned in 19" as second monitor.
Now we get to the newest chapter. My dream has been for awhile to have dual 24" monitors like Google has, It would be even greater if I could pivot both of them! I see a newer 24" Samsung from Canada Computers for $300! I was amazed at how they are getting so cheap now, so I think this is a lot newer of a model, it should be able to pivot fine, that's what I want for my second monitor, as they would both be really wide. I can't find many reviews of the monitor, but I wanted it so I just went out and bought it, how bad could it be? It's Samsung!
I take it home, unpack it, it almost seems like it was opened before, no cables in bags except for power cable. Very easy to pull out and setup. It's got a bit of an ugly built in speaker on the bottom, and what appears to be a thicker rim. I line them up and one was set a centimeter higher so I thought they are probably the same, just need to readjust the height. Then my girlfriend comes in and says, I think this monitor is a lot smaller, look at how the screens don't even line up! I look down to see that WTF, this monitor is like 1 inch shorter than my other 24". How the hell did I buy two 24" Samsung screens and get 2 different sized viewing areas? I thought they might put like 23.6 or something like other companies, but even on the websites in the detailed specs, it's hard to tell that the screen sizes are different the way it's worded. The different resolutions was the real giveaway I guess. This monitor is only 1920x1080, which I think is the same as new TVs, and it also has HDMI and 1080P, so I guess that makes sense, but my old 24" does 1920x1280. So great, now I have 2 different sized 24"ers. Oh well, I'm going to Pivot this one anyways!
So I try to install the drivers, and I put the CD in. My drive sounds like it's going to fall apart and crumble, WTF? Did I break it somehow? I pull out the cd, and it looks incredibly warped! WTF IS THAT? I ask my girlfriend to try it in her computer, same deal, horrible sounds. So now I can't install the drivers or apps, luckily I can go to the website to download them though! So I go to the site, and I can only get the drivers, but not the apps, nor could I find any mention or links to these apps! I can't even find a website explaining what MagicScreen is! The icon makes it look like MaxTo, which lets me define areas of the screen to maximize to, but I don't know for sure if that is what it is. I can find the other 3 classic apps by hard googling, or by right clicking on my old magicrotate install and saying open website.
I wonder if I can pivot both monitors using the one install, so I decide to open up the Nvidia control panel, and nicely enough for me, it asks which monitor I want to pivot, so I pick the second one and try to pivot it, but I get an error telling me I'm running a 3D game or program and can't rotate while doing this. So I close everything try again, same error, wtf! So I restart, then close all my startup items and try again...STILL get the error! Can't find the error on Google either! Wonderful!
So anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself, before I even try to rotate it using software, I tried physically Pivoting the monitor, as I want to see how it looks, I mean they must have fixed the problem!....FUCKING HELL! Of course it's EXACTLY THE SAME! Still a horrible view looking straight on, with one side dark. I have to rotate the screen like 45 degrees just to get a mostly clear view of the screen, but it still hurts by eyes and head. Just wonderful. Samsung is great at selling pivoting monitors that aren't actually viewable when pivoted. And I'm not some sort of troll with one side of my face sticking out more than the other, I have nearly perfect vision.
Anyways, I've just turned it normalwise and might try using it for a few days and seeing if I can take it back, but I doubt I can, as Canada Computers isn't too friendly with that sort of thing, but I could argue a warped cd or the pivot doesn't work, but they might try to replace or upgrade me, or just charge me 15% restocking fee. I guess we'll see soon enough.
Either way, I don't know what happened to Samsung, but they went from Sexy and something I would aspire to buy, to disappointing liers who hide information, part numbers, sizes, and don't actually work.
I wouldn't even consider buying any other brand of monitor until now, and I would tell all my friends "go Samsung!" Now those days are over and I need to find a new brand to look up to, or just lower my expectations on all brands.
I was also in the market for a new 50"+ TV, and I was considering Samsung, people even told me just yesterday that they make great LCD TVs. I don't think I agree anymore, and will definitely not be sinking several thousand dollars into them.
Samsung, you lost my loyalty, my recommendations to others, and my respect. Enjoy hanging with Sony and Future Shop in the Pit of Shit Brands.
FULL Update: I've received a response from the US Samsung Twitter account saying they'd like to help, so they will pass my contact info to Canada, but I haven't heard a peep yet from them, so lets see if they really give a shit about losing a very loyal customer.
Well I got a horribly confusing email from an Ahmed that seems to lack full comprehension of english and didn't really seem to sound too concerned. After posting this blog again I then got an email from Sahil, who seemed genuinely concerned and wanted me to call him. I did manage to finally get a hold of him at the end of last week and he agreed to give me 2 brand new better model monitors in exchange, and said he would have Ahmed call me on Monday with several new models I can research to pick out the ones I want. I was satisfied with this, and even a bit excited. I asked to know when Ahmed would call as I would be working and Sahil assured me that he would call between 830 and 1130 Monday morning. Unfortunately for me Sahil was on vacation the next week (which is now when I'm writing this). I clear my schedule, and of course no call comes in.
Naturally I get the call at 3pm while I'm in a meeting, which I found out after reading an email:
So I reply saying where the hell was my call, and what information do you need? Also where are my new models so I can start researching??
Now here is where I get really pissed off, because I was not only promised a call when I could take one, he fucking gives me the exact same models of monitors I already have! This isn't a goddamn warranty exchange, this is a call for satisfaction where promises were made, and I wish that Sahil would have left someone with a stronger sense of customer satisfaction in charge! I'm also not sure why Ahmed's email is at partner.samsung.com vs samsung.com, but that sounds to me that he isn't even in Samsung Proper and doesn't truly give a shit, which I think is obvious. At least his English is improving a bit in every email. The first email I got from his was horrible, and I honestly didn't know he was even connected with Sahil.
The other thing that seemed to be implied or at least not mentioned is the fact that they will want me to ship back both of my monitors, to leave me high and dry with no way of using my computer for what could be weeks, which would be completely unacceptable, causing me to lose time, money and my sanity.
I was calmed down for a bit and looking forward to rebuilding my loyalty thanks to Sahil, but this just pushed me back over the line. I'm more pissed than before!
Newest Update!
It's been 9 days since I've heard anything from Samsung. After my last angry email this is what I got back:
The following is an account of how my favourite Brand shot me in the back. I imagine what I am feeling is akin to having your hero betray you, and rip away from you all that passion and love you had. What Samsung has done is turned me from a fiercely loyal customer and evangelist into an embittered and disappointed lost soul.
Imagine your favourite brand and how proud you are to own it's products and services. Now imagine that brand betraying you, and how you would feel, how foolish you would think you seemed for spending so much time promoting them to your friends and colleagues; think how you'd feel after spending the extra money to get their offerings over another company's. Think about how you would feel for not even considering an alternative product?
I'm sure we've all dealt with something similar, but it's not often that it's your favourite brand that kicks you in the nuts and tells you they don't care, so that's why I think this foray is only the beginning into my campaign for justice.
The following covers how I built up brand loyalty with Samsung, followed by how my recent interactions with the company brought me to this point. Samsung used social media to try and help me and ended up making things much worse than they already were. I started off having an issue with their products and their false advertising, but what was more troubling was their customer service and lack of care for their loyal customers. I've detailed each communication between myself and their company below for you to understand the hypocritical nature of their actions.
Quick preamble on how I got into Samsung
I used to love Sony, think they were the best and sexiest, they were the peak of cool and good quality electronics, well that is what I thought up until about 9 years ago. I scraped up all my hard earned money to buy a clie, quite an expensive yet nifty little tool that I thought was going to change my life! It would get me organized and moving at a faster pace to be more effective, and at such an early age! But nope, the second day I had it, it broke. In my pocket. With the cover on. While I was just sitting.
That caused the screen to have a giant crack in it, it stopped working right, and boy was I upset! I called out the deathknell to Sony, they would never ever ever have my business again. And for the most part they haven't, apart from a $20 pair of ear buds. Of course, Customer Support didn't help, after a maze of different call lines, and transfers, they said they could send me a box, and I can ship it to them to fix, but it would cost about $275, which was just under the price to replace the whole unit altogether! I told them that it broke with the case on in my pocket, how is that my fault, replace it for free, and they said "No, you probably dropped it and you won't tell us the truth, do you want the box or not".
I wish I could remember more of what happened, but it was long ago now, although I still probably have the letter somewhere that they sent me. I think it was along the lines of, if you don't want it fixed, you can pay us $110 and we'll dispose of it for you. Yes, it was that ridiculous.
Anyways, I don't want to pull up those old scars, but when I went to the tech fair at the University shop, I tore the Sony Booth's representative a new asshole, and my friends were just dying laughing.
Anyways, on to Samsung!
Ever since that day I looked for new cool brands and I found Samsung, had another sexy S name, good looking electronics, high quality and price; it seemed to be the brand to aspire to buy. If you had Samsung, you had the best high quality stuff.
My first flatscreen monitor was my first real Samsung purchase (I think my old cell was a nicel little Samsung flip, but I won it). It was a 19", great stats, more expensive than the rest, but it seemed worth it. I got that probably 5 years ago. I still have that monitor and up until yesterday it was my 2nd monitor. It served me well, although recently I've discovered a few dead pixels and it definitely has suffered some burn-in. I'm hoping that will go away as it is an LCD and I was hoping it shouldn't have that problem, I might have to try a program to try and flash it away or something.
Since then I've bought a Samsung laser printer. A sexy box that was under $100, less than ink cartridges, and it lasted so goddamn long on it's starter toner; I'm still amazed to this day! I just recently bought a replacement toner, which was still cheaper than ink which barely lasted 3 months. And I went through printing out every sample midterm and final (10-20 pages each) for most of my courses for at least SIX University terms! Plus all the other printing for reports and assignments I'd normally do. I'd usually run out of inkjet ink by end of one term after printing samples.
Since then I bought a 22" widescreen Samsung flatscreen, it was great, slim, and sexy; my first black coloured Samsung device. It worked great and I only replaced it this last Christmas when I found that the Samsung 2443BW was on sale and could pivot. My dream was a pivoting monitor so I could code or read long documents. Of course that's when it all started. We got my girlfriend's dad to buy it for us for Xmas, and it was cheap at Future Shop. I fucking HATE Future Shop, they sold me the clie in the first place and wouldn't take it back under the extended warranty crap they sold me. I try to shop there as little as possible, but that's more of another story.
Of course, we get the monitor for Christmas, I open it up and I'm happy, but I'm scared. The box seems too small. I've moved enough times to remember how big my other monitor boxes are, and this one didn't seem like it could hold a Height Adjustable Stand (HAS). We get home, I open it up, and bam, it has the shittiest little tilt stand and that's it!!! The internet told me there was a HAS so you can actually Pivot it, and where are the USB ports?? So I go deep into the Internets to find that there are actually 4 models!! You can only tell the difference by looking at the tiny product code and seeing the last 2 letters. Of course Future Shop sells the shittiest possible model, and Canada Computers just so happens to sell the best one. The other 2 models were one with HAS and USB and one without HAS and with USB. So I search around at other popular big computer stores like NCIX, etc. None of them carry the shitty model at all! It's so hard to find I realize that's why I didn't know it even existed! But leave it to Future Shop to sell you garbage! And then put that garbage back on sale the week after you buy it!
So we had to fork out an extra $100 bucks to cover the extra cost for the real model, which of course also wasn't even in stock for like 2 or 3 weeks. I get it home, set it up, and then later I try to do the pivot. There is when the fun really started.
I started to get dizzy, my eyes went googly, and I started getting a headache. Something was wrong. One side of the screen seemed lighter than the other, and it appears like I was looking at the monitor from the wrong angle, where it gets all dark and sheerish. I'm looking at it exactly straight on too. If I turn it on a huge angle, it appears a bit nicer, but still off, and why would I want it on a huge angle? I tried it for about 20 minutes, but I just felt too sick, I had a headache for the rest of the day, and boy was I pissed! I finally get a Pivoting monitor after 3 years of wanting one, and it doesn't work worth shit. The vertical viewing angle is so bad, that you cannot see the monitor properly looking straight on. I started reading more reviews and yes the bezel bleeds light like nuts, and you see these spots or lines where its just too bright. The monitor just doesn't seem that high quality. I expect quality from Samsung. I expect a product that WORKS.
The little apps were pretty sketchy too, not very updated, and not very well written. So I stick with just using the monitor normally width wise, with my mostly reliable, but now burned in 19" as second monitor.
Now we get to the newest chapter. My dream has been for awhile to have dual 24" monitors like Google has, It would be even greater if I could pivot both of them! I see a newer 24" Samsung from Canada Computers for $300! I was amazed at how they are getting so cheap now, so I think this is a lot newer of a model, it should be able to pivot fine, that's what I want for my second monitor, as they would both be really wide. I can't find many reviews of the monitor, but I wanted it so I just went out and bought it, how bad could it be? It's Samsung!
I take it home, unpack it, it almost seems like it was opened before, no cables in bags except for power cable. Very easy to pull out and setup. It's got a bit of an ugly built in speaker on the bottom, and what appears to be a thicker rim. I line them up and one was set a centimeter higher so I thought they are probably the same, just need to readjust the height. Then my girlfriend comes in and says, I think this monitor is a lot smaller, look at how the screens don't even line up! I look down to see that WTF, this monitor is like 1 inch shorter than my other 24". How the hell did I buy two 24" Samsung screens and get 2 different sized viewing areas? I thought they might put like 23.6 or something like other companies, but even on the websites in the detailed specs, it's hard to tell that the screen sizes are different the way it's worded. The different resolutions was the real giveaway I guess. This monitor is only 1920x1080, which I think is the same as new TVs, and it also has HDMI and 1080P, so I guess that makes sense, but my old 24" does 1920x1280. So great, now I have 2 different sized 24"ers. Oh well, I'm going to Pivot this one anyways!
So I try to install the drivers, and I put the CD in. My drive sounds like it's going to fall apart and crumble, WTF? Did I break it somehow? I pull out the cd, and it looks incredibly warped! WTF IS THAT? I ask my girlfriend to try it in her computer, same deal, horrible sounds. So now I can't install the drivers or apps, luckily I can go to the website to download them though! So I go to the site, and I can only get the drivers, but not the apps, nor could I find any mention or links to these apps! I can't even find a website explaining what MagicScreen is! The icon makes it look like MaxTo, which lets me define areas of the screen to maximize to, but I don't know for sure if that is what it is. I can find the other 3 classic apps by hard googling, or by right clicking on my old magicrotate install and saying open website.
I wonder if I can pivot both monitors using the one install, so I decide to open up the Nvidia control panel, and nicely enough for me, it asks which monitor I want to pivot, so I pick the second one and try to pivot it, but I get an error telling me I'm running a 3D game or program and can't rotate while doing this. So I close everything try again, same error, wtf! So I restart, then close all my startup items and try again...STILL get the error! Can't find the error on Google either! Wonderful!
So anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself, before I even try to rotate it using software, I tried physically Pivoting the monitor, as I want to see how it looks, I mean they must have fixed the problem!....FUCKING HELL! Of course it's EXACTLY THE SAME! Still a horrible view looking straight on, with one side dark. I have to rotate the screen like 45 degrees just to get a mostly clear view of the screen, but it still hurts by eyes and head. Just wonderful. Samsung is great at selling pivoting monitors that aren't actually viewable when pivoted. And I'm not some sort of troll with one side of my face sticking out more than the other, I have nearly perfect vision.
Anyways, I've just turned it normalwise and might try using it for a few days and seeing if I can take it back, but I doubt I can, as Canada Computers isn't too friendly with that sort of thing, but I could argue a warped cd or the pivot doesn't work, but they might try to replace or upgrade me, or just charge me 15% restocking fee. I guess we'll see soon enough.
Either way, I don't know what happened to Samsung, but they went from Sexy and something I would aspire to buy, to disappointing liers who hide information, part numbers, sizes, and don't actually work.
I wouldn't even consider buying any other brand of monitor until now, and I would tell all my friends "go Samsung!" Now those days are over and I need to find a new brand to look up to, or just lower my expectations on all brands.
I was also in the market for a new 50"+ TV, and I was considering Samsung, people even told me just yesterday that they make great LCD TVs. I don't think I agree anymore, and will definitely not be sinking several thousand dollars into them.
Samsung, you lost my loyalty, my recommendations to others, and my respect. Enjoy hanging with Sony and Future Shop in the Pit of Shit Brands.
FULL Update: I've received a response from the US Samsung Twitter account saying they'd like to help, so they will pass my contact info to Canada, but I haven't heard a peep yet from them, so lets see if they really give a shit about losing a very loyal customer.
Well I got a horribly confusing email from an Ahmed that seems to lack full comprehension of english and didn't really seem to sound too concerned. After posting this blog again I then got an email from Sahil, who seemed genuinely concerned and wanted me to call him. I did manage to finally get a hold of him at the end of last week and he agreed to give me 2 brand new better model monitors in exchange, and said he would have Ahmed call me on Monday with several new models I can research to pick out the ones I want. I was satisfied with this, and even a bit excited. I asked to know when Ahmed would call as I would be working and Sahil assured me that he would call between 830 and 1130 Monday morning. Unfortunately for me Sahil was on vacation the next week (which is now when I'm writing this). I clear my schedule, and of course no call comes in.
Naturally I get the call at 3pm while I'm in a meeting, which I found out after reading an email:
Hello Mr. Ivan,
Would you please send me the serial number of the below Monitor along with the bill of sale as soon as possible for the exchange process.
We need also your address.
Best Regards
AhmedSo I reply saying where the hell was my call, and what information do you need? Also where are my new models so I can start researching??
Hello Ivan,
I did call you twice this afternoon @ (xxx)xxx.xxxx but couldn’t get hold of you.
The Models are:
- 2443BWHAS
- 2494HM
Per our warranty policy, it is mandatory to produce a proper evidence of purchase for any warranty claim.
Thank you
AhmedNow here is where I get really pissed off, because I was not only promised a call when I could take one, he fucking gives me the exact same models of monitors I already have! This isn't a goddamn warranty exchange, this is a call for satisfaction where promises were made, and I wish that Sahil would have left someone with a stronger sense of customer satisfaction in charge! I'm also not sure why Ahmed's email is at partner.samsung.com vs samsung.com, but that sounds to me that he isn't even in Samsung Proper and doesn't truly give a shit, which I think is obvious. At least his English is improving a bit in every email. The first email I got from his was horrible, and I honestly didn't know he was even connected with Sahil.
The other thing that seemed to be implied or at least not mentioned is the fact that they will want me to ship back both of my monitors, to leave me high and dry with no way of using my computer for what could be weeks, which would be completely unacceptable, causing me to lose time, money and my sanity.
I was calmed down for a bit and looking forward to rebuilding my loyalty thanks to Sahil, but this just pushed me back over the line. I'm more pissed than before!
Newest Update!
It's been 9 days since I've heard anything from Samsung. After my last angry email this is what I got back:
Dear Mr. Ivan,
We apologize for the inconvenience. Please send me the invoice of both monitors for further reviewing your claim.
You can send it by e-mail or by Fax to my attention @ 1.866.436.4617.
Best Regards
Ahmed
Of course I'm still not addressed in the standard Canadian format, I'm Mr. Ivan.
So I get a call this morning while walking between my car and work, it's Ahmed who rambles something along the lines of calling after horrible email, like it was a joke or something, I tell him I'm busy trying to go to work, he says he'll call back in 30 minutes, I said I might be busy I'm just going into work. I'm going to send you those receipts and in that email I'll tell you when you can call me. So I take a bit of time to check out monitors on their website, and let me tell you the Canadian website is unforunately a lot crappier than it's American counterpart, which has more models and lets you choose types, e.g. standard, professional, business. I found that the "profesionnal" models had the 245T, which seemed like a newer better 24" monitor. It had a much better viewing angle rating and also didn't have the mysterious CR > 10 next to vertical viewing angle, which has no definition. I asked both Ahmed and Sahil in the emails what that meant and got no response. Probably means that it doesn't actually work in vertical viewing mode or something to fake the numbers larger. I also give the option of trading both my monitors for a 30" if it was easier.
I told Ahmed and Sahil they could call me back between 1:30 and 5pm. I get the call at 3:30pm from Ahmed. Note that up to this point Sahil still hasn't said anything to me and I know he's been back from vacation for a week now and I know he's seen my nasty reply, and as he was so helpful on the phone I found it incredibly disappointing that he was not fixing the apparent issues.
At the 3:30pm call Ahmed says to me sorry, but we don't have any 245T's available and we have no other replacement units to give you. I'm thinking, What the Fuck buddy? You are goddamn Samsung head office of Canada, you have every friggin monitor, especially since you do warranty exchanges. He says the only thing he can offer me is the two monitors I already have! (Also my 2494HM isn't even on their website, so what the hell) Sahil said to me over the phone that he would get me a list of DIFFERENT monitors that I could choose from! So I tell this to Ahmed, inquisitively and tersely questioning him on all the facts and story, and he says that right before Sahil went on vacation he forwarded him the email and those two models I already own are the only things he can offer me, WTF? He insists that is what Sahil said to him, so what a fucking hypocrite!
Ahmed says the only other option they will offer me is a full refund. I ask him what that means. He says he'll pay me back the amount I paid on the receipt I spent hours searching for, plus taxes. I ask him if he sends me boxes to ship the monitors back in? He says "You don't have boxes??" I say yes, but I'm not paying $50 to ship my monitors back to Mississauga. He eventually says that he will send me labels and I can take to UPS to ship, so it's paid for.
I ask him how long it will take to get my money back, he says that after they receive the monitors they will start the refund process. No shit Sherlock, I ask him how long will it take to get my money back again, he says oh 3 to 5 weeks...worst case worst case, it shouldn't be that long. Yeah like I'm going to go 2 months with no monitors and possibly not even get my money back or have the monitors lost along the way. I'm very annoyed that I have to keep asking him every question over and over to get more details, it's like he can't actually answer any questions!
Now HERE is where it gets even more interesting! I ask him to send me an email with these details so I can think the deal over. He says "Send what?" like he honestly has no idea what I'm talking about. I say "The refund deal you just offered me, send me an email with the details in writing so I can think about it". He says, no I can't do that. I say "Why the hell not?" how am I to know about this if you won't send it to me, I want it in writing. So Ahmed says to me that he was advised by his legal team not to send any emails or anything in writing, verbal only. WTF?! Great legal team! Make sure nothing is documented so you can't get sued or in shit, and also so I can send back $750 worth of equipment and have no guarantee that I will get any money back in return and no record of this happening? This is just fucking wonderful. I say send me the labels and I'll think about using them, since you won't offer me anything else and have already lied to me. He tries to stutter out that he wants me to send him something, I tell him I'll send him my address, I obviously know he needs that. What a crock of fucking bullshit! He tries to tell me to have a very good weekend, I hang up on him.
Serious motherfucking bullshit. Straight out lied to over the phone by Sahil who for a moment made me feel better about Samsung, then he won't communicate back and I totally get screwed!
I send an email back with my address and this one line:
"I do not appreciate being lied to about what will be offered and having only a refund offered, but I will take your shipping stickers and consider your verbal-only offer."
And so later that night I finally hear a peep from Sahil, here is what he has to say, the nerve of him too:
Without Prejudice
Hello Ivan,
Thank you for your reply. We regret that our multiple attempts to rectify this issue have not been satisfactory. Unfortunately the replacement units offered do not fit you requirements and there are no other models available at this time. Therefore as a final attempt to satisfy this issue, we would like to offer a refund out of courtesy so that you may purchase something which suits your needs. Please note that we have gone above and beyond and warranty policies to help satisfy you up to and including our refund offer. We regret that you feel we would lie to you when we have diligently tried to help you. At this point in time our courtesy offer for refund will remain valid until July 17th, 2009 after which will expire. As per the limited warranty statement, manufacturing defects are covered during the warranty period. If your unit does require service, standard warranty procedures will apply.
Regards,
Sahil Mistry
"Without Prejudice"? WTF is that supposed to mean? Multiple attempts my ass, you said you'd do something once, and then went back on it without telling me or replying to me. What replacement units? The ones you didn't offer? The ones I suggested? You were supposed to offer me several models to choose from, but you gave me the exact same ones back. Sorry I guess Samsung Canada only has 2 models of monitors in stock in their plant and head office and they won't suit my needs. My needs being something that isn't garbage and works as advertised. Above and beyond your warranty policies eh? They must be shit, because you didn't really try to help me, and not once did you tell me that this would be strictly going through the warranty process, if I wanted that I would have just sent them back and used the fucking website to figure it out, I'm not calling for a goddamn warranty, I'm calling so I can get what was advertised to work, I'm calling so I can get back my love for your now shitstained brand! Regret my ass about you believing that I think you lied to me, when you blatently did, but oh it was only over the phone so it didn't really happen. I kept asking all the time to get emails but I never did, I wondered why, but I guess that's the real reason. So now they decide to revoke their offer in a week, in which time I probably won't even get the lables in the mail yet, so they are just trying to screw me by stealing my monitors and giving nothing back. Enter final statement probably straight from website about warranty policy, blah blah we don't actually want to help you nor ever did, so this just proves it right here.
Well I almost had hope for returning to a semi-stable relationship with the brand I once so adored, but this is just insulting. Unfortunately their mission statement has nothing about being nice to customers in it, but they are supposed to be a trusted, responsible company, whatever the fuck that means!
False advertising and no service, that is what Samsung is. I probably would have spent another $25,000 -$50,000 on their products in my lifetime, not to mention buy their products for my businesses. They've lost a loyal and ravenous customer. It actually does hurt to have a brand you've loved so much be torn away from you like this, as I still see the logo everywhere, on TV, in live events, and I just think, "Ugh, I used to love these guys and be like YES, Samsung! Now it's just, well there is a fucking lying pile of shit brand parading around". It sucks that I have to find a replacement after I spent so much time not caring what others provided and not liking their brands. It seems to be a common theme amoung big companies, horrible service and not caring for their customers. Well actually that's a theme amoung most companies unfortunately.
I'm pissed that it's come to this, and even more pissed that I was fed false hope by hypocritical employees who don't really give a shit.
Don't buy Samsung, don't trust Samsung, and don't expect any true service, caring, or customer retention from Samsung.
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