Chickens in the Basement

I love to write and I love to laugh. When I write, I get to the point quick. My stories would fit on the back of a postcard. They usually make me chuckle. And you know what they say, "It's all about me!"

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

SCOOGE ALERT!! SCROOGE ALERT!!

Please pardon this interruption in the 12 Days of Christmas posts! You will see these posts in their entirety.
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The hard part was done...or so I thought! I picked out my photo for the few Christmas cards that will actually go in the mail. I uploaded it to Shutterfly who sends it to Target with my order for 20 photos. All I have to do is go to Target and pick up my photos. Easy, right?




WRONG!! When I got to the photo desk at Target yesterday, I had my money ready. I handed Photo Guy the money at the same time he handed me the photos. HUGE mistake! Always look first! This is what was in my package!



When I pointed out that half of our greeting had been chopped off, Photo Guy said, "I printed what Shutterfly sent me. You'll have to talk to them." Then, he turned around and walked away.
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Oh, my blood pressure is shooting up again as I write!
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I could feel my resolution to smile through any of the dramas or inconveniences of the holidays hiding behind the bitch-hulk that wanted to bust out of my jeans and rip Photo Guy to shreds! Deep breath! Deep breath!
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Instead of creating a scene, I went to the customer service counter and asked for a manager. I showed her my photos and told her about my experience with Photo Guy. She talked with him, obtained a phone number to Shutterfly and suggested I call them. No offer of money back! No apology for bad behavior! Blame! Blame! Blame!
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Breath, breath, I think I'm going to hyperventilate!
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When I got home, I dialed the number to Shutterfly, was informed that they were experiencing a large amount of phone calls and my wait would be at least 20 minutes. Knowing that an e-mail would be ignored completely or poo-pooed with insincere apologies, I decided to wait. Then, the tin-can music started. Not only do they make you wait forever, they try to make you hang up by playing the most horrible music ever at very loud volumes. Their goal is to make you say, "Forget it (actually, I'm thinking a much harsher f-word)" and hang up.
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I suffered through my 25 minutes of waiting only to be greeted by a bad connection to India. I explained what had happened. Mr. Shutterfly apologized and asked for all kinds of numbers to verify my photos. The only pleasure I got from this whole episode was making me Mr. Shutterfly wait while I found the e-mail with all of the numbers he wanted. Joy of joys, Will was practicing his trombone, so I let Mr. Shutterfly be entertained by the joyful sounds.
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Once I gave him the numbers, he pulled the photo up, looked at it and said, "Oh, the top got cut off." To my credit, I did not say, "DUH!" He said he could have the photos reprinted and I would have them by December 23. I pointed out that these are for CHRISTMAS CARDS which is on the 25th. The 23rd is too late.
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Oh my God, I thought the vein in my temple was going to rupture!
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"May I please speak to your supervisor, " I said. He started backtracking. "Well, I can send them express and you'll have them in 3 days." Why wouldn't he offer that from the beginning to make everything right since they screwed up! I made sure they did not expect any payment from me. We'll see if I have these photos by Friday. I'm not putting any money on it.
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When I checked my e-mail later, Shutterfly had the nerve to send me a "HOW DID WE DO?" survey. They got a "ya'll suck" response. I sent the same information to Target and received an e-mail back stating that the Photo Center is leased to another company and isn't officially part of Target. Again, let's pass the buck and blame somebody else.
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The really crappy part...if Photo Guy had just said, "Wow, these photos are really bad. I'm sorry," I probably would have tossed the photos in the trash and started over.
Bah Humbug!

3 comments:

LemonyRenee' said...

I can so relate to your frustration, and I'm so sorry this happened to you. What are we, as consumers, supposed to do? No one seems to care anymore in these places. No one. I went the Target customer service desk for help with something a few weeks ago and when she lazily refused to help me (passing buck again), I complained about the policy that required this help in the first place. She flew into this tirade to ME about why was I yelling (I was not yelling -- when did expressing dissatisfaction = "yelling"?) at HER and it wasn't HER fault, it's the store's policy, blah blah blah. This is the same wherever I go, "why are you taking this out on me, I just work here?!" Well??? To whom shall I voice my complaints then, if not the person they are paying to be their CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (emphasis on representative!). Am I supposed to go outside and argue with the sign?? Just who am I supposed to address in these stores anymore???

I am sure Target leases out this photo service space to a third party, but by being in their store, you would think they would be concerned with the way said service is treating their customers. After all, isn't the whole idea of the photo service to get you into the store on the premise of picking up photos and then you buy a bunch of overpriced stuff just because you see it? Well, if you don't use their photo service anymore, you won't be in there to buy all there other stuff. Duh!

I swear, it seems like businesses themselves need a crash course in business 101 these days.

. . . big sigh . . .

Okay, back to our holiday pleasures . . .

(((hugs)))

Chicken Boys said...

Nobody seems to care anymore, do they? It makes it hard to be in the spirit of the holidays (and I want to so much considering what they have meant to me growing up) when people (or businesses) just don't seem to care about anyone but themselves.
~Randy

Emily Cole said...

That's awful! I thought you never had to pay for pictures/prints you didn't want!!! I would have asked for my money back then and there... and made a huge stink out of it! I use Dotphoto for my online print needs, which means they mail them directly to my house, but I like them so far - no issues! Sorry you had to deal with that!