Author: Laura Northrup

Google Buzz’s amazing integration of Twitter-like functionality and automatically following everyone you know isn’t just an annoying and potentially embarrassing feature. For some users, it’s a security hazard.

One such user is Harriet Jacobs, who guest blogged about her concerns at Gizmodo.

I use my private Gmail account to email my boyfriend and my mother. There’s a BIG drop-off between them and my other “most frequent” contacts. You know who my third most frequent contact is. My abusive ex-husband.

Which is why it’s SO EXCITING, Google, that you AUTOMATICALLY allowed all my most frequent contacts access to my Reader, including all the comments I’ve made on Reader items, usually shared with my boyfriend, who I had NO REASON to hide my current location or workplace from, and never did.

…

F*ck you, Google. My privacy concerns are not trite. They are linked to my actual physical safety, and I will now have to spend the next few days maintaining that safety by continually knocking down followers as they pop up. A few days is how long I expect it will take before you either knock this sh*t off, or I delete every Google account I have ever had and use Bing out of f*cking spite.

Can you manage the new lack-of-privacy features Google has introduced? Yes. Do most people know how to do this, or know to seek out the information? Probably not.

F*ck You, Google [Gizmodo]
Buzz off: Disabling Google Buzz [CNET]

PREVIOUSLY: Google Buzz Makes Private Contact Info Public

To celebrate Valentine’s Day and deliciousness, Shana ordered two heart-shaped pizzas from Papa John’s last night. Had she seen our post on this very same pizza last year, she would have been aware that the heart is a lie and the pizza is only vaguely heart-shaped-ish. But Papa John somehow managed to do even worse this year.

Papa John’s has a Valentine’s Day promotion for a heart-shaped pizza on their website.

My boyfriend LOVES the sh*t out of some pizza, so I figured it would be a nice gesture. Unfortunately, it arrived looking more like an apple (see attached photos). Maybe for President’s Day? Either way, it’s nothing like the picture shown on their website. On top of that, they only offer it in thin crust; it was horrible. I knew it wouldn’t be perfection, but I was thinking maybe they’d use some sort of large heart-shaped cookie cutter instead of what looks more like a dented crust.

I figured if anyone would understand my disappointment, it would be fellow Consumerist readers.

Indeed. Here are the heartbreakingly round pizzas that Shana received:

PREVIOUSLY:
Papa John’s Love (Pizza) Is A Lie

Over the last five decades, the vaguely human-shaped fashion doll Barbie has had a lot of careers. Barbie’s jobs have changed over time along with perceptions of what the little girls who played with her could grow up to become. She was a nurse in 1961, then a surgeon in 1973. She was a student teacher in 1965, and President of the United States and a Starfleet officer in 2000. Now, Mattel is hopping on the geek chick bandwagon with Computer Engineer Barbie.

Computer Engineer Barbie still has her trademark cascade of blond hair, impossibly small waist, feet frozen on tiptoes to slide into her high heels and a whole lot of hot pink.

She also wears a neon-colored T-shirt with a binary code pattern and carries a smartphone and a Bluetooth headset. Her hot pink glasses will come in handy during late nights coding on her hot pink laptop. Before any one begins complaining, Mattel points out that her accessories were chosen with the help of the Society of Women Engineers and the National Academy of Engineering.

Personally, I’m holding out for Blogger Barbie, who comes wearing pajama pants and a Trogdor hoodie, with a tiny MacBook and espresso machine.

Barbie’s Next Career? Computer Engineer [New York Times] (Thanks, Kelly!)
Barbie’s careers [Wikipedia]

Every so often Southwest Airlines arbitrarily and incorrectly decides that someone is too fat to fly in a single seat. These are people who have regularly flown Southwest in the past and can fit themselves in one seat without a problem. Prior to now, none were cult celebrities with more than a million and a half Twitter followers and a smartphone. Then an air captain declared filmmaker Kevin Smith a “safety risk,” and all hell broke loose. Update: Southwest has responded.

Yes, Kevin Smith tweeted that Southwest Airlines kicked him off a flight. Yes, it was purportedly because of his weight. Southwest’s Twitter rep apologized (as did the VP of Customer Relations) once the incident took Twitter by storm. Smith took the opportunity to point out that the prompt apology was only because of his fame, and the same exact thing happens arbitrarily to other passengers who also shop in the plus-size section.

Fuck making it right for me just ’cause I have a platform. I sat next to a big girl who was chastised for not buying an extra ticket because “all passengers deserve their space.” Fucking flight wasn’t even full! Fuck your size-ist policy. Rude…

We’ve written about similar incidents here at Consumerist before, and are glad Smith is bringing more attention to the issue.

Update: Southwest has posted their response to Smith’s tweets. Their explanation: He had booked two seats for himself, but chose to take an earlier flight standby when there was only one seat available.

The airline explains:

Mr. Smith originally purchased two Southwest seats on a flight from Oakland to Burbank – as he’s been known to do when traveling on Southwest. He decided to change his plans and board an earlier flight to Burbank, which technically means flying standby. As you may know, airlines are not able to clear standby passengers until all Customers are boarded. When the time came to board Mr. Smith, we had only a single seat available for him to occupy. Our pilots are responsible for the Safety and comfort of all Customers on the aircraft and therefore, made the determination that Mr. Smith needed more than one seat to complete his flight. Our Employees explained why the decision was made, accommodated Mr. Smith on a later flight, and issued him a $100 Southwest travel voucher for his inconvenience.

Kevin Smith [Twitter]
Customer of Size Q&A [Southwest Airlines]
Not So Silent Bob [Southwest Airlines Blog]

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Southwest Suddenly Decides Man Is Too Fat To Fly — Again

Welcome to the American Dream. To follow that dream, you borrow heavily to get the education you need for your chosen career, in the mistaken belief that you will be able to get a better-paying job in that career once your education is completed, and repay the loans. Borrowing the money for education isn’t always an investment in yourself–often, it’s committing yourself to decades of commitment to a debt that is difficult to discharge or negotiate when you encounter a bad job market or other hard times.

The Wall Street Journal shares the story of a doctor whose personal life is on hold because of her student loan debt that more than doubled while she deferred payments to complete her training. As students who borrowed huge sums of money for their educations enter the workforce, and find themselves un- or underemployed, they struggle to repay their student loans.

But as tuitions rise, many people are borrowing heavily to pay their bills. Some no doubt view it as “good debt,” because an education can lead to a higher salary. But in practice, student loans are one of the most toxic debts, requiring extreme consumer caution and…responsibility.

Unlike other kinds of debt, student loans can be particularly hard to wriggle out of. Homeowners who can’t make their mortgage payments can hand over the keys to their house to their lender. Credit-card and even gambling debts can be discharged in bankruptcy. But ditching a student loan is virtually impossible, especially once a collection agency gets involved. Although lenders may trim payments, getting fees or principals waived seldom happens.

You can repossess a car or foreclose on a house, but it’s impossible to take back knowledge. (At least with our current technology.)

The $555,000 Student-Loan Burden [Wall Street Journal]

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Costly Private Loans Masquerade As Federal Student Loans
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A Big-Ass List Of Student Loan Resources

Imagine giving public transit directions to your urban home in the future. “Oh, yeah, you take the Target Red Line, transfer at Comcast Station to the Apple Gray Line headed Fox Sports Westbound, and finally get off at Taco Bell Station.” Seem crazy? Well, you have to name transit stations something, and both Metra and the Chicago Transit Authority are exploring the idea of selling naming rights to stations. They’re not the first city to do this.

Any new names for Metra stations would include the old station name — the town, neighborhood or address — with the corporate or organization name added on, said Metra executive director Philip Pagano.

“I’m not sure whether (the old name) is first or second, but definitely it’s going to have to be there,” he said.

Several mass transit systems — such as those in New York and Boston — have sought to sell naming rights to transit stations. In 2008, the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals agreed to pay the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority to rename a high-profile bus route the “HealthLine,” according to news reports.

Is this a good solution to transit budget shortfalls?

Tax Cat here with a reminder about using a free service to prepare your taxes. Beware sneaky upsells on “free” tax preparation options for people with simple tax returns. We’ve already seen a Consumerist reader get charged for this unawares with TurboTax, and now reader Shane reports that If you miss an option on H&R Block’s form, you’ll be paying extra for access to your own data.

I was pleased to see that H&R Block was providing a free service this year for people whose tax situations were simple. I selected this option (noting that I would still have to pay a state filing fee), and sat down to prepare my taxes. At the first stage, they attempted to upsell me to the paid services (fair enough), and I said “no thank you” and continued on.

Here’s where it gets dicey. There was a screen offering to import last year’s tax information into my current return. I’ve done my taxes with H&R Block for several years (partially for that convenience), and so I clicked to do so. What I failed to notice, though (it’s not terribly well-designed), was that doing so upgraded my account to one of the paid versions. I’ll admit I could have read a bit more carefully, and that the mistake was mine. Once I realized the mistake, though, I tried to downgrade my account. Apparently there’s no way to do this, and even when I contacted customer service, I was told that my only option was to make a new account, whereby I’d lose several years of tax history (outside of my own records, of course).

All told, it’s only $30 and not the end of the world, but I’m really annoyed that they would slide that in (after I had already declined the upgrade) and provide *no* way to go back to the free version. Do I have any recourse here, other than trying other tax prep services?

You could try applying the tools in the The Ultimate Consumerist Guide To Fighting Back to H&R Block and see if they budge. However, if you already have your own paper and/or electronic copies of your historical tax information, you may be best served just taking your business to another tax prep service.

RELATED:
How To File Your Taxes For Free
TurboTax Charged Me $30 For An Upgrade I Didn’t Realize I’d Ordered
Important 2010 Tax Dates

Toyota has recalled eight thousand Tacoma pickup trucks because of possible cracks in the driveshaft. Interestingly, this same part was used in some Ford and Nissan vehicles, but apparently Toyota management said, “what the hell, we’ll recalling everything else–might as well bring this one in too while we’re at it.”

From the recall press release:

This condition only involves two specific front drive shaft production lot numbers installed in certain 2010 model year Tacoma 4WD vehicles. No other Toyota or Lexus vehicles are involved.

Dealers will be instructed to perform an inspection to identify the specific lot numbers located on the front drive shaft. Based upon the inspection results, in a limited number of cases, the front drive shaft may need to be replaced.

The inspection is estimated to take ten minutes. The inspection and/or replacement will be performed at no cost to the vehicle owner.

Toyota will notify owners by first class mail starting in mid-March, 2010.

The relevant part was produced by Dana Holding Corp.

Toyota doesn’t have this particular recall up on their recall home page yet, but it’ll get there eventually.
Toyota Announces Voluntary Recall on 8,000 2010 Model Year Tacoma 4WD Trucks to Inspect the Front Drive Shaft [Press Release]
Toyota Recall Information [Toyota]

Jim wants his AOL e-mail account to go away. It’s a free account, so billing isn’t an issue–he just wants it closed. This seems like a relatively straightforward request to anyone except AOL. He writes that the company somehow makes it impossible to cancel a free account.

Please help me and others like me cancel our very unwanted AOL email accounts. Try as I might to get a hold of someone at AOL I can’t. AOL customer service only deals with paying customers, not customers of their free email service. AOL provides no way to close an email account and this is frustrating. What options do I have? They’re making abusing the email account to violate their ToS and get my account deleted that way very attractive.

The problem from AOL’s point of view: why provide staff members to help people cancel a service that they weren’t paying for in the first place?

Have you managed to kill a free AOL account? Can you help Jim?

PREVIOUSLY:
Zombie AOL Account Crawls Out Of The Grave Nine Years Later
Not Canceling The Account Costs AOL $3 Million
Quit AOL Using Highlighters

What does prosperity taste like? According to McDonald’s in Singapore, it tastes like beef. From a historical point of view, I suppose that’s true.

What’s a Prosperity Burger? It’s a beef or chicken burger on a long bun, almost like a small sub sandwich, with onions and a black pepper sauce. If you want mega prosperity, apparently you need to add some twister fries.

(Thanks to Dan for the picture!)

Prosperity Burger [McDonald’s Malaysia]

Craig writes that he found a great deal from Proflowers recently: a dozen roses for $19.99. Good boyfriend and sensible shopper that he is, he ordered them for Valentine’s Day, only to discover that the delivery charges and holiday surcharges made the cost more than double.

I happened to catch a deal on tv, (PBS Sprout) for proflowers.com . I decided to bite the bullet and buy my girlfriend some flowers valentines day. The promo gave me a nice $19.99 dozen roses with a vase. I selected it and proceeded through the checkout, but nowhere in the checkout did it say the price until the final page, where you were to confirm your order.

The screenshot shows how a $19.99 product can become a $49.99. I think this is ludicrous, and have now written off Proflowers.com, and went with a local shop instead.

Jesse has a credit card that he doesn’t use, but keeps open to help his credit score. Citibank has foiled his brilliant plan by adding a $60 annual fee. He can avoid the fee by charging at least $2,400 on the card each year.

We knew banks were going to start doing this. Citibank sent me a letter yesterday from the future (letter was dated February 13th) informing me that they are going to start charging a $60 annual fee on my Citi card starting April 1st. They will waive the fee if I spend more than $2400 in a 12 month period.

I’ve got an excellent history with Citibank but hardly ever use the card anymore except to keep it open for credit history purposes. I guess my only options are to pay the $60 fee for a dormant card or cancel the account.

The text of the letter is as follows:

February 13,2010

For your Citi Card ending in: XXXX

We’re writing to let you know about an important change we’re making to your account. Effective April 1, 2010, an annual fee of $60 is being added.

The reason we are making this change is to maintain the quality of our service amid the rising cost of doing business. However, because we value you as a customer, we wanted to give you an opportunity to have the annual fee credited back to your account.

Here’s how it works. Each year, we’ll credit the $60 fee back to your account once you have made $2,400 in purchases during that year. That comes to an average of $200 in spending a month, an amount you can reach by using your card for purchases you already make, like gas, groceries, cell phone plans or your cable bill.

As always, you have the right to opt out of this change and close your account. Please read the Notice of Change in Terms and Right to opt Out beginning on the back of this letter so you are fully aware of all your account changes. If you have questions, call 1-866-915-9425.

Sincerely,

Ken Stork
Citibank (South Dakota), N.A.

Easy enough if you put regular expenses on your credit card and pay it off every month, but not everyone is interested in doing that. So what are your other options?

Some card issuers (including Citibank) can be persuaded to waive annual fees in special circumstances, and it may be worth giving Citibank a call to see if they will do that for you. However, it’s hard to make a case for why Citibank should want to keep you as a customer with a dormant card that earns them no money in either transaction fees or interest.

RELATED: Help! My Credit Card Is Adding An Annual Fee!
AmEx/Citibank Nullify Annual Fee For Laid Off Customer
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The chocolate box/flowers promotion seemed like a great idea. On certain boxes of Harry London candy sold in chain drugstores, there was a peel-off coupon offering up to $20 off an order from 1-800-Flowers. The problem is that some unscrupulous shoppers went into stores, peeled all of the coupons off, sold some codes on the Internet, and ruined the promotion for everyone. Now 1-800-Flowers has put a stop to the promotion, and is canceling already placed flower orders out from under customers. Not cool.

1-800-Flowers canceled a string of orders made with the coupon codes that appeared fraudulent. Those customers should receive an e-mail, [a company spokesman] said, asking them to call the company and go through the procedure again.

“If it’s legitimate,” he said, “we’ll place their order.”

This displeases customers.

Some customers bought five, 10 or 20 boxes of chocolates and planned to give the coupons out as gifts. Others fear their flower orders won’t be delivered on Valentine’s Day.

The coupon deal has now been transformed into a rebate deal, requiring proof of purchase for the chocolate purchase. Because nothing says “romance” like a giant box of chocolates with the UPC cut out of it. Well, I’d be touched, but I’m weird like that.

1-800-Flowers.com canceling deliveries, breaking hearts [Tampa Bay Online]
DEAD? 1800flowers Valentines – $20 off, free shipping, AND 25% BCB *no selling peelies* [Slickdeals Forums]

Valentine’s Day is soon approaching. Whatever your feelings about the day, the cold capitalist fact remains: this is a holiday when people who are not women venture into stores and attempt to purchase underthings for women. This can sometimes end badly. Fortunately, blogger Treacle over at Wisebread has broken down the essentials of lingerie-buying into four simple steps that even the most fashion-impaired gentleman can use to find a suitable gift.

Some folks may not understand the point of [figuring out her preferred style]. “The lingerie is a gift for both of us,” they might say, “I want to buy something I’ll enjoy seeing her in.” While I understand that perspective, I think it’s flawed. The best way to ensure your lady wears your gift (as opposed to “forgetting” about it) is to buy something you already know she likes. Buying the style she prefers makes her more comfortable. A comfortable woman is a confident woman. And a confident woman is a sexy woman.

Actually, that advice is useful outside of the realm of lingerie-buying, too.

4 Easy Steps to Buying Lingerie for Your Wife, Girlfriend, or Significant Other [Wise Bread]

Sue recently purchased a new home. She writes that she closed on the house…and then learned that the previous owner had committed suicide somewhere inside it. She wouldn’t have bought the house had she known. The real estate agents claim that they weren’t aware of the situation, but if they had, did they have any moral obligation to tell her?

She writes:

Here’s my story:

• Friday, January 15th – Closed on our new house
• Sunday, January 17th – Learned from a neighbor that the previous owner had committed suicide in the house.

Things to note:

• Had I been given the history of what occurred, I would not have bought the home.
• Both the listing and buyers agent worked in the [redacted] office.
• Coldwell is claiming that neither agent was aware.
• They are doing nothing to rectify the situation

Shockingly, the law does not require that this information be disclosed to a buyer per
Chapter 93, Section 114 of the Mass General Laws.

My questions are:

1 – Why would the law be rewritten such that this type of circumstance does not require disclosure?
2 – Isn’t there a moral/ethical component that should be taken into consideration?

Here’s the Massachusetts law Sue is referring to.

Section 114. The fact or suspicion that real property may be or is psychologically impacted shall not be deemed to be a material fact required to be disclosed in a real estate transaction. “Psychologically impacted” shall mean an impact being the result of facts or suspicions including, but not limited to, the following:

(a) that an occupant of real property is now or has been suspected to be infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus or with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or any other disease which reasonable medical evidence suggests to be highly unlikely to be transmitted through the occupying of a dwelling;

(b) that the real property was the site of a felony, suicide or homicide; and

(c) that the real property has been the site of an alleged parapsychological or supernatural phenomenon.

Update: Sue wrote back to say that she is currently living in the house and, in her words, “not as disturbed as [she] was when [she] initially contacted [Consumerist],” but we think that it still makes an interesting question.

The law doesn’t require realtors to tell you about this, but does common decency? That depends on whether previous events in your home affect you in any way. Unless a location-fixated serial killer plans to return, or you believe in ghosts, would it affect your life?

RELATED: Would You Live With Ghosts For Cheaper Rent? 69% Would

Are you looking something exciting to do this weekend? Why not roll up your sleeves and insulate your hot water pipes? It might not be as entertaining as throwing your cat in the snow, but it does provide more energy savings and significantly fewer wet, angry cats. [Consumer Reports Home]

The Starbucks Duetto Visa card seems like a relic of another time. A time when everyone thought that both coffee-infused sugar bombs and huge amounts of credit card debt were a good idea. Well, Starbucks is still with us, but the Duetto Visa card’s run is over. You can no longer earn Starbucks cards while racking up debt.

Reader Steve writes:

Well, no sooner had Starbucks revamped their “Gold Card” program, sending gold cards to replace black ones and kill the 10% off each purchase feature…than I got notified just now, via direct-mail piece from Chase, that Starbucks now is killing their Starbucks Duetto Visa card, which they had launched a few years ago with great fanfare.

According to the Chase note, signed by Deb Walden, EVP of Cardmember Experience at Chase, “the credit card partnership between Starbucks and Chase Bank USA, N.A. has ended. As a result, in April 2010 your Starbucks Card Duetto credit card account will be replaced with the new Chase Freedom credit card.”

So odd, given that Starbucks has been doing everything it can to solidify relationships with customers willing to pay top $$ for drinks in the midst of a global recession! I had even put the kids’ tuition on the Duetto card to get the “Starbucks bucks” rewards that were redeemable in stores.

Bye-bye Duetto…but I’ll pass on the Chase card and find something more focused on my particular tastes!

Here’s Chase’s e-mailed statement on the matter:

While customers enjoy the benefits of the Starbucks Card Duetto® Visa® card program, the credit card partnership with Chase has ended effective March 31, 2010.

The stored value balance of Starbucks Card Duetto Visa card account holders will be automatically transferred to a Starbucks Card, which Starbucks will send to members by mail. Chase will reissue a new Chase branded Visa® credit card to Starbucks Card Duetto Visa cardholders at their own discretion.

It was a mutual decision by both parties not to renew the credit card partnership.

Reader TheLoneGoldfish sent us this very sneaky mailing from an area Honda dealer. “Attention Toyota owners: Important Recall Information Enclosed,” the envelope declares. That important information: a letter noting that hey, this would be a really great time to trade in their Toyota for a Honda!

When Consumerist called the dealership to verify that the letter was real, the sales manager noted that their intent wasn’t to mislead Toyota customers, but to take the massive recalls as an opportunity to write to them and point out how great Hondas are…if not entirely recall-proof.

So put yourself in the shoes of a Toyota owner receiving this letter. What would you think?

PREVIOUSLY:
Honda Dealer Mocks Toyota, Touts Cars’ Non-Deathtrap Status

Reader Smashville has shared with Consumerist what is either a wonderful Above and Beyond story or a clerical clusterfrak of epic proportions. He writes that eleven years after an emergency room visit, his mother received a refund check for $160.00 for an overpayment that she forgot she had ever made.

In the fall of 1999, I was a freshman in college and I had been feeling sick for a couple of days. I woke up in the middle of the night, couldn’t breathe and had what felt like this unbearable load on my chest.

“Oh my god, I’m 18 and having a heart attack,” I thought. I managed to climb out of bed and make it to the phone. I dialed 911 and got campus security…who promptly told me that it was outside of their normal business hours. That part isn’t remotely relevant to my story, but I always thought it was amusing that security apparently operated under the assumption that students did not need “securing” after midnight.

So, at this point, I dialed the extra 9 and got the real 911, who sent an ambulance (why my roommate would not take me to the hospital across the street is a story for another day) to transport me to the Brookwood Medical Center. Nothing was convincing me that I was not having a massive coronary.

When I arrived at the hospital, it was quickly determined that I was not having a massive coronary, but had pleurisy and was fairly dehydrated. After being hooked up to an IV for an hour and getting a shot in my butt, I was sent on my way home with the bill.

As the hospital was out-of-network and in another state, my mom paid the massive OON deductible and we all went merrily and healthily on our way.

We did, at least, until February 8, 2010. When my mom went to her mailbox that crisp winter’s morn, she expected some magazines and some junk. Maybe a water bill.

Instead there was an envelope from Brookwood Medical Center.

Inside said magic envelope was a check dated 2/3/2010 in the amount of $160.00 for an overpayment from September of 1999.

That’s right. Eleven years later…Brookwood Medical Center decided to repay money that my mom never even knew she was owed.

I have to think the statute of limitations was well expired at this point…but…no one is complaining.

Well, if you wanted to complain, eleven years’ worth of inflation means that $160.00 overpayment in 1999 would be worth $206.04 today.

The origins of the extremely popular nail care brand Sally Hansen are shrouded in mystery. The most that Beautypedia researcher Daynah Burnett says she has been able to figure out is that there was never a person named Sally Hansen. More than that is apparently on a need-to-know basis: the company doesn’t put any information on its web site, and even its customer service representatives don’t seem to know.

You may remember Daynah from the incident where an Ulta store manager forbade her to use a pen and paper inside the store. Her call to Sally Hansen customer service was less humiliating, but just as baffling.

Me: Hi! I’m doing some research and I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about the Sally Hansen brand. Who is Sally Hansen? How did the company originate? Or can you put me in touch with someone who might know?

SH: Sure! I can direct you to our website. All that information is available on SallyHansen.com.

Me: Actually, I started there, and there’s no “About Us” info on your site at all. Or if it is there, I’m just not seeing it.

SH: Then it should be on Coty.com.

Me: I tried there too, but Sally Hansen isn’t even listed as one of Coty’s affiliate brands. That’s why I thought I’d give you a call.

SH: Well, I guess that site hasn’t been updated in awhile! Can you please hold?

*TEN MINUTES PASS*

SH: Sorry for the long delay. I can tell you that Sally Hansen wasn’t actually a real person, and all the other company history information we have is available at SallyHansen.com.

Me: Okay, that’s helpful. But I’m just not seeing where that information is on your site. Can you tell me the tab you clicked on or the URL of what you’re looking at?

SH: Did you click on Contact Us or Customer Service?

Me: Yes, I’m looking at that page now.

SH: All the company information is listed there.

Me: But there’s nothing there.

SH: Well, then, I’m told that’s all the information we have.

Me: So all the information you have is no information?

SH: Yes, all the information we have is listed there.

Me: But have you looked at the page? There’s nothing there. It’s only the customer service phone number and an email address.

SH: Well, you should send your inquiry via email and someone can get back to you.

Me: Great! Which department receives those emails?

SH: This department. Customer Service.

Me: But aren’t I talking to you now? How would emailing you help?

*EXTREMELY AWKWARD SILENCE*

Me: Thank you for your time.

*CLICK*

The front-line customer service reps are probably not all that helpful, but she’d probably get a better response from calling Coty’s New York headquarters at 212-479-4300 and asking for the public relations department…which is the number that the customer service representative should have given her.

Sally Hansen’s Hands-Off Approach to Customer Service [Beauty Bunch Blog] (Thanks, V.S.!)

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