Cynthia Kuhn

What happened to all the helpfulness?

We have been told that technology is supposed to make things easier. But sometimes it doesn’t. Take, for instance, the issue of holiday returns, a pretty common activity.

In previous years, the process typically went something like this:

  1. Fill out return form.
  2. Use provided mailing label and package item.
  3. Mail it back.
  4. Receive refund or credit for new item.

This year, however, it went like this:

  1. Fill out return form.
  2. Use provided mailing label and package item.
  3. Hand package to the nice person behind the counter to mail it back.
  4. Person scans the label code once, then says, “oh dear” because the scanner batteries are dead.
  5. Person can’t find more batteries so grabs another scanner and goes back to finish transaction, then says “oh dear” again, not because the batteries are dead but because the code now won’t let the transaction be completed since it was started on a different scanner.
  6. Person beeps at the label code a few more times, then scribbles down a number and tells me to call the main office and explain what happened.
  7. I ask if they could please call instead since it doesn’t seem like the main office will believe me.
  8. Person says that’s what the process is, officially.
  9. I call the main office and explain what happened, officially.
  10. They don’t believe me.
  11. I point out that I have this secret phone number, to prove that I am legitimate.
  12. They begrudgingly invite me to explain again.
  13. I explain again.
  14. They check their files and say the item has not been checked in by the person behind the counter so I should return with the item and try again.
  15. I explain that the person behind said counter already took the item from me to mail back.
  16. They say but the item has not been checked in by the person behind the counter.
  17. I say exactly–that’s why I’m calling.
  18. We repeat these two lines back and forth for a while.
  19. They finally advise me to wait, saying it might be fine.
  20. I ask what this means.
  21. They say sometimes things just work out and advise me to call back in two weeks if I don’t receive a refund.
  22. Two weeks go by. I do not receive a refund.

I cannot bring myself to call back yet I cannot seem to let it go. The whole thing feels symbolic in a vague sort of way…

Dear Readers: Would you call back? What customer service snafu have you experienced lately?  

63 thoughts on “What happened to all the helpfulness?”

  1. Hestia here.

    that is so hilarious. Not!

    I had the same problem a couple of weeks ago.
    Ordered the Hans Gruber advent calendar. The days were counted by him falling down the floors of Nakatomi Plaza. The Hans Gruber was not in the package. “Like what’s the point?” So I let Amazon know it was defective.

    They shipped me a new one and emailed me the code to return the other one to a Staples drop off.

    I waited until I got the replacement in case it was also defective.

    I forwarded the to the hubbs, since he was taking it to the store for me.

    He takes the item in the original package to Staples.

    Staples won’t accept the return because “the code was not in the original email so it’s been already used”

    “But it hasn’t, because my wife just forwarded the email to me.”

    ”Sorry, it’s not the original receipt email, it can’t be used”

    fortunately it was only $11, I said screw it and took the loss

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  2. A few months ago I was trying to get a dead refrigerator repaired on an extended warranty. Long story short, after a month, the fridge was still dead and we were living out of a dorm fridge and an ice chest. I called the troubleshooter from the local news channel, who called the company that managed the extended warranty (no, it wasn’t the manufacturer). In a week I had a check for a new fridge, along with copious apologies.

    There is nothing like a little sunlight to scatter the cockroaches.

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    2. Yikes, a dead refrigerator–that is serious stuff! Author Hank Phillipi Ryan used to have a segment called “Hank on Your Side” here in the Boston area. She got results.

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    4. Exactly, Tom! We have a “Steve On Your Side” and it’s astounding and infuriating how fast stuff gets fixed when people call. They’ve jumped through all the hoops, but until someone in the media says, “Um … hey” nothing happens. Glad you got it taken care of, but ugh! What a pain.

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  4. Ugh, Cynthia, I feel for you. It took me 5 months and a complaint with the Indiana attorney general’s office to cancel my home security system last year. Good times, indeed!

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      1. It was insane, Cynthia. First they said I submitted the cancellation notice to the wrong corporate entity, then they said they needed to research my claim, then they said the delay was because of a system merger, them I stopped counting the reasons. Good times!

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  5. This made me laugh out loud, so thank you for that Cynthia. You do have to try again — but my guess? You’ll be “past the refund period allowed.”

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    1. Yes, with the “refund period” extended by the company’s inaction. I swear, I think they’re just counting on us to give up. (Wrong. It’s the principle of the thing!)

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  6. Oh, I would be like a dog with a bone on this. I’d take it up the ladder. (Speaking of which, very impressed by J.C.’s reaching out to his AG’s office. AND I would write scathing one star reviews, but the company know I did so, and tell them they would not be removed until the return was completed.

    Liked by 3 people

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    3. Yup. I once finally got action with an entity in a fraud situation by tracking down the alleged perp myself, halfway across the country, through social media and the (also innocent) person’s college alumni giving info. I laid out all the “evidence” and told them I was a mystery author and a VERY popular blogger with tons of followers and media contacts (ha) and I would publicize their incompetence and delays with all my findings set out. And it was such an interesting story that I might set a bestselling thriller around it. Instant response! (Maybe they just thought I was crazy, which was fine. But it would have been a heckuva Chicks entry.)

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  7. Cynthia, I applaud your efforts! More than the actual refund/item issue, I hate it when companies don’t do the right thing–and give ridiculous reasons. They think they can hide behind AI, and that we consumers will all just give up, but noooo. My worst situation was actually with the United States Postal Service. Don’t count on getting that $50 of “included” insurance back–even when an oozing package containing a literally toxic teddy bear (the box checked off was “unknown substance” or some such) is returned to your porch with said liquid seeping straight throught the box. (The bear was originally intended for a Chick having surgery.) They said it happened at a central mailing facility, that another person’s package maaay have leaked into the truck, but no $50 bucks for me because…? I took pictures and created quite the scene at our local post office. They put the poor bear into a hazardous materials locker, after which the evidence was destroyed at a special facility in Georgia. But no evidence, no $50. I went all the way up to USPS headquarters in Washington. Eventually I got my $50, with a form letter that claimed no responsibility for any actual damage.

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  8. I had the same problem with Amazon, more than once. They want me to print the return label. My printer doesn’t work with my computer. Grrr. Would they send me a label? Noooo! I have items I can’t use.

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  9. We have become too reliant on technology. It’s great in a lot of ways, but, as you’ve highlighted, we have some serious issues now that we can’t seem to think without it.

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  10. My poor customer service story happened at the beginning of this month. Parentals were supposed to go on this nice cruise within the US, booked by a travel agent. When they got ready to board, the staff wouldn’t let them on because they hadn’t brought their physical passports, but they had other IDs. (And there was one pit stop in Mexico on the way back.) They offered to go get their passports and meet at the first port, but nope, no dice. And there wouldn’t be any credits or refunds or anything. So they basically got stranded for that night; they told me all this after the boat departed, so I couldn’t do anything until after. I ended up calling the customer service line several times, doing a live chat, and filing a report. And I was tempted to go on social media. They eventually did give them a credit (not very much, but better than nothing, I suppose).

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  11. I feel all of that pain! I received an empty, opened envelope that did NOT contain the item I’d paid for. I took it to the return center and was told I couldn’t return it for a refund because I didn’t have it. THAT WAS THE POINT! I could NOT make her understand and she could not give me any help. I never got the refund and did not reorder that dang (and other words like #$$%) product. -Kaye George

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    2. Argh! I have had that happen too. We can’t conjure it out of thin air when we never received it! Totally understand how maddening this is. And it feels like everything is a waste…the time spent ordering, waiting, and of course trying to get the money back. Hugs.

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  12. I think I just got a mild case of PTSD just reading about this, Cyn, as it seems like EVERY TIME you go to do something like this, it ends up being a nightmare of waiting on hold for two hours only to be disconnected, calling again, getting the wrong person, being transferred and then disconnected again… I can’t really even go on, because now my shoulders are tense and my heart is pounding.

    I miss real people in real storefronts!

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  13. I know it’s not true for everyone, but we’ve had good luck with Amazon, so I pretty much only order through them. Last year I ordered six or seven dresses online from various places with the intention of wearing one to my niece’s wedding and returning the rest. After trying unsuccessfully to return one of the dresses, I boxed up the rest that didn’t work and donated them to St. Vinnie’s, unworn and with tags still on. I know not everyone can afford to do this, but it worked for me! I did find a dress for the wedding, as well!

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    1. Oh, Vickie, I feel for you! Especially since these days same-size clothes could fit anyone from 3 toddler to 33, depending on the package. I was so exhausted from returns this year that instead of sending back a package of the most horrific basic holiday bows ever (to put on outdoor wreaths), I dumped them in the trash. They weren’t worth either the effort or the refund. The company had warned that you had to “fluff” the bows into shape, but mine still looked like terrifying red spiders half an hour later.

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