Want to win one of Greg's new DVD courses? If you have a Facebook account, all you have to do is click on the button above to say you "Like" this post (or any blog post) and post it along with a short comment to your wall. You can also enter by joining Greg's Facebook Fan Page.
A new winner will be chosen every Friday and will be able to choose from any course available on GregHowlett.com. Click here to learn more
For the first part of this week, my three brothers, our families, and our parents were in the Smoky Mountains celebrating my parents 40th anniversary. We stayed in The Preserve Resort which features luxury cabins on top of a mountain.
I have been to this resort several times. I still remember the first time I went into one of the cabins. I had seen pictures of the cabin and its views online but expected that the pictures made it look better than it actually was. I was wrong--the pictures did not even do it justice. It was perfectly furnished and the views were absolutely breathtaking.
So, over the past several years, I have recommended the resort to family and friends and some have gone. I would not be surprised if all together, I have either spent or recommended at least $10,000 worth of business for them.
This time, as soon as I went into the cabin, I began noticing that things were wrong. They were most little things that I could live with until I turned on the shower. Immediately, I noticed a strong odor that smelled like a sewer. When I called management, I was told that the water was safe but just had a lot of sulfur in it.
While it might have been safe, very few showers were taken during the time we were there and we had to bring in water to drink. So, I thought it was reasonable to ask for a partial refund of perhaps a few hundred dollars off a $800 bill.
When I asked the manager, he informed me that there was nothing he could do. After all, he has "no control" over water. I informed him that he might not control water but he controlled refunds. I also informed him that this was the last visit my family or my brothers' families would be making unless he did something to make it right.
Suffice it to say that he did not make it right, and his decision will cost him dearly. I will never go back and neither will anyone I know if I can help it. And if you are thinking about going to that area, do not go to The Preserve Resort.
Then today, I noticed on my bill from Windstream (local phone service) that there were fraudulent third party charges on the bill. When I called them, they refused to remove them, telling me that I needed to go the company that tried to steal money from me to get a refund. When I asked them why a company that made a business of stealing money from people would work to return money to its victims, they gave me a run around that they were "legally required" to bill me those fraudulent charges.
I did call the third party thieves and sure enough, they refused to credit my Windstream bill. They did tell me that they would send me an email with the IP address of computer that supposedly signed me up for their service. In other words, I would have to get a subpoena just to find out who to sue.
I then called Windstream again and told them they would either refund my money immediately or I would file a complaint with the FTC. At that point, they caved. Too bad it had to come to that.
Don't do business with Windstream if you can help it. I now only use them for DSL and use Skype for phones. My business recently cut our phone expenses in half by moving away from Windstream too.
Regardless of whom your phone service is with, watch your statements like a hawk. This is the second time a company has started fraudulently billing me. Often, these charges are small and you miss them; but they add up over time.
Those are my two customer service complaints of the week. It does seem that customer service is getting worse all of a sudden. That is surprising in this economy when companies should be trying to hold onto every customer they can.
