I was originally going to call this article “Rage Against the (Corporate) Machine,” but you will see at the bottom of this article why I decided to change it.
Before I proceed, one caveat: if you’re one who gets sick of my rants (and I know you’re out there), don’t read this. I try to eschew socio-political bluh on this site, but I couldn’t help myself on this one.
I feel there is an incredible amount of dishonesty in Corporate America today. Anyone who watches the news could hardly disagree with me. It’s one of the main reasons Wyatt decided to work for himself (who would you rather put your future in the hands of? Yourself, your own skill, ingenuity and discipline, or hope for the good will of an impersonal and amoral organization who works by the famed invisible hand, and won’t do what’s best for you and your family, but rather what’s best for “the company” or those in the power to make decisions).
Wyatt and I also aren’t fond of the idea of getting tangled in lawsuits, but in a society where people refuse to accept responsibility for their mistakes, it makes it easy to understand why our courts are kept busy. (Though I think this law-suit mentality has greatly contributed to the “not-my-fault” attitude of most Americans, in every sector.)
Rather than dig out every example I have (and unfortunately I have many) I will only focus on 3 that have all happened in the past 6 weeks.
Example #1: Wyatt goes in to get a cell phone about a year ago. He purchases a T-Mobile made phone that meets his qualifications. He adds on internet access to his phone. All is hunky dorey. A few months go by and Wyatt realizes he doesn’t use the internet via phone enough to justify the cost. He goes in to the T-Mobile store to cancel this aspect of his plan (he does not have a contract with T-Mobile, but feels compelled to use them because of his grandfathered plan–a comparable plan with any other company, and even T-Mobile now, would be well over double what he currently pays). When in the store, cancelling the internet, the sales-person suggests Wyatt gets “T-Zones” – a simpler version of internet, accessing only a few common sites that Wyatt could use to check movies, email, etc. for $5 per month. He agrees.
A little bit of time goes by. T-Zones doesn’t work. He calls T-Mobile. Customer service and tech support instruct him in various resets of his phone to get it to work. It never does.
Time goes by. Wyatt’s a busy guy, and he doesn’t have hours (the general on-hold time) every day to deal with this issue. He calls maybe a half dozen more times over the next 9 months trying to resolve the issue. He wants the service, but it just isn’t working on his phone!
Finally, in December, he is once again on the phone with T-Mobile. This time the tech kid says: “T-Zones in incompatible with that phone. You can’t even get that service with that phone.”
Then why did you sell it to me? Why didn’t another tech person tell me this 9 months ago? Why have you been billing me for a service that you sold me but that doesn’t work and that you couldn’t resolve. I’d like a refund please.
“Nope.” They refused to refund Wyatt his $45. At this point Wyatt asked himself what the value of his time was–2 hours on the phone trying to get a $45 refund? He didn’t persue it too hard. But if it weren’t for that darn amazing phone plan of his, T-Mobile would be black-listed. Yes, the Christensen family has a black list. Be warned Corporate America!
Example #2: Yet another wonderful cell phone company: Cricket. Wyatt get’s a cricket phone for his assistant. They have unlimited local minutes for a reasonable rate. They don’t have great cell coverage, but hey, it’s only for his assistant, when she’s at work, not all over the country! The problem with Cricket is you have to buy the phone. Wyatt does. For as basic as they are (and Wyatt got the most basic one) they aren’t cheap.
A month goes by. Wyatt’s assistant informs him the phone has stopped working. They work with Cricket trying to resolve the issue, again, spending time on the phone with tech support going through all sorts of fancy “resets” etc. It never works. Over the next month Wyatt visits 3 different Cricket stores, trying to resolve the issue. Their computers say the phone is working, and he is getting billed for it. But the phone is most obviously not working, and no one has any idea why.
Finally he is sent to the “corporate office” in West Jordan. There the woman quickly realizes what the problem is . . . not a problem with the phone at all, but rather Cricket’s computer system. One simple element in their computer communications was wrong, and no signal was being sent to the phone.
I’d like a refund please.
Well, we feel that half a month refund is more than fair. More argument. Half a month refund is given. Cricket is on our black list.
Example #3: My darling Wyatt gave me a new Mac Computer for Christmas. Mac computers are industry standard in the photography business. They run photoshop better and reproduce better color on their monitors. I have spent the past 3 weeks playing with and learning my Mac.
Last Sunday I sit down to the computer . . . and there’s nothing there. I can hear that it’s on, but there’s nothing on the monitor. It’s black. The next day I call the mac store where we purchased the computer. They tell us to bring it in. We have purchased the apple care protection plan, but good grief, it’s been less than a month!
They call us the next day to tell us the “motherboard” (in quotes because on Mac’s it’s not called a motherboard, but it’s the same thing) is dead. It’s not due to damage on our part, it’s just a lemon. Not to worry they say, we’ll replace the motherboard.
Not good enough. We just spent X amount of dollars on a brand new computer. We are not accepting a “pieced together” refurbished one! We tell them so. “But it’s not refurbished, it will be exactly the same.”
I’m not all computer techy, like maybe some people think I am, so I honestly don’t know. All I know is that it’s pieced together after the fact. Not good enough for my money!
Wyatt informs them that they better replace the computer with a brand new one . . . or else. We didn’t really know what “or else” was at that point, but we were determined. We talked to the manager, and told him to have the store owner call us. We’re told this is Apple’s policy, not the store (that a computer has to be fixed, not replaced). We tell them fine, we’ll just return the computer, after all, it’s less than 30 days. They say they don’t take returns.(Not what we had been told earlier). We get on the phone with the credit card company we used for the purchase, to see what they can do. They file a purchase dispute but tell us it will take several weeks to complete.
Finally, yesterday I go into the SimplyMac store to discuss our little problem with the manager. I’m hoping a face to face discussion between two (hopefully) reasonable people will help us resolve this issue.
Now I’d like to say what happened next was due to my amazing negotiating skill, ha ha, but no, the manager and store owner had decided this before I went in. They did replace the computer, at their loss (that’s fine, it’s a cost of doing business in my opinion). SimplyMac is not a major corporation like Apple, and they were going against Apple’s corporate policy. They are a medium sized franchise that sells Apple products. I feel that this store owner and manager did what was right. So Kudos to them. I can now, without hesitation, recommend SimplyMac in Fort Union to anyone interested in an Apple product.
I’m grateful we were able to resolve the computer issue. I wish I knew how to combat the larger corporations who, in my opinion, fraudulently take advantage of Americans every day. What is one to do?
