The Shit Companies Blog

I'm at Copenhagen airport. Lately I've had a number of troubles with different airlines but none that suck as hard as SAS. I vow now NEVER to fly SAS again!

I arrived in from Austria and was meant to take the 15:10 flight (SAS 1521) to Aberdeen, Scotland. But at15:40 passengers began to complain that no announcement was being made yet the plane was meant to leave 30 minutes beforehand. At 15:45 the lady at the gate said everyone needed to get rebooked on another flight and to go to the SAS transfer desk.

I’ve been at the transfer desk since 15:55. When I arrived the ticket number was 467 and I picked up ticket 597. The ticket counter is now at 534 and the time is 18:30pm! I've already called SAS in the UK who told me that there were no more flights today or tomorrow with available seats. But I have to remain standing in this queue just to get a hotel pass! Only 3 out of the 12 SAS transfer desk counters are operational as you can see in the photo (the 4th person, the red headed lady is the supervisor who does not deal with people and who told me the situation is completely unacceptable but she can do nothing about it as there are not anywhere near enough staff). I reckon it will be 19:30pm before I get to the head of the queue, if not longer. Talk about a waste of a day for nothing - I mean a plane cancellation is bad enough but to then be utterly insulted by being made to wait 4 hours whilst 3 SAS staff slowly process hundreds of people is commercially criminal.

I even just tried calling SAS customer service in the UK and they told me there is nothing I can do but wait. Nobody has appologised, given any reason for cancellation, increased the working staff from 3 nor even given out water. There are hundreds of people around me who have no flights out of Copenhagen tonight due to SAS (not just cancelled planes but planes of people unable to go anywhere due to a screw up in moving their luggage, excuse "technical problems") and the SAS response to these hundreds is to have 3 people working at funeral pace.

I know there are no flights today and the only option is to fly via a third country tomorrow. I better go back to waiting in this queue. Never will I fly an airline which not only cancels but then presents hundreds of people with 3 workers to deal with it, making everyone wait 4 hours to simply get a hotel ticket.

Labels: SAS Airlines Suck

At present I have four Sony Vaio laptops (in order of purchase):

1) Z600-HEK
2) VGN-A197VP
3) T1XP
4) SZ71

My problem - number 1+2 are in another country, besides 1 is too old and 2 is being used by my pre-teen daughter (MSN/Bebo primarily). Number 3 had a master boot record failure a week ago and one of the recovery DVDs is not working (I removed the recovery partition after making the DVDs). I've not even called Sony Vaio support about this because if your laptop is older than one year they charge you a 12.50 Euro (16.55USD!) "analyst fee"! You even get charged the "analyst fee" even when there is no analysing - for example when the screen broke on the T1XP (because it is not glass and Sony made a design flaw not putting a screen catch on to stop tiny things going between keyboard and screen which take out the membrane screen) I had to pay it! The conversation ran a little like this:

Me: My screen is smashed
Sony: We don't know that
Me: I know that, I can see it!
Sony: We don't know that
Me: So what do I need to do?
Sony: Pay the "analyst" fee
Me: OK, Visa xx
Sony: OK, so your screen is smashed.
...

Plus last time I called up about a laptop older than one year which was back in July 2006 you were forced to call a 35p/minute (0.69 US Cents!) number, and you got queued AND you got the "analyst" fee on top before anything even happens - they don't even give you a repair quote - so the whole call experience is like a "donate cash to Sony line". So that is why I don't call about the recovery disks for number 3 (besides it is 10" which is too small for day to day use).

So that leaves me with my main day to day laptop, number 4. But it broke the other day even though it is less than five months old. If you pull out the power cord the laptop goes instantly dead. Thus the battery system does nothing. I have MANY flights booked up starting very soon and required a laptop that does not have to be plugged into the mains, so this breakage is less than ideal.

At this point I must state two things. Sony Vaio support is the worst customer experience I have ever had in my life. I've returned three laptops over the last few years and it is absolutely agonising. With the last return this year (May) I was pushed completely over the edge and was at the point of pursuing legal action. The straw that broke the camels back was not that Sony wanted £580GBP (1138.13USD) to repair laptop #3 which had a second hand street value only marginally higher! But that they provided only the premium rate 35p/minute (0.69 US Cents!) number to make the payment! Yes you heard it right, only one means of making the payment of £580GBP in order to get my laptop back, was to call this premium rate number, get queued, trawl an IVR tree and then burn lots of time conferring my Visa details at the cost to me of 35p/minute. I still can not get over this - being forced to pay 35p/minute in order to make a payment and a payment for over half a grand! Such Sony arrogance had me in a state of disbelief and as such I was going to take legal action and take up the issue with every appropriate UK regulator.

But and it is a big but. I received a personal call from Sony (remember this was before I started this blog) who had read about my experiences on the Vaio forums. He sent me a cheque to cover ALL repair costs. So on the plus side if I was buying another laptop, yes I would buy Sony again. It is clear that Sony have lost the big lead they had against competitors in the analogue days. It is also clear that internally they are so screwed up that a computer manufacturer (Apple) could step in and take 90% of the portable music player market (and the majority of the music download market) from under their noses. But they produce the slickest, best-engineered sophisticated electronics devices still. The hardware (size, battery time, build quality Etc. is often a marvel). It is everything else that lets it down. In the case of Vaio laptops, Vaio support. Or to give another example, I've bought both their hard disk and flash based MP3 players and I am astounded at the hardware quality. But the hardware is rendered pretty useless because the software is so dire, in this case Sonic Stage. What surprises me most is Sony do not react to customer input. Even taking the Sonic Stage example, Sony have not fixed the software yet customers have been complaining for years. As a result, Sony own next to nothing of the music download market and hardly score in the portable player market.

Now that the background has been covered and I've really tried to make it brief since I could really write a book on my experiences with Sony Vaio support, I will turn to the immediate problem at hand.

If I call Sony Vaio Support it asks for my serial number. It requests and rejects it three times saying it is not valid and then hangs up the phone! Thanks Sony for your complete in utter customer disregard. Five months back when I had a problem with laptop #3 you forced me down a premium rate number route to pay many hundreds of pounds, forcing me to pay to give my Visa details and now you provide me with a single number to call which rejects my in-warranty laptop and hangs the phone up on me.

This would not be quite as bad if it were not for the fact that in trying to bypass the forced premium number route in the case of laptop #3 five months back I entered the serial of #4 (since it is under warranty, so my ploy was to use it to get an agent so I could pay the £580GBP without using the premium number) and discovered back that then that their system was screwed. I've even had it confirmed from Sony (via the personal call mentioned) that their database is not properly loaded with the serial numbers of the Vaio's.

So Sony you have known for at least five months that your customer support solution is broken. You therefore have known for at least that five months that there is a good chance that if a customer calls the ONLY number for support, that your automated system will inform them that the serial is invalid and hang up. An utter disgrace.

Sony please tell me why I have to go to this blog effort to "contact you"? Please tell me what the hell I can do if you only have one number and you know the system driving it is screwed? You know that for many customers (who have just suffered a broken laptop) will simply be getting hung up on without a single option or means to speak to a person! You take arrogance and customer stone walling to the Nth degree.

And for readers, I've still got my "special" contact within Sony and emailed him yesterday. I will try contacting him again after pointing him to this post since I have heard nothing yet. But take it clearly from me, I will only buy Sony because I believe that thru such techniques I can actually reach someone. But for the poor average customer, well I pity you dealing with Sony. I will however offer you a tip on reaching someone at Sony if their support system keeps rejecting your Vaio and hangs up the call. Go into a shop which sells Vaio's and note down lots of serials. Call up using them until you get one that works. I've not tried it but that is my next plan of attack to reach a person at Sony now that my in-warranty UK purchased laptop is broken.

As for prospective Sony Vaio customers. All four of mine have broke or have been broken so from my experience the chances of having to call Vaio support to return it is high. And when you do call Sony Vaio support here is what you may experience (1.3Meg MP3 call recording).

And before any readers suggest faxing Sony support. Last time round (July) I did that nearly every day. That did nothing. I then had it confirmed that they leave the fax machine off-hook.

FFS - today a huge bill arrived from O2. If there is a cock up to be made, they will make it. That seems to be the only guarantee from my experience.

Geez all I wanted was a frickin handset upgrade from a frickin cellular company. You would be forgiven for thinking that a cellular company could handle this near annual event.

But instead I was told the wrong price by a factor of three. Later I was told that all systems are down all day long. Next I was get told double the correct handset price and then the order never appeared.

And now today to put the cherry on the cake, the phone has arrived but I have been charged two years line rental for the SAME TIME PERIOD - meaning the bill was wrong by £120GBP! I called up and O2 said they would correct the bill. Recording here (2.5 meg mp3).

I'm lost for words at this useless bunch of pricks. The only reason I stuck with them was because where the particular phone will be used is in the middle of nowhere and O2 have the best signal.

On the 13 Nov I called back about the phone upgrade. Once again just as on the 26 Oct the agent said that I was not eligible for an upgrade. Once again I had to explain that I am. So it would appear that when O2 are alerted that their data is wrong they don't bother updating it. The agent then tried to charge over £100 for the phone and I had to remind her that on the 26 Oct I was told it was £50. After some fumbling she agreed. Talk about knowing nothing. What infuriates me is what the hell are those people doing there if they know jack sh$£ about their products, services or even customers?

I was informed the phone would be with me with me the next working day. I also paid the contract one year in advance (£120) to save money.

One week later the phone had not arrived. I called up and after being passed around was given something along the lines of I don't see any order being placed and I only see an inquiry. FFS. The agent the week before had promised me the phone the following working day and now this week O2 appear not even to have notes of a frickin order! How the hell a private company can operate like this I have no idea - investors watch out! Someone really needs to go undercover and get a job as a O2 service agent and film it. I'm sure it must be a complete in utter circus. The agent the week before had even went to lengths to post it (or so she claimed) to an address different from the billing address. But just like magic, no phone and now no record of an order being placed the week before. The new agent suggested that maybe a "system error" had occurred or the "upgrade didn't go thru correctly" and that if I was unhappy to write to the address on the back of the bill. Yeah right! More like the agent the week before was even more retarded than the others.

Call recording here minus the queues Etc (6 meg mp3).

Tonight I wondered if I had been the only one to suffer endlessly at the hands of the Amazon credit card. I had been thinking that it was so bad that surely I can not be only one.

After 5 minutes Googling it was clear that I am far from the only one. For example in the Guardian:

Amazon's UK cardholders had a shock when they received a letter telling them they are going to be hit with a balance transfer fee for each debt they had previously transferred on to the card.

I see here others have had similar experiences looking at Amazon credit card reviews at Review Center :

dannybro

The worst online servicing I have ever experienced...Useless customer service...I will be taking out a replacement card with a better provider shortly, as the online servicing just plain doesn't work. You have to resort to paying your bill with a cheque in the post...

allana

Customer service and an online banking system that rarely works, and when it does it can misinform you...when you start trying to navigate the online section it is a complete mess, and that is when it works.

alvinlwh

the online banking/account is the silly HBOS one. This being a Halifax card, is a real pain to set up.

And since this Amazon card is really just a Halifax credit card then Googling for Halifax credit card reviews brings up more very unhappy people! There would appear no end to complaints so shame on Amazon for sticking their branding on it. Again some snippets from Review Centre:

Churchmousester

Never again! What a shame they don't invest some of their enormous Advertising budget into Customer Service!

fedupwithbanks

I have contacted Halifax on numerous occasions to sort out payment problems, as I have recently lost my job and have insurance to cover payments. Halifax have not written back or sorted out the problem, and all they do is continually call me via a call centre 6 times a day, and I have to speak to staff who know nothing and cannot help.

Joemaidenhead

I received a telephone call from the Halifax call centre explaining that my account was overdue (I hadn't received the statement in the post). I explained this, and I asked the person at the call centre, who didn't speak very good English (off-shore call centre. Surprise surprise), if my card had been charged the late fee. Apparently it had,...Halifax have NO goodwill in them at all. They do not see you as a person; just a number!

Shopping Princess

As a LOYAL Halifax customer for several years now, recently their customer service has been absolutely appalling.

Isn't it amazing how others have the same problems? There is no doubt I was not a one off case after reading around! How many others have been called 6 times a day 7 days a week like myself and harassed? How many others have been harassed for money which they do not even have a bill for like me? How many others have had late fees added onto cancelled cards way after cancellation even when they have never received anything in writing, not even a bill? Still to date I've NEVER had a copy of a bill or even seen a bill even though I have made three separate requests to date! How many others out there have had to suffer at what can not in any shape or form be rightly called "customer service"? And how many others have had to battle trying to get an online login and also how many others can not make online payments because their systems are down day after day?

Amazon listen! This is NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Nothing short of dumping HBOS will be. If that is not done, then go ahead and burn more brand credibility over time with this sour lemon. I doubt you will drop them as you probably have a cosy financial setup with them. So it would not be unfair to say that Amazon are as corrupt as HBOS. Certainly the longer Amazon refuse not to drop them, the truer this will seem, as time will be an endorsement of Halifax behaviour.

I called O2 on the 26 October to check if handset was eligible for upgrade and was told completely wrong information as detailed here. I was told during that call to call back on the 5 November to check to see if desired handset had arrived in stock.

I called on the 5 November and was told the handset was not yet in stock and if I want call again in the afternoon to see if the situation had changed. Yeah right, I've got nothing better to do than call and wait in large O2 queues. What amazes me is I doubt O2 are buying 5-10 phones! So presuming they are buying them on mass surely they know when they will get them? The girl even said it could be the 6th and offered no guarantees of when they would arrive. And the usual request of can you call me when you get them in was declined. So I decided to leave it a few days.

I called back on the morning of 7 November to request the handset upgrade presuming that they will now have stock but was told that all systems were down and to call back in a few hours (recording here - 95Kb). Although I've not blogged about it as yet, I am damn sick of this being a common occurrence when calling O2. The amount of downtime they seem to have is incredible from my experience and to make matters worse the staff seem to sound happier on those days.

A few hours came and I called back only to be told the system is down and to call back later (recording here - 150Kb).

Later on I called back again. I was told the system was down and to call back after 6pm (recording here - 604Kb).

After 6pm I called back again. I was told the system was down and to call back tomorrow (recording here - 886Kb).

Leaving aside the fact that their systems often are down or I am very unlucky, then why the hell do they queue me on an rip off0870 number for ages and make me push lots of buttons all for nothing? Why not instead flip to an announcement? I guess it is only because they like to make some cash of queuing you on the 0870 and have scant regard for customers time/money.

In Part 1 I explained that I was convinced that O2 were blocking calls as they see fit to try and keep my calls entirely in the O2 walled garden. I also explained how on the 4th of this month I called about it but their agent denied it, but I called customer services on the 20th and the new agent admitted it. Well yesterday the 26th October I called again and the first agent denied it and the second agent seemed to indicate it was true but told me to put the question in writing. Full details of the call now follow...

I called back after the first agent hung up (because I told him that I recorded all outgoing calls). The new agent said that the system was frozen (typical) and to call back later. I said I had a question and before I could finish saying it she put me in a queue. A new agent answered who said the system was down and she would pass me to someone else. Another agent answered after the second lengthy queue but said that she was on the wrong billing system. She said she was on the “Dice” billing system and internally they need the “Companion” billing system! She said she would have to pass me over to an agent with access to the correct billing system. I was queued again.

Agent number five answered (Peter). All I was calling for was to ask what the O2 policy on blocking calls was – how they decide which numbers to block and what the general strategy is. I wanted this information to make a more informed choice of which operator to keep a subscription with (if any at all, I’m getting that sick of them over the years). I hate operators blocking legitimate numbers that represent VoIP calls or cheaper international calling services.

He proceeded to vehemently argue that O2 are not blocking discrete numbers. He even went as far to say that it would be a violation of privacy. He had the word “privacy” mixed up with “ethics”. I’m used to deciphering O2 call centre speak. It seemed that no matter how much I pointed out to him that I had already established by basic logic and the last call on the 20^th that O2 were blocking calls, he continued to forcefully argue otherwise. At one point he said with great sarcasm “you know better than we do and we work for the company”. What a scream. Where the hell do they find such agent assholes? Yes I do know better than him, not because I wear an O2 badge but because I am not an amoeba.

One of my biggest hates about call centers (which O2 often exibits) is that often instead of taking a step forwards calling them, you take two steps backwards. I’d already established on the 20^th with an O2 agent that they did indeed selectivity block calls. But this agent in line with what I perceive as the norm from O2 agents, wanted to keep spouting his mouth arguing, talking complete rubbish and not once pausing to listen to reason. He tries to claim as per the agent on the 4^th that it is a SIM fault or a handset fault. Wow amazing handset fault; if you try to use most services that offer discounted calling, the handset has a unique fault that flashes “network blocked”. This must be a very handy fault that develops on handsets from O2’s point of view. He even tried to educate me that maybe it is because I could be forgetting to remove the ‘0’ from the ‘0800/0808’ prefixes when I dial.

The part when I knew I had a top class O2 zombie was when he read out the two freephone numbers that I’d been complaining about being blocked then asked if it is premium rate numbers that I am having problems with. Fu$# the guy just read out the two numbers I have a problem with (both freephone) and then he asks if they are premium rate FFS. How thick do you have to be to read out two free phone numbers then ask if they are premium rate numbers? How the hell does this guy get out of bed and put his own clothes on in the morning? I can only guess his mother is still packing his lunch box.

One thing he does get right is a shared sentiment - he stated in relation to my call blocking claims that

“it’s like having a BT line and suddenly you ring up Harry over there and you can’t get thru to him and then your going to ring up BT and say excuse me this number is blocked, they [O2] can not do that”

Hole in one for change! He gets what I am saying O2 are doing at last! But he thinks that I am the ludicrous one fully believing that O2 would not be doing such a thing. If the poor chap would listen to the facts in front of him it would be very clear that indeed O2 are.

Again I repeated to him that I’ve already established that O2 are blocking calls during the call on the 20^th but he retorts in Rumsfeld like language

“well you haven’t as it does not say it over here [onscreen] this is what you think you’ve said or somebody said to you now if he said this to you he is absolutely wrong”.

To make me begin cringing he even tried to say to argue that there needs to be an agreement between O2 and the called party in place before a call can be successful to that called party! The poor chap was mixing international roaming agreements into the equation. The agent was completely incapacitated in the listening faculty. He could not get off the subject of call bars, premium numbers, international roaming agreements and faulty customer hardware. Yet the complaint was about two UK freephone numbers! He just could not get it thru to him no matter how much I repeated it, that two freephone numbers are blocked.

It took me 43 minutes in total to clear past this guy! But it is OK O2, I’ve got hours to spare paying premium call charges to 0870s to talk to your morons. It makes me love your brand more, increases my loyalty and makes my monthly spend higher. But to be honest, when I see the adverts on TV campaigning “O2 – See What You Can Do” I sit and wonder what your call agents can actually do, starting with putting their socks on each day.

Without warning I was placed back in the queue. After sometime agent number six answered (Duncan) who claimed to be a supervisor. He seemed indicative that there was a dynamic discrete list of blocked numbers. But said I would have to write to the following address to find out:

O2 Complaints Review Service
PO BOX 116
Leeds
LS11 5DS

OK so that took pretty much an hour of my day and six agents to have an address given to find out an answer to my simple question. The agent claimed that numbers may be blocked if O2 suffer a direct loss as a result of them. He seemed to think that calling (and paying O2 for calls to) UK freephone numbers were causing O2 a direct loss! It seemed to be his opinion that "direct loss" meant using any service which achieved the users aims at a lower cost and not bypassing O2 tollbooths at any point.

I will write to the address above...no doubt a Part 3 will be produced. I chopped out the hold music and the first 4 agents, you can find the call here (15 meg MP3).

On the 4/10/2006 whilst in the UK, I went to do what I had been doing for years which was to place an international call to the girlfriend’s cell phone via a discounted international provider (call18866). Instead of getting a connection to the international provider who would then provide me with the usual “which number do you want to dial?” type prompt, the phone piped and went dead. It was quite clear it was not even attempting to set the call up.

So I tried to call a completely separate company which provides a similar service (superline) on a different number prefix and the handset said “network blocked”.

Now there are two reasons why I pay a UK cellular subscription:

1) keep a static contact identity (a static UK telephone number)

2) security and knowledge that I can call just about from anywhere to ANY telephone number (leaving premium number barring etc. aside).

With complete rage I called O2 customer service. The agent denied that there was any number blocking going on and said maybe I had not paid my bills with these other companies Etc. or maybe I should clean the SIM card and all this type of nonsense. I very harshly and very clearly put it to him that logic dictates the numbers are being blocked (reminder, O2 customer service have not had the required training in logic even to the level that comes natural to the rest of us). Why should two freephone numbers to two separate companies suddenly stop working that just happen to provide discounted international calling services? (A note for readers outside of the UK, “tollfree” numbers are not free from a UK cell phone).

The agent kept arguing that “the calls were indefinitely [sic] not blocked”. Four times I said to the agent I think that you are meaning the word “definitely”. On each occasion he said that he did mean “indefinitely”. The poor chap could not comprehend that he was using the wrong word and I quickly had to give up on him going further in understanding the logic that the calls were being blocked. The following day I left the UK.

When I returned back to the UK on the 20^th October I again tried to use third party discounted international calling services to call the girlfriend’s cell phone. Again one service number pipped out and the other said “network blocked” as before. Again I called O2 in rage mode. Even though it was the middle of the day the O2 customer services number connected but then played the ringing tone for so long I gave up. I repeated this another three times. Since I was dialing their 0870 I was being charged premium to hear ringing!

On the fifth attempt I got an agent who had a shit attitude but was straight with the score at least. He said the numbers represented discounted calling services and that when O2 find such numbers they add them to a dynamic block list. I argued that I found this a breach of contract and found it totally unacceptable. He said that according to the contract I had signed with O2 they had the right to block every single outbound call I ever placed and could still force me to pay the monthly rental charge until the end of contract! I asked him to at least refund all the failed calls to O2 customer service and he refused! He finished by exclaiming the companies I was trying to dial were “fraudulent” because they used O2 airtime (crazy I know).

You can guess who I will not be renewing the contract with? (I’ve got more than one O2 post pay phone and was in their top 5% spenders list and had been a customer since the late 90s). The problem is I am not currently sure who I would switch to instead, I had considered T-Mobile but this put me off. I would love to get rid of the cell phone operator completely but there is not enough coverage of alternatives (like WiFi) yet. But I can say one thing for sure, cell phone operators on the whole continue to increase feelings of brand resentment and as soon as a new technology player offers a means to evade them I will as I imagine many others will do. What I would like to see is a flat rate plan that covers international calling and data but I don’t think I will ever see the day from a telecoms operator. It's not only their customer services who are fu$%ed but their time plus distance business model going forwards.