~ Success Stories ~

Click on a name below to read a success story!

 

                    Ruby Tuesday           Sears           Circuit City           Cartridges for Less
 
E-machines           Kaiser           JCPenny           Franklin Bank
 
Nokia                     

 

Note:
Names have been changed to protect personal identities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marlene bought two Nokia phones with the good faith of expecting a $75 rebate for each one per the contract. After waiting a few weeks, and having still not received any rebates, she called Nokia. They gave her the runaround by transferring her to different "customer service representatives" of different levels and even told Marlene that she was declined the rebates. Marlene mentioned to Nokia that she would be contacting the consumer advocacy group by the name of Consumer Soundoff.

[Final] The mere mentioning of our consumer advocacy service prompted Nokia to send the rebates to Marlene at once!

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Nathan and a friend went to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays expecting to have a relaxing evening at a nice restaurant. To his dismay, it would be an evening of frustration. After being seated, Nathan and his friend spent over 15 minutes without their presence ever being acknowledged. This even though several waiters passed them repeatedly. Nathan tried to flag one down but had no luck. The two of them decided to voice their complaint before giving up and leaving. This led to even more anxiety. The Ruby Tuesday representative, for the most part, told them to leave if they didn't like it. At this point, Nathan turned to Consumer Soundoff.

[Final] The director of operations at Ruby Tuesday's expressed his apologies to Nathan and investigated the matter more thoroughly with the store in question.

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Jean bought a cellular phone contract at Circuit City. Her husband had a separate agreement, which was already fulfilled, from the same cellular provider. He closed his account since she had a current contract. Circuit City viewed this as an 'account cancellation' under the 'same house rule', which does not exist. They said Jean owed $300 due to early cancellation fees. Jean made countless attempts to clear this situation with Circuit City. Finally, Jean contacted Consumer Soundoff who in turn assisted Jean in filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Circuit City took immediate action to straighten out the situation.

[Final] Circuit City wrote a letter of apology to Jean and cleared her account of all charges.

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Pam bought some replacement ink jet cartridges online from Cartridges For Less. She was mistakenly over-billed $400. Pam tried to have Cartridges For Less rectify their problem but they told her to contact her bank. Her bank, rightly so, said it was the vendor's mistake. Pam was getting the runaround. Consumer Soundoff was brought into the situation at this point. Within days, Pam was refunded the overcharge.

[Final] Cartridges For Less refunded the money at Consumer Soundoff's request.

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When Sarah went to Kaiser Permanente's emergency room, she did not have insurance. She did not want to have any outstanding bills so she decided to pay for everything that night. Sarah informed the receptionist of the lack of medical coverage and said that she wanted to pay for everything in full that particular evening. The receptionist ran the credit card through and Sarah was treated. A few days later, Sarah received a bill from Kaiser for an additional amount. She called Kaiser and they told her that she was not previously billed for that amount and that she must pay. Sarah once again explained the situation but Kaiser would not budge. This is where Consumer Soundoff got involved. Consumer Soundoff called Kaiser and was told the same thing-- Sarah must pay. Consumer Soundoff requested to speak to a supervisor and then proceeded to explain the situation, the key component being that Sarah specifically told Kaiser to bill them in full that evening. The supervisor at Kaiser later called back and waived the additional charge.

[Final] Kaiser fixed the problem at Consumer Soundoff's request.

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Mrs. Thompson special ordered a couch and chair from JCPenny's. After about 8 weeks, the order came in and she picked them up. Mrs. Thompson immediately noticed two small holes in the fabric on the back of the chair and made note of it when she signed for the merchandise. She called JCPenney the following week and informed them of the damage to the chair. JCPenney sent out a technician to assess the damage. The technician looked at the chair and took down all the pertinent information and ordered the fabric (4-6 weeks lead time). About 6 weeks later Mrs. Thompson called the contractor that JCP hired, to find out the status of the fabric/repair. They said they lost her name, address and phone number; hence they could not contact her-- but the fabric was there. A technician was sent out to perform the repair. It turned out that the wrong fabric was ordered! The technician processed another order for the fabric to repair the chair (4-6 weeks lead time again). About 8 weeks later, Mrs.Thompson called to check on the status once more. The repair contractor said they had no information on the repair, in fact they had no info on Mrs. Thompson at all! Mrs. Thompson called JCP and explained the complete situation. JCP said they would straighten out the whole ordeal, just give them about 2 weeks. Mrs. Thompson called JCP 4 weeks later and was told she would be contacted by the contractor, just wait a week. 2 weeks later and a resolution was not even in the process. Then Consumer Soundoff got involved. Consumer Soundoff called JCP and spoke to the supervisor. Consumer Soundoff negotiated a complete refund on the chair which was fine with Mrs. Thompson.

[Final] JCPenney refunded the full amount of the chair at Consumer Soundoff's request.

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Davis had a car loan through Franklin Bank. He wanted to pay it off in full so he called Franklin Bank for a payoff amount. Davis was given an amount and he quickly paid it in full. Upon closer review, Davis found that the payoff amount did not match his records. Davis called Franklin Bank's customer service department repeatedly (about 4-5 different times) and finally got in touch with an accountant at FB. The accountant agreed that Davis had overpaid his loan by about $200 and assured him that a check would be sent in the mail. Davis waited about 6 weeks, but never received any correspondence whatsoever from Franklin Bank. Davis again called FB's customer service department repeatedly. He left multiple voice mails with the customer service manager. Consumer Soundoff became involved and left a firm message with the customer service manager. Consumer Soundoff was finally put in touch with FB's accountant, who did not recall any contact with Davis! After assertively refreshing the memory of the accountant, a $200 reimbursement check was mailed via overnight delivery to Davis.

[Final] Franklin Bank reimbursed Davis at Consumer Soundoff's request.

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Tracy bought a desktop computer from E-machines.com . A few weeks later, the hard drive started acting up. E-machines told Tracy to send the computer in at her expense. She did so. Soon after, she received a replacement which did not function properly. E-machines would do nothing since it functioned somewhat. The computer stopped working altogether a few months later. E-machines paid to have Tracy send it in to them. This is where the situation became very frustrating. First, E-machines had no replacement models to ship. Then they lost track of the record which indicated Tracy returned the old computer. Next, E-machines shipped the wrong computer to the wrong address. Tracy found this out by doing a little investigating herself. At this point Tracy contacted Consumer Soundoff.

[Final] Consumer Soundoff negotiated with E-machines to expedite the process of having the correct product shipped to the correct customer.

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Steve purchased a lawnmower from Sears, then decided to buy some replacement blades. After he placed his order, he waited two and a half months with no blades being shipped. During this time, Steve contacted Sears on numerous occasions to try to locate his replacement blades. He even gave Sears different options to solve the problem, to no avail. At this point Sears ignored Steve for the most part. Steve decided to take some serious action and contacted Consumer Soundoff.

[Final] Consumer Soundoff contacted Sears and Steve had his blades two days later.

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Disclaimer: Consumer Soundoff reports the above cases to the best of its knowledge and is not responsible for any misrepresentation.