Such Wonderful Customer Service

I never realized how clueless I am about things until I experience something like what I did today. Last week I had scheduled for Dish Network to come out and install my new satelite system. They never showed and didn't call. I ended up having to call them and reschedule my apointment for this morning.

The gentleman arrived today as scheduled. He even called ahead of time to inform me what time he would be arriving. He had a trainee with him and everything appeared to be on the up & up. I showed them which rooms and TVs I was wanting the service for. Showed him the existing satelite dish on the house and the attic access from the garage.

He then proceeded to ask me for a flashlight. I was surprised he didn't have one of his own and when I asked about that, he claimed that the two he possessed didn't work well. Then he asked to borrow a ladder. I didn't understand how he was supposed to hook up my service without the proper tools. Luckily I just purchased a ladder the other day from Home Depot and it was sitting in the garage with the tags and everything still on it (which he proceeded to rip off of the ladder and toss carelessly on my garage floor).

So as the 2 guys began their work, I came into my office to check my emails and pretty much stay out of their way. Unfortunately, I overheard a conversation between them as they worked in my guest bedroom. It seems one of them (I believe the trainee) had a camera to sell and the other (the main installer) was interested in purchasing it. He stated that he wanted to make his own nude photo album so that he wouldn't have to buy magazines anymore.

I was floored! This is not an appropriate conversation to have in a customer's home, let alone a female customer's home. I happened to be talking to Joe (a.k.a. gay boyfriend) online at the time and I told him about it. He laughed about the situation and we continued to discuss his trip to Colorado that he'd just returned from.

Shortly afterwards, the installer told me that to put in a second jack in my guest bedroom would cost me $20 and that I would have to pay for it today. I didn't think anything of it cause Dish Network makes you pre-pay for the installation anyway. I okayed the work and when everything was complete, I asked if he wanted my credit card or a check. He replied, "Cash." All of a sudden I realized that my jack was something on the sly. I explained that I didn't have cash and he agreed to take a check as long as it was from Bank of America. He told me to make it out to him. He then gave me a really short demonstration of how to use my satelite and then split.

Once he was gone I saw that he didn't bother to clean up after himself. He left wire in my guest bedroom, trash in my living room, and two satelite boxes full of trash to the side. He did not put my ladder back where he found it and ended up leaving a satelite dish laying on my garage floor. Everyone I spoke to about the experience told me to call and complain to Dish Network about him.

When I called, the stupid menu didn't give me an option to speak to a representative. I ended up choosing an option for tech support just so I could speak to a live a person. The technician was very kind and shocked by my story. He tried unsuccessfully for 45 minutes to locate a dispatching manager for me to tell my story to. Eventually he left a message for one of the managers to call me back and apologized on behalf of the company for my horrible experience. In the meantime, I sent the following message to them in an email:

Full Name: Camlaw

Account Number: ******

Question: I don't have a question but a complaint. I had my Dish installed today which was a reschedule from last week when no one bothered to call or show up for my original appointment. The gentleman showed up today with a trainee. He had to use my ladder and my flashlight to install my service. While he was working he had an inappropriate conversation with his trainee in my home about wanting to make his own nude photo album so he wouldn't have to buy magazines anymore. Then when he was almost complete with the installation service, he told me to place another jack in my 2nd bedroom would cost $20 which I had to pay today. When the work was complete, I asked how I was to pay, check or credit card? He told me cash. I was floored. I told him I didn't have cash. He told me I could write out a check and make it to him. He made sure the check was from Bank of America. Once he left I noticed that there was trash on my flooring and the boxes the dish boxes came in left behind with trash inside as well in the middle of my living room. Then when I tried to call in to complain I was left on hold forever while the poor technician tried relentlessly to contact a dispatching manager. This entire experience has me wondering if I should return to Time Warner Cable.

I came home tonight to find this response:

Dear Camlaw,

Thank you for your e-mail. We would like to apologize on behalf of the DISH Network for the way that your issue was handled by our representatives. We take our customer service seriously and strive to be the best in our industry. Our customers are very important to us and we sincerely apologize for the service that you have received.

Please understand that as a growing company, we are continuously training all of our employees and constantly re-evaluating our customer service. There is no excuse for being inconsistent or insufficient to those that have made us what we are today—our customers!

(Reiterate customer’s issue/concerns here and attempted resolution. We are unable to use this response alone.)

We appreciate that you have brought this to our attention so that we may address this issue with the appropriate personnel. Once again, please accept our sincerest apologies and we thank you for your feedback.

Your business is greatly appreciated and we thank you for allowing us to be of assistance to you. If you have any further questions or concerns, please refer to www.dishnetwork.com or reply to this email.

Sincerely,

Sabry R.

DISH Network E-Care

Pine Brook

** Please include all previous correspondence when replying. **

This just pissed me the fuck off. I responded immediately:

As I sit here and read your "form letter" response to my original email, I can't help but regret my decision to do business with DISH.

(Reiterate customer’s issue/concerns here and attempted resolution. We are unable to use this response alone.)

This above statement just proves that my concerns and issues have fallen on deaf ears. While trying to appease me with this generic email, you have enraged me instead. I do NOT appreciate being treated as a number. If you truly wish to keep customers, try listening to them and actually attempting to resolve their items of concern.

I will again attempt to speak to someone directly about this matter. If I am unsuccessful again, my final step will then be to file a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau and the FCC.

Let's see how they respond now. The Bastards!

In Neon Across My Forehead

So I just spent $6500 today that I don't really have. And although Joe (a.k.a. gay boyfriend) and another friend of mine tend to think I have lost my mind, I don't regret my decision.

Shortly after I moved in, I noticed that the quality of my water sucks. I mean every time I ran the faucet this horrible odor emanated from it. So when I got a call from this person asking to run a hard water test on my water, I immediately agreed.

Now I wouldn't be myself if I didn't give the salesman a hard time. He was supposed to come over last night, but I was sooo tired and not feeling too good. Plus I was extremely irritated that fucking Dish Network stood me up. I had an appointment to have my satelite system installed yet they never showed or called. Wasted my day off waiting around for them bastards! I called and re-scheduled my appointment. Have to wait another week for them to come out! And they better show too!

Anyway, so this salesman does his whole spiel and I'm not shocked by the test results of my water, nor do I give him any slack in his sales technique. I have to say though that he was a pretty cool guy and took everything I threw at him in stride. So I opted for this $6500 soft water system. The company is called RainSoft and it comes with a limited lifetime guaranty - whatever the fuck that means. The Brady Bunch mom is their spokesperson and supposedly they have a great business reputation.

Of course, when I told Joe (a.k.a. gay boyfriend) about my new purchase his response was quite...supportive. "Do you have FUCK ME printed in neon across your forehead? I got the soft water system for my house for about $650 at Sears." Although that may be true, it doesn't make me feel bad about my purchase.

They are scheduled to come out tomorrow to install my new soft water system. Of course I have no idea how exactly I am going to pay for it. I'll figure something out though. It's supposedly a tax write off too so I guess that's a plus. Lord knows I need all the tax breaks I can get!

Officially Moved

As of 5 AM this morning I am officially moved out of my apartment and into my house. WOO HOO! I was supposed to be out of my apartment by Saturday, June 16th but I didn't make that deadline. I told my mom that I as long as I was out before the apartment complex office opened on Monday we were all good. How would they know if I left my keys on Saturday night or Monday morning? I had to work yesterday. I worked an earlier shift than I normally work, so I ran to the apartment after work to pick up my last load of stuff.

My mom has been coming over to the apartment the past few days to clean and pack my remaining stuff. I thought she was further along than she was with the process than she was. I was angry when I discovered how much was still left to be done. I spent a couple of hours cleaning, taking out trash, packing and loading up my car. All of these things I hadn't planned on doing when I got off work last night. When everything was said and done, I discovered I had 2 car loads of stuff to bring back to the house. After the first car load, I crashed for a couple of hours. I was so exhausted and knew I should get some rest before trying to head back to the apartment to get my last car load.

Luckily the few hours I spent cleaning and packing and whatnot earlier paid off because when I came back to get my second and final car load things went very quickly and smoothly. I threw the last of my trash out and dropped my apartment keys off in overnight drop box. I left them my forwarding address and phone numbers just in case they decided to actually refund my deposit.

I stopped on my way home at an Exxon to fill up my gas tank. Seems all this running around put me on empty. Of course the freaks come out at night at that hour. Some guy approached me at the pump asking for money. When I told him I had none, he then asked for a ride to the next exit. I explained that I lived down the street. Of course even if I had wanted to give him a lift I couldn't have anyway cause my car was full of stuff and I had no room for a passenger. Hell, the front seat was full with my vacuum and steam cleaners. I filled up my gas tank, drove home, left the car loaded in the garage and fell back into the bed.

Now comes the headache of unpacking. Oh joy!

Adventures in Home Ownership

Not even in moved into my home 24 hours and I manage to lock myself out of the house yesterday. You see there is this flimsy door between the garage and the laundry room and the door knob on it is a total piece of shit. The knob turns even if the lock is engaged. Hence, how I managed to lock myself out.

So let me set the scene for you. My first official night in my new home, I locked every lock on my doors and windows. I know this sounds silly cause I have spent the night here before, but for some reason staying a full night versus 5+ hours sleeping in the guest bed meant something different to me. So I locked all the deadbolts and knobs and whatnot which I hadn't been locking before.

Anyway, when I was getting ready to leave I set the alarm and went out the door to the garage. I got in the car and realized that I didn't have my cell phone with me. When I tried to get back in the house through the laundry room door, I discovered the door knob was locked. I tried every key they gave me at closing and none of them worked. I stood there for a minute and contemplated my options.

I looked around my garage and tried to find something to use to break in cause as I said before this is a shitty door. It was one of the few items we haggled about when closing on the house. I asked the previous owners to replace it and they refused saying it was a new door. I found the entire issue petty so I didn't push to have it replaced. It's on my list (which is long as hell) of things to do myself.

Unfortunately, I was unsuccesful in my burglary attempts. I thought about trying the back yard door but remembered I dead bolted it. I then drove around the front of the house and realized that the front door was dead bolted too. So I decided to just go ahead and go over to my apartment. I would just bug Joe (a.k.a. gay boyfriend) later to help me break into my house. Bewtween the 2 of us I knew we could break in here.

Of course, I couldn't call Joe (a.k.a. gay boyfriend) cause I had no cell phone and the geniuses at the phone company shut my phone off at the apartment on Tuesday instead of today like I asked them to. So I waited as late as possible and drove over to his house after I was done for the day at my apartment. He works nights, so I didn't want to wake him too early.

I arrived at Joe's (a.k.a. gay boyfriend) house at 6:45pm. I rang the doorbell 4 times before he finally answered. He opened the door wrapped in sheet with one eye cracked open and the other one squinted shut. Needless to say I woke him up. I quickly explained that I needed his help as I barged into his home. I was talking 90 to nothing while I sat on his love seat trying to explain my stupid situation. He just sat there staring at me with this blank expression on his face. I finally stopped rambling and asked him if he wanted me to sit quietly and let him process what I was saying. He told me no and to continue talking. He eventually began asking questions to clarify my story and assess the situation.

We discuss the shitty door and the lack of difficulty in breaking in through it. We realized that the previous owners must have switched the door knobs cause that door knob was originally on the back yard door. Then Joe (a.k.a. gay boyfriend) proceeded to tell me what specific tool I would need and how exactly I would use said tool to break into my house. Even in his sleepy state he walked into one of his rooms a produced this tool instantly. He explained that this would more than likely be a 3 fold process and demonstrated each step expertly. I sat in awe and had to ask the blatant question. "Is there something you need to tell me? Do you have a side job I don't know about?" He gave me this little smirk and ignored my questions.

So I left Joe's (a.k.a. gay boyfriend) house armed with this special burglary tool and his cell phone. Joe (a.k.a. gay boyfriend) opted to stay home cause one, he was tired and two, he needed to get ready for work. We had enough time alloted for Joe (a.k.a. gay boyfriend) to come over just on case my attempt to break into my house myself failed. Took me all of 15 seconds to break in. I don't know if it's because of Joe's (a.k.a. gay boyfriend) expert instructions or specific burglary tool or a combination of both. Needless to say, I won't lock that door knob anymore.

So I drove up to hell - I mean work - to drop off Joe's (a.k.a. gay boyfriend) cell phone & special burglary tool. I also left the gifts I have for Funky Cold and Dilbert on their desks. I must say that the gifts came out awesome. The engraving is so beautiful. I stopped at Hallmark and got a couple of cards, a bag and some tissue paper to wrap them in. That in itself was a chore cause Hallmark mostly had Father's Day stuff in bright froo-froo colors. Took me a while to find something appropriate. But the gifts look great and I can't wait for them to get them. (pats myself on the back for being so generous and thoughtful)

I am totally exhausted though. I think I will lay back down again before I get up and get ready for work. I was going to make a run to the apartment today, but I can't seem to keep my eyes open. I will be so glad when this move is OVER!

Good News, Bad News

So it's official! Tomorrow will be Dilbert's last day as my manager. Of course that is the good news. Hell, it's great news! I'm more than tired of his non-supporting, management ass kissing, schedule nightmare setting self! See ya! BOOT!

The bad news, however, is that one of my fellow co-workers (Funky Cold) is getting promoted to management and his last day is also tomorrow. Now I'm happy that he is getting promoted (if you want to call it that - management at my company tends to lean to the sucky side of life) and that he is finally leaving our hellish department on his own terms. I am really proud of his accomplishments. BUT, he is one of the only few people I can really rely on at work. We've been an awesome team together on many high profile projects over the past few years and I will miss him terribly. So I did threaten to beat him up in the parking lot for leaving me.

Yesterday I went to Things Remembered and bought a gift for Funky Cold as a way of saying, "Congrats!" There is a store at the mall near my apartment, so I wandered in there with a particular idea in mind. I wanted to get him a name plate for his new "managerial" desk. You see my company is too cheap to provide us with name plates - even for the managers. We're lucky just to get a piece of paper with our name printed on it.

Anyway, I bought Funky Cold this beautiful crystal name plate (with his name engraved on it) for his desk. Of course, being the polite person that I am, I also decided to get Dilbert something as well. Luckily everything was on sale seeing how Father's Day is just around the corner. So I found this really cute golf themed business card holder for Dilbert. He is a golf fanatic. It contains a golf ball & 2 tees which hold the business cards in place. I got it engraved as well.

They are able to have both items done today so I'm going to pick them up while running back & forth between the house and the apartment. I plan to drop the gifts off at hell - I mean work - tonight so that they will be sitting at their desks when they first get to work in the morning. I work the late shift. Knowing my luck they will cut out of work early tomorrow and I will just miss them. Besides, it's nice to come into work and find a good surprise on your desk instead of the usual bitch memo.

Well, I best be off. I got soooo much to do and my maid/mom is sitting at my apartment waiting for me. Moving SUCKS!

Moved In But Not Settled

Well, I moved into my house today. The movers came and got all the furniture and bulky items that me and mom were unable to move ourselves. I still have plenty of little things left at the apartment that I need to get. But I have the next few days to pick up those miscellaneous items. My mom is going over to clean the next couple of days in an attempt to try and get my deposit back. But apartments are FAMOUS for not returing your deposit because of one lame excuse or another.

Oliver was conveniently at the Vet's office getting groomed, his senior physical, up to date shots, and chipped while the movers were around. He's never lived any where else so I thought getting him chipped was a good idea. He'd also never been to the house before so he is slowly taking it all in. There is so much more room now. No more cramped living quarters. Some new furniture. He is overwhelemed.

Oliver's naked again too. My mother took some pictures of him as well as the house with furniture in it. As soon as the pictures are developed I will post them on here. Last time I had him clipped, he was so embarassed that he hid under the bed for a few days. I guess since there is so much to explore, his embarassment has taken a back seat to his curiosity. He is pretty timid with all this space though. I keep finding him sitting in his one spot on the couch. He didn't even sleep with me last night. He is flicking at all the blinds, however, cause he don't like them lowered or closed. He's a crazy cat!

The stupid disability people approved one of the 3 weeks they denied me. So I got a small check deposited in my account yesterday. I haven't been able to balance my finances yet. I've been setting up my office and making sure my computer was back together and working properly. Fuck paying bills! I just need my internet! My priorities are straight. HA!

MySpace Entry

Because I refuse to repeat myself on all my blogs, here is a link to my MySpace page: CamlawsMySpace. I posted an entry there today about my lawn mowing experience. Check it out!

Back To Hell I Go

So I return to HELL, I mean work, on Monday. I am NOT happy about it, but I need the money. Stupid disability people at work denied my benefits not understanding why I was unable to return to work on May 14th like they thought I should. My doctor has sent them all the medical info he has and they still denied me. THE BASTARDS! I'm in the process of appealing it, but in the mean time I have to return to work so I can get paid again. I had enough in my savings to pay my first mortgage payment which was due today. My poor savings is almost completely gone though.

Anyway, I saw my doctor today. I told my him that I'm still fighting severe nausea. That sometimes I eat and am able to keep it down despite the nauseousness, while other times I just got to throw it back up. He's sending me to a digestive specialist. Unfortunately, the visit was cut short cause his daughter was hospitalized and he had to run. So I'm waiting for his physician's assistant to call me on Monday and tell me who I need to see.

In the meantime, I'm going to try and get as much done as possible between now and June 16th. Alot of the little stuff is moved, just not everything. I'm trying to move as much of my things as possible so that it won't cost me as much when I hire the movers for the big things. I got to count my pennies now since my damn job stopped paying me. Good thing I had some savings to carry me this far. THE BASTARDS!