Consumer Nightmares Big & Small

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

I don’t know if it was last year, or the year before that, but we ran out of propane three times. I think it was last year. The propane company eventually came out and put a monitor on the tank, so they’re alerted when we’re getting low.

As for restaurants, this took place when I was in my single-digits and going to Jack in the Box was a rarity/ Maybe even a novelty. My maternal grandmother, who’d never been there, took me there, and ordered at the clown’s head. I wanted a cheeseburger. She wanted a hamburger. ‘Would you like cheese with that?’ ‘No. I want a plain hamburger with nothing on it.’ And that’s what she got: A beef patty in a bun. She was very disappointed with her first JitB burger. She meant she wanted a regular hamburger with no cheese. Even though I was like five or six years old, I knew exactly what happened; but I was too polite to point it out to her.

22

Many years ago, my car, a Renault LeCar with standard transmission, had a problem with the bushings. You could drive it and shift, but the stick didn’t got solidly into position. So I went to an auto repair place and asked them to replace them. They said OK.

I dropped off the car (it was near my workplace) and went to work. Around noon, I called to see about the progress. All was fine, they said. I also called again at 2:00 and was assured things were swell.

I got to the place at 5:00 to pick up the car. I noticed it hadn’t been moved from where I left it. OK, they could have put it in the same spot when the work was done.

I go inside. There were several repair guys sitting around doing nothing. I asked for the one I’d been in contact with.

He comes in and doesn’t look me in the eye. He futzes around with papers and then says they haven’t fixed the problem because they had ordered the wrong bearing.

Then they asked when I wanted to reschecule.

I told them, not with them. They cursed me out as I left.

I didn’t tell them to order the wrong part. More importantly, they never mentioned any problems the two times I called. If they had mentioned it then, I might have come back. But given the way they handled it, I didn’t want to deal with them again.

23

One time my wife and I were driving across Missouri and stopped for lunch at one of those combination KFC/Taco Bell places. We ordered a couple of KFC meals then sat down to wait. The guy who took our order disappeared immediately after we ordered. I kept seeing people who came in after us and ordered from Taco Bell getting their food. I finally went back up to the counter but then I couldn’t find anyone to flag down. I eventually got the attention of someone working the drive thru. They told me they were out of chicken and the next batch wouldn’t be ready for another 15 minutes. WTF didn’t the guy who took our order (and then vanished) tell us when we ordered? They offered us free drinks but I just asked for my money back and we went somewhere else.

24

But did he talk to you about the vanity mirror or what colors the car came in? That’s what happened once when we were car shopping. Nope, the guy didn’t make the sale.

And my ridiculous restaurant story: We and another couple managed to get sitters so we were having a parents’ night out, and we decided to try a new place. Three of us were drinking water and the other guy’s wife had a Sprite. As we were waiting for our meal (which took a pretty long time, considering the place was almost empty, the waitress came around to refill our water glasses, and she topped off the Sprite with water, too.

When her mistake was pointed out, she asked, “Well, how much of it did you drink?” Yep, she was going to replace a partial glass of soft drink. Needless to say, none of us were surprised that the place soon closed

25
26

Reminded me of the time I was flying from Calgary to Toronto on Air Canada. I was in tourist, where alcoholic drinks were charged for, but soft drinks, coffee, tea, juice, etc., were not.

I ordered a gin and tonic, knowing full well that (at the time), it would be $6. Sure enough, a drink was served, it had neither a lemon slice, nor a swizzle stick. And the credit card machine was offered, and I paid. Then I took a sip. And when I tasted it, I tasted Sprite. Well, never mind, I didn’t need a G&T that badly. Besides, they always come around if you want seconds. I could point out the error then, and see about a refund or maybe put what I paid towards a real G&T.

So when the flight attendant came around again, I pointed out that she had served me Sprite, and this time, I wanted a gin and tonic. “Oh!” she said. “I must have got your drink mixed up with the man across the aisle.” Who was indeed drinking something that could have been a gin and tonic, complete with lemon slice and swizzle stick.

A little bit of schadenfreude then occurred. She came back with a real G&T for me (“I made you a double, and I won’t charge you again; this is on us”), and the credit card machine. But it was the man across the aisle who was presented with the credit card machine. Seems he had ordered Sprite, got my original G&T, and shut up, since as far as he was concerned, he got a free cocktail. Well, he didn’t, in the end.

27

A couple years ago I needed to replace the faucet assembly for my kitchen sink. So I went to a well-known home improvement store, part of a national chain.

First faucet: wrong style because the guy in the plumbing aisle told me the wrong kind to get (3-hole, 2-hole, whatever). OK, everyone makes mistakes.

Second faucet: installed after much knuckle-scraping by a not-very-handy Nyvaak. Leaked from the central, upright section. Guy in the plumbing aisle said it could NOT leak from there unless the unit was defective. Exchanged for a third faucet.

Third faucet: much the same. Lots of time upside down under the sink, and a leak from the center, where there was nothing I could caulk or tighten. Went back hoping to upgrade to a better model.

Store staff made me give them my drivers license to copy and told me I was now on a list of customers who were not allowed to return goods, except for store credit.

This is a chain supposedly known for its liberal return policies. I can only guess their minds were addled from all that orange.

28

Text book debacle.

Son was in 12th grade. AP History class.
Paid in advance for the thick text book. $63 big ones for it. By teachers special request, when we picked up schedules. Usually the book sales hit the first week of school.

Never saw it. I asked Son repeatedly. “What? No History reading?” He replied, “Nope.”

Parent/ teacher conference came. He had a good report. So I’m thinking they’re using the book in class for now. Son says the books were never handed out. I look and see a shelf in the teachers room with 4 rows of brand new History books. Never touched. Year goes along. No History book was ever seen. He said they never used them. They got work sheets and tests. No book work. No reading. All info on the board. Teacher never lectured. Answered questions as they came. Exam time. No book to study. They were to review their work sheets. Son was making good grades. So I didn’t wanna upset the cart. But I couldn’t understand why we bought an unused book.
I asked around. Everyone said “you’re right, us too”

Turned out the Teacher sold the same books every year. Never used them, pocketed the money. He was reprimanded. He retained his job because he was also a great football coach.

I was livid. Never got my money back either.( Yes, I asked) For all I know he’s still doing it.

29

Great story, but I’m not sure it’s a nightmare :stuck_out_tongue:

30

I posted this a year or so ago, and it remains as my top nightmare contender:
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I had a badly infected tooth yesterday, it went from a mild ‘hmm, that’s a weird ache’ to throbbing pain and swollen face overnight. I’m new in this area and don’t have a regular dentist yet, plus I’m just shy of being truly phobic about dentists. Lots of Not Good experiences as a kid, blah blah blah.

Anyway, I was looking online to see who was close and open early, and Aspen showed you could call as early as 6:30 am, so I did. I made it clear that yes, I was a new patient but that this was an emergency visit, I need to be seen today and the sooner the better. The only office that had a slot was a 50 min drive away, but I jumped on it. Got there at 8:30 for a 9 am appt, and was pleased to be called back almost immediately. They did the whole round of X rays, which made sense, but then did a periodontal check too and offered to do a scan for oral cancer. I declined.

The doctor came in and took a look at my admittedly awful mouth, and started talking about pulling multiple teeth and getting plates and bridges, and what the long term plan would be. I vaguely said yes, I do need a plan, thinking that she was going to leave to wash up then come back and deal with the one tooth that had my face so swollen I could hardly see out of one eye.

Nope.

I got taken back out to the front to talk to their finance guy or something, to work out a treatment plan. At that point I just said ‘yes, I do need a plan but right now I want this agonizing tooth dealt with, today, and nothing else’ They’d been making it sound like I should come back in a few days to deal with it!

The guy backspaced out of all the stuff that had apparently been pre-entered, and he showed me back to the lounge to wait.

And I waited, and waited, and waited.

Almost four hours after I arrived they finally brought me back and took care of the tooth in 10 minutes. The one hygienist let slip that they’d forgotten about me.

31

My God! :flushed:

32

This happened more than 50 years ago and it still makes me laugh.

My mom’s hobby was to become outraged whenever she felt slighted by a corporation. She never hesitated to write a strongly-worded letter expressing her dissatisfaction with a product.

She had purchased a 6-pack of Coke and, when she got it home, discovered that one of the bottles was empty (it was capped, but empty). So she immediately fired up her Bic (the pen, not the lighter) and wrote her letter, expecting to be sent a coupon or two for free product.

A couple weeks later, to her horror, a Coca-Cola salesman appeared at her door, wheeling a dolly stocked with cases of product. To say she was embarrassed is putting it mildly.

mmm

33

The only “Bic” that came to mind was the cigarette lighters they sell at checkout counters. Add to that the term, “fired up”, and I was wondering what in the world she was going to burn. I had to look it up to see a “Bic” was also one of those packaged ball point pens. LOL

34

Update: My SiL and I went out for pizza last night at our favorite spot. I suggested and she agreed that I should invite my buddy who was still upset about his “never got any pizza” experience. We treated him, and he went home feeling much better! :laughing:

35

Ha ha, I edited my post.

:slight_smile:

mmm

36

I’m honored! :100:

37

That’s how I became a Honda owner. My wife had retina surgery and cannot drive so we decided that a SUV would fit our needs. I explained to the salesman that my wife’s input was very important but he continued to ignore her. I had owned two Toyotas prior to this and like the brand. We went to a Honda dealer and the salesman listened and we bought our CRV that evening. We’re now driving our second CRV.