Bad Customer Service

Yarg! I'm so fucking mad right now. I hate, I mean hate, when I receive bad customer service. This is especially infuriating for me because I am always a pleasant customer (despite how I may seem right now).

Back in July (Thursday, July 8th to be exact), I placed several calls to some local printing service businesses to get a quote on something I needed printed. I was seeking the price of 45 color or black & white prints on cardstock in 12x12 in dimensions (think scrapbooking paper). Not tough, right? I needed a printing service because my home printer doesn't expand wide enough for 12 inch wide paper. Stupid printer.

A few businesses said they couldn't meet my needs because of the paper size but one company, Sir Speedy, said they could help me. I spoke with a guy for about 10 minutes explaining what I was looking for and the color quote he gave me was around $60.

Holy fuck - that was about $40 than I wanted to spend.

I asked him what it would cost for black & white prints and he quoted me $14. Yes, $14. I was astounded and he explained that color printing is MUCH more expensive. Well no shit.

He also explained that they'd have to print on 12x18 in paper and then cut it down. All this for $14. Hallelujah!

Stupid me waited until this week to follow back up. I just wanted to confirm the quote so I submitted the information online and received this e-mail:

[MrsTwink],
The cost to produce the 12 x 12 inch copies is $56.50 + tax.

The only thing I'm uncertain about is regarding bleeds. If you want the image to extend beyond the 12x12 inch area, we'll need to produce on press at increased cost.

The machine used for this job will place approx. 1/4 inch white border around the edges.

Nancy [Fuckwit]
Sir Speedy Printing

Wow, that's a pretty big difference from $14. I wrote back confirmed that we were talking about black & white prints here. She confirmed. Still confused, I wrote back explaining the quote I received in July and then received this:

I'm sorry. I've asked [turd 1] and [turd 2] if they spoke to you. Neither of them remembers the conversation. [turd 3] and [turd 4] aren't here to ask.

I'll try to figure out who spoke to you and find out what they were quoting.

It's possible the person speaking with you thought they could run the job on our black and white machine, but it doesn't accept the 12 x 18 stock (largest sheet size is 11 x 17).

Even if you want black and white, it has to run on the color machine.

If you want full color, the cost is $61.00.

Nancy [Fuckwit]
Sir Speedy Printing

Hhmmm… now I'm getting angry. How the fuck did the price jump from $14 to $56?! What did I miss?

I called them this morning and was very pleasant. No need for name calling just yet. [Turd 2] answered the phone and when I mentioned the situation, replied, "We were talking about your situation this morning. Nobody wants to fess up!"

Then he puts Nancy Fuckwit on the phone. Well - Nancy couldn't have been a bigger bitch to me. Nothing angers me more than when customer service folk talk down to me as though I'm mentally challenged. As though I don't understand the complicated world of printing stuff. As though I'm a liar who makes up fake quotes.

Well - nobody here remembers speaking to you… Perhaps the guy you spoke to was in the middle of other things and misspoke… oh, you talked for 15 minutes? Well - he must have misunderstood how the printer works… well, we honor our quotes for 30 days so if you would have come in that day, we would have honored that price… although just to cut down the paper would have cost more than that! I don't understand where you're getting that number…" And so on.

Stupid me should have quickly hung up the phone with whoever gave me the miracle quote back in July and drove over to the store. Stupid me assumed that the workers at Sir Speedy weren't fucking assholes.

Yarg!

I called another print service today, ABC Imaging and that guy couldn't have been nicer! When I mentioned that I had owned the paper I wanted to print to, he said we could try it out on their printers to see if it would be accepted (there's a good chance it wouldn't) and the cost would be much less. He even offered to have someone pick the paper up FROM ME today to check it out!

I told him I didn't have it with me but that The Mr works just around the corner from their store and would stop by tomorrow. He quoted me $21.25 if my paper worked, $31.25 if I have to use their paper plus an additional $10 if I need it cut down (and I will).

However, stupid me forgot to get that guy's name. D'oh! Let's hope he doesn't end up being a fuckwit like Nancy.

What Do You Mean I Have To Tryout Again?

So... as many of you know, I've been trying my hardest to make sure that I make my company's dragonboat team. Why? I have no idea. I don't particularly enjoy getting doused in dirty harbor water nor do I enjoy the extreme pain I feel in my back from the awkward rowing motion. It's just my competitive nature and the fact that I have invested this much time and pain already.

Just to recap:

- Tryouts were at the end of March. MARCH. I did okay.
- They informed us in April that we made it through the first round. First round?!
- They mention that there is a non-company sponsored race in DC this weekend so that they were going to be practicing and that newbies were welcome to participate without guarantee of being on the boat.

So I've been going to every practice. I really like the people and it's actually kind of fun (minus the dirty and smell factor and the pain). It appeared that I had made the team for the DC race (but I have a hunch that this had more to do with the need for people than the fact that I'm awesome... as much as I'd love to believe that).

Well, the race was cancelled. It was a 2-day festival but due to the nutty weather that's been happening, the water is overflowing (or something crazy like that). I paid my fee (yes, I was asked to pay a fee since this is non-company sponsored) but it appears that I can't do the an entire weekend of the other "tentative" dates.

At the last practice, I coyly asked the captain "Is it safe to assume that we're done with tryouts now" and I batted my eyes a few times for effect.

The answer?
"Unfortunately this isn't technically the tryout phase for the September race. This was for the race in DC and many people that made it through the first round haven't been able to participate this month. To be fair, we have to give them a chance." What?!

And then there was mention of holding another physical tryout. For what?! These a-holes haven't been coming. I'm in my final weeks of class and I'm still showing up. I suggested that the tryouts should include boxing but that seemed to go over all of the returning paddlers heads. "Oh - is that what you guys do over in your building?" Um, no. I mean I want to box it out with the competition because this is BULLSHIT!

Now how do I politely say, "I want my money back, fool!"

Since I had planned to race this weekend, I didn't have other fantastic plans made. But now The Mr and I have declared that we're going to do a thorough spring cleaning of our basement to get rid of the clutter (and the bajillion bags that I hoard) and to reorganize. Sadly - I am really f'n excited about this. A clean and organized room! Hooray!

I hope your weekends are a hell of a lot cooler than mine.

Oh - and I signed up for a bootcamp class at Patterson Park. It's 2 nights a week for 8 weeks. I'm going to miss the last week and I inquired about being able to make it up or at least get a refund. Nope. A-holes. This class isn't cheap! Theresa is lucky that I heart her.

Bad Customer Service

Because I praised the great customer service I was recently the happy recipient of (although perhaps I shouldn't be singing their praises SO soon since I just mailed my damaged purse on Saturday...) but now I feel that I must discuss some bad customer service.

Actually - The Mr was the one who had to deal with the bad customer service and I was horrified to hear that it was one of my favorite stores that provided it! Urban Outfitters is one of my favorite online stores. They've got such a great mix of quirky and functional stuff that I can't resist. I think I shop from this site more than any other.

I know its a real store and I love the one in Georgetown - its just too damn far away. I'm not crazy about going to the one that just opened up in the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Its full of Emo teens that think they're too cool for school and they make me want to scream I've been shopping with this company for over 10 years! Step off! God I'm old.

Anywho - The Mr mentioned that he had purchased a Christmas gift for me on December 15th, paid for 2-day priority and it never made it. He was freaking out a bit and it seems that the package was lost. But HE had to do the searching to find this out and he was none too pleased. He purchased me this fantastic Holga camera:


He called right before Christmas and they said they'd call back within 10 days... and they didn't. He called them AGAIN and they finally said they'd send another. When he asked if he'd be refunded the 2-day shipping he paid for the customer rep responded, "But we're sending this to you 2-day priority...?" to which he responded, "Yeah but I paid for it on December 15th. Its now January 11th."

The customer rep said she'd put in a claim with another dept. He is furious. What sucks is that he called me Friday to tell me that I could no longer shop there right after I placed an online order. Oops.