Zeigh Owensby

Exceedingly poor customer service, no response to support emails, live chat useless for technical issues, representative via phone offering no help or even a transfer to someone who knows their job, and essentially ignored my repeated attempts to simply create a buyer account over 15 days. It has gotten so bad, that should my immediate issue finally get corrected, I have lost all trust in this company to fulfill an order efficiently or worse, that they would make a mistake and not honor their product guarantee (as I read has happened to other customers).

Overall I feel sympathy for the business owners because it is likely that they are unaware of how their company is being represented. As a business owner myself, good help is hard to find. I would pen a letter to the owner(s) if I could, but there is a heavy firewall protecting any such contact information. Hopefully they figure it out when sales decline because customers are unable to complete a purchase, which is the most basic step for any business to survive.

Opened and closed my account within 12 hours, all because they don’t have the ability to change a customer user name and lack of options to keep my new business. The typo was my mistake. The poor online account architecture and customer support was theirs. Thankfully I never got to the actual point of transferring funds and happy to move onto one of their competitors. I do hate that I gave them such sensitive financial information for nothing though.

I received an invitation to join the Lending Club LevelUp high yield savings account, so I applied online. Denied without reason. I contacted their customer service and discovered that it might be due to a credit freeze that I had voluntarily put in place for protection. Temporarily unfroze that barrier with the credit bureau suggested and tried an application again. Denied a second time. Maybe the back channel communication was slow, so I tried yet again the following day. Denied a third time. Called in again to find out what the issue might be and was told by the over-cheery twenty-something that "they don’t have access to that information" OR any provision for the customer to find out through another department.

As a man in my 60’s, with excellent credit, and the intention to deposit a high five figure amount, I was stunned at being kicked to the curb so quickly. So, I shopped around and found another bank with an even better interest rate that approved my application in 30 seconds. Likely I dodged a bullet here because can you imagine getting the infamously incompetent customer service answer of “I don’t know.” and no further recourse when funds might get lost?

I purchased one of the GreenWorks VU0B01 hybrid shop-vacs and quickly discovered that it only operates with certain batteries despite the published documentation. The manual states that it will accept any of the 60v battery line and the product text for my 60v 8ah batteries does not list this paricular model in their incompatibility list. As a savvy shopper who has been burned way too many times for not doing proper research, I checked before purchasing. Sure enough, no luck with any of the six 8ah batteries that I had. The support representative that I spoke to confirmed all of this after checking with her management and offered an apology. Apparently this incompatibility has been know for awhile and still the misleading information remains online (as or 9/26/23).

Before a return shipping label could be offered, I at least attempted to negotiate buying a pair of the compatible batteries (reportedly 60v 5ah and below, but I have also read some customers state 4ah and below) if a substantial discount could be offered under the circumstances. I even offered to accept factory refurbished units. This would save GreenWorks from loosing money on another used and returned product and keep me as the customer happy. Sadly, the best offer they came back with was insulting and nothing different than their Labor Day sale. So, I shipped off the shop-vac. Oddly, FedEX had to make a repeat attempt to deliver during normal business hours because nobody was available to accept the package at the Grrenworks corporate warehouse. My refund took all of the 10 business days advertised to process.

This was only my second GeenWorks purchase after spending $4000 on one of their 60v mowers. I am impressed enough with that machine that I would have been an easy demographic to buy even more products to use with my new army of batteries. Yeah, well with this latest incident, that came to an abrupt halt and doubt that I will give GreenWorks any more of my money that I can avoid. I just hope that my big investment in the mower will pay off and I don’t have to waste time with their very limited customer service in the years to follow.

All businesses make mistakes. The difference between the good ones and bad ones is how those companies acknowledge such goofs and then bend over backwards to correct them, not to mention learn from the mistakes. GreenWorks failed miserably here.

As a new Wayfair customer, who usually bypassed buying anything due to lower prices elsewhere, I purchased two items that required freight delivery. It was a frustrating experience when in this day and age of technology, shouldn’t have been.

Wayfair coordinates their own large deliveries. Although a tracking number is provided, they cannot or will not share who the carrier is (and the numbers don’t match any format used by popular shippers). This means that the customer is unable to track items like other carriers and make plans to receive such deliveries. Only a 24 hour notice of actual delivery is provided. Sure you can easily reschedule, but that just delays a normally long delivery time even more. Furthermore, there is a distinct inter-company disconnect between the first level customer service and anyone who can actually communicate with the carrier. In my case, it took six representatives via phone, text, and live chat just to get a simple HOA gate code into their system.

Wayfair’s bean counters probably assumed that this organizational structure would be more efficient, but in reality it is painfully the opposite for all involved, especially the actual delivery personnel. In the end, the delivery drivers never received that gate code and almost left before a neighbor let them in. (Those guys were the only good thing about this whole charade.)

Thankfully my items arrived undamaged and were as advertised (at least so far), because I don’t have enough Valium to deal with another over-cheery and surprisingly limited Wayfair representative again. Until this company completely revamps its operating procedures with even basic common sense and throws out the cookie cutter guidelines that restricts their employees ability to logically serve the customer, I would strongly suggest to shop elsewhere for your own sanity.

I have purchase five skid steer attachments from PalletForks.com over the last three years at a cost of about $7000. The non-hydraulic products are relatively sound as long as they are only used for light duty regularly and/or heavy duty very occasionally. Any hydraulic attachments are likely destined to fail just outside of any basic warranty period. Certainly NOT for professional reliability standards. If customer service ever needs to be accessed, brace for frustration.

Two support cases involved attachments that had hydraulic connections to my skid steer. The first was due to the cables being damaged when pinched by my machine. The instructions stated nothing about this possibility and to “just hook up and go to work”. It took a little persistence, but I finally got them to send new lines. However, they would not offer any reimbursement for the labor to change them out. The second case was just recently and rather shocking in this age of corporate liability. A skid steer front hoe attachment was sold without any operations manual included or even available upon request. The only reference was a parts diagram that stated on the very first page, "Read the Operator’s Manual entirely. When you see this symbol, the subsequent instructions and warnings are serious. Follow without exception. Your life and the lives of others depend on it!”. Repeated correspondence on this matter eventually ended up with the sound of crickets and my case was incorrectly labeled as solved. For the average customer, this is a huge red flag (and a great source of research for any legal case against this company).

As for me, I am mechanically inclined enough to make repairs or otherwise have the resources to correct any product failures. This was a gamble that I was willing to take for the economical pricing of their product line, but no longer. The issue with not having an operations manual available to customers is an interoffice goof at least and a critical lack of legal/ethical accountability at worst. It generally screams that PalletForks.com is grossly operating contrary to it's fluffy customer service commitment in their corporate pledge.

Buyer beware. You get what you pay for.

(PalletForks.com out of Memphis, Tennessee and is under the corporate umbrella of Titan Attachments and Titan Distributors, Inc. at TitanBrands.com.)

I have purchase five skid steer attachments from Titan Distributors over the last three years at a cost of about $7000. The non-hydraulic products are relatively sound as long as they are only used for light duty regularly and/or heavy duty very occasionally. Any hydraulic attachments are likely destined to fail just outside of any basic warranty period. Certainly NOT for professional reliability standards. If customer service ever needs to be accessed, brace for frustration.

Two support cases involved attachments that had hydraulic connections to my skid steer. The first was due to the cables being damaged when pinched by my machine. The instructions stated nothing about this possibility and to “just hook up and go to work”. It took a little persistence, but I finally got Titan to send new lines. However, they would not offer any reimbursement for the labor to change them out. The second case was just recently and rather shocking in this age of corporate liability. A skid steer front hoe attachment was sold without any operations manual included or even available upon request. The only reference was a parts diagram that stated on the very first page, "Read the Operator’s Manual entirely. When you see this symbol, the subsequent instructions and warnings are serious. Follow without exception. Your life and the lives of others depend on it!”. Repeated correspondence on this matter eventually ended up with the sound of crickets and my case was incorrectly labeled as solved. For the average customer, this is a huge red flag (and a great source of research for any legal case against Titan).

As for me, I am mechanically inclined enough to make repairs or otherwise have the resources to correct any product failures. This was a gamble that I was willing to take for the economical pricing of the Titan product line, but no longer. The issue with not having an operations manual available to customers is an interoffice goof at least and a critical lack of legal/ethical accountability at worst. It generally screams that Titan is cheap in more ways than one and all that fluffy customer service commitment in their corporate pledge is profoundly misleading.

Buyer beware. You get what you pay for.

(Titan Attachments operates via PalletForks.com out of Memphis, Tennessee and is under the corporate umbrella of Titan Distributors, Inc. at TitanBrands.com.)

I am fortunate in life to have an excellent credit rating. However, Klarna.com doesn’t seem to acknowledge this either by their automation or direct human management.

While making a purchase from a well know retailer, I saw the option to spread payments out via Klarna.com. The calculation was even provided in the first screen and everything looked so seamless. Unfortunately my buying click was denied. Digging further, which Klarna.ccom does not make easy, I found that I had forgotten about a voluntary credit freeze I manage and gave permission for this transaction at two main credit bureaus. Still denied. I was finally able to weed through how disguised an actual customer service phone number was and called. The representative had the attention span of a nat and offered nothing but cheery vague answers, resulting in even more wasted time. After a day for any behind the scenes data to be shared, I tried the purchase again. Still denied, but this time because my “purchase power” was only a whopping $100 as a new customer. A few clicks later and had I secured business with a competitor of Klarna.com who appreciated my business.

The Klarna.com business model primarily appeals to customers with good credit to survive. Automation mistakes happen. Human mistakes happen. However, at the end of the day, repeatedly turning down someone with a magnificent credit score is a sign of poor internal management and inefficient customer service. Don’t waste your time with this company for your own sanity.

If you are reading this, chances are that you are already a regretful customer of RadicalAve.com because of the ridiculously long shipping times. I feel your pain. If not, please take this as a strong hint to direct your business elsewhere...

I placed my order in late October 2022. An email receipt was sent with a standard notice that tracking information would be sent once shipped. After not receiving such a message one week later, I contacted them. Their reply informed me of a hardship related to “an unusual amount of orders” and provided a shipping policy link. For the first time I read in the fine print that their orders “may be delayed 30-180 BUSINESS days, but this is very rare.” HA, that is over six months!

Per the United States of America Federal Trade Commission Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule (16 CFR Part 435), such orders are required to be shipped within 30 days unless stated very directly to the customer otherwise or the option for cancelation provided to the customer. These details can be done with that silly checkbox some merchants use where the customer acknowledges all policies (and nobody reads) at the point of sale or even just tiny print next to the final buy button. However, RadicalAve.com did and still does not have such a disclosure step and I never received an option to cancel. Still, I waited as long as I could and gave RadicalAve.com the benefit of doubt.

Since most credit card companies have a 60 day limit for which to file a merchant complaint, I contacted RadicalAve.com one more time and requested a cancelation if no shipment could be made promptly. Sadly, the exact same impersonal email as before (word for word ) was replied with. This is a sign of a poor attention span in business, not to mention lacking basic customer service. I had to protect myself as a consumer, so I filed a complaint on day 53 with AMEX. It speaks volumes that AMEX fully credited my account and closed the case before the end of the same day without further investigation. This likely indicates that there is a bad record of RadicalAve.com business practices on file that effected other customers.

All businesses make mistakes. The difference between the good ones and bad ones is how those companies acknowledge such problems, THEN take action to correct them. Most customers are understanding of issues if they are simply contacted with some sense of humility. Using repeated canned emails to postpone dealing with a problem and further taking customers for granted is a huge warning sign of a dishonorable business or poor internal employee quality control at the very least. There are similar reviews here and elsewhere online from other RadicalAve.com customers attesting to the same ridiculous shipping delays due to hardship reasons going back two years. Even this Florida based business has blamed recent Hurricane Ian for the shipping delays of products custom manufactured in India and sent directly to the customer.

Yup, buyer beware...

I have been a customer of IGG Software for 11 years with iBank originally and now, it's successor, Banktivity. The software has continued to grow and offers allot of Mac functionality for the average user. However, their direct access banking data connectivity has ALWAYS been plagued with problems in one form or another, which is basically the biggest reason that customers use such personal financial programs.

Customer support is only offered via email (at an average two day wait for response in the general queue) or live chat (that requires an average 25 minute wait time). As with most first line technical support, they are limited in what can be offered, so many of my cases have been referred to another department. There seems to be no discernible customer service logic in how cases are handled at that stage. However, it has been stated to me more than once that the priority is based on "higher-volume banks", which seemingly kicks the customers of smaller institutions into limbo. I have a case now that has been opened for six weeks with no voluntary updates, no continued troubleshooting, and a remaining loss of functionality. While apologies are abundant when IGG Software is ever contacted and a 90-day extension on my subscription has been offered a handful of times over the years, it does absolutely nothing if one of the main features of the software is failing repeatedly. Sadly, this lack of customer service has been the most motivating advertisement for other banking software and I am regretfully investigating moving away from Banktivity because I feel that I have no choice. Hopefully IGG Software solves my issue before I click buy elsewhere.

I can only assume that maintaining data connectivity for so many different financial institutions must be like a game of Whack-A-Mole. I also understand the general business priority of initially serving the masses verses a small set of users, but NOT recognizing those who have been patiently waiting in line for weeks. Many of those individual loyal users like myself put their faith in the software during its infancy and provided the financial bedrock for the company to grow. Ignoring them unintentionally or intentionally after a company has grown too big for customer service with a good attention span is dishonorable regardless. As usual for the overwhelming amount of businesses in the USA, the golden rule of “treat your customers the way that you would like to be treated” falls by the wayside when dollar signs blind the company owners.

My suggestion is to use Banktivity only if you NEVER have to rely on automated banking data transfers. Otherwise keep shopping or worse, pound a nail in your head for a distraction when you go back to Quicken and their functionality verses frustration tradeoff.

Very likely you are already a Royaura.com (just one of the websites traced back to TedHair Limited, Hong Kong Companies Registry 1271157) customer and are here because something went wrong. I feel your pain. Based upon other bad experiences from most international retail, I usually do my research into their policies and especially the business address first. Sadly I clicked on buy before doing that with Royaura.com. Same mistake. Same outcome.

Nine days just to to get my items into shipping from China. One item arrived within two weeks. The other was last seen 30 days ago just 500 miles away in the USA. All USA carriers would easily consider the shipment officially lost at this point. Unfortunately, there has been an almost daily email banter of excuses and inconsistencies on the part of Royaura.com. Wrong tracking numbers, “COVID blockade”, and more. One message alleged that my shipment was unable to be delivered because I had moved, complete with screenshot. However, using that same tracking number found a completely different address lending one to believe that some amount of digital manipulation had been involved. This poor customer service borders on unethical and seems to be a trend in reading other reviews of the company. Thankfully, AMEX stepped in and initiated a charge-back with little review, which speaks volumes in itself.

The item that did get delivered was cartoonishly too small for international sizing standards and was basically just a photo print of actual quality textiles. Returning the garment under the Royaura.com policy would waste further money and time all for the gamble that I might end up in the same place again.

As for the responses to reviews here by Royaura.com, they are mostly canned text that put up a facade of customer service. Humorously, there is even a request for the customer to send their order number for investigation when the person was lucky enough to avoid actually buying anything after research here. Whether that is a poor attention span, a language barrier, or an employee that is just going through the motions, they are all more warning signs that Royaura.com is a flawed business.

If you are lucky enough to be doing such pre-purchase research yourself, consider this solid validation that you should delete Royaura.com from your browser permanently.`

Zoro.com started in 2011 and I became a customer in 2015. Over the next six years I spent about $16000 with them. In the beginning they had a few quirks, but the customer service was always personable and they were easy to work with. Pricing was also originally quite good, with a variety of email coupons that made buying from this promising company a great deal. Sadly, that has all changed in the last couple of years.

Pricing has now increased above their competitors (sometimes to an almost insulting level), the coupons have become so restricted with fine print that they invalidate most wanted items, and customer service is similar to the attention span of a part-time high school employee smoking pot. My last order was rife with errors, mostly between what was advertised verses what was apparently in the warehouse bin, wrong or no part numbers, and shipped in a way that breeched the box just by looking at it wrong. Repeated calls and emails hardly made a difference, as I was shipped the same incorrect items FOUR times! I finally just had to file a complaint with my credit card company and with the overwhelming documentation provided, they quickly credited me.

As I write this, there are still eight packages from two correction attempts of the same order that are in various stages of being refused. All of this could have been avoided if someone competent would have just been accessible (average hold time 16 minutes, then no guarantee that you can speak with a supervisor afterwards) or basic customer service in returning my requests to finally sort matters out via phone. All I got was repeated canned or shallow emails.

Sadly, there is no longer any appeal to remaining a loyal Zoro.com customer and our business relationship has ended. I would suggest that you avoid this company also, especially since you are probably reading this review because of your own problems that prompted the research. If you do remain a customer, take the time to document every aspect of your orders. (That even includes a screen shot of the product page, details in the cart before clicking buy, and more. Those two habits saved a "he said vs. she said" dispute with two of my orders.) Who knows, maybe Zoro.com will eventually recover from their debilitating internal issues and become an honorable business once again, but only if customers are still around.

No human pulse detected. If there is one from any employee, then there is absolutely NO customer service available. Two phone calls two days apart, with each one remaining on hold for over ONE HOUR without a connection. Live chat should be renamed "dead chat", as two attempts found nothing less than a 210 minute wait in the queue. All of this is a huge warning sign that the company is run by baffoons and/or thieves once they have your money.

A mortgage company’s reputation is based upon ALL employees who handle a loan, including their subcontractors. You pay them the ridiculous fees charged to know their jobs. Sadly, the loan processor in my account dropped the ball so bad that my review of Amerisave cancels out really good work done by the loan agent.

Multiple mistakes were made involving the official approved status on my loan that kept changing (even with excellent credit and a secure pension), a closing date that had to be cancelled at the last minute due to deficient documentation, another closing date jeopardized due to the same issue, and incorrect answers to very specific questions about how cash-out payoffs would be handled. All of this caused more inconvenience and frustration than the average customer should have to endure with the mortgage industry. I detailed all of these issues with the Amerisave Customer Satisfaction Department in an effort to help them address some internal problems for future customers, but never received a single reply.

While I was finally able to get my home refinanced and babysat all those details after the closing that should normally be seamless, I just can’t recommend Amerisave to anyone. All businesses make mistakes. The difference between the good ones and bad ones are how those companies acknowledge the problem(s) and then learn from them. I have no reasonable expectation that Amerisave has done either.

NOTE: If you happen to be reading this BEFORE your cash-out home refinancing loan closes, your payments to creditors (not your old mortgage) WILL NOT be wired to them regardless of what anyone at Amerisave states. Solidifi is the title company used and they actually overnight a check made out for a creditor(s) to the borrower, who then has to quickly resend it all over again. (Microscope required to read this disclaimer on one of the many forms signed at the closing.) A simple overnight envelope delivery is over $60 now! Ridiculous and wasteful, especially when I specifically asked Amerisave in writing how such payments would be handled and told otherwise. A customer who is not paying attention here could loose allot on interest and late payment fees.

Ordered two "36-Pack Sharpie Pens" through Google Shopping, received only two new bare pens. Google Shopping stated the advertisement was in error and full refund warranted. Returned items, but Save Dollar Store kept $5.50 because of "open package". Several other customers reporting exact same thing over the previous four years. Taking extensive work to get Google Shopping to step in and correct this and will probably have to file an AMEX complaint. Shopper BEWARE!

If you are reading this prior to a purchase, congratulations, you just saved yourself heartache and money dealing with a scam. If you are researching this company after a purchase, then I highly suggest that you start a fraud claim with your bank or credit card company immediately. Here is why...

Clayben.com, Scollor.com, Alliverson.com, Yidiyo.com, Stoneburst.com, and more each time I dig deeper point to the same place. Same webpage templates, much of the same products, same policies (and contradictions), and same China return address even though a USA or UK business is directly/indirectly indicated. Some of the names associated are Patrick Li, Xiuhong Wang, and Christine Bill, although it is highly suspect that these are false or otherwise stolen names. All websites use either service1 @honwin.net, service2 @honwin.net, or service3 @honwin.net for business contact. Honwin.net traces back to Alibaba Cloud Computing (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and is a business hosting service that creates quick store fronts, thereby making the actual merchants themselves virtually impossible to verify unless you are a hacker or law enforcement.

In my case, I saw a FaceBook ad for tactical pants at Clayben.com, with a multitude of great reviews that now appear shamelessly made up. (Alternatively, I have since discovered absolutely no positive reviews elsewhere online and reports of no delivery, false advertisement, unpublished fees, and poor product quality.) I carefully found published on their website “USA Owned and Operated”, “100% Money Back Guarantee”, and “Zero risk returns”. The order was placed with a promotion that stated it would be addressed in the final cart stages. It was not, so I politely sent an email within seconds of my order confirmation to have them correct it. There is so much more to the story, but over the course of five message exchanges I had to send them a screenshot from their own website validating the promotion, help them count how many items were on my receipt, dispute a restocking fee that is not listed anywhere on their website, and more. Within 48 hours and some basic research, it was obvious that Clayben.com was just one finger of a huge scam. I filed a fraud case with American Express and as of this writing, one pending with the United States Federal Trade Commission for multiple violations. If you have made a purchase with Clayben.com or any of the other websites previously listed, I strongly suggest that you do the same! Good luck!

Order placed via Lonastyles.com. No direct confirmation of order received, no email receipt, no shipping status update, no reply to three differently routed email requests for any/all of this information. Highly suspect that no human has reviewed this order or ever will in a timely manner, especially after reading about several other people who share my same experience. Thankfully my purchase was made via PayPal and backed up by AMEX for a full refund. BUYER BEWARE!

My only order with YourWishStore.com was placed because of a FaceBook advertisement that I embarrassingly succumbed to. It was not until a week later and no email received indicating any shipment update that I contacted them. This was the first time that I was aware of the "20-45 day shipment estimate" (that is indeed included in my order confirmation in the smallest of seemingly hidden print). No order cancelations were accepted after 24 hours.

Per the USA Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 435 law, the item was officially shipped within 30 days after my order was placed. Unfortunately, it was exactly on day 30 that any actual movement of the shipment was detected via tracking number. A PayPal dispute was started on day 45 when no item was delivered or even shown to have left China. On day 54 a shipment did indeed arrive, but it was deficient one out of four products ordered. Based upon either the lack of response to my emails or the canned responses the rare times that YourWishStore.com did reply, I ultimately jumped to escalating this issue to a claim via PayPal.

PayPal finally refunded my money on day 76. There was an initial denial of claim issued that I had to appeal, but persistence paid off. Who knows, maybe sending PayPal a link to this page and them seeing all the other customers that were scammed helped.

Regardless, what I have experienced with YourWishStore.com is unprofessional across the board and I highly suggest that you avoid doing business with this company. There are hoards of complaints from other customers for you to read with a simple Google search (also use the other business names below). Hopefully you are lucky enough to be reading this review as a shrewd consumer researching a business before clicking "buy" verses someone who was already a victim. Anyhow, here are the other names and emails that this company uses (-at- means @):

PayPal Business Name:
Dominant Media PLT

PayPal Business Email:
support-at-yourwishstorehelp.zendesk.com

Other Email:
CS-at-yourwishstore.com

PayPal Payment Sent to:
dmshopify-at-gmail.com

I was one of the first crowdfunding sponsors back in 2013. It took three years almost to the date for my order to be delivered and there were several times during the wait that I felt as though I had been scammed, especially reading about other unrelated projects that took the money and ran. Hey, that is just the risk of such an investment. While it looks as though the gamble may have been worth it with Vacuvita, this is the last crowdfunding project that I will sponsor because of this experience.

As for the finished product, it is too early to give a complete review. I am only here now because of a promotional offer by the manufacturer. All I can really say is that the product looks well built and functions as designed. However, I have no comparison tests or even an intuition that food really does last with this technology in a mere two weeks of ownership. If a vacuum can be maintained in the main box and/or the separate containers, then the scientific theory is sound. We'll just have to see how the equipment holds up with daily use.

If you do buy any of the Vacuvita products, you would be wise to use a credit card that has a decent warranty extension or return protection. That would lessen the gamble for you until this company proves themselves over time. Just look at Dyson (vacuum cleaners). They started out as an innovative company with a great idea and exceptional warranty to eventually cave to cheaper quality parts and quietly reducing/limiting their warranty to something not much better than their competitors. Hopefully Vacuvita will keep true to their original motivations in quality and customer service.

I have been a customer of SquareTrade for several years and over 20 policies. The few times that I have had to make a claim it went pretty well and with friendly customer service, which is the reason that I kept adding new business. Sadly, such service appears to have faded away recently and I question if it is time to start shopping around for another warranty company. Based upon two claims in the past three months, here is what I have witnessed:

- Duplicate requests for information. It doesn’t matter that I took the time to research and answer all the questions of the initial claim form, because a representative still had to go through it with me all over again. It also doesn’t matter that I sent a copy of my purchase receipt when I started the policy and received a confirmation email of this, because I had to provide it again. This is a sign of poor internal organization and/or over-automated systems gone unchecked.

- Redundant Troubleshooting. I meticulously documented all the troubleshooting that I did in an effort to make it easier for all involved. Well, it was a waste of my time because the representative still needed to go through even the most basic of steps again over the phone. On the last claim, I was told that this was due to "documentation on a recorded line". If that is the case, why even ask those questions in the first place on a form? This is a sign of business inefficiency that wastes both the customer and employee time.

- Poor Phone Communication. Earlier claims found a clear English speaking representative on the other end of the phone who was relatively cheerful. My latest claim contact found a contracted employee from Pakistan (I asked for his location) with the warmth of a robot and poor English speaking annunciation that required me to ask him to repeat himself several times. I could care less where the person is on the planet, just speak clear English and know how to do your job. This is a sign of a company growing too big and cutting costs by outsourcing customer support overseas.

Will I remain a SquareTrade customer? Maybe for some items. However, Apple recently redesigned their mobile device warranties to offer more coverage (like accidental damage) at a more competitive price, very likely because of the share of the market that SquareTrade had originally taken from them. I will probably throw my business to Apple when I can from now on. It is a shame, because SquareTrade in the earlier days was a great company to do business with. I hope that they turn themselves around and re-embrace the personable feel in customer service and streamlined business efficiency that they built themselves upon. Unfortunately, such a reversal is very rare to find in cooperate America due to the bureaucracy of greed.

UPDATE:

The iPhone claim that I mentioned above just concluded and was a disaster. It took two replacement phones before I received a fully functioning device (yup, I had to make a warranty claim on a warranty claim), not to mention the time lost with repeated phone calls, two Verizon visits, and data backup loading/unloading. Add poor quality control to the list of internal company problems. There is also more proof of poor business efficiency, as nobody could provide a tracking number and my package sat around the corner of my front door for two days before being discovered (OnTrac failed to get the required signature).

I could normally call this last miserable incident a fluke because all companies have bad days, but sadly the problems endured seem to be a trend that I have personally witnessed. Sorry, this was the last straw and AppleCare Plus gets all of my business for their products from now on.