AT&T
I had AT&T for my long distant phone service. One time, I had a dispute with AT&T concerning a charge on my bill. Every time I called AT&T I had to wait a minimum of 30 minutes on hold to talk to someone. Finally, after several attempts and discussions AT&T told me to send them a copy of my phone bill so they could see what was wrong with what they had charged me. This made no sense because they issued the bill with the questionable charges.
In Summary: I cancelled my AT&T long distant phone service, my AT&T MasterCard, my AT&T Cable TV and replaced my AT&T telephone answering machine. Now that AT&T is merging with BellSouth I'm going to have to drop that phone service, too.
Maytag
I purchased a Maytag top-loading washing machine. During the warranty period I noticed that the washing drum would not stay upright. It was always off center and leaning to the same side.
On the first visit the technician, who made a point of telling me he had 28 years of experience, swapped the springs around on the base of the drum to see if that would cause the drum to stay centered. He said that this problem was normal for Amana brand washing machines but not for Maytag's.
On the second visit another technician, who made a point of mentioning that he had 32 years of experience, replaced the springs with new ones. This did not center the drum, but he said that he could tell that the problem was that the base was bent. He also told me that they sometimes replace parts that don't need replacing just to satisfy the customer.
On the third visit the technician, the 28 year man, and a trainee replaced the entire base of the washing machine. When this did not solve the problem he got on his phone and spoke with a technical support person. After he completed the phone call he told me that the drum being off center was normal for this washing machine and here was nothing that they can do.
The washer never stays balanced and the drum pounds against the machine's side wall even when run without anything loaded into the drum. My Maytag washing machine was better before these highly experienced Maytag technicians touched it.
In Summary: First there was a problem since they 1) swapped the springs, 2) replaced the springs and 3) replaced the base. Then I was told that this was normal. Maytag lied to me since both explanations cannot be true.
I can see why Maytag has TV commercials about their technician being so lonely. I don't want him near my appliances.
Mazda
I received a postcard in the mail inviting me to come in for a test drive and Mazda will send me $25.
I took the test drive and the saleman insisted that contrary to the instructions on the postcard that he will send the card to Mazda. I insisted that he give me a photocopy of the postcard.
When the $25 did not arrive when expected I called the Mazda customer number and eventually spoke with the correct person. They investigated and concluded that I was eligible for the $25 and that they will email me an authorization number for a $25 gift card.
When this $25 never arrived I spoke with the same person a second, third, fourth and fifth time. Each time I got the same story that he will follow-up on it. The Mazda person never had a good explanation and the $25 gift card never arrived.
Since then I have successfully talked three (3) people out of buying Mazdas. It would have been more cost effective for Mazda to give me the promised $25.
TrendNet
I purchased a model number TV-IP100W Wireless Internet Video Camera. The setup was easy and the picture quality was fair under indoor lighting.
I could not get the FTP upload function where the camera can upload a video image to an FTP server to work. During attempts to FTP to 4 different FTP servers, only one, an anonymous login, worked successfully. The FTP servers that required a username and password would cause the camera to fail.
I called TrendNet customer support and this issue was promoted to level 2 support in only a few minutes. For level 2 support, the level 1 person makes an appointment for level 2 to call. When the appointment time was 30 minutes overdue I called TrendNet customer support and spoke with another level 1 person who made a second appointment for level 2 to call me. Again when the appointment was 30 minutes overdue I called a third time. The level 1 person offered to make another appointment. I asked to speak to a supervisor. Instead, the level 1 person spoke with a supervisor and told me that he will take care of the problem and that he had level 2 on a second phone line and was speaking with them. The level 1 person wanted to open a port in my firewall so he should remotely connect to the camera. This did not work and after much wasted time I finally convinced him to tell me what to click on and I will tell him what the camera is responding with. It turned out that he did not have the correct information available because he was asking me to click on things that were not there and to tell him responses from the camera that were not listed on my screen.
Finally he suggested that level 2 who was still on his second phone line will call me directly within 5 minutes. Thirty minutes later with no phone call from TrendNet I got an RMA number and returned the camera.
In summary, the only thing worse that a TrendNet product is TrendNet's Customer Support.
BankAtlantic
I opened a "free" checking account with BankAtlantic. To qualify as free checking I also had to open a savings account with a minimum balance of $1,000.00.
A year or two later BankAtlantic raised the free checking minimum balance for the savings account to $1,200.00 so I deposited more money in my savings account.
A year or two after that BankAtlantic raised the minimum balance requirement to $1,500.00 and I added more money to my savings account.
Then BankAtlantic raised the minimun savings balance to qualify for free checking to $10,000.00 (ten thousand dollars).
I took my money and ran!
Now, BankAtlantic is advertising how they wiil give you a George Foreman grill when you open a checking account. I wouldn't open an account with BankAtlantic even if George Foreman delivered the grill and cooked the first hamburger in person.
My money is in a different bank that also has free checking, never to return to BankAtlantic.
Liberty Mutual Insurance
I had Liberty Mutual for my auto, homeowners and flood insurance policies. I discovered that whenever I had a question or problem that their automated phone system would place me on hold and after 45 minutes my call would be transferred to a receptionist. The receptionist would take my name and phone number and promise that an agent would return my call. You guessed it, my call would not be returned and I would have to go through the whole exercise again of calling and waiting for 45 minutes just to leave another message.
After many failed contacts with Liberty Mutual, I cancelled my Liberty Mutual auto, homeowners and flood insurance policies.
Amica Insurance handles all of my insurance. At Amica they always answer their phones and if they promise to call me back, they do. Not only did Amica get my insurance but my dad and several of my neighbors have insurance policies with Amica, too.
Salvation Army
About every 6 months I clean house and take old clothes, unused appliances and whatever else I not longer need and donate them to Salvation Army.
The people at their collection trailers never would say "Thank You" and in general had an attitude that they were granting me a big favor by accepting my donations. The last time I took a car load to Salvation Army the person attending the trailer started yelling at me that there was no more room in her trailer and she refused to accept my items. The funny thing about it was I could see into the trailer and at least half of the shelves were empty.
I now take all of my donations to Goodwill. The people tending the collections are very polite, never turn me away and always say "Thank You".
AC Technologies, Coral Springs, Florida
In June, 2010 I finally decided to replace my 15 year old air conditioner at my home. It was leaking Freon and it just didn't make sense to me to pay to repair something that was so old. I called around and got several estimates. Some contractors offered to used cheaper, discontinued models and skip the city required building permit to keep the cost of the system down. However, I decided to go with a company that was going to use current, energy efficient equipment and obtain the building permit.
I chose AC Technologies of Coral Springs, Florida. Their estimate was higher that the companies that offered to cut corners, but I felt if I was going to spend thousands of dollars I should do it the right way.
Three AC Technologies installers arrived exactly when promised. When they took the compressor unit off of their truck I noticed that the model number was coded for a smaller size than what I had ordered. When I brought this up the installer first tried to convince me that I was wrong. When he could not get me to change my mind and I explained to him how to read the model number codes (as if he did not already know) he admitted that yes, it was the wrong size. He also said that this same thing happened on the installation job he did the previous day. One of the installers took it back and returned with the correct size of compressor unit.
The installation took all day. The air handler had to be installed in the attic over the garage. By the time it was complete there were six or seven people from AC Technologies working on it. As they completed their work they came to my house. I was hearing things like "Why didn't you use the support beams on the drip tray?" and "I never use them."
The installer also wanted to cut the support joists in the attic to make room for the air handler. Fortunately this was not done.
Shortly after they left I noticed that the far end of the house was not getting any air. I called it in to AC Technologies to have it corrected the next morning.
The next morning I went out to the garage because I received a call from AC Technologies that their person was on his way. The air handler was installed in the attic above the garage and there was water dripping from the ceiling.
When the repair person arrived he went into the attic and discovered that the water collection tray was not level. It took him with the assistance of a second person more than 4 hours to correct this installation error. During this time they dropped a tray full of water which caused water damage for over 12 feet of ceiling.
Also when they were done I noticed sheets of plastic hanging out of the attic door. This plastic was the remains of the vapor barrier on my air ducts. The installers said it was deteriorating because of age. Later, I went into the attic to take a closer look. I noticed that the only damage was on the side closest to the air handler. Also none of the other air ducts had and damage. On closer inspection, the damage was in straight lines as if made by a knife. The ends of the tears in the plastic are wrinkled like the torn areas were pulled apart.
I have had repair people out to correct defects and other work several times. When I talk to them about the damage to the air ducts and the water damage I either get blank stares or they take photos and tell me that something will be done about it.
Several of AC Technologies' people have make comments like "sloppy work", "the air handler is going to crash down through the garage ceiling" and "the building inspector will never approve".
The air conditioner was installed in June. The building permit was not obtained until August. The building permit was not provided to me until the last week of September.
The AC Technologies person who delivered the building permit had a work order to repair all of the damage to the ceiling and the air ducts. But, he said that he was told to ignore the work order and to only deliver the permit and to repair any water leaks that were still there. He also told me that even if he was not told to ignore the work order that he was not the person in the company who is assigned to do work like I needed.
I will provide more information as this on-going situation continues.
DISCLAIMER
The statements on this page are based on my own first-hand experiences. I did not publish this to solicit your advice but to share bad situations that I have had. The adage "Let the buyer beware" is very true. You are entitled to you own opinion and may share it on your own web site.
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