Party for Less in Kirkland

Party for Less in Kirkland
when dumb policies kill business
http://www.partynw.com/

It was my daughter's birthday, so some party supplies were in order. We went to Party for Less, aka The Party Store, to buy some stuff and since there were 2 parties - I bought 2 table cloths. The cash register lady pointed out that anything unopened can be returned for a full refund. I didn't ask, but nice to know.

I get home and see that my wife already set the table with a different table cloth, so the next day I go back to get some more stuff for the kids party and brought the extra table cloth we wouldn't need, and it was in pristine, unopened state, so I figured they'd honor their prior sentiment.

No such luck. When I showed it to the cashier (a different one), she said that she's new and might need to get someone else to do the return. Then she rings up new stuff, which was a bunch of stuff on the same theme and gives me the total. I ask her to get whomever she needs to get to process the return of that single item. She checks with the other cashier and says that it needs to be processed separately. I figured... ok, seems like a single transaction with a credit would be faster/better/easier than 2 transactions, but if that's how they do it... So she rings me up for the new stuff and then asks for receipt for the return.

I told her that I didn't have it, but the item was, as she can clearly see in perfect condition, all she has to do is hang it with the rest of the same items. But no, she says we can't accept the return without the receipt. She says they can't verify that it was purchased at their store.

For a second there, I thought the brain on the other side of the register was missing or at least lacked any kind of logic. The implication is that I went to another store, bought the exact same item they're selling and now came back to their store, buying 8 other items, of the same theme mind you, and decided to return the table cloth in this store? Seriously? That's suppose to make sense somehow. So, after trying to bring up the fact that I was told nothing about receipts, but was told that I could return items if unopened - they said it's their policy and they can't help me.

Businesses like this one will be going out of business, I have no doubt. They refused to return a $3.29 item, in perfect unopened condition... all due to their inept policy. Well, kudos on following the policy which cost them a customer, permanently. Customer experience is everything and they decided to kill it for a lousy $3.29!
http://www.partynw.com/

St. James Espresso

St. James Espresso
Got Wifi? Not here!
http://stjamesespresso.com/

I walk into the place with my son and there's perhaps another 1 or 2 people there. The barista has a face like she lost a child in an avalanche, takes our order. We sit down and fire up the Chromebook and can't get on to the Net. I politely ask for the SSID and credentials, she spits those out and my son tries it - no go. After a few attempts, I decided it's time for me to get involved... but - same result. I go back to her to verify the info... she says the same thing. I bring the box and ask her to login for me, since we can't. She tries and guess what - she can't login either!

She checks her phone and then says that she doesn't know why but it should work. Cute, no? So, I ask, can you call someone to see what the problem might be. She replies... "NO!", "my boss is very busy right now and probably won't even pick up the call".

Now THAT'S what I call 'Customer Service'... NOT!!!

So, my son sees this big table in the middle of the room, filled with games... He picks one up and before has a chance to open it - the lady appears next to him and says that until they can catalog all the games - nobody can play. So, now is she not only inept at getting us online, she's also a game nazi...

And did I mention that we spent $8+ on a bottle of mineral water and small iced chocolate drink?

Thus this was the last time I step my foot into that 'establishment'.

Unbelievable how inept some companies are when it comes to customer service and they expect to stay in business with these kinds of practices... Unreal!
http://stjamesespresso.com

Bite Squad

Bite Squad
Lousy Policies & Customer Service
www.bitesquad.com

My son was sick yesterday and everyone else was gone, so I couldn't go out to buy something to eat (and we were pretty empty).  Thank G*d for online ordering, right?

To make things simple (or so I thought) - I figured I'd order from an Indian restaurant, which is located about... well, as the Google maps points out - 6 min from my house, just up/down a small hill.

I go to Bite Squad's web site, nice enough site, cleverly marketed byline said Food. Delivery. Service... all good.  I was first asked to select a city, then found the restaurant I wanted, and followed their ordering process - worked fine.  

I get to the part asking for delivery address, get that in place, then we go through the whole payment necessity - no problems.  As soon as I got done with all of that and ready to click the final submit order - it gave me a prompt stating the address is out of their delivery area.

So, my first assumption is - a mistake, obviously everyone makes some, no big deal.  They have this very nice chat built-in (very convenient), so I raise this nice lady on that and ask her.  She says she needs to check and disappears for a few minutes.

Then she gets back and says we're out of the delivery area.  I couldn't believe my eyes/ears etc. - it's 6 bloody minutes away from the restaurant, how can it possibly be "out of the delivery area"?

She said she'd need to check and asked me to wait a few more minutes.  I thought surely, after looking at the Google Map - she can tell that it can't possibly be out of the area, but no such revelation occurred to her.  She got back with the same sentiment and that was that.  

I couldn't believe it!

I explained the situation and asked if they could do it anyway, since we really are that close and I really can't go pick it up myself (which was her 'brilliant' suggestion, why didn't I think of that ).

No go.  So despite their claim on their byline - I didn't get the food, it wasn't delivered and the service/policies clearly sucked royally... and that's after I went through the entire order process, including payment!

The moral is clear - never use Bite Squad Seattle again!

I did wind up using Eat24Hours instead, I did wind up paying them over 50% more for the very same order, but they did deliver... although as Billy Crystal would say - "don't get me started" on Eat24, another outfit to be avoided, but that's for another post.

Network Solutions/1and1 Inc.

Network Solutions/1and1 Inc.
Extra Charges, Customer Service
www.networksolutions.com www.1and1.com

I've written in the past regarding terrible experience I've had with Network Solutions.  Yesterday was no different.  One of my domains was still registered with them and they sent me an invoice for renewal.  When I looked at the price - it was $37 for a year!  I'm used to paying $10-$15/yr, but not double that, so I decided that I'm going to move the domain to another provider.  I used their web site to attempt such move, but saw no options, other than moving another domain to them.  The status showed that my domain was unlocked (ie it could be moved), but the unlock code (something mandatory for the move) wasn't shown.

So, I had to pick up the phone and call them.  After about a 5-min wait - I was asked some security questions and explained that I need that code.  The person asked me, politely, why I'm moving the domain.  So, I politely responded that it's due to them charging me twice what the normal rate was, which was simply unacceptable.

Then the rep proceeded to tell me that from time to time they have sales going on and guess what, now they actually have such sale going on and I can register the domain for $14.99. 

At that point bells of recognition rang in my head and I realized we've been here before, a year ago, where I fell to their ploy because I didn't want to deal with it then and that's where the domain was unlocked, but it was never moved.  In any case, I told him that I think it's a lousy policy to charge people double, unless they call and bitch and then they pay a normal rate.  NOT how I like to see business conducted.

So, I asked to get the code.  He told me that they've sent me the code last year and I should be able to find it.  I proceeded to tell him that NO, I don't have that email or the code, so please just GIVE ME the damn code now!  He, seeing how unhappy my demeanor was by this time, told me that he'll be sending me email to the designated email address... Finally, I got my code.

I went through the normal hoops of confirming, approving etc., so the process started and hopefully they'll get it done shortly.  Then I got another email from them, giving me options if I the transfer request was in error or if I want to change my mind etc., for several paragraphs... and finally we get to this:

If you do still wish to transfer your domain name registration, we hope that you will reconsider and choose to stay with Network Solutions. We value your business and would like to keep you as a customer.

Seriously, if after all of the above, I still want to - you want me to 'reconsider'?   #unreal  

Then I made a call to 1&1 Internet, Inc., because I got an invoice from them, charging me $7.21 per month for PHP Extended Support.  I don't need Extended or any other kind of support, not from them anyway.  I know they've switched to a higher version of PHP and for those that wanted to run a prior version - they were charging extra.  Fair enough, I can understand the need.

However, in my case, I went to check and saw that I've switched to running version 5.5 and they required this 'extended' support for 5.2 and prior.  The switch occurred a while back, so I was perplexed as to why they're doing it.

Even though their web site indicated that I can cancel the service online, I finally went through their maze of what to do and when I saw I couldn't complete it - I called them.  To give them some credit - I did get an email to verify the cancellation, but that credit quickly evaporated, when I clicked on the verification link in the email it sent (which was 1 minute after I received it) and the resulting screen told me that my session timed out and I'll have to start from the beginning again ()

I spent about 45 minutes on hold!  Let me repeat that in case the boldness didn't sink it - I wasted 45 minutes waiting for someone to assist me.  They looked into the situation, and cancelled the offending charges.  I inquired of prior charges for the same unused, unwanted and unneeded service could be reversed.  The answer was 'NO', although they did give me a $15 credit to make me go away with something.

I asked some very basic, common sense questions, such as 'why are you charging me for something I don't need or use, especially when I'm NOT running a version that requires this extended support?'.  As you can imagine such questions weren't answered and I was given a number of useless "I'm sorry" in return.

These kinds of companies make me wonder how they stay in business.  How many people don't do what I do and blindly pay them month after month for something they don't want or need or use?  How much time is utterly wasted with these horrid phone calls, causing nothing but waste of time, money and sanity?

Anyway, today I got the email you see below.  Apparently they do 'care' and are inviting me to a complimentary business consultation and evaluation.  Goody!  I'm so thrilled ... that reminds me, I need to change my SPAM filters in Gmail,  so that anything coming from Network Solutions goes directly there, without taking even a single byte in my Inbox...  It's these kinds of companies that need to get business consultations, not offer them, since their Customer Service and Policies are completely and totally useless and unacceptable!

Ford/Hyundai of Kirkland

Ford/Hyundai of Kirkland
Car charger fuse saga
www.fordofkirkland.com

My car charger died. Simple enough, I ordered a new one, one with faster charging time.  My phone will not die now! :)  Well, not exactly.

After plugging it in, I noticed that it wasn't charging.  I tried 2 plug-ins in my car - same result.  I then tried another charger - still no go... then I knew, it wasn't the charger - it was car-related.

So, I go to my dealer, Ford of Kirkland, and schedule for them to look at this.  My Hyundai was suppose to have warranty still.  The service rep told me that it's likely the fuse and it would take about an hour and a half to fix.  I was thinking that it shouldn't taken 90-min to replace a fuse, but that's what I was told.  I asked them to call me if they get done sooner and left.  Oh and no, this wasn't covered by warranty.

I went for a walk, figured they'd call soon... no such luck.  90 minutes passed and I went back to the dealer.  I walk in, the guy's on the phone, so after waiting for a few minutes, then taking care of another customer, the rep finally looks at me and informs me that they're "finishing up".  You'd think he could've uttered those 2 words a bit sooner, instead of having me stand there for 10 minutes, but I guess not.

Finally, he calls me back and tells me that the fuses were blown by using this higher capacity charger.  Me, being my inquisitive logical self, asked a simple question - "_Why would CostCo be selling chargers for cars that can't work in cars?_".  The answer was that he doesn't know.  The 2nd guy came and said that he's done and told the rep not to forget about the "rear light".  So, the guy tells him he won't.  The mechanic tried to help with the story, but didn't help much at all, although he did remind him again about that "rear light".  And I knew that one of my rear lights was out, I was going to fix it myself, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Then we continued this for a few more minutes where the guy didn't make any sense in trying to explain it... so I figured it's a waste of time and started signing the paperwork.  It came to $10.88.  

So, I paid the entire $10.88 and left.  When I got into my car - my high capacity charger was still plugged in to one receptacle, that receptacle still didn't work, but I plugged in a regular charger into the 2nd receptacle and it did work.  This, of course, also begs the question - if you are fixing the fuse, which was blown by a charger, why would you leave that charger still plugged in?  But, perhaps that's way too logical.

My high capacity charger works fine in my van, no issues, so clearly it's not the charger that's to blame.  These clowns in the service department were not only useless, but unbelievably inept, making me wait almost 2 hours to replace a few little fuses. 

And in the end... NO, the rear light was NOT mentioned at all.  This makes it my last trip to that dealership for service - they don't deserve my business.