This page exists in hopes of helping others avoid the same bad experience I’ve had with a company or product. I offer no guarantee your experience will be the same as mine, nor naive thoughts of a single post changing the way a company operates, just looking to add to the mix available for those curious enough to search.
Please, if you have to choose which page to read first, choose GoodStuff… I don’t think it’s possible to sound like a balanced kinda guy when writing a page like this.
Companies
A+ Towing in Eugene, Oregon.
I recommend avoiding at all costs. I was in a wreck, the Eugene Police Department called A+ Towing. Long story short, I emailed them three hours later asking if they had my car, gave them my license plate, name, phone number, email address, and a description of my vehicle. I did this with many towing companies since I didn’t know who had my car or what lot it was at, and EPD was unable to help.
I sent the email as soon as I could have given the situation (after I got out of the hospital; 3hrs) and I actually never heard back by email. Or phone. Instead they snail mailed me a “Notice of Foreclosure and Intent to Sell” because according to them, I had failed to contact them, and they had to look up my name via the Oregon DMV. I will save writing down the rest of the drama, except that when I began litigation (at the inquiry phase through lawyers) they started lying, and it looked not worth the effort. Save yourself the time and energy and use someone else!
Highpoint Technologies
Primarily they sell raid cards for computers. RAIDs exist for speed and stability, in this case I only care about the latter. The card itself is a weak link in an otherwise redundant system – I had considered purchasing two right off the bat. As you may imagine, having good support is critical.
Their phone support consists of leaving a message and never receiving a call back, they really encourage email support. Only problem is they don’t respond to email either. Will post more details later including dates and times I’ve emailed them and the same for their responses. Also, no cross shipping is offered no matter the collateral offered (i.e a credit card #,) which is fine for some industries but inexcusable for a company selling raid cards most frequently used in servers. Never again will I purchase from them.
Chase (acquired by JP Morgan & Co since then)
This was quite some time ago, but I had a credit card where bogus finance charges kept showing up. Was obvious because I paid the card off in full every month. One is easily forgivable, two in a short period of time was pretty odd, but three in less than half a year lead me to believe they make money by taking advantage of trusting people. To their credit the first two were easy to remove, but the third was an unbelievable pain, especially considering this was a black and white issue with plenty of supporting evidence. Had to go up several levels of management. I was polite the whole time but closed my account the next day.
Progressive
If phone notes and emails constitute proof, I have proof Progressive agents lied to me repeatedly. Specifically, Brett E Haag and his manager, Dustyn J Arlin. I don’t remember his title, but whomever was above “Dusty” backed up his employees’ actions.
Without going into details, it would have been beneficial for them to side with me, they basically didn’t feel it was worth their time. Around 9 months later they suddenly changed their mind (I’d say it was purely about money, but siding with me in the first place would’ve netted them more money, so wtf) and they had a gal named Ashley Shanteau tell me the other side was suing me when he actually wasn’t. She said this in a phone call, I responded via email about it, so no I cannot provide proof to back this one up. Turns out they were trying to deny medical treatment and now wanted my help to do so. Bet ya can guess what my answer was?
Citi
I started a credit dispute with one of the companies here through Citi. At the very beginning I didn’t know if this was the type of dispute they were handle. So I asked – yes, yes it was. Fast forward four months of continuous communication between us three: no, apparently Citi doesn’t actually handle disputes of this type. Okay then.
Target, specifically their registry system
Our experience was: we went in roughly 2.5-3 months before our wedding. We had to do it around that time due to the bridal shower coming up soon. We went in, got a hand scanner, and scanned all kinds of stuff. Some of the items I scanned a few of, then later did some research and deleted the ones I didn’t want.
After the wedding & honeymoon we came back to use some Target gift cards we were given. We printed out our registry and started trying to find the items. After a little while it became clear almost nothing was available in the store anymore! A little over half the items reported “online only” and many others said there suddenly of “limited availability” and might be on aisle such-and-such, yet we never found one of those items even after extensive searching.
Target – you bastards! I am perfectly ok with you switching your inventory around. That’s how stores work. But FFS LET ME KNOW so I can find a replacement item. These were not seasonal items, they were bathroom sets, towels, mirrors, a microwave, a shredder, etc.
In comparison BBB’s hand held scanner was ghetto but at least they didn’t modify everything on our registry in a few months.
Products
El Gato’s EyeTV
EyeTV does not work, I can put it no more simply than that. EyeTV is not stable. EyeTV cannot properly remove old shows. It cannot choose which tuner to use on a source with multiple tuners, which I would be fine with if the unit was not purchased/bundled with an HDHomeRun, all of which have dual tuners. In the install I was doing I needed to have one tuner record a channel and the other tuner (hooked up to a separate antenna) record the other channels, because otherwise reception was not available. There is no workaround, and yes I contacted their technical support about all of the above issues. That’s just the way their product works.
Last updated 11/22/08