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Consumer Complaints: None at Home Depot!

Tracy Coenen — 2008-05-08T11:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Shopping, Consumer Complaints

I'm a firm believer in using the power of the internet to keep retailers and service providers honest. And I think consumers owe it to each other to report those companies that provide poor or dishonest service to their customers. But it's equally important to let the world know what you've have a great experience. Let's reward the good companies with our business!

How do I love Home Depot? Let me count the ways... I cannot remember ever going into a Home Depot and getting anything less than superb customer service. Even when they've been very busy and clearly shorthanded, I was still treated with kindness and the sales people made sure I had everything I needed (without feeling rushed).

Chalk up one more gold star for Home Depot this week. Over the weekend I found a cool refrigerator for my office. I don't need a full size refrigerator, but I wanted something a little more substantial than the typical "dorm room" model compact refrigerator. The only problem with this medium-sized refrigerator that I found at Home Depot? It doesn't fit in my car.That's where the Home Depot delivery service comes in. $59 seemed a little steep for an item that doesn't weigh much and is only dropped off "curbside." But it seemed to be the best option. So I paid and scheduled a delivery day and time, and I waited. And waited. And waited. The delivery truck never showed up.

I called the store and was directed to the manager, who offered to have the item personally delivered immediately. Or at any other time that was convenient for me. Are you kidding me? I can basically pick the time to have it delivered??? And that's not all. For my troubles, the delivery fee will be refunded in full (without me even asking!). Now that, my friends, is customer service.

Have you been cheated, scammed, or otherwise disappointed by a company? WalletPop wants your real life consumer complaints and scam stories Email us with your story...

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

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On-hold music gives way to marketing pitches

Tom Barlow — 2008-05-07T08:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Technology, Consumer Complaints

Mexicans working in the U.S. no longer have to wait in boredom while their phone calls home from New York connect. Companies like VoodooDox (owned by Disney and others) are selling advertising to fill those idle seconds.

Unfortunately, the marketing seems to work. According to Advertising Age, 12% or more of the time callers respond to the whispered pitches for products such as money wiring (callers are prompted to press "1" if they want more info on the product advertised). Among the clients that use the service are radio stations, to torment callers waiting on the line to win free tickets to a concert.

I lump this together with spam, telemarketing and door-to-door solicting as types of marketing for which we can only blame ourselves. These would disappear overnight if we simply didn't respond. If we do respond to this new ad type, guess what? On-hold times will just increase, more time to wring a buck from our wallets.

So, if you find yourself being pitched in this way while on hold, do us all a favor and stick your hand in your pocket.

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Green light to the highest bidder?

Tom Barlow — 2008-04-24T12:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Transportation, Consumer Complaints

The hard thing about writing comedy is that it all too often loses its punch by becoming reality. A few weeks ago, I joked that governments could make money by running real-time auctions among cars approaching an intersection, the highest bidder getting the green light.

In the current issue of Forbes is an article about a new technology being installed in Calgary's city bus fleet that allows those buses to trigger approaching lights to green. The result is public transportation that moves more quickly through city traffic than individual vehicles, saving the system a huge amount of fuel (2,000 gallons per bus per year) and a similar reduction in CO2 emissions.

Calgary is only the latest of 98 cities that have installed these 'signal preemption' systems, totaling 30,000 plus intersections. The transmitters were originally designed for emergency responders. The original systems, using infrared, were soon hacked, allowing those with a hacked unit to sail through town without stopping. Encoding has, at the moment, kept the new systems free from interlopers.

The system, as you might expect, is also used some places for personal privilege. In Dubai, for example it allows the ruling family to motor about without the nuisance of red lights.

The article did not explore the cost of fuel burned and gasses emitted by private motorists cooling their heels at red lights while the public transportation overrides one light sequence after another.

The auction idea? Today's comedy, tomorrow's budget-balancing stroke of genius.

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Consumer Complaints: If you want to stop paying us, you have to pay us

Tracy Coenen — 2008-04-23T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Ripoffs and Scams, Consumer Complaints

Today, after many months of procrastinating, I finally called AT&T to tell them to take their "long distance service" off my home phone line. I don't even use the line, much less the long distance. So the idea of paying an additional $5 a month for something that doesn't cost AT&T anything to make available to me, and for something I don't ever use, is just silly.

Of course, it took me many months to get around to making this phone call. (Imagine them collecting $5 a month from hundreds of thousands of customers just like me, who just ignore the issue.) I know, I know. It's my fault for being too lazy to call them. It's just that it's always so painful to call AT&T...

So I call customer service, go through several menus, and end up speaking to a live person. He tells me he's happy to remove the $5 per month charge for the long distance I don't use, if I just pay a $9 fee. Huh? I have to pay you if I want to stop paying you?
Of course! That's the way it works with so many service providers these days. I think phone companies, wireless carriers, and cable providers are some of the worst. There is a fee for everything including blowing your nose, and if you try to stop the fees, you have a pay another fee for the privilege of not paying the fees.

I told him three times that I wasn't interested in paying his $9 fee for removing a service I never use and never should have been charged for in the first place. After the third time, he finally told me that the way around the $9 fee was for him to assign an outside long-distance carrier to my account. So long as I had some long distance service associated with my account, there wouldn't be the $9 fee to take off AT&T's long distance.

Sigh. Why must we play these games? He assured me that he could assign a long distance carrier that wouldn't charge me any fees at all, so long as I never use the service. Fine. Do it. But why, oh why, must the phone company make it so hard?

Have you been cheated, scammed, or otherwise disappointed by a company? WalletPop wants your real life consumer complaints and scam stories Email us with your story...

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

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Ripped off at the golf shop?

Zac Bissonnette — 2008-04-18T15:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Consumer Complaints

Here's a pretty convoluted story I found on the GolfWrx.com message board. Basically, this guy went to Golf Galaxy and purchased a club for $60 and then received this phone call: "The sonartec club you purchased 2 weeks ago shouldn't have been for sale. It was an employee's club getting serviced or something. Would you do a big favor and bring it back in? I would appreciate it very much and we will take care of you!"

So this good Samaritan drives 60 miles to return it, and is offered a $100 used driver as a trade. Not satisfied, he asked to be upgraded to a $250 driver and was told that he couldn't have it. He ended up settling for some golf balls because he didn't want the driver he was offered.

So here's the question: did he get ripped off?

I don't think so. The store offered him a $100 club in exchange for the $60 one, which seems reasonable. But if the customer really wanted the $250 driver, he should have fought harder for it. He had the guy's club! Here's what I would have said:

Clerk: "Sorry but the $100 club is the best we can do.

Customer: "I understand that but I did pay for this club and drive 60 miles to return it to you, even though I had no obligation to do so. I just don't think that the driver I want is too much to ask. I'm just not satisfied with the club you're offering, and so I think I'm going to just keep what I originally paid for. I'm going to leave now. Here's my cell phone number. Call me if you want to trade me the club I want."

And then I would have left with the original club, gambling that I'd be receiving a phone call within a few minutes of leaving. The employee probably wanted his club back.

Of course, hardball tactics like this would probably not be worth it if it's a store you frequent. But if your goal is to get the club you want for the price you want, I think it's your best bet.

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Reunion.com spamming your address book without your permission

Tracy Coenen — 2008-04-17T12:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Ripoffs and Scams, Consumer Complaints

I recently received a message from Reunion.com that looked like it was from a former employee who was searching for me on the site. Weird. Why would she look for me on a site targeted toward high school classmates? We grew up a country apart from each other.

Then I heard about the mess on a message board I frequent, and now the LA Times is writing about it... Reunion.com has found a sneaky way to email everyone in your address book without your permission.

The game goes like this: You get a message saying Bob Jones was looking for you at Reunion.com and you're supposed to visit the site to see who else has been searching for you. Once you get to the site, you're prompted to sign up for a free account. After you sign up, you receive a message like this: "We'll find your friends and family who are already members and also automatically invite any nonmembers to join (it's free!)."

The message itself isn't all that unusual. But what Reunion.com does next is unusual. Instead of accessing your address book from your Yahoo, Gmail, or other internet based account and then showing you a list and letting you choose who to contact or invite.... Reunion.com accesses your address book and immediately sends everyone an email without any warning or approval from you.

How embarrassing, especially if you've got professional contacts in your address book! And this is even worse than your typical viral email. Suppose someone decides to go to Reunion.com based upon your email, signs up for their own account, and also gets conned into letting Reunion.com access their address book? The cycle starts all over again.

It's sad when social networking sites get so desperate for members that they have to resort to these tactics to try to lure people in. This is dishonest and it is potentially damaging to consumers. A woman highlighted in the LA Times story said she was getting a bunch of emails from the 250 people in her address book who got spammed. What if those were important business contacts who decided to not do business with her anymore? I realize that would be an extreme reaction, but it could happen.

So heed this warning: If you get an email from Reunion.com, don't play into their little game and go to their site. Let's send them a message by not signing up for free accounts or by even visiting the site.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

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Report your consumer complaint to WalletPop

Tracy Coenen — 2008-04-17T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Ripoffs and Scams, Consumer Complaints

Have you been cheated, scammed, or otherwise disappointed by a company? WalletPop wants your real life stories about consumer scams and complaints.

Email us with your story.... Did you receive horrible customer service? Did you pay for a product or service that you didn't receive? Did a company refuse to honor a warranty? Were you scammed out of money?

What we want to hear the facts of your firsthand experience. If we're interested in your story, we may email you to clarify some of the facts or to request your documentation. Don't be offended if we ask you for more information... we just want to make sure that we get the story right. And while we won't necessarily be able to fully investigate your claims or get your money back, we'll at least be able to hold companies accountable for their behavior. And hopefully, they'll even respond with some action to right their wrongs

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

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Citibank saves the day, refunds tv purchase for Sears shopper

Josh Smith — 2008-04-16T09:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Fraud, Consumer Complaints

Sometimes all it takes is a little pressure to get the wheels of a corporation moving. It turns out that shortly after the story of Tom, a Sears customer who was charged $1070 for a TV he never received, gained traction in the media, Mark Ennis, from the Presidential office at Citibank service contacted him. Mark had tried calling the Sears store where Tom purchased the TV but was given the same treatment Tom experienced. Undeterred Mark went "off script" and pulled the records for every Tom who purchased a TV on "Black Friday" in order to find out what went wrong on the order.

It turns out that just after the first TV was refunded, it was re-rung, resulting in the outstanding charge to Tom's Sears card. None of the individuals Tom spoke to over the past 4 months looked past the initial refund transaction to see what was really happening. If they had spent an additional 5 minutes investigating the billing issue, Tom's problems could have been solved months ago. Thankfully the story has a happy ending, Tom is getting a refund for his undelivered TV and some Sears employees will likely be getting a refresher course in customer service. That is if they aren't shown the door for this heinous neglect of customer service. Bravo to Mark for helping out the consumer and making extra effort along the way. We need more people like you in corporations.

Via Consumerist

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Sears won't issue refund for TV paid for but never delivered

Josh Smith — 2008-04-15T11:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Fraud, Consumer Complaints

Update; no thanks to Sears, Citibank officials have stepped in to resolve this dilemma. Read about it here:

Just in case you need another reason not to use a store branded credit card, a Sears card holder, Tom, is still waiting for a refund on a TV that he ordered last November at his local store. After finding out that Sears didn't have the specially priced TV he wanted in stock on Black Friday, the store agreed to order one for him. He went ahead and paid for the $1,070 TV with his store credit card.

The customer left for a week long vacation expecting to pick up his new TV upon his return. However the TV was still unavailable. At this point, he was able to negotiate a lower price on a similar TV by speaking with the manager, for which he also paid. He went home with his new TV to bask in its glow.

He soon found out that Sears had not refunded the original purchase price of $1,070 for the set he had purchased on Black Friday, a TV he has never taken delivery of. He has tried speaking to the manager at the local store as well as the customer support for his Sears card, but no one can seem to get their act together and issue a refund. Tom already disputed the charge with the "Disputes" department for his Sears Card but is consistently hung up on, as there is no hold queue for the department. Contacting the local manager has proved fruitless as well, as her phone rings continuously.

Right now the customer is out $1,070.74. It is ridiculous that no one at Sears can step outside the script to help resolve a major purchase for this man. To get closure he may find it necessary to take Sears to small claims court or to approach his State Attorney General.

In Ohio, for example, one can file a complaint online and sit back while the AG's office does all the heavy lifting for you. Tom might also call his local news team -- I am sure they have a "Call for Action" segment that this would fit into quite nicely.

He would have been well advised to use a major credit card instead of a store card for this purchase, so that he could better challenge this charge. Store cards are notorious for having high rates, and in this case have a vested interest in not helping him with the dispute.

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Consumer Complaints: Advance fee loan scams

Tracy Coenen — 2008-04-14T09:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Ripoffs and Scams, Consumer Complaints

UPDATE: Additional information has come to my attention, and this article has been updated accordingly.

One of the consumer scams that is most well-known and most hated by fraud experts is the Advance Fee Loan scam. The scam is exactly what it sounds like: You want a loan, and someone offers you a loan but asks for a hefty fee prior to giving you the loan. And we're not talking a small application fee that a bank sometimes requires. We're talking about significant money up front before you ever see a dime. And the "loan" never happens.

One WalletPop reader has been taken for $39,000 with this type of scam. Here's her story with her name changed to protect her identity...

In late 2007, Angie began looking for funding for her small family-owned business. She was in financial trouble and was striking out with banks. She started looking for funding in the private sector, and her research brought her to Global Funding Network.

Angie began the process of applying for a loan with GFN, via their "gatekeeper" International Business Consulting. The gatekeeper is the supposed middleman who helps arrange the financing for a fee. Angie thought she received approval for a loan, as she was asked to pay a $25,000 "retainer" quickly, so as not to risk losing her financing.

Documents from the company make this fee sound legitimate by saying it is "...100% deducted from placement fees at closing" and that is their standard fee for any loan they make between $500,000 and $25 million. A "term sheet" was also provided by the company, making it appear as though financing has been secured. Angie was suspicious of the fee, but was assured by company personnel that it was standard and was used to ensure that only legitimate and viable projects came to them for financing. After wiring a total of $25,000 to the company, Angie submitted a business plan and other required documentation.

Shortly thereafter, she thought she was still on track to receive a loan, but was asked to submit another $15,000 fee, this time to a company called Joint Capital Assistance. Angie wanted to go forward with the financing she thought was secured on her behalf, and paid $14,000 of this second fee. Of course, no funding was ever really secured for Angie.

She began looking for information on the companies involved in this scheme, and was told that Global Funding Network and International Business Consulting are "known fee scammers." An industry expert advised Angie that these advance fees are not legitimate, and only a small application fee is usually requested from a legitimate lender. Also, companies that say they are "intermediaries" who arrange things between the actual lender and the consumer, are often scams.

A complaint related to this scam was posted at Rip-off Report, with a number of messages that appear to be from the men involved with Angie's situation. International Business Consulting denies any wrongdoing, and says the paperwork was clear from the beginning, stating that the $25,000 was paid as a fee for them introducing her to lenders. (Several other complaints involving International Business Consulting were also found.)

While this may be true, there is no denying that the paperwork and emails were misleading. They clearly stated that Angie had to act quickly or lose the financing they had secured for her. One email stated: "GFN and its gatekeeping-underwriting services did exactly what you asked and got exactly the type of financing that you need. And it has been a few days and we have not heard from you. You [sic] funding expires when your bank closes Friday."

After further information was presented, it appears that GFN is not a fee scammer. The company is out of business after severing all ties with International Business Consulting. The principal of GFN has continued to search for funding for clients even though he has not received any money for his services and is not obligated to do so.

This case offers several warning signs that consumers should be on the lookout for:

As mentioned to Angie by industry experts, the large upfront fee is suspicious.
Emails urged Angie to contact them by phone rather than email. Were they trying to minimize the paper trail?
Angie was pressured to submit the fees or risk losing the funding. High pressure tactics are always suspicious.
Multiple complaints about these companies should be carefully considered

Do you want to share your consumer horror story with others? Did you pay for a product or service you didn't receive? Were you scammed out of money? Did a company fail to honor a warranty or other promise? Email us with your story and we may write about your situation as a part of this series.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

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