Category: Customer service
Buyer Beware: Don’t buy from CCG Armory
I know I haven’t posted here in several weeks and I do hope to resume regular posts in 2010. Maybe that will be my New Year’s resolution (though I made a resolution several years ago to never make resolutions and I’ve been holding to it pretty well). But here’s a quick Christmas-related post that needs to be said…
NEVER buy from an online company called CCG Armory.
I don’t want to link to their site here, as they’re not worth linking to, but the company sells action figures, toys, and other collectibles – items that always fill our Christmas tree.
Michelle (my wife) ordered 13 items for me from them that I wanted for Christmas. She placed the order on Dec. 2, leaving plenty of time for the company to either ship the purchased items or let her know that they weren’t going to be able to fulfill her order.
Days went buy with no communication whatsoever. Michelle had tried to email and call them with no luck. Finally they responded and said they would be able to get everything to her by Christmas, so she was happy and waited… and waited… and waited. Day after day she watched our mailbox to see if the big package arrived.
Finally, Christmas came and went and I ended up short 13 presents, which I wasn’t upset about but Michelle was very disappointed. Her phone calls to CCG Armory were *never* answered and email responses only came once a week (if that).
Today, the day after Christmas, a package finally arrived from them and it only contained 4 of the 13 items she ordered. They never told her that they wouldn’t be shipping the rest. On top of that, she had been promised free shipping by ordering $150 worth of stuff, but instead was charged $8.40 for shipping since they only sent 4 items instead of all 13. Again, no communication from them letting her know that this was going to happen.
All in all, buying from CCG Armory is like playing the lottery, but with worse odds. Do not buy from them unless you want to have a painful shopping experience. It’s merchants like this that give online shopping a bad name.
TweetPee-wee Herman Show changes dates and venues, causes ticketing problems
One of my few recent posts on this blog was about the announcement of the return of the Pee-wee Herman Show to the stage.
I jumped at the chance to get tickets for the show, despite the fact that it’s clear across the country from my house in Orlando, and was excited to head out to California to see it in November. But plans have now changed.
Due to the show’s popularity, dates have been moved to Jan./Feb. 2010 and the venue has changed to the slightly larger Club Nokia, which holds 2,300 people. Existing ticket-holders for the original shows were told via e-mail that they’d have a chance today to exchange their tickets beginning at 10 a.m. by calling a Ticketmaster customer service number.
I dialed the number at exactly 10 a.m. this morning only to find that they meant 10 a.m. Pacific Time, not Eastern Time. The e-mail notice did not mention the time zone but the Ticketmaster representative said that times always correspond to the state in which the event takes place. I suppose that makes sense.
So I waited three more hours until 1 p.m. EST (10 a.m. PST) and tried to call again. At first, I received busy signals but managed to get through after 4 or 5 tries. After 31 minutes of being on hold, a representative finally answered and began to verify my information… and then we suddenly got disconnected. I tried calling back for the next 40 minutes getting nothing but busy signals.
And I wasn’t alone. It’s clear from these comments on Pee-wee’s official Facebook page that there are many other fans who were feeling frustrated at the situation.
Finally, acting on a suggestion from my wife, I called the main Ticketmaster phone number (which is 800-745-3000) and asked the automated system to connect me to a representative. A man answered within a couple of minutes but he was a sales representative, not customer service, so he had to transfer me. I assumed I was going to be on hold for another 30+ minutes but, to my surprise, around 7 minutes later I was connected to a customer service representative who was able to quickly exchange my old ticket for an excellent second-row center seat for one of the January dates.
After hanging up, I decided to call back just to verify that the change was confirmed. Within 10 minutes, using the same system, I was able to get a hold of another representative who assured me that I was good to go.
It took nearly two hours to get my new ticket squared away for the Pee-wee Herman Show, but it’s a better ticket than I had originally and ultimately was the same price, so I’m happy overall. Plus, Pee-wee is telling pre-ticketed fans via Facebook that we’ll have a chance to meet him backstage (though details on that are non-existant at this point).
If anyone out there is still trying to get through to Ticketmaster to exchange your tickets, don’t worry. There seem to be a lot of great seats still available for the later shows and if you follow the steps I explained above, you shouldn’t have too much more trouble. Though today’s secret word has definitely turned out to be “frustration.”
Tweet‘Clear’ travel lanes shut down at all airports
I don’t know anyone that actually enrolled in the program, but anyone who signed up for the ‘Clear’ travel lanes (which were basically a fast pass to get through airport security) will no longer have that luxury, as they have all shut down.
From aviationweek.com (via BoingBoing):
TweetVerified Identity Pass’s Clear registered traveler lanes, located at 20 airports, are shutting down at 11:00 p.m. Pacific time tonight.
The company web site was blank except for a white page with the official statement and no calls were returned. Clear said it was “unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations.”
Orlando International Airport spokeswoman Carolyn Fennell said they had not received notice until late this afternoon via email that Clear was ceasing operations. “We haven’t had time to evaluate the impact or get further information,” she said.
The pilot program was rolled out with great fanfare July 18, 2005, in Orlando. Travelers initially paid $99 a year for a card that was supposed to target those who posed a minimum security risk, and give them a special line that would process them through airport security more quickly.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was slow to release the program from the pilot phase, finally giving the green light to roll out the program in January 2007. The program hit a snag after TSA halted the use of GE SRT kiosks designed to serve as a shoe scanner and explosives detection system, blunting one of the program’s key benefits – allowing passengers to keep on shoes and jackets, and keep laptop computers in their bags.
WEDNESDAY WHINE: Theme Park Entrance Turnstile Slowness
It never fails. I drive to one of Orlando’s many fantastic theme parks, park, hop out of my car, speed walk up to the turnstiles, pick what appears to be the shortest line, and inevitably deal with…
Theme Park Entrance Turnstile Slowness
Let’s examine the various possible reasons for a theme park turnstile line moving entirely too slowly:
- Invalid/Expired/Swapped Tickets – This is the #1 culprit of the most time-consuming individual holdups at the turnstiles. Guests regularly show up, stick their ticket in the machine, only to be denied entrance to the park. What ensues is usually a small argument between the guest, who is often overtired and over-budget, and the turnstile attendant, who is often overtired and bored out of his/her mind. Ultimately, after the attendant explains to the guest no less than five times why the ticket doesn’t work, the guest takes his family and storms off to guest relations to throw a hissy fit.
- General Confusion/Incompetence – Ever since theme parks moved from physically marking tickets with ink stamps to electronically-read tickets, there is a subset of visitors that simply can’t figure out how to stick their ticket into a slot to enter the park. They’re likely the same people who still write checks at grocery stores. To add to the seemingly-baffling complexity of the situation, theme parks somewhat recently introduced biometric readers onto which guests must place a finger to ensure that a ticket is used only by its owner and not traded around. Of course, this makes the entire process 100 times more difficult for those who have trouble simply sliding a ticket into a slot. The system is designed for the index finger, yet some guests insist on using every finger except that one. Some guests just ignore the finger scan completely, running full-force into the non-moving turnstile bar – an embarrassing act that is generally followed by an angry glare directed toward the turnstile attendant.
- Tickets Not Ready or Accessible – Let’s see… you’re walking up to the entrance of a theme park. What should you have ready? Oh, your cell phone. No, wait – your soda! No, that’s not it. A ha. Your sunscreen. Actually, it seems like in the minds of far too many theme park visitors, the ticket to get in is the absolute last thing they would ever think to have ready, in their hands, when approaching the turnstiles. Instead, mom has to open her theme park survival fanny pack and sift through tissues, lip balm, ponchos, and thirty other random personal items before finally finding a ticket. Of course, it’s not the right one, so she has to then dive into the backpack that’s sitting in the otherwise empty stroller that doesn’t even have a kid in it. What is so hard about getting tickets out in advance?
- One Person Holding Way Too Many Tickets – Of course, there’s always that family with the mom or dad who is the ticket god, responsible for keeping the whole family’s tickets together at all times out of fear that little Susan will lose hers or little Billy will smother his in ice cream. The problem there is that too many of these ticket gods forget to write names on the tickets or can’t keep them organized in any way. So they had a stack of tickets to the turnstile attendant while they push their kids through, wondering why the turnstile bar isn’t spinning as the attendant tries to figure out who is who.
I’m sure there are many more reasons why there are so many holdups at theme park turnstiles, but these seem to be the biggest offenders. My question is: Why do I always choose the line that has all four of these types ahead of me? There really should be separate lines for those who know how to use tickets and those who don’t. Then yet another section for those who actually know how to use tickets and aren’t just pretending to out of pride.
But in reality, everyone should be able to get through a turnstile in no more than 10 seconds. So anyone out there that’s heading to a theme park soon, follow these quick and easy steps:
- Approach the turnstiles
- Select a line
- While waiting, get your ticket out and hold it in your hand
- Do nothing else but wait for your turn, making sure your ticket never leaves your hand
- When you reach the turnstile, place the ticket in the slot (or if there is no slot, hand it to the attendant)
- If there is a finger scanner, place your index finger on the scanner and remain motionless until you are directed to move through the turnstile by a green light or the attendant. (If, for some reason, you didn’t use your index finger the first time you used your ticket, use the same finger you used last time)
- Grab your ticket as you pass through and clear the area so the person behind you can keep moving
It’s really not that hard.
TweetNine Inch Nails Response to iPhone App Update Rejection
Trent Reznor, creator of Nine Inch Nails (one of my favorite bands), has posted a rant on the nin.com forum in response to Apple’s confusing rejection of the latest version of the “nin: access” iPhone application to the iTunes App Store. The program simply allows Nine Inch Nails fans to stay connected with nin.com and other fans.
Here’s Apple’s rejection letter…
From forum.nin.com:
Thank you for submitting nin: access to the App Store. We’ve reviewed nin: access and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store at this time because it contains objectionable content which is in violation of Section 3.3.12 from the iPhone SDK Agreement which states:
“Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.”
The objectionable content referenced in this email is “The Downward Spiral”. Since the app is live on the App store, please make the necessary changes to the application as soon as possible, and resubmit your binary to iTunes Connect. Thank you
Regards,
iPhone Developer Program
Evidently the new version of the app linked to a podcast that featured a song from The Downward Spiral album that contained profanity or something otherwise “objectionable,” though Reznor isn’t quite sure since Apple’s letter is so vague. Ironically, you can purchase The Downward Spiral in the iTunes Music Store, profanity and all, so apparently it’s okay to buy the music, but not buy an app that lets you hear it.
Here is an excerpt from Trent Reznor’s response…
From forum.nin.com:
I’ll voice the same issue I had with Wal-Mart years ago, which is a matter of consistency and hypocrisy. Wal-Mart went on a rampage years ago insisting all music they carry be censored of all profanity and “clean” versions be made for them to carry. Bands (including Nirvana) tripped over themselves editing out words, changing album art, etc to meet Wal-Mart’s standards of decency – because Wal-Mart sells a lot of records. NIN refused, and you’ll notice a pretty empty NIN section at any Wal-Mart. My reasoning was this: I can understand if you want the moral posturing of not having any “indecent” material for sale – but you could literally turn around 180 degrees from where the NIN record would be and purchase the film “Scarface” completely uncensored, or buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto where you can be rewarded for beating up prostitutes. How does that make sense?
Reznor hilariously finishes the post with just a few more sentences that I can’t repost here and remain a (mainly) family-friendly blog. If you want to read it, click here… but don’t say I didn’t warn you if you read something “objectionable” by your own standards.
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