TeleBlend, you still SUCK!

Look – those bastions of customer service TeleBlend (read more here) have actually honest-to-God answered a trouble ticket. It took three weeks, and they actually said they couldn’t help me, but hey! Progress! Check out their email:
Telebend

Keep in mind, I didn’t try to cancel through “emails” from the internets, it was through their own trouble-ticket system. Also, my actual trouble ticket was complaining that I couldn’t get through on the support line to cancel my service. So naturally, they tell me just to call them. Bunch of assholes.

Oh well, it’s in the credit card company’s hands now.

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OfficeMax, you SUCK

Photo by Maulleigh
OfficeMax can DIAF. My company orders lots of generic office-supply-type stuff from them. Or at least we did until today. Two weeks ago, I ordered some labels. Usually, stuff shows up the next day with these guys; at most, three days. A week later, and still no labels. I call, and a really helpful person puts me on perma-hold, then tells me she’ll have to call me back.

Sure enough, later that day she calls and leaves a voicemail apologizing, with a new order number and says they’ll be there on tomorrow (Friday.) No problem, right? Shit happens sometimes and I’ll get my labels. Except they never show. On Monday, another call to support, another apology, another interminable hold, and an assurance that they will definitely be there later that afternoon. They use some local delivery company to get stuff from their stores to us, so unfortunately, a tracking number or anything substantial is out of the question.

Naturally, Monday passes and still no labels. Another call, another long hold time and I’m told they don’t actually know where my order is. I get a vague warning that another order might have to be placed to clear this up. If you’re keeping track, that would be the third order. <eyes rolling> I’m sure this one will go smoothly.</eyes rolling>

For some reason, this person seems to be getting annoyed at me on the phone, which I seriously cannot explain. I’ve been nothing but polite during this goat-fuck they call customer service. She’s explaining that an assistant will be calling me back. I start to ask when and she cuts me off with “Thanks for calling OfficeMax.” Except she hangs up mid-way through the last word. Bitch.

So I ordered the same labels from Amazon and used Prime to ship them overnight. We’ll see which one gets here first. My money is on Amazon.

And I’m never, ever buying anything from OfficeMax again.

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Genius Bar, You SUCK

Picture 1-2
My trusty Mac Book Pro (core duo version) had some problems recently – the right speaker died in it. Not a major deal, but it would be nice to get it fixed before the warranty runs out. Fortunately, I have a newer machine, so I could afford to lose this one for a few days until it gets fixed.

So, on Thursday evening I go down to the Genius Bar at the local Apple Store. They are completely booked. An no, I can’t make an appointment unless you pay a $300 premium for AppleCare Pro. FUCK THAT. They tell me to come back in the morning, which I can’t do – I work, ya know? Go down Friday evening hoping for a miracle. No dice. Come back in the morning. Finally, I go in as soon as they open in the morning on Saturday. Literally, walk right in the door as they’re unlocked.

And the fucking Genius Bar is already booked through 5pm that day. Apparently, what the little twits in the store neglected to tell me was that starting at 8am, there is a secret web site that you can sign up for service for that day. Not that anyone told me about this before.

Huge pile of stupid in that store.

I even asked about something I read about in the Consumerist that was available – drop off your computer and they’ll call you back. It’s called Quick Drop. They wouldn’t offer it to me.

I called Apple Support, and they told me to sign up for the Genius Bar. Since I was so close to the store, they wouldn’t send me a prepaid mailer to send the computer back. Could I escalate the situation to someone else? Sure, the people who did that are the Geniuses at the Apple Store.

This is now going on three days, and I can’t spend my life fucking around with these little bitches. This is a broken computer under warranty. Fix the damn thing.

Then I remembered – there was an authorized service center in town, just a few blocks away. Drove over there, walked right in, signed some forms and dropped the machine off for service. Done. They even said it would be three days until they could look at it. No big deal – at least I didn’t have to sit there for those three days like I’ve been doing.

But they called my cell on the way home telling me they already ordered the part (a new logic board or something) and it should be in on Monday, and ready for pickup that evening, everything covered under warranty.

THAT is service.

You damned Geniuses can suck the high hard one.

UPDATE: The machine came back on Tuesday, all fixed and everything. Way better experience than the famed ‘bar. Again – SUCK IT GENIUSES.

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