Home Posts tagged "Customer Service"

Tag: Customer Service

Goodwill Hunting Uncovers Bad Will Greed

Back in March, when I ventured into my local Goodwill store, I was astonished to see a crappy, framed reproduction of some lesser Impressionist painter on very cheap, warped cardboard for $199.99. What made this even more egregious is that the back of this monstrosity still bore the $4.00 garage sale price tag – and even at that price, nobody wanted this piece of junk. This prompted the following letter sent to Goodwill Corporate. The name of the store manager has been removed to protect the innocent – but not sure if that is her or me! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  3/22/13 Letter My mouth is still agape from my visit today to this retail store: Goodwill Store & Donation Center 900 W. Algonquin Road Arlington Heights, IL 60005 (847) 870-7897 I have been frequenting this store since it opened and have noticed that the prices are going up constantly. The prices now are higher than at any antique store for pieces that aren’t worth more than a few dollars. I saw a cheap reproduction of a painting on crappy cardboard (framed) for $199.99. When I brought this to the attention of the floor manager, I mentioned that I have expertise in antiques and collectibles and they could sure use somebody with my expertise to price things more accurately. She said we don’t hire people with expertise to price items and my manager thought this was real. I replied, ” Well I understand you don’t hire people specifically to do that, but wouldn’t it be helpful to have somebody on board with that knowledge?” The fake painting was SO obviously cheaply printed on inexpensive paper and the garage sale price of $4.00 was still marked in very large letters on the back – $199.99 – good grief!!!!! Yes, I agree that Goodwill is…

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LexisNexis Sure Does Perplex Us … Me

My last blog was about the egregious customer service received from USAA after being a loyal customer for 25 years. When I changed auto insurance from USAA to Geico, along with my new policy was a cover letter about the Fair Credit Reporting Act, indicating I had received a higher price based on the claims loss history or driving record. A consumer has the right to receive a copy of this report by calling the LexisNexis Consumer Center, and after doing so, has the right to dispute the findings. I was a little perplexed by this since I had no claims for 10 years and a perfect driving record – in fact, the last ticket I received was in 1991 and it was thrown out when I appeared in traffic court (Knock on wood that this continues)! So about 10 days later I received the report from LexisNexis. The driving record was totally clear but the claims history included something very odd. It stated that there was a possible claim on December 28, 2012 at my daughter’s old apartment building near South Michigan Avenue and Roosevelt. The claim involved one Larry and Wanda Mitchell on the 26th floor and a Lexus RX 300. I thought this was truly odd for several reasons:

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CVS Pharmacies Not All Created Equal – Some Give New Meaning to the CVS Acronym

When CVS Pharmacy first opened in metro Chicago, I was impressed with the selection and prices. They were certainly competitive with Walgreens and Jewel-Osco, but in the last few years this chain has slid downhill at a rapid pace. Of course some locations are better than others – I went to the Palatine store today and it is vast and well stocked compared to the locations I normally frequent. Unfortunately the two closest to my home should be renamed CVS: Consumer Valueless Shops. But in general, not only are some of CVS prices out of sight compared to other discount stores, but the selection is meager. And even worse, the clerks are often incompetent and rude. That old adage I used in my recent Deals blog, when a deal is not a deal – certainly rings true here.

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This Grouch was Singing the Windy City Weekend Shopping Blues

Boy did this past weekend spawn my inner grouch shopping blues. Bad experiences all the way around with clerks who didn’t know the first thing about customer service. Let’s start with our visit to Hobby Lobby on Saturday morning. I buy art supplies there because with the 40% off coupon, they tend to have decent prices. In this case, I was looking to buy an inexpensive picture frame for a photo of my daughter’s that was juried into an art show. I certainly don’t shop at Hobby Lobby for its atrociously gaudy selection of home furnishings and giftware – but back to the matter at hand. I gave the clerk a $10 bill and she ripped a $5 bill in half as she took it out of the register. When I asked her for an intact bill, she stubbornly refused and told me that she always rips bills in two when taking them out of the register! Then she called over another clerk to help tape the bill up, as the line grew longer and longer. All of this because she refused to give me an intact bill. What difference did this make to her and wasn’t it my right as a consumer to ask for an intact bill as change?

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