Google and Apple both have “find my device” services. You have to have associated the device with your Google / Apple ID account, and configured the service, before you lose the phone. Worth doing!
Microsoft has a similar service for PCs, also requiring that you have associated the device with a Microsoft account.
Ikea. No email address or phone number on the website. Just chat which, as chat usually is, useless.
The coating having a sticky layer; I have had had similar happen to a travel hairdryer (also stored and not used for long periods) and to the handset of a cordless landline phone. It seems to be a soft rubberised coating that just rots over time. Perhaps lack of use add to this and there is not gradually wearing off of the coating, or additional coating of hand oils or similar. I was able to remediate them somewhat by removing the sticky coating with ethanol, but it was a tedious process, and not 100%
More often these days the “rubber” is a silicone compound and often that stickiness is the result of the breakdown of that compound. As it is breaking down, it is really impossible to remove the residue completely and so remains an issue.
Hard to contact when you have an issue. Also are confusing people with the legitimate company businessclass.com. When asked they say they’re the same company but they’re worlds apart!! The dodgy business-class.com is in Florida and has one contact number whereas businessclass.com is easy to contact. Once business-class.com takes your money you don’t get it back!
Super dodgy company!! Fortunately it wasn’t me who was scammed but I’m trying to help a family member get their money back.
Kresta Blinds. Customer Service does not answer the phone so leave a message and no one calls back, emails get no response. Tried for 3 months before I raised it with Fair Trading NSW.
All Chat lines.Cannot ever resolve matters as virtual person does not understand any issue.
Definitely Centrelink. Cut you off if try to phone, you go in there and they say you have to phone, it is impossible. When I did finally get to see someone they sent me to a stand up counter, even though they could see I am a wheelchair user. They made me feel like a criminal because I could not stand up to speak at the level of an able bodied person.
My top (worst) award goes to the ATO followed by most banks and all those entities which don’t provide an easy to find telephone number. The online “chat” for most places is sooooo sloooow, basically because they are dealing with multiple customers at once.
On a number of occasions the automated response from the ATO was basically “we’re too busy - try some other time - click!”
13Cabs is my nomination. Booked a cab through the app, the cab didn’t show up then had the audacity to still charge me anyway. The driver picked up someone else and charged me their fare. They got a free ride that night! Couldn’t contact anyone through the app so went online. Finally found a number which went to some depot who couldn’t help me at all. When I did eventually get through to someone, after many phone calls and emails I finally got my refund. Such a long and arduous task - I swear they make it so difficult on purpose so you will just give up, but there was no way I was going to!
Samsung. Was gifted a digital watch. 9 months later it failed. Not even the retail outlet could give me a contact number Eventually got a call back … They’d had the watch for 2 weeks by then. It was a send only mobile number. Accepted no incoming contact. The retailer was very helpful. I wasn’t happy with their refund offer, and eventually spoke to a few humans. Turned out there were a lot of ‘my watches’ out in the wild, with a known problem. No recall? I eventually got a watch my family would never buy for me. But, at least I didn’t have to pay 200$ on top of their refund to get a similar watch. And, guess what? I very quickly got a ‘how did we do’ follow up call.
3 posts were split to a new topic: Derila Pillows - issues with orders and need to return products to Lithuania
Facebook!
In mid-December they emailed me to say someone had changed my email and phone number. 15 minutes later they banned me from the service due to inappropriate behaviour.
I didn’t see the initial emails until a couple of hours later.
They have various “help” topics but none of them work if you’ve been banned.
I’ve been emailing them daily (we’re now up to 2 months and 23 days), trying 4 different email addresses. Two of those addresses now bounce back saying “user unknown” and the others don’t answer.
I guess I’m getting an enforced “de-tox”!!
Apple. They communicate via a “do not reply” sms or “do not reply” email. When I found a number to call on to dispute them refusing to repair my faulty MacBook under warranty, I could not speak to the repair centre themselves, just a customer service rep. It was their word against mine, and there was no one further I could speak to. They would not let me speak to anyone higher, and in the end gave me the address for Apple in Singapore, and said that I could send them a letter.
I just had to replace a Revlon hairdryer for the same reason - the plastic became sticky.This happened over just a couple days.
Regarding the topic of this thread I would guess that at least half of the organisations that I try to contact are unreachable or don’t respond…
Until a week ago, I would have said the Commonwealth Bank but now it is Bonza Airlines. They have no phone number, you need to start a chat via their dedicated app and keep the app and conversation open and the wait is up to four or five hours. If you give up, you need to start again.
Their app is also crap.
I wish them well but this is just not right.
I ordered some makeup online from Clinique and received one of the items ordered but not the other. I waited some time before trying to find a way to contact Clinique to find out when I might receive the other part of my order. I eventually found a way to contact the customer service team via WhatsApp (!!!) only to be told the second item was no longer in stock, even though it had been listed as available on the website when I ordered. They suggested a similar product which I agreed would be a suitable substitute only to find that this was no longer in stock either. They eventually refunded me but I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t followed up to find out where my order was. Would they have just kept my money? By the time I got my refund, it had been about 6 weeks since the original order which I thought was pretty poor service from an online retailer.
Selecting the company that proves most challenging to contact is truly a remarkable feat. However, the question remains: how does one attempt to contact them? Let’s look at three methods starting with the traditional phone call, provided you manage to unearth a contact number.
Phone interactions typically kick off with an interminable menu array, often featuring sub-menus and even sub-sub menus. Amidst this auditory labyrinth, companies often seize the opportunity to interject with unsolicited advertising. Should you persevere and connect with a representative, chances are high that your counterpart possesses an accent so pronounced that every uttered word necessitates a second (or third) repetition, often resorting to spelling. This recurring scenario is so prevalent that one might be inclined to suspect a deliberate intent.
Then there’s the website, where navigating the communication channels feels akin to a global scavenger hunt. While on this merry-go-round, the company cheerfully presents you with a finite list of topics deemed worthy of your call. From this directive list, you are funnelled into an endless cascade of pages purporting to hold the key to your queries. In essence, it becomes apparent that the company’s regard for your time is rather lacking.
And let’s not forget the allure of “Chat.” My estimation puts the success rate at approximately 25%. Personal encounters with this mode of communication often reveal a frustrating lack of understanding on the part of the chat representative. More often than not, it seems like engaging in a chat is a hit-or-miss affair.
In the evaluation of companies and their offerings, many focus on the quality of services and products. Yet, a critical aspect that often goes unnoticed is the company’s accessibility – how easy is it for customers to communicate with them?
Success at getting the need met or responded to, or getting no reply?
For larger organisations chat seems to work more often than not. Although for the ATO and others it’s really just a “smart/dumb” assistant.
Two interesting questions to ponder.
A well trained AI versed in the ways of human psychology might do well to find all the ways to convince the customer with a need:
Or not - ?
Smaller on line businesses use the allure of chat only to ask one to type out details of the enquiry before leaving name number and email. Ready for a call back at the future convenience of the business. Not so good. At least the ATO “smart/dumb” assistant works 24 x 7.
Morning, If you want to get rid of the “sticky” feel, try dusting the handle with talcum powder. The cheapest powder is the way to go.
