I couldn’t get hold of my mum on the phone yesterday until about 8:30 pm. I kept getting a “call cannot be completed as dialed” message. I finally phoned Telus and the operator got me through. When I asked why this was happening she told me the system was overloaded because of Mother’s Day.
Makes me wonder what will happen if/when a natural disaster strikes BC.
I decided not to renew my Chatelaine subscription, after having it for a number of years, because I no longer enjoy the magazine that much. It’s changed over the years and there is too much fashion and home decor content, which I’m not interested in. Not at this point, anyway.
I’ve been told three months in a row now that this is my LAST issue and I better renew SOON. Then last month I received my VERY LAST issue.
Another issue arrived today.
I experienced some terrible customer service this weekend at Scrapbook Parade. I was looking for blank calendar templates, which I get every year from them. I went into the store and they were sitting right on the counter. There were two women behind the counter. One of them was doing something with the till, and the other was watching her.
I picked up the calendars and the woman doing nothing said they’d be with me in a minute. No problem. Since she wasn’t doing anything, I asked her if the calendars were returnable. She didn’t know, so she asked the other woman, who was obviously in the middle of concentrating on something. The till woman said they weren’t, but if I had any questions about them to feel free to ask.
The only reason I wanted to know if they were returnable was that I was planning on checking Micheals as well, and if they were a lot cheaper at Micheals I was going to return them. So I sort of laughingly said my only question was whether they were cheaper anywhere else. The till woman got immediately defensive, and said they were specially made for the store. Whatever — they are calendar templates. Nothing special.
But I was there and the calendars where there, so I said as much, and grabbed four of them to buy. The till woman was still doing something else, and I was prepared to wait. Then she says to the other woman: “This isn’t working. Did I screw something up while I was talking to her?” It doesn’t sound so bad when I write it down, but the way she said it — I was horrified. First by the way she referred to me as “her” when I was standing right in front of her, second by how inconvenienced she seemed by me interrupting her. But she had said to ask any questions. AND, I’m a frickin’ customer in the store. Sorry if I’ve inconvenienced you.
Anyway, right after she said it, I said: “Look, I’m going to go. I need better customer service than this.” And I started walking out. Her response? “Okay, bye.”
I was seething. I’ve never received very good customer service from them, but that was the worst. I don’t plan on going back. And I don’t even think it’s worth complaining to the manager because I got the impression she was the manager!
So I went to Micheals and got crappy customer service there as well, but that’s to be expected. And in the Micheals case I think the sales lady was just stupid, and I can’t really fault her for that.
I ended up getting the calendars at Memory Lane.
I did some Christmas shopping last night. I went to the mall for about 45 minutes and got a bunch of stuff, then I came home and ordered a few things online.
I have never Christmas shopped in November, and I have to say that it feels awesome! I got motivated because I realized my mother is leaving for New Zealand in the beginning of December, so if I want to get any gifts to her or to my sister, nephew and brother-in-law by Christmas (and not have to worry about expensive shipping), I have to get stuff done before Mum leaves.
I think I may continue this trend in years to come.
When Greg and I got married I did a bunch of name changing with various organizations, but I never got around to notifying Telus. I kind of forgot about it, but now that so many people have call display, I keep getting reminded that my display name is wrong.
So I’m finally doing something. But I can’t get through to Telus. Yesterday I called their customer service line, and it wouldn’t ring. I finally got a call through, went through a few steps with their automated service, only to be told (by an automated attendant) they are having technical difficulties, and I should call back later.
I just called again, almost 24 hours later, and I got through right away, went through the same few steps, got to the point where I requested a name change, got some hold music, then a dial tone.
Frustrating, and a waste of my time. And unfortunately a name change is not something I can do online. I already tried that.
Last year for Christmas, I donated a bit of money to the Canadian Wildlife Federation in my nephew’s name (at his request). Since then, I’ve received the odd piece of mail from the CWF addressed to my nephew.
In today’s mail, there was a credit card application addressed to my nephew. The only way this could happen is if the CWF sold their contact information to the credit card company, as the CWF has the only link between my nephew’s name and our address. I was shocked. I know this kind of thing goes on, but I was naive enough to believe that a non-profit organization such as the CWF would never do such a thing. But they did.
I did a search for “privacy” on their website, and found this:
As a supporter of CWF you may choose how often and in what way you wish to hear from us. You choose which material you would like to receive—just let us know. Also, from time to time, CWF may share lists of supporters with other like-minded organizations. If you do not wish to have your contact information exchanged please notify our membership services department.
So yes…they share information. With like-minded organizations. I sincerely doubt a credit card company is a like-minded organization.
They will not be receiving another cent from me.
I have been a Thrifty Foods shopper for a lot of years, and I keep going back because of their superior customer service and quality of food.
Tonight I had yet another pleasant experience. I had bought three red peppers on Saturday, and when I went to use one tonight I noticed the top was moldy. I was about to throw it out when Greg suggested I take it back. Since I was going shopping tonight, and because red peppers aren’t cheap, I figured it was worth it.
I went to the Customer Service desk and gave the cashier the pepper. She asked me if I had my receipt, and I was surprised as I didn’t think I’d need it. I happened to have it, and she took it and told me I’d get double my money back. What? Yup, that’s their return policy. If it’s a question of quality, they’ll give you double your money back if you have your receipt, up to $10 (without a receipt you’ll still get money back, based on the current price of the product). This was news to me, and another example of their impressive customer service.