How do you get even with a company that has screwed you?
I don’t mean just in Taiwan. Recently I have had several companies tell me they can’t do this or can’t do that, they don’t wanna do this and don’t wanna do that, etc, etc etc, blah blah blah. Is there no justice anymore? Companies can get away with whatever they want? I’m sick of it and want to take action, any ideas or funny stories to share?
I think they work on the principle that even though they know they are breaking laws, the average citizen doesn’t know about the relevant laws and/or is too apathetic to seek redress.
I suspect the westerners here feel a greater sense of outrage at this (Taiwanese are used to being screwed over), so why not surprise them and go in for the kill!
jeff, i am very interested in this question. Thanks for posting. i will be back on this topic soon with some ammo i hope. but for now i agree with soddom. If you would like to meet a good lawyer pm to me.
chou
Just to be clear, I’m not talking about companies that I have worked for, though i do have some issues in this area as well, but that’s another topic. I’m talking about companies I do business with, i.e. buying products and services.
I am still interested in hearing your ammo Chodofu!
the obvious answerr here jeff is legally binding contracts. Is your paper work in order?
Chou
There have been a few times when I wanted to mail a dead fish to someone. Can that be illegal? It’s not meant as a threat but as a gift.
debt collectors here are notorius for leaving pig heads, dead chickens, etc. on doorsteps.
chou
I thought it was the head of a dead horse when you’re sending a message. At least that’s what they did in one of the Godfathers.
Interesting to hear of someone actually trying to sue a company in Taiwan and what happened. Did you lose your shirt in legal expenses and give up or did you manage to win some redress?
MT, I’ve always been partial to the cinder block through the window medium.
BTW, please check the Beer thread.
I have had the pleasure of interpreting for an encounter at which the threat of media exposure, coupled with a lot of shouting, made Chunghwa Telecom jump through hoops. Unfortunately it had nothing to do with my own service. 
I had a friend who once received a Spaghetti Bolognaise thru the Royal Mail, posted anonymously in a paper envelope. It had burst open in the course of the journey and turned up inside a plastic bag with an official apology on the outside. Don’t know why I mention it really.
Ironlady:
You could make a fortune in California. I once timed a call to Pacific Bell to try and make a collect call. It took 55 minutes, because they had screwed up my account. Everybody was so busy refusing to accept the blame that they couldn’t grasp the fact that I just wanted someone to connect my call. Thank God for disinterested operators in Alabama.
I’m bumping this back up to see if anyone has more ideas.
chodofu mentioned about having all the paperwork in order, sure I do, for one particular matter I’m pissed about, but that doesn’t mean that I’m happy with their policies. And it certainly doesn’t mean I can’t complain about them so long as my gripe is fair. Ok maybe that’s not logical… 
I’ve had another interesting thing occur, AGAIN, recently, a company for the last 5 years has been sending me an email message confirmation for products my father orders. :saywhat: How they mixed up our accounts, I’ll never know, and why they can’t straighten it out, I’ll never figure out either. I’ve called them, emailed them, etc, it doesn’t seem to work and they don’t give a crap. So this time what I’m going to do is tell them that I’m done complaining to them about it and I’m going to take it a step further. I’m going to send my story to news agencies like “The Onion” and other media. :bouncy: My point is I’m tired of getting angry at this company (:finger: ) because it doesn’t seem to matter if I am polite or pissy, they just don’t care that they are sending private information to a 3rd party, so… it’s time to let the general public hear about it. You’d think after five years and several complaints they’d figure it out… 
Guess not… No one in our family will ever buy from them again.
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
It’s gonna feel real good to get even!!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
We had a similar issue a few years back. Eventually we made a series of long insistent phone calls that resulted in us finally getting through to the customer service manager. She promised to straighten it out, and (to her credit) did call back.
Due to the time difference between her state and ours - and our rather inconvenient schedule - she had to make that call from her home to my mobile. HA! Then I had the home phone number of the customer service manager, and problems got solved very quickly after that.
JeffG, have you tried replying to the confirmation to complain that your goods haven’t arrived? Do it repeatedly and waste their time making them chase it up.
Refuse to admit anything other than that you are still waiting for your goods. Cause the lower level people to push you up the ladder as quickly as possible. Keep on demanding whatever it is you have allegedly bought. Or ask your father to send stuff back on the grounds that he never had a confirmation from them. I’m sure they’ll straighten things out if you cost them enough time and money.
Is this a US company? A few years back, when anyone could get a job and the only people manning the phones were the ones who didn’t have two brain cells to rub together, it was not easy to get things dealt with. It might be easier now that there’s more competition for jobs.
I’ve learned to distance myself from any stress-inducing encounters by sending in my charming and diplomatic wife.
Works wonders.
[quote=“stragbasher”]
JeffG, have you tried replying to the confirmation to complain that your goods haven’t arrived? Do it repeatedly and waste their time making them chase it up.
Refuse to admit anything other than that you are still waiting for your goods. Cause the lower level people to push you up the ladder as quickly as possible. Keep on demanding whatever it is you have allegedly bought. Or ask your father to send stuff back on the grounds that he never had a confirmation from them. I’m sure they’ll straighten things out if you cost them enough time and money.[/quote]
This is a good idea. But this has been going on now for five years. I think the last reply I got from them was that they couldn’t take my email address off my father’s account because their computer wouldn’t let them. BULL SHIT! Then how the @$&! did it get on there in the first place you idiots?! :!: :finger:
My father won’t be placing any more orders with them so the problem should be solved, but I feel I need to create more trouble for them because it’s just ridiculous that after five years they still couldn’t do it, even with the advancement of technology, I think they are just too damn lazy!
Yes it is.
Is it just me or has the quality of customer service plumeted in the US over the last few years? Unfriendly, infleixible, stupid, ignorant, rude, annoying, need I go on, companies that give off the I don’t give a shit attitude? :finger: Or have I changed and expect more? :saywhat: nah couldn’t be that… Must be them!
Customer service? Whassat? I haven’t had much in 20 years. I tend to vote with my feet and go to a competitor who offers it…of course, if the world were filled with consumers like me, the world economy would grind to a halt (aside from food, I rarely buy anything other than to replace something I have that is broken).
I DID once set up an old voice mail system with one of those “The customer who is waiting to speak with you is currently busy, press 1 to ring his telephone, 2 to leave a voice mail, 3 to authorize a credit card payment for his time (48 minutes) waiting to speak with you at his established rate of $100 per hour, 4 to speak with his cat, 5 to have a new orfice ripped in you by his wife, or 5 to repeat this message.” or something to that effect, was years ago, but I had already gotten tired of spending 10-60 minutes on hold listening to Lawrence Welk oldies.
I remember once I didn’t get my cell phone bill. After several tries, I hung up after 20 minutes. 6 weeks later these same reps called to ask why I hadn’t paid my bill, I responded that I had, in fact, tried, but the wait was too long. I figured they would call me if they really wanted payment 
.
As far as things I’ve done to companies who tried to stiff me where I worked, Umax (I’ll name names here) Data Systems tried to withhold my last months pay there in 1992 or 3. I smelled it coming and wrote a little private key encryption program and encripted the manual I was working on. They needed it two weeks after I left. Had they paid me as we had agreed, I would have made a call to a coworker with the password. As it was, 6 weeks later, and a month late to market with the product, they begrudgingly offered up my NT$70,000…and I promptly offered up the password .
Come on Jeff, if you were a college grad stuck in front of a phone in Mumbai or Calcutta all day, trying to sound like an American, you’d get a bit pissed off too, I’m sure.
GOL< I LOVE IT WHEN THE LITTLE GUYS GET REVENGE Way to go ACEARLE! You tha man
Sandman, I know your point, but these guys aren’t in India!
Gee, thanks too much for bringing this up. My blood pressure just spiked again.
I had to go through three separate screaming matches with my soon-to-be-ex-stockbroker in the last week. The fucking morons locked me out of my account in order to make my accessing their system “more convenient”.
Their people were unapologetic and incompetent at resolving it in anything resembling a reasonable fashion. Overall, they cost me at least US$500 as a result of the delays.
During two of the screaming sessions, I pointed out that their competitors charge lower fees and don’t screw their customers like this. Their representatives’ responses were identical: you will probably be happier at the other brokerage.
Now they are going to charge me US$100 to close my account. Well worth it, they’ll never see another dime from me after that.