I'm with your brother, I do the same thing...We did the "bundle" thing with our cable company, after the year was up, our bill went way up. Instead of calling and being put on hold, I e-mailed one of the big shots and the next day, I had a phone call and after some "dealing", my bill is now back to what it was the 1st year.....It can be done...

I'm also a believer, if the product doesn't do it's job or isn't up to your expectation, the company should be told...Most of the time, you will get something in return...Of course you might not want what you get as in my case...I had gotten a box of flavored tea and I really, really didn't like it and wrote to the company...They sent me coupons to get not 1 but 3 boxes of the same tea I didn't like.....

Anyone else have a story.....

When I signed up for my home landline phone with Verizon, they gave me free voicemail service, i.e. answering service. A couple other features I don't use, like Caller ID.

Yes, and I have been meaning to post this, although not biggies.

A while back we had a discussion here about Fabric softeners. I mentioned that I had used Bounce Free and now that I was near the end of the box I was looking for some more. I bought a box of BounceFree, but it was too perfumey so I took it back. Ditto for a second box of BounceFree.

I emailed the company and asked why BounceFree wasn't like it used to be. I got an email back explaining that Bounce Free still has no perfumes or dyes, but the problem is because Bounce Free is shelved with all the others and the fragrance is transferred. They said they would send me something they hoped would make amends. I received a coupon for a free box, any size, any variety of Bounce. I get a box of BounceFree, 120 sheets, left it in the garage to "air out" for a week or so, and now I'm using it. Its fine.

About that same time I opened a box of 39 gallon trash bags that I use in my big trash can. There were no twist ties in the box. I have used those bags for several years, and I had a new box on the shelf, so I opened it hoping there would be ties in it. There were none. I wrote the company and sent them the proof of purchase codes, etc. I received a nice note through the mail, and also several strips of ties.

Third, I bought Nabisco Premium Saltine crackers, which I had not bought recently, and they were not at all like they used to be. Wrote to the company, got a nice reply and a coupon for cookies or crackers up to $4.49 value.

The replies from the companies were not automated, but more personal.

Of course they won't be changing their methods, but at least they were courteous and tried to make things good.

I appreciated that.

Sue

I recently attempted to make an online purchase of a product that costs less than $4. The weight of the product (in a padded envelope) would be about 2 ounces -- including the weight of the envelope! The shipping charge was over $8, and there were no options for different shipping methods. I wrote a comment in the "Comments" section of the purchase page, saying that they really should offer more shipping options, especially on such a light-weight product. I keyed in my credit card and shipping info, etc., and clicked the Submit button.

(For what it's worth, I never would have ordered it online and paid double the product cost for shipping, but I could not find the product ANYWHERE.)

I immediately got an error messsage that I had exceeded the allowed character length by TWO CHARACTERS in some section (it had an obtuse name -- didn't say "Comments Section"), and I figured it had to be the Comments section because I hadn't written anything extra anywhere else.

So, I went back and edited my comments to eliminate many more than two characters, and again clicked the Submit button. I immediately got the error message again, but this time it said I had FIVE too many characters!

This time I went back and removed my entire "comment," and clicked Submit. Error - no particular reason given. I tried again, and again got an error message.

By this time I was thoroughly ticked off, and didn't know if my credit card would be charged twice, or not at all. So, I went back to one of the site's product pages, and clicked on the bottom-of-the-page link to "Contact Us." I sent a short, terse, message that although I loved the company's products I hated their web site and wanted to ensure that my order would be canceled.

The owner of the company sent me a very nice, very apologetic, return message. The message said that they knew their web ordering left much to be desired and that it was in the process of being upgraded.

A few days later I received a box with well over $100 worth of their fabulous products.

~*~*~*~*

About 35 years ago, all of the print ads for a ladies shaving foam included a razor that was obviously designed for women. I wanted one like it! I looked high and low for that razor in every store that carried razors, but couldn't find it. So, I wrote to the company (snail mail!) and asked if they could tell me where I could find one. Several weeks later I received a box from the company. There was a letter inside, saying that the razor didn't really exist -- it was a prop made specifically for the photo shoot. Also inside the box were about a dozen full-size bottles/cans/etc. of various other products made by the company.

When we moved to the country, our indoor/outdoor cat became an indoor cat (coyote danger). I had never had any experience with kitty litter, so I took the advice of a friend and bought the cheapest available. Whew!!!
Then I switched to Purina's Tidy Cat. It worked so well that I e-mailed the company and told them they had saved our relationship with our pussycat. They sent me two coupons for $2 each! I was thrilled with their product and was going to buy it anyway, and they gave me coupons! Purina has my loyalty, both in cat food and kitty litter (the company has me going both ways, doesn't it?). I was impressed!

I contacted Reynolds regarding Handi-Vac products. I purchased a "defective" box of gallon sized bags, and was told I did not know how to use their product. Keep in mind, I'd already mentioned this was my 5-6th box, and I hadn't had a problem prior to this box. Another complaint is after sealing and removing the air from their bags it is not uncommon to find air had seeped back in, sometimes within just a few hours. Still, user (me) error! HUH? This is less than ideal, I'd say.

I asked if I could at least get some coupons, but was denied because "we don't do that on this product".

I'm unimpressed with their customer service!

My father always told me: It never hurts to ask!

I was looking for a nice pair of earrings and asked the salesperson if that was the best price I could get for them.
She said "let me go see" and she came back with a cheaper price for same earrings.

The glass on the inside of my three yr old oven cracked a couple of months ago.
I went to the store where I purchased it, photographs in hand. They made an appt. for a service person to come out...I told them I had no intention of paying for a service call just to tell me the glass was shattered.
On the day the service guy was to arrive he calls telling me I really needed to contact the manufacturer. Okay.
I contact Maytag and get the usual response that I would have to pay for a service call and the price of new glass. Not acceptable, so the rep says hang on a minute...he comes back on the line and tells me I will only have to pay half. I ask for his supervisor. I kept my cool, retelling the story and now the supervisor tells me that the glass will be complimentary...That's great but I'm not going to pay for a service call.
I'm patched in by phone to the service company who had no authority to give me any deals...Cripes.
So I call Maytag back, retell the story, but this time I made sure to mention that I knew they had the authority to comp the whole enchilada and could they please work with me...And you know what?
They did! Everything was taken care of with no cost to me :)

Deborah,
I had a good experience with Maytag, also. Our dishwasher was recalled, the authorized service person came to replace the defective part, and broke the washer! After three months of waltzing around with the "service" people and hearing nothing but excuses, I called Maytag directly. They arranged for a "change out" which meant a real service person came with a brand new dishwasher, installed it, made sure it ran and left with the old one. I nearly kissed the service man and immediately wrote Maytag a huge thank you note (and then caught up on all those dirty dishes.)