Like other people have been stating, I have been considering moving to another country. Why am I so extreme? Well, thanks for askin� now I�m gonna tell ya!
I don�t understand what�s been up with American companies lately, but most customer service has gone way down. I don�t know if it�s related to the age of most servicepeople (teenagers) or if it is society as a whole.
I tend to believe that it is both.
I can�t recall the number of times that I�ve had to deal with either a pompous, dismissive, or generally rude salesperson in the past few months. I also can�t tell you how many times I�ve had to send food back or correct a waiter or waitress on his or her orders or ability to make my dining experience pleasant.
It�s getting ridiculous.
Most recently, I�ve had run ins with both my rental company and my mobile service company. Now, everyone knows how much I hate Voicestream/T-mobile, so I�ll move explain that one last, but I don�t see what gives a rental company the right to treat any tenant as badly as we�ve been treated.
I don�t know if it�s because I�m just a student or if its because the complex is poorly run, but I�ve never had such problems with any place I�ve ever lived.
Although�I�ve never rented an apartment before�
Well, anyway, when RP and I moved in sometime around August 18th, there were a number of problems with the apartment. There were holes in the wall, closet doors were broken off the hinges, a leak in the ceiling, broken furniture, and god know what else. We made a list of these problems and the rental company told us that they would take care of them as soon as the move in rush was over.
Understandable.
What is not understandable is that my closet door is still broken, there is still a hole in the wall in the bathroom, the screen on one of our windows looks as if it�s been pried open, the door leaks in cold air, the maintenance people have broken the bathroom fan when fixing a leak, they have tracked dirt into the apartment, made messes, and probably a whole hell of a lot more. The maintenance people come and go when they please, leaving no record of when they have come in. The rental company isn�t very prompt on trying to fix things.
My closet door has been off for the entirety of my stay here. I have told the office about twice a month since I moved in. Since it hasn�t been an extremely big deal, I haven�t been too quick to put pressure on them to fix it, but I�m at the end of my rope. Someone from the office called and asked if I was happy with the apartment�some kind of survey that they have.
Of course I�m not. I told them about the various problems and their (lack of) response to them. Someone at the office told me that someone would be in to fix the bathroom fan and my door on Thursday (of last week).
No one showed up.
As I was paying rent on Monday, I asked what had happened. I was told that �no one was home�.
Oh really? Is that why I signed that waiver that allows them to enter my apartment whenever they choose to as long as I�m given 24 hours notice?
She promptly made another appointment for me for yesterday.
When I got home from class, I was (not) shocked to find my closet door still awry. I called the office again.
�Well he said that there was stuff in your closet.�
Well, um, yeah there would be. Did they expect that I�d wait the entire three months without putting stuff in the closet? Furthermore, why wasn�t I told that I needed to move stuff out of the closet? Do they think I like wasting my own time? Also, all the other times that the maintenance people have come in, they have moved everything of their own accord, and have made messes that I�ve had to clean up while they have done it. What was the problem this time?
They rescheduled my appointment for today and I moved my dresser out of my closet, leaving the guy plenty of space. I came back from class and it still was off. I made myself some lunch and called to ask when exactly they were coming.
�What closet door?� was my response. After finally agreeing that I�d had an appointment for today, the woman told me that she would call me back in twenty minutes.
She didn�t call back. I had to call her.
She told me that there was some emergency in the complex and that I�d have to reschedule. Ok, fine, thank you for wasting my time. I have to move my dresser back into the closet and then back out whenever it is that they decide to grace my presence.
Good thing that they were going to tell me.
I really hope that prospective renters read this: DON�T EVER RENT FROM TWYCKINGHAM APARTMENTS!
As for my cell phone debacle�.
I tried to call my mom on my cell today to find out that my �service was restricted�. Perfect. Yet again something had gone wrong for no apparent reason with Voicestream/T-Mobile.
I swear that since they became T-Mobile, I have had more problems in the past few months than in the two years I�ve been with them. Way to go customer service!
Anyway, after I called and complained, I was told that it was my phone�s fault. My phone wasn�t sending or receiving the signal. I have had, I swear, six of these stupid Nokia 8290�s. It�s a good thing that they�ve been discontinued.
However, I was also told that I�d have to purchase a new phone in order to receive service.
I have to pay at least $50+ to use a monthly service that I pay $50 a month for.
You have got to be kidding me.
I wouldn�t win any way. I could try my luck with this phone and pay $50 for service I can�t use. I could buy a new phone and pay for service, or I could pay $200 to break my contract.
What the fuck is that?
After complaining that I really wasn�t interested in doing all of that and that I�d rather see Voicestream in court, I was quickly offered a free phone�a free *new* phone�.the one that I wanted�.as long as I agreed to another year.
I may have just signed my soul over to Voicestream for another year, but at least I�m getting a new phone.
Oh that just reminded me�
I had a Sam�s Club debacle as well.
Gotta love Walmart. Actually, it wasn�t really Walmart�s fault. It was more or less my stupid ass company�s fault. During the summer, I agreed to pay half of a normal membership at Sam�s club ($35). Well, not really agreed�heh. I wanted to join Sam�s Club and Autoliv offered a 50% discount on memberships.
I received my membership around the last week of my internship and then later, one of my coworkers gave me a second temporary card saying that it was left in my boss� mailbox.
Strange.
I ended up losing one of the temporary cards, so I used the one that I had to obtain a full membership. Everything was fine. I used it sparingly, every couple of weeks.
That is, until Sunday.
On Sunday, I go to buy my kitty litter and juice, and they tell me that my membership was denied.
�Eh?� I asked.
�Maybe your parents took you off.�
�No, I�m the *only* and primary member on the account.�
�Maybe your husband took you off.�
�You�re not listening to me, I�m the�.�
The head cashier person came over and took my card to see what the problem was. I waited and waited while people glared at me for holding up the line. She came back and said, �Yeah, Jessica took you off as secondary and put her husband on as secondary.�
�What the hell are you talking about? I don�t know any Jessica.�
She looked at me like I was crazy and just kinda shrugged her shoulders.
�Oh no, I don�t think so! I paid for this membership with *my* money and through *my* company. I�m not leaving without my purchases. Either you screwed up or my company did and quite frankly I don�t care who did it, but since I wasn�t at fault, I�m not going to have to be the one to take care of it.�
She took me over to the membership desk and did a little search on her computer. It turns out that because I got those two temp memberships, something had gone wrong. I don�t know what happened, and I really don�t care, which is exactly what I told her. They promptly gave me a new membership and took care of me at the desk so that I wouldn�t have to get back in line. Of course, this didn�t happen without some kind of issue with the cash register and debit machine�.
Needless to say, I�m not really impressed with the service industry as of late. I honestly think that mobile services are one of the worst, followed by anything that has to do with dealing with students as customers. I really don�t understand why stores and the like insist upon pissing us off as if were don�t mean anything. After all, within a year, I�m going to be a professional who has the opportunity to spend lotsa money at various stores. Do they really want to shoot their cow before it becomes a cash cow?
I swear that people are getting dumber as the days go on.
