corporate dealings: win some, lose some

[eirias]

So the end of the Advantage saga is that we were credited for about 3 days worth of unused time, compared to about 5 days of actual unused time, when we wanted a full refund. G's credit card company was unwilling to go to bat for us, since Advantage gave us something; when we complained that prima facie it wasn't even enough assuming that we were willing to pay the asking price for the time we actually used, they said we needed a receipt proving the original length of the reservation, and our receipt from Travelocity doesn't count. We do not have anything else, so -- there goes the cash, I'm afraid.

Moral of the story: in addition to not doing business with Advantage, consider not doing business with Juniper/Barclays bank, if you find this experience compellingly bad enough (we're thinking about it). The card is one of those airline cards (Midwest, in this case) which are always operated by third parties, I imagine.

The other moral, of course, being don't ever let go of any receipt unless you'd trust that company with both kidneys. We do have some papers from Advantage, but I feel about 60% sure they gave us something else which we don't have anymore. Not totally sure what information it had, but it most likely would have helped.

---

In less sucky news, Dell, though their machines are kinda P.O.S.'s these days, is still an okay company to work with, at least if your machine is still under warranty. My laptop's been slow for a while, and thinking that a mucked-up registry was to blame, I set out to reinstall XP. (1) I needed new reinstall CD's; I said as much to a Dell chatter yesterday morning and I had the CDs this afternoon. (2) During the reinstall, I got BSOD'd twice in a row, plus some scary beepy noises that no computer should ever make. I called Dell, I got someone more or less right away, and after some digging he decided it's probably a hardware problem and he's shipping me both components that could be responsible, and they should be here by Monday. (Time was they'd send a tech out for a call like this, and their in-person techs are always superb IME, but right now, not having to argue for what I've paid for feels like a blessing. And I'm pretty sure I can handle a little laptop hardware tinkering.)

Comments

[marphod.livejournal.com]

My Advice: Continue to refuse to pay, and escalate the issue. Until you are told by the office of the president of the bank that you need to pay, don't.

Make sure you explicitly CC the BBB. For added fun, add the local Attorney general office. And local press.


Also, contact whichever company underwrites your credit card (VISA or MasterCard). That a bank is giving their emblem a bad reputation is something that they care about. And the bank is certainly failing to leep the customer service reputation that they should.


Further, the CC company shoudl HAVE a receipt for your purchase. They should get a signed/ceritifed copy of the signed receipt to prove you actually signed it. They shouldn't need a copy from you. And if they don't have a copy, the car rental place should be required to provide one on dmand, as part of their contract with the credit card underwriters.

[trygve.livejournal.com]

And failing all of that, tell them you'll be canceling your account with them over this, and transferring your balance to another credit card. That might get their attention. I'd still recommend writing to the BBB and all those other people that were recommended in that one previous post. But that's just me, I'd be getting vindictive about it all.

[eirias.livejournal.com]

But that's just me, I'd be getting vindictive about it all.

Believe me, on an emotional level, I'd really like to. The chief problem with this is twofold. It's G's card, so he should really be doing this, and ... he's just not the kind of guy who can throw his weight around like that. He hates conflict, and he's pretty much incapable of being unfriendly or upset with a stranger. Then there's me -- I hate conflict, too, largely because I tend to overreact and get emotional and frustrated, and it's not usually helpful. Neither of us is at all sure how to go about insisting that we get our way in a case like this. It doesn't help that we don't know our actual rights, and being so aware that the two companies are probably taking advantage of this fact makes the emotional aspect a lot harder to manage.

That said, I will definitely be composing a letter about this, because it is worth making a public statement about my discomfort, even if it doesn't net me the refund I'm looking for. I suppose I might as well direct it to Advantage corporate and CC the BBB explicitly. There was one other suggestion in my comments thread a while back about a bureau who might care -- I'll have to dig to find out who.

Thanks again for the bitchin' sympathy anyway. :)

[kirin]

Those sets of reactions sound very familiar.

Although, I can be firm with people if I'm pretty darn sure I'm right, even if I don't get actively angry with them. My problem is that at some point I just find it hard to convince myself that it's worth the effort. Just reading about your process with this makes me tired. -_-

Not that I'm arguing against all the people urging you to nail the bastards to the wall. By all means do, as long as you can do it without destroying yourself in the process.

[eirias.livejournal.com]

Wow. I totally adore your icon. :)

[kirin]

Thanks. :) I've been gradually making new ones since I got bumped up to a paid account. That one and this one were made from a stash of fun pics I had from engrish.com. People are welcome to steal them, though crediting both me and engrish.com in the description would be nice.

[eldan.livejournal.com]

Good point at the end here - the onus is on the CC company and Advantage to prove that the transaction was legit, not on the customer. That means that they have to have documentation for everything, and if they can't show that then eirias can challenge the whole thing as a fraudulent charge, anyway.

[razberriswirl.livejournal.com]

If I can offer any advice to anyone, anywhere...when you buy a new machine, don't buy a Dell. They are the new Gateway. And even more disposable. Trust me, it's what we have at work.

Go for an Lenovo (IBM). Those machines rarely have issues.

[eirias.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I doubt I'll buy a Dell again, myself. The first laptop was great, but this one has been lots of trouble. Depending on how wealthy I am the next time I need a new laptop (maybe in 2 years -- computers seem to last me about 4 max), I may pony up and buy one of those fancy Mac laptops. They seem to be remarkably reliable. But it'll also depend on where I am and what I'm doing for a living, of course, since Macs are basically useless for the kinds of experiments I do.

[japlady.livejournal.com]

One of the reasons to get an AMEX is for renting cars, if there's a costco any where near you they offer one as part of the membership

[eirias.livejournal.com]

I don't entirely see what AMEX has to do with this...?
Do they let you deny charges no questions asked, or something? That would seem a poor business model.

[japlady.livejournal.com]

No but they will fight the fight for you

[cognative.livejournal.com]

Your experience with Dell sounds very similar to mine (and my brother's). As long as you have a warranty they are super nice and replace all of their crappy ass parts. I was satisfied because in the end I had a brand new computer. However my next purchase is unlikley to be a dell. I'm thinking Mac or thinkpad.

[littlepurple.livejournal.com]

another piece of advice for the future.... when making travel arrangements always book through the original vendor, i.e. never buy via travelocity, expedia, or anyone else. The only possible exception is orbitz who will set up itinerary's involving multiple carriers which you can not do on your own unless you are a travel agent. For airplane tix you can pretty much always get the same price (and often 15$ cheaper) from the airlines website itself. For hotel's and car rentals, you can call them up and say, hey expedia is giving me a price of blabedy blab per day and they'll give it you directly.

[eirias.livejournal.com]

*nods* That's been my way of making most plane reservations now for a few months, after madmanatw's horrible experience as a guest attempted guest at my wedding. But it didn't occur to me that car rental reservations could get so screwed up, since it's always been straightforward before. In the future I may do it for cars as well.