Philly Airport = No Google Free WiFi

Google has announced that they will be offering free WiFi as a gift this holiday season at 47 airports. As you might expect, Philadelphia is not on the list. While I’m not sure of the official reason Philadelphia didn’t make the list, I’d bet it has more to do with PHL than Google.

http://www.freeholidaywifi.com/

Why I hate Chrysler Financial… #2

Here’s an email that I sent to Chrysler Financial this week, in response to their lousy customer service. They must scrape the bottom of the barrel for their customer service representatives these days. No wonder they’re failing (I mean they’re actually failing, as in going under… although they’re failing on a number of other levels too.)
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To whom it may concern,

I would like to express my extreme frustration with your payment collection policies. Recently, it came to my attention that my current bill is past due. Wanting to make payment as quickly as possible, I attempted to log onto your website to submit payment, as I have done in the past. Yet, for several days now, I have been unable to log into my account. Whenever I attempt to do so, I receive the following message:

“We are currently experiencing technical difficulties, please try again at a later time.”

After several days of this, I didn’t want to wait any longer to submit payment. So, I attempted to call and pay by phone. Upon doing so, I was informed that there would be a $12.95 Western Union fee for making payment by phone. What??? I’ll be charged a fee because the website is down??? I called and spoke with several customer service representatives, who informed me that there was no way to waive this fee, and that making payments online and via phone were only “courtesies” and could not be counted on as forms of payment. Incidentally, nowhere on my bill does it insinuate that making a payment online or by phone is a “courtesy.”

So, let me get this straight. It’s supposed to be a courtesy for you to take my payment now??? Wow! Thank you, thank you, Chrysler Financial!!! As a paying customer, this is one of the most insulting things I’ve heard in a long time. And, I would bet that this is something you could find yourselves in a lawsuit over – i.e. offering methods of payment, making those methods unavailable, and then charging customers fees to pay in other ways.

Let me offer you some customer service advice:

1) The customer is always right. You and your condescending customer service representatives seem to have forgotten this golden rule.

2) Customers don’t consider paying their bill a courtesy, regardless of how that payment is made. And, it’s insulting to imply that they should do so, regardless of how much time you spend trying to explain it.

3) If you provide a method of bill payment to your customers, assume that customers will be frustrated when that method suddenly becomes unavailable for a lengthy period of time.

4) Do not charge your customers a fee (I don’t care whether it’s Western Union, it’s still a fee) to pay by phone, when the customer can’t make payment online because the website is down. If the fee legitimately can’t be waived, which I doubt, then credit the customer’s account for the same amount to offset the fee. It’s not the customer’s fault that the website is unavailable. I would assume that you want payment to made as quickly as possible, and this seems like the quickest and most logical option.

5) Consider making changes to your website offline, and leaving the existing website up and running until the new website is ready to go live. This way, your customers can continue to make payments, while you work out the kinks in the new system.

Rest assured, rather than waste my time on more phone calls, only to become more infuriated, I have now mailed my payment. Please note that this will cause my payment to be even later than it would have been, had online payment or no cost telephone payment (due to the online payment system being down) been made available to me.
———-

Here’s the customer friendly email I received in response to my email…
———-
Begin forwarded message:

From: CFassist
Subject: Re: Contact Us@ChryslerFinancial

Thank you for your email to the Chrysler Financial Customer Assistance
Center.

We value your business and want to provide the best service to our
valued customers. Feedback such as yours is important to ensure the
continuing quality of the financial products and services we offer. We
sincerely apologize that your experience did not meet your expectations.

As your dedicated finance partner, we appreciate the opportunity to
serve you. Should you have any questions about this email or your
account in general, please contact our Customer Service Center at (800)
556-8172.

NOTE: Please do not use the ‘Reply’ function of your email. If you have
a need to respond to this, please visit us at our reply form (link
provided below). Our system is NOT able to accept any emails at this
address.

For any future communications related to this email, please refer to the
following information:
TRACKING NUMBER: ———-
REPLY LINK: ———-

Sincerely,

Lisa
Customer Service Specialist
Chrysler Financial
———

Here’s a screenshot of their website, indicating that it’s down….
———-

Why I hate Chrysler Financial… #1

Back in the spring of 2009, my wife called Chrysler Financial to inform them that we did not receive our most recent bill. Because we didn’t receive a bill, we didn’t realize that our payment was due, and were, therefore, a few days late in submitting payment. The customer service representative (and I use the word “service” loosely here) informed her that it was a “courtesy” for Chrysler Financial to mail us a bill, and that we were responsible for keeping track of when our bills are due, and mailing a payment regardless. Nevermind that the bill indicates you must include the stub with your payment. God forbid you submit payment without the stub – who knows what would happen. In any case, my wife indicated to the representative that she doesn’t normally just send out checks unless she’s received a bill. To which, he replied… “Maam, I don’t need any of your smart mouth.” The nerve.

Reborn

Due to extreme frustration lately with the lack of good customer service, this site has been resurrected… with a vengeance.

Why I hate Comcast… #2

I got an email from Comcast, asking me to fill out a survey about a recent customer service encounter.  Most of it was multiple choice, but there was an area to tell them what they can do better.  Here’s what I said…
———-
For many years, I was extremely satisfied with my Comcast services.  Whenever asked for my opinion – Verizon vs. Comcast – I never hesitated to recommended Comcast to everyone.  Lately, however, I’ve been growing more and more dissatisfied with the quality of service Comcast has been providing, and no longer feel comfortable recommending Comcast.

Since this survey deals specifically with my last customer service interaction, I’ll express what dissatisfied me most about this particular “incident.”

About a month ago, I received a letter from Comcast, indicating that my bill was past due. I immediately went to the Comcast website, and submitted payment. 3 – 4 WEEKS later, I received a second letter from Comcast, indicating that my payment method failed, and that I was in danger of having my services suspended. Naturally, I wondered what was wrong, since I HAD submitted payment. After double checking my original receipt email from when I had initially submitted payment to Comcast, I realized that I had made a mistake when entering my bank account number. I inadvertently entered a 3 somewhere, instead of a 4. Now, it took Comcast 3 – 4 weeks to alert me to this problem in a hostile letter. In the meantime, I was charged late fees. Had Comcast notified me immediately, I would have re-submitted payment immediately.  The letter informed me that I was to CALL Comcast, and it provided the number.

So, I called. When I did, after following a lengthy phone tree, I was informed by a voice prompt that I would be billed $4.95 to SPEAK to a customer service representative about my bill.  Not to pay it, just to SPEAK with someone. I was later informed by the customer service representative that the fee only applies when making payment by phone, and that I wouldn’t be charged just to speak to someone. If that’s true, then the voice prompt is quite misleading.

Long story short, I spoke with the customer service representative, and submitted my payment online. I can only assume that it went through successfully this time. I haven’t received my next month’s bill yet, so I cannot confirm whether or not I was billed $4.95 for my call.  I can, however, confirm that I was billed $25 (I think) because my first attempt at payment failed, in addition to a late fee. Thanks, Comcast.

During my phone call with Comcast, I had another concern.  My bill indicated that my next payment was significantly higher than my previous month’s payment. Initially, I assumed this was due to the fees mentioned above.  Sadly, it was not. Apparently, my “promotion” had expired.  Yet, I don’t recall receiving clearly written advance notice of this. The representative on the phone advised me that there was no way to roll me into a new plan, and that the higher fee would be my new monthly payment. Great.

So, let me get this straight.  Comcast doesn’t notify me for 3 – 4 weeks that my payment is past due, thus costing me $25+ in fees.  In addition, Comcast ends my promotion without clearly written prior notice, and bumps my monthly payment up. For the record, I have been a loyal Comcast customer for years.  I currently have 2 Comcast Digital Voice lines, Internet service, and Cable Television service, all with Comcast.  Yet, I don’t feel like a valued customer. Later, I attempted to call Comcast back, to see if there was some mistake, and perhaps I could be rolled into a new plan of some type. Sadly, I was disconnected (or hung up on) by the representative to whom I was connected. I have yet to call back.  I do plan to, but I haven’t had the time yet, as I expect the call will last at least 45 minutes to an hour of my valuable time, for which I cannot send Comcast a bill.
———-

Original Comcast Survey email text…

From: “Comcast Customer Care Team”
Date: September 24, 2009
Subject: Because Comcast Cares – Please Send Us Your Feedback
Reply-To: “Comcast Customer Care Team”

Dear Valued Customer,

Your experience when calling our Call Centers is a top priority for Comcast. We are striving to exceed your expectations and your feedback matters to us. Please help us improve your overall customer experience by taking a few moments to respond to the online survey. We look forward to both your positive and negative feedback as this will help us to reinforce what is working well and fix what is not meeting your expectations.

To start the survey, please click on the link below:

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Thank you for your time and participation. May we suggest that you visit us at http://help.comcast.net where you will find helpful information that many of our customers asked us on a regular basis from self-help trouble shooting steps to enhanced features already included in your services that will enhance your entertainment and communications experience.

We appreciate the opportunity to serve you and truly appreciate your being a Comcast customer.

Sincerely,

Comcast Customer Care Team
4008 N. Dupont Highway
New Castle, DE 19720
Attn: Director of Customer Satisfaction

Copyright 2009. Comcast. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.

If you do not wish to receive e-mails like this in the future, please click here.

Comcast respects your privacy. For a complete description of our privacy policy, please click here.

If you have any questions regarding your services or account, please visit our comprehensive Help section or contact Customer Service.

Pennsylvania State Budget Fiasco

A series of correspondence regarding how the delay in passing the Pennsylvania state budget is affecting the education of children…

Exhibit A: Letter from Archdioceses to Parents

OFFICE OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION
September 17, 2009
Dear Parents and Guardians,

As the state budget crisis remains at a stalemate in Harrisburg, the frustrating legislative process continues to impact our teachers and students in the classroom through the lack of certain educational materials funded by the state.
As you may know, textbooks, workbooks and other educational resources are funded through Pennsylvania’s Act 90/195 Programs established by the state Department of Education for students attending nonpublic and private schools. Although our schools ordered the books/materials this past spring, the state will not release the orders for distribution until the budget is passed. Meanwhile, our teachers and students are being penalized.
The impact has been felt most acutely in the absence of updated textbooks and workbooks purchased each year for use in Mathematics, Science and other core curriculum classes. These are the books sitting in warehouses. This temporary crisis has not hindered our teachers’ ability to provide all of our students with a quality Catholic education. They are focused on the curriculum guidelines and standards that are the hallmark of the excellent academic program in our schools as well as employing creative methods to incorporate the most current resources available for class work. Teachers are preparing materials as well as downloading online resources made available by publishers of our textbooks.
During this difficult time, please know that I am extremely appreciative of your patience and understanding. The Archdiocese continues to speak to our legislators to ensure that our families and students receive equity in funding, especially where it involves resources for their classrooms. We also are concerned about the ultimate budget figure of the Act 90/195 programs, which may be cut substantially and penalize our schools and students unfairly.
I urge you to become involved in this process by contacting Governor Rendell via http://www.governor.state.

pa.us and your State Representative and Senator (www.legis.state.pa.us) by phone and email to express your concerns as a tax-paying parent and constituent and push for a swift and equitable resolution to the budget crisis that is impacting our children.
May God bless you for your understanding, sacrifice and support of Catholic Education.

Sincerely yours,

Superintendent of Schools

Exhibit B: My letter to the Governor. Similar letters were also sent to my local state representatives and my congressman.

Dear Governor Rendell,

As a taxpaying citizen, small business owner, and parent of school-age children in Pennsylvania, I cannot sufficiently express my extreme displeasure that the PA budget has not yet been passed. This is now affecting the education of my children, who attend our local Catholic elementary school. To quote a letter that I received from the Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia:
———-
“As the state budget crisis remains at a stalemate in Harrisburg, the frustrating legislative process continues to impact our teachers and students in the classroom through the lack of certain educational materials funded by the state.”

“As you may know, textbooks, workbooks and other educational resources are funded through Pennsylvania’s Act 90/195 Programs established by the state Department of Education for students attending nonpublic and private schools. Although our schools ordered the books/materials this past spring, the state will not release the orders for distribution until the budget is passed. Meanwhile, our teachers and students are being penalized.”

“The impact has been felt most acutely in the absence of updated textbooks and workbooks purchased each year for use in Mathematics, Science and other core curriculum classes. These are the books sitting in warehouses. This temporary crisis has not hindered our teachers’ ability to provide all of our students with a quality Catholic education. They are focused on the curriculum guidelines and standards that are the hallmark of the excellent academic program in our schools as well as employing creative methods to incorporate the most current resources available for class work. Teachers are preparing materials as well as downloading online resources made available by publishers of our textbooks.”
———-
My wife is a teacher at our kids’ school. At the present time, she has no math textbooks to provide to her students. As a workaround, until the budget is passed, she is hand photo-copying a single book that the publisher was kind enough to provide. This is unacceptable. I urge you to do whatever is necessary to resolve the state’s budget crisis.

Thank you for your time and prompt attention to this matter.

Exhibit C: Response from the Governor’s Office

Thank you for contacting the Office of the Governor. The main reason there is such a heated debate over the budget, is because of the large cuts in funding to education proposed by the Senate. The Governor does not wish to sign a budget that cuts $1 billion in funding for schools. Furthermore, the Governor cannot sign a complete budget until the General Assembly passes one that is balanced. Without a signed budget in place, state funds cannot be released to ANY school in the state (public or private). Please contact your legislative representatives and urge them to pass a budget with adequate funding for education as quickly as possible.
The Governor understands the hardship this is placing on many people, but he does not wish to hastily enact a budget that is so detrimental to the young people of our state. The Governor is dedicated to enacting an adequate budget for the good of Pennsylvania as quickly as possible.
Thank you.

Translation: The governor doesn’t want to take any blame for the budget fiasco. Besides, it’s not like the governor could do anything to try to push the budget forward.

Exhibit D: Response from Congressman’s Office

Thank you for contacting us regarding State budget issues and how they affect your children’s education.

These issues are handled at the State level. Your best bet is to contact your State Representative.

Translation: The congressman doesn’t want to get involved.

Why I hate Comcast… #1

Original Email from Comcast:

From: online.communications@comcast.net
Date: August 4, 2009
Subject: Comcast gets you to the right place online – faster
Reply-To: online.communications@comcast.net

Dear Comcast Customer,

At Comcast, we’re constantly looking to deliver a better high-speed Internet and online search experience. That’s why we’re introducing Domain Helper to help you find the sites you want when you mistype a Web site address in your Web browser.

You’ll notice this service when you mistype a Web site address, like “http://www.comtcas.com” instead of “http://www.comcast.com.” Instead of receiving an error page that the Web site does not exist, this new service will provide you with a Web page of suggestions and links to get you back on track quickly and help you find what you need faster.

We also understand that sometimes customers want to surf their own way, without the assistance of Domain Helper, so we also offer an easy way to opt-out when you receive the suggestion Web page. You can also opt out by visiting the opt-out page now. https://dns-opt-out.comcast.net now)

We hope you find this to be a valuable tool when you need it.

Sincerely,

Comcast

www.comcast.net

This is a service-related email. Comcast will occasionally send you service-related emails to inform you of service upgrades or new benefits to your Comcast High-Speed Internet service.

Copyright 2009. Comcast. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.

Comcast respects your privacy. For a complete description of our privacy policy visit www.comcast.net/privacy.

Comcast
One Comcast Center, 10th Floor
1701 JFK Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19103-2838

———–

My Web Form Submission to Comcast:

I am writing to express my extreme displeasure at Comcast automatically enabling its new “Domain Helper” for my Internet Service, without my permission to enable such a service.  I also find the opt-out process extremely frustrating and way too difficult for the average customer.  I hope that, in the future, Comcast will consider their customers needs first, before implementing features that will impact the daily routines of those customers.

———-
My Posting on a Comcast Website
Add me to the list of frustrated and angry Comcast customers. I don’t appreciate being opted into a service like this without my permission, and without prior notice. Furthermore, while I realize customers can opt-out of this program, the opt-out procedures are less than simple. To recap my opt-out process, I had to: (a) click a link in an email, (b) enter my Comcast email address, (c) go down into the back part of my basement, (d) take my cable modem off the wall, (e) jot down the MAC addresses on the back of the modem, (f) come back to my computer and view a help screen on Comcast’s site to try to identify the appropriate MAC address, (g) enter the MAC address, (h) submit the form, (i) wait for a confirmation email from Comcast, and (j) follow a link in the email to confirm my opt-out. In reality, I’m still stuck at h, as I have not yet received my confirmation email. Thank you, thank you, Comcast, for making it so simple for me to opt-out of a service I never opted-in for in the first place.

———-

Comcast’s Response to My Feedback:

Thank you for contacting Comcast customer care, my name is Crystal. I
would be more than happy to help you resolve this issue. I understand
how frustrating it can be, I will send this issue to the appropriate
department to be dealt with.

I apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced with your (cable
installation, service appointment, billing). I assure you that Comcast
is dedicated to providing quality service and we will diligently work to
resolve all issues in a timely manner.

I have forwarded your message to your local Comcast office for
assistance in resolving this matter. Please be assured we will follow-up
with this Department to ensure your concerns have been addressed and
resolved to your satisfaction.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we address your
concerns.  If you have any more questions feel free to reply to this
e-mail.

To assure the proper tracking of this issue, we have created the
following customer service ticket: XXXXXXXXXX

Please refer to this number should you contact us regarding this same
issue.

Thank you for choosing Comcast. We appreciate your business.

Sincerely,

Crystal
Comcast Online Customer Support

Gotta love it when they actually address your complaint… NOT! I was finally opted out of this “service”, but the process took several days.

Why Sarah in Scottland hates US Airways

Hi, I was sorry to hear of your sage on US Air. We had a similiar
experience although not so bad on Monday. After what I’ve read here, we escaped fairly lightly, just one 24-hour delay and we beat a hotel out of them. Thanks so much for providing the details on the servicemanager (Brown) but the Email bounces back. Would you mind checking it for me or maybe it just comes up odd in the post? I have a reimbursement check there in PHL for my hotel but (surprise!) they weren’t clear on where I had to go to get it and it’s STILL there (allegedly) and I’m back in Scotland. By the way, we also have 2 kids and we also were assigned 4 separate seats on the way from Glasgow to Philly even though we booked months in advance. Yeah, six-year-olds really should sit by themselves for 8 hours? And there are adults who must sit together?

What disturbs me is that this airline is doing well financially. What
is that all about? I will never, ever fly USAir again. I mean, Aeroflot in Soviet times (which I did fly) had better service.

Sarah in Scotland …

Update 07-25-2007
Hi, thanks for your help. I did Email customer services just to say please
mail the refund check to my home address and supplied the address.
Bizarrely, I got sent an Email apology (and I hadn’t even started the
complaining part yet … ) and a $400 voucher. Hmmm. So the sad thing is that I don’t really need a voucher, I just want them to mail me a slip of
paper that is the refund check but I don’t think it’s going to happen.
Thanks for the number — I might just walk away at this point, which is
arguably weak but I can claim the hotel off my travel insurance anyway
(which I always have to carry as I don’t have US health insurance any more because I live in the UK). However, talking to you has certainly restored faith that there are decent human beings out there, so thanks. Sarah

Stupid Blockbuster Telemarketing Call

I just received a telemarketing phone call from Blockbuster. Nevermind that I’m on the do not call list, since I have a Blockbuster card, they’re probably allowed to call me. Anyway, I answer the phone, and hear a recorded voice…

Voice: “Hello, this is Blockbuster calling with important information. If you’d like to be removed from future marketing phone calls, you can press 1 at any time. Although your local Blockbuster store is now closed, you can still get Blockbuster movies online…”

Me: (Pressing 1) “Beep.”

Voice: “Thank you for calling Blockbuster.”

Me: (Thinking) “Huh??? You called me.”

Voice: “Blah, blah, blah… to be removed from future marketing phone calls, press 3…”

Me: (Pressing 3) “Beep.”

Voice: “Please enter your phone number with area code.”

Me: (Thinking) “Again, you called me. Don’t you already know my number?”

Me: (Entering my phone number) “Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.”

Voice: “You entered blah, blah, blah… if this is correct, press the pound key.”

Me: (Pressing #) “Beep.”

Voice: “Thank you, you have been removed from future marketing phone calls.”

Me: (Thinking) “And thank YOU, for wasting my time with your inefficiency and making me jump through hoops to unsubscribe from your stupid telemarketing list.”

For the record: I’ve never once received a telemarketing call from Netflix.

More US Airways Fail

Another brilliant customer “service” idea from US Airways arrived in my email inbox today…

Today, US Airways announced a change to our baggage policy. Beginning May 5, 2008, we’ll charge $25 for a second checked bag. The new fee applies to travel on or after May 5 for tickets purchased on or after February 26, 2008.
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