Company: Unknown

Company: Unknown
Business: Extended Car Insurance

I get a call, out of the blue, in the middle of working on a project... a nice-sounding young lady says that my 2013 Hyundai Elantra's warranty is running out and they can provide extended warranty.

First, it's a 2012 Elantra. Second, my warranty is for 10 years or 100k miles, of which I've managed to rack up over 60k miles, but certainly nowhere near the limit.

Before I can say anything - she proceeds that they can get me a quote for what it'll cost and... again, before I can say anything, she'll connect me with the rep who'll give me the details.

Then she drops a bomb, asking me what my name is. I told her that I'm working, don't have time for background checks and if she can quickly get me the quote - fine, otherwise we're done. Following her silly script, she proceeds to ask me if another time would be better. I honestly told her that it's an unknown, since I have a very fluid schedule, again reiterating that if she wants to get me the guy/quote whatever... quickly, we can all get on with the rest of our day.

She politely thanked me and... hung up.

The moral - being nice isn't enough. Following a script is dumb and useless and this approach is a sure way to lose business. I wasn't objecting to getting a quote, I was totally opposed to them wasting my time with a sales pitch, as if that sales pitch would have an ounce of added value to me.

Company: 1&1 Internet, Inc.

Company: 1&1 Internet, Inc. 
Business: Hosting

I got this email today, clearly indicating that I'm going to be charged extra for 'extended support' unless I upgrade my PHP to a higher version.

So, I look it up online, and I'm running a higher version already.  I figured I'd call them to make sure they don't overcharge me.  Surprisingly enough - they answers within 30 seconds (last time it was an hour).

The lady was polite enough, but with little to no capacity for utilizing her brain (as in not following some silly script).  She verified that I indeed ran a higher version, then I asked why the email?  She said that's just to notify you that if you didn't... I interrupted her, quoting the email, which clearly stated that I wasn't.  So, I asked again, am I or am I not.  She says that I was, this was just a notification.  

I asked her (surrendering my calm voice to another occasion) if they screwed up with the email?  She said 'No', if you can believe that.  Being a logical fellow - I wanted to clarify, if you didn't - then I am running the older version, right?  No, she said, you're not.  That doesn't compute in my brain, so I tried to force the statement again, either the email is screwed up or I'm running the older version, which is it?  She continued with her take that it's nothing more than notification... 

After 3+ attempts at sanity - I decided to give up, barked that they better NOT charge me anything extra and hung up the phone.