An Open Letter to AT&T Wireless

Dear AT&T Wireless,

I used to brag about your customer support and how great you guys were when I had an issue with paying my monthly bill; that just changed.  When you shut my service off today because I was one day late I went to the store with the money that I had saved up for the bill and paid it...All $340 of it. (Which NO one can explain to me why my bill is that high for 3 lines and two smart phones.  They all keep telling me that they will "get back to me" with ways to lower my bill -- NEVER HAPPENED.)  I was told by the retail store in Jersey City, NJ that my service would be back on in 5 minutes... I waited...

It takes me 15 minutes to get home and my service still wasn't on.  I walked to my grandmother's house to use her phone to find out what the hell was going on and why my service still wasn't on... "Oh, it shows your services are active." I was told... I had to fight with the agent to tell them my services were in fact NOT active because I couldn't use my phone.  I was put on hold for an absurd amount of time before she told me that she had to manually start the initializing of my services being restored... She told me within an hour they would work.

I gave you guys two hours, actually...

Still nothing.  I walked to my grandmother's (once again) to use her phone and I got a little more angry with your agents this time.  Two hours had passed and no services were restored.  I was told, once again, that my services were all connected.  I had to argue (for the second time) that my services were not restored.  I was put on another long absurd hold only for them to tell me it was still initializing.  Seriously?  Two hours and 15 minutes?  She told me that unfortunately there were so many new iPhone activations that they were all lagged for now and some were put on hiatus.  I'm a long time AT&T wireless and iPhone customer but unfortunately I guess that doesn't matter with AT&T.  I was told that some of these people waited hours for a new iPhone and they have to activate those first.  Is this how you care about your long time customers? She told me there was no guarantee when the service would be active again and I think that's complete bullshit.  I want my phone working the way it should be.  You're so quick to take my money every month and I have to wait hours and hours to use my own service?  Complete and utter bullshit.

Thankfully, I'm not the only one complaining about this.  I searched on Twitter to find many other customers who were one day late dealing with disconnection and activation lags as well.  I'm really ready to throw in the towel with AT&T and go to Verizon Wireless or Sprint.  Maybe there I wouldn't have to deal with the type of customer service and attitudes that I received today from the AT&T Wireless Customer care.

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Friday at Last! (Blog & Hops)

Sorry for the tackiness, but I had to use something glitzy to make myself feel better. Ha!  I have had the month week from hell.  I told my friend the other day, if I actually had a month week that went well, I'd be shocked.  Everything seems to go wrong lately! I definitely hope that things start looking up, but I highly doubt that.  At least I am not alone in feeling like life is overwhelming.  Two of my friends feel the same way, as well as a nice client that I met yesterday as well.  Maybe it's just a bad month for everyone.

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Plastic Surgery to Stop Bullying?

Can't we just love who we are?

I have spoken a lot about bullying on my blog, because it is important to me.  I was bullied from ages 8-18 and I hated it.  I was picked on for absolutely anything that kids could find to pick on me about, and they continued to bully me all through school because I let it get to me.  I would be picked on for my hair being too thick, for being to chubby, for having glasses and braces and even for being adopted.  The bottom line is, kids are cruel and unfortunately, the only thing those being bullied can do about it is to stand their ground and not let it visually shake them.  Easier said than done, right?

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An Open Letter to Sears

Dear Sears,

I have worked in Customer Service and Retail for 10 years and I have never encountered the rudeness that are Sears call center associates.  WEEKS ago, I placed an order for a car charger adapter.  It took Sears THREE WEEKS to e-mail me telling me the order had been canceled.  Meanwhile, I had been calling and inquiring, they would always tell me the order was on it's way when it was not.  After I received very late e-mail telling me the order was canceled, I called back to place the order. The first agent I spoke to RUDELY told me that she could not give me the sales price of the item that I PAID FOR and I would have to now pay full price.  Now, come on, Sears, I've worked in retail long enough to know that your rude agent was bullshitting me.  (And oh yes, she was very rude to me too. She treated me like I was a 5 year old who got scolded for not listening to the rules.)  I hung up out of anger and because I had other things to do. 

Calling back the day after actually gave me the one nice agent that I had spoke to.  He placed my order again for me and told me that he would give me the sale price that I had originally paid.  I was happy to actually speak to someone who cared for a customer.  (Or at least seemed like it.)  My order was placed and I was a happy camper.  Unfortunately, this isn't the "happily ever after" ending when I STILL had not received my item.  Called numerous times to rude associates who told me the item was shipped, I should be receiving it soon, etc...  Two weeks later I got the package.  They told me 5-7 business days when it took 15 to send it?  Come on, Sears...

Fast forward to Thursday night... I go online to check my credit card bill and to tally how much I spent this Holiday season when I see Sears took $79.00 off my card.  Oh really?  For what?  I call sears to get ANOTHER angry and rude agent who told me that I had not cancelled my ShipVantage membership and that's why I was charged.  I told said agent that I had an agent cancel it for me after the second order that I placed. Agent gets VERY angry with me and tells me that I'm feeding him a line because I didn't want my card to be charged.  No, I had canceled it and was angry that they still charged my card.  That agent rudely hung up on me.

I call back an hour later and speak to an agent who said she cancelled it, but I would have to wait 10 days for the shipping department to call me to tell me if I can even GET a refund.  No, no, no, I'm not going to do that.  I demanded to speak to a manager.  After asking me many questions that I REFUSED to answer, I got a manager on the phone.  Oddly, this manager told me Sears' computers were down.  It was shocking especially since the agent prior was able to tell me the information from the computer, but this girl couldn't even pull up any information?  Hmm...  I was told I would get a call back in 2 hours.  Friday passed, Saturday passed, Sunday passed, Monday passed and part of Tuesday.  I wasn't waiting any longer.  That 2 hours was turning into a week very quickly. 

Today when I called I encountered 3 rude (very rude) reps who refused to transfer me to a manager and EACH of them said I was acting irrationally and hung up on me.  IRRATIONALLY?!  DO YOU WANT TO SEE IRRATIONAL!?  TELL ME AGAIN THAT YOU DON'T KNOW WHEN I AM GOING TO GET MY MONEY BACK!  I called a third time, hoping not to go completely nuts on the agent, when this agent asked me over and over again, "What is your name?" "What is your order number?" "Why are you so upset?"  Listen, if I have to tell you my name (and spell it) 5 times, there's something wrong.  When I have to explain to you 5 times that I DO NOT HAVE AN ORDER NUMBER, you're not listening to me. AND THEY WONDER WHY I AM UPSET.  I eventually refused to answer anything else until I got a manager.  After being put on hold for 15 minutes, I finally got a manager.  (Who had absolutely no compassion for me.)  This manager tried for 35 minutes to pull up my account with my name. 

"Are you sure you used your name for the order?"

No, I used Abraham Lincoln's name...WHAT DO YOU THINK?

"What is your order number?"
For the 100th time, I DO NOT HAVE AN ORDER NUMBER.

"Ok, then we can't pull your account, are you sure you shopped with Sears?"
No, not at all. I just feel like calling and telling you off for nothing. It's amusement to me.


"Maybe we canceled your order. If so, you'll get a refund."
Ok, let me say this like I'm speaking to my kids... I... DO... NOT... HAVE... AN... ORDER.


"Oh, you don't have an order? Then why did we charge you $79?"
I am just the customer! I found it on my credit card statement! Why don't YOU tell me, Sears Supervisor... (if that is your real name.)


After going back and forth with this unhelpful supervisor and a long ("brief", they called it) hold, she came back and told me that the agent prior who said she canceled the ShipVantage NEVER DID and she would do it for me now.  She also told me that I would have my money back in 3-5 business days.  I'm praying I do, but after the crap I have gone through with Sears, I'm not holding my breath. 


The kicker, before she ended the call, she asked me "Do you have a Sears credit card and would you like more information about signing up for one?"  No, no thank you.  I'm never shopping with Sears again.  JC Penney has much better customer service and I'll use THEIR credit card.  I WAS a Sears card holder, but no longer.  Not after the way the agents made me feel small and insignificant when customers are supposed to be one of the most important part of the company.

So much for good customer service with that company.

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NO OBJECT IS SAFE FROM CHILDREN!! lol

I've professed my undying love and devotion for my point and shoot Samsung Dual View (TL220) camera many times in the past on here. I bought it a few months ago when my Canon Cyber Shot flaked out on me and decided to not work with the LCD screen anymore.  This camera has gone everywhere with me and it even has a nice little padded case.  I'm always so careful with this camera...until today.  

This afternoon I was taking pictures and uploading everything for my Energizer Smart ChargHER Blogher post and when I was done I left it on the kitchen table next to my laptop.  Unfortunately, we were in a rush to get to Kohls this afternoon, so I left the case next to it.  That usually wouldn't be a big deal because we were all going out and I figured when I got home I would just put it into the case and back into my purse.

My mom notified me on the way home that we needed apple juice and toilet paper and Olivia was screaming and throwing a temper tantrum because she couldn't get a toy she wanted at Kohls, so instead of driving to the grocery store with the temper tantrum and leaving my mom in the car with miss moody, I decided to drop them off home and head to the grocery store myself.  It's not fun to go to the store with a cranky, crying two year old in tow and I wouldn't put my mom through the horror of sitting in a confined space (my car) with miss attitude.  I dropped them off and headed back out to the grocery store.

Do you see where this post is heading?

I get a call from my mom while I'm in the grocery store.  It was about 5 minutes after I left home to go back out and get the few things we needed from the store. 

"Now, don't get angry when I tell you this..." She said and stopped after she said that.  I guess looking for an answer from me.  I have learned that whenever something starts off like that, it isn't a good thing. I said nothing. lol

"Olivia was in the kitchen and touched your camera.  I don't know what she did, she may have deleted something."  

Whew...at least she only may have deleted something.

I told my mom that I'd deal with it when I got home and she could just put it on the counter or somewhere out of reach.  So she did.  Only I should have realized, my mom isn't tech savvy.  She doesn't use a camera or know how to use a camera.  

When I got home I went to get my camera only to find out that THE SHUTTER WOULDN'T CLOSE AND THE ZOOM WON'T GO BACK IN.  I cried...no, really...I did cry.  

Not even thinking, I put the camera back in the box and drove to Best Buy, where I got it from.  I swore that I had the credit card with me I bought it with, but after waiting on the returns line for 15 minutes, I realized I didn't have it with me.  (I don't just leave credit cards at home, I don't use this one anymore. lol)  The woman at customer service said they wouldn't be able to do anything without the receipt or without the credit card.  I figured I would go back in the morning with the credit card I had bought it with.

A lightbulb went off in my head on the way home, that maybe I could fix this myself.  Krissy: THE QUEEN OF THINKING SHE CAN DO THINGS HERSELF WHEN REALLY, SHE PROBABLY CAN'T... That' me, that should be my title.  The 'wannabe' tech and repair DIY.  Even so, I googled it and found a website that had a few steps to fix this on ANY camera.  

Tried a few of them and up to step 5 didn't work.  I was losing hope quickly and figured I would jsut have to send it into Samsung and hope they can replace it.  Number 6 was my last hope and I was silently praying and hoping that it would work.  They told me to do this:

Plug the camera into the wall power source and turn it on.  

So I did...the camera went on, that was an improvement.  Then they said to try to press the zoom back and forth.  So I did...

IT WORKED!!!

My zoom went in and out and the shutter/zoom extended and went back in.  I shut the camera off and it went back to it's normal ways.  At this point, I wanted to marry the person who had written that on their website.  I wanted to e-mail them and profess my undying love and devotion to them...only I didn't.  I figured that wouldn't be appropriate from someone who just learned how to fix their camera from their instructions...  And no, I'm not THAT desperate to find love. lol

I'm just happy it worked.  I would have been stuck without a camera if it didn't.  (And I'm one who LOVES to take pictures of everything.)  

Moral of this story:  (There are two)

#1.  NO OBJECT is safe from a nosy 2 year old.  No matter how many times you tell them not to touch things and no matter how much you think they  may understand, don't leave precious electronics where kids can get them.  (I should have known this from when Alayna, as a 2 year old, decided to see if my phone could swim...in the toilet...)  

#2.  If your zoom ever gets stuck extended, plug your camera into the wall power source and try to power the camera on.  When it goes on, if it goes on, try to move the zoom back and forth.  If it worked for me, it may work for you!!

 

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