The Juggle Zone: Bargain Blog

Ian Urbina, author of the two articles in the NY Times that I previously mentioned, published a book of passive aggressive responses to Life's Little Annoyances. It's not only a great book, it includes one of my stories!

Excerpted from: Life's Little Annoyances: True Tales of People Who Just Can't Take it Anymore
(Chapter 2. Service with a Snarl, pp. 36-39) by Ian Urbina

BREAKING THEIR SCRIPT

The girl behind the counter at Baskin-Robbins certainly heard Mark Thomas when he said, “One scoop of Rocky Road in a cup to go, please.” Yet she insisted on asking: “Will that be one scoop or two?” And then: “Cup or cone?” followed by: “Will you be having that here or to go?”
The service representative on the phone had no idea how to solve David Wallach's problem. But before ending the conversation the representative nonetheless said, “I'm glad we could be of service. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
To survive mindless jobs, many people shift to autopilot. And increasingly, companies are attempting to ensure quality in customer service by crafting rigid scripts that their representatives have to follow.
But to be on the other side of these conversations can feel like talking to a robot, and not a very helpful one at that.
“It's tough to break people's routine, I guess,” says Thomas, the professional pianist from Queens, New York, who also has a peeve about pledge drives on public television. (See page 9.) “But it can get tedious if you're the other person.”
Thomas says that his response is to just keep saying the same sentence over and over again until the clerk realizes that there is no point going through the list of standard questions.
When Ben Bynum runs into the same predicament, he strikes back by making more work for the clerk.
“Wait, maybe I will get something different today, ” he says, “But I don't have my contacts in so could you read the options to me?”
One by one, he makes the clerk go down the list. “It usually wakes them up,” says Bynum, a twenty-three-year-old musician from Port Jefferson, New York.
Stewart Dean finds it galling when a customer service representative asks him whether there is anything else she can do for him even when she hasn't done anything for him in the first place. To lash back, he requests something that he is sure the person on the phone can't possibly provide.
“I usually respond: ‘Sure. Would you please get Bush out of the White House?“' says Dean, a fifty-seven-year-old computer administrator for Bard College in Annandale-on-‘Hudson, New York.
David Wallach finds this pro forma question exasperating as well. “How can you help me with anything else if you haven't even helped me at all yet?” he usually replies. Wallach, a twenty-five-year-old computer programmer living in Queens, ‘New York, observes that the rigidity of these scripts can lead to fairly ridiculous situations, like the one that unfolded during a recent call he made to Verizon. After a customer service representative was unable to solve Wallach's problem, he asked to speak with a supervisor. The representative asked if she could put him on hold first.
“Do I have a choice?” he replied.
The representative said that in order for her to get a supervisor, she needed to put him on hold.
“Well, do what you must,” Wallach responded.
The representative asked again, “So can I put you on hold?”
Wallach repeated his original answer, only to be followed with the same question again from the representative. Suddenly, it dawned on him: the representative needed an explicit yes or no to proceed. So he decided to say anything but those two words.
“Do what you must,” he said. And around they went.
“Sure, ” he replied. And around they went again.
“Go right ahead.” One more time they went.
Finally, the representative broke the loop.
“I need you to confirm that I can put you on hold—yes or no,” she said.
This time, Wallach replied by explaining that “sure” and “go right ahead” essentially mean the same thing as one of the two words she was seeking. Those alternative responses will just have to suffice, he said. Realizing that she was going to have to go off script to break the cycle, the representative handed Wallach to the supervisor.
“The whole purpose of these policies is to make the representatives more helpful,” he says. “Yet they accomplish just the opposite.”

Posted by dwallach at 10:58 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

I've had a lot of experiences on various airlines over the years, but none as bad as on Fly Air. Instead of leaving at the scheduled 7:30 pm on a Sunday, it left at 6 am the next day! Given this was for a two hour flight, a ten hour delay was ridiculous. It also meant that we were unable to make use of the first night of our hotel stay. That they didn't provide us with anyplace to stay at the airport only made things worse.

The return flight ended up being delayed a similar six hours, meaning that instead of arriving back at our origin around midnight, we got back after sunrise, ruining another day of travel. While waiting to board we were switched from an empty air conditioned gate to a packed gate (with other passengers waiting for other delayed flights) that lacked air conditioning. When we did finally get to board we found ourselves on the tarmac, along with the luggage that we had checked, and had already passed through at least 2 x-ray machines. For "security purposes" we were to find our bags, which were in no order, and pass them to the airline employees to be loaded onto the plane.

After arriving home we contacted the travel agent who had arranged this mess, and requested a refund. Full was preferred, but partial would be acceptable. The response was:

hello
i was very upset to hear that your trip turned out to be dissapointing.
i can understand your annoyment.
however, unfortunately there is nothing we can do about it.
it is known that with charters and packages, there is always a risk of schedule changes and delays and that's why these packages are so cheap.
i will forward your complaint to the airline, but i do not expect too much of an answer or refund.
best regards
belli
benzvitravel

While I wasn't able to go after Fly Air directly, I did succeed in getting some vindication. My recommendation, avoid Fly Air.

Posted by dwallach at 7:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's not easy finding good pants. I think pants, more than any other article of clothing, have so many places where they could fit wrong that they're hardest to get right. I had a pair of Gap (gasp!) pants which were pretty good, but they ripped near the pocket. I'm not sure of the cause, but the store I brought them back to wasn't particularly interested in doing anything for me. I had purchased them on sale, for around $20 (the price I generally look to spend on pants), and new ones were now selling for over $40! I walked out.

We happened to be heading to Burlington Coat Factory's Baby Depot, so I figured I'd look at pants while I was there. To my surprise I actually found a couple pairs that had potential, as well as a shirt. I took 3 of the shirt (M, L, XL) and 3 pairs of pants to the fitting room to try them on. The attendant looked at me as if I were from Mars when I explained that I had 3 of the "same" shirt in different sizes. It seemed odd to him that I would try different sizes?!

At any rate, two of the pairs of pants fit well, and I headed for checkout. As the checker was ringing up the items, my selection of one of the pairs of pants was overruled, so I asked the checker to take them off the purchase. After some annoyed looks and electronic wizardry, the charge disappeared, I paid, and we left. Upon arriving home I was horrified to discover the "bad" pants in the bag. Had she taken off the wrong pants? I quickly checked the rest of the contents of the bag only to find both pairs of pants, and everything else I had intended to purchase. Apparently the only error that had occurred was the insertion of the non-purchased, but anti-theft-security-device-removed, pair of pants.

I can just see the look on the face of the store employee I bring the pants back to. "Yes, I'd like to return these ... No, I don't have a receipt ... I don't want any money, or credit for them ... No, I didn't steal them, well, not intentionally ... No, please don't call the police...."

Posted by dwallach at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I've recently taken the time to deal with a number of customer relations issues, and plan to rate and report my experiences. I feel it's important to file complaints, and compliments, with companies when products or services fail to meet, or exceed, expectations. If we don't, how will problems be fixed, good people rewarded, and good things kept around.

First up, Peg Perego, regarding our high chair, a Prima Pappa Rocker. It has had a problem rolling since we got it. I was finally annoyed about the problem enough to email them. Instead of some form letter type response, the message that was sent back to me acknowledged my problem and offered a possible solution - the new 2006 wheels. They were sent out to me in quick fashion, and shortly after they arrived I tried them out. They were better, but still suffered from what I now recognized as a design flaw, and described the situation in detail to the CSR. After a consultation with their engineering department, the flaw was acknowledged, and they offered to replace the high chair with a 2006 model, which apparently doesn't suffer the same flaw.

I have very rarely experienced customer service of this caliber, and I wrote to the CSR to tell him. No, it wasn't the high chair that swayed me - I actually wrote to him after he wrote to me excitedly informing me that the wheels were available sooner than originally anticipated.

Posted by dwallach at 9:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A few important things to know about taking "scantron" type tests:

1) If the test calls for "No. 2" pencils, "HB" rated pencils (most mechanical pencil lead) are fine, too. In fact, they're the same thing.

2) However, if you plan to use a mechanical pencil, take note that researchers have found that "Participants using a .5-mm pencil completed response sheets more slowly than when using a .7-mm, .9-mm, or a No. 2 pencil." Accuracy of those filling in the little bubbles was not specified.

Posted by dwallach at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I'd read about it, and then it happened to me. When our credit card didn't work on Friday, it turns out to have been due to mysterious $24.99 charges for a company called "DIGITAL AGE." MBNA blocked the charges, tried to reach us, failed, and put our card on hold. I spoke to them, confirmed they weren't my charges, and now they're closing the account. This turns out to be a HUGE problem (lots of people experiencing it). If your card company isn't as cool as MBNA, they might not stop it themselves, but wait for you to point it out, so check your statements!

More info here and here.

Posted by dwallach at 9:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've now racked up over $50 in referral bonuses through Mr. Rebates. Go me! I'll be able to get my third check soon. (I already got one for $32.44 and one for $30.64!) Between referral bonuses and my own purchases, I've earned over $100!

Posted by dwallach at 1:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, I called it. Sure, it took about a year, but the "WordLock" is history. It's on clearance in stores for $.50 (though still available online for $5.98. It's been reported on FW that it's easily broken and cracked. Surprising? No!

Posted by dwallach at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yisrael (Robert J.) Aumann (along with Thomas C. Schelling) won the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Interesting only because I know him. He spent a fair portion of his "free" time in my area when I was growing up. He lost his son, Shlomo, in the 1982 Lebanon War.

Posted by dwallach at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It turns out that YC (Yeshiva College) does have an alma mater! It was composed by Joel Schreiber, YC '56.

Oh Golden Domes across the sky, A heritage of years, These humble hearts are mindful now, Of your Pride, your Joys, your Tears.

Citadel of Mind and Faith
Endow us with your soul
Inspire our days, our years, our lives,
To fulfill your lofty goal.

Oh spark of light throughout the ages,
Guardian of the Solemn Truth,
To thee we sing, our Alma Mater,
From hearts with love imbued...

Golden Domes forever be
A symbol 'cross the land,
That where e'er your sons under heaven reside,
They shall strive both for G-d and Man.

The lyrics were printed in the latest edition of the Commentator, but I still don't know the tune/music.

UPDATE (10/31/05): I got my hands on a copy of a recording of the song, performed in September, 2005. It was conducted by Matthew Lazar, Founder & Conductor of the Zamir Choral Foundation. Download it in MP3 or OGG (both hosted by Reader Shaya). The CD case also included a bit more history. See below for details.

For those of you who think "alma mater" just means "a school, college, or university which one has attended or from which one has graduated," you need to read the second definition, "the song or hymn of a school, college, or university."

During the academic year 1955-56, almost 50 years ago, the Student Council of Yeshiva College sponsored a contest for an Alma Mater for Yeshiva College. After a review of submittals by an independent professor of music, Golden Domes" was chosen, with original music and lyrics written by Joel M. Schreiber, a Senior at Yeshiva College. It expresses the credo of Yeshiva College set to Choral music.

Sung by the Yeshiva College chorus and conducted by Dr. Kurt Adler, it wad its debut on March 16, 1956 at a Dean's Reception.

A few years later, it was performed at Madison Square Garden, with Gladys Gooding at the organ, during the half-time of a Yeshiva College basketball game.

Posted by dwallach at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

As Reader Shaya warned, the $75 rebate offered by the store was problematic. By the time 6 months had passed, the store was under new ownership, complete with a new name. A clerk in the store told me the old owner was honoring the rebates, and just to mail it in. With severe distrust, I did, but kept a copy of the forms. After a coupld months passed and no check showed up, I contacted T-Mobile. It took 3 calls and a couple faxes, but my account now shows a $75 credit!

Posted by dwallach at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Preview the latest iteration of my blog here. Post your comments, below.

Posted by dwallach at 5:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Around 7 months ago I bought a pair of new tires from BJ's. My understanding then was that their warranty and service was equivalent to Costco's, which was purported to be quite good.

Fast forward to today, when I found out I had a flat. I changed the wheel myself, and brought in the flat. It took them a ridiculous 1.5-2 hours to evaluate it. They discovered a puncture type hole in the sidewall, which they claimed was not covered. This despite the following language on their warranty information sheet:

A. What is Covered:
1. Tires that have a hole in excess of 1/4 of an inch in diameter, large punctures, slices, cuts, or any other damage that might compromise the structural integrity of the tire.

I argued with the tech, who kept claiming that punctures to the sidewall are not covered. When that failed, I asked for a manager. The manager tried the same baloney. I refused to give in, so he finally did. Unfortunately the computer system in the place that evaluates the value of the tire (based on age and wear) was down, so they couldn't proceed today.

Bottom line: It seems that BJ's isn't quite as fair as Costco. Of course, this is based on an "n" of 1.

Posted by dwallach at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)