I'm getting tired of Corporations sticking it to the consumer

I bought an LCD TV for my bedroom - $1000 worth. When I set it up, it had sound and no picture. The mfr confirmed the thing was defective. I called the place where I bought it and spent TWO HOURS on the phone with them trying to arrange an exchange or return. This is a big, major consumer electronics corporation, mind you.

Their customer service is in India. Their suggestion was that I buy ANOTHER $1000 TV in addition to the defective $1000 TV. Yeah, I'm that stupid. Or drive 100 miles to return the thing to a store. They had the freaking thing delivered to my house, but they refuse to arrange to have the defective thing picked up. I'm still fighting with them to try to resolve the problem. I've reported them to the Better Business Bureau.

This is about the third time in a few weeks that stuff like this has happened to me, and I'm SICK of it. Companies think they can screw over customers however they like and there's nothing we can do.

They're wrong. I have money to buy stuff. I'm particularly pissed that I spent a LOT of money with them and they still treat me this way. Well, they need me to buy far more than I need their crap. Let them go peddle their crap in India and see how their profits do. I'm sick of it.

I'm through buying crap from these big, greedy corporations. That might seem extreme, but I've just freaking had enough of being mistreated by companies trying to shave costs by screwing me over. The environment is better off if I consume less, and I know my stress level will be better off. Once these vultures learn that screwing over the customer is not the way to make money, THEN I might consider buying again. Screw it. I don't need a bunch of unnecessary crap, and I certainly don't need the bad treatment that goes with it. These greedy corporate SOBs can suffer.

I know a lot of people work for big corporations, but I'm just really, freaking ANGRY at spending big money somewhere and being treated like crap. I'm done.

End of rant.

or worse jailed. Corporations carte blanche to do whatever the hell they want in this country.

Rant on brother. ...or sister.

Jay

WalMart? LOL just kidding.

We should know who is screwing you over, in case we're about to unload bunches of Christmas Bucks in their laps!

control will ever be lifted will be through violent rebellion.
I find myself wondering if that will ever happen, given that the populace will become so pauperized that, when that solution becomes obvious, there will be no way to pull it off.

For sure, it will never happen through legislation or "common sense."

Why don't we fast, meditate, and then spend some time actually getting to know family and friends. We could play some board games, make cookies, trim the tree, and sing carols. No presents unless they're homemade.

air your shit somewhere else

And don't you think the political environment has something to do with why Corporations think they can get away with whatever they want?

Republicans have their heads so far up Corporate America's skirt that I'm surprised they're not killing people all over the place. Oh, wait - they are. Ask the miners who have defective equipment and who live with the threat of the whole place blowing up while inspectors look the other way.

Pfft.

Corporate malfeasence is one of the main causes for the problems facing this country.
Name them.I want to know the name of every corp that thinks they can screw people over everytime time it happens.any company that does so DOES NOT get money from me if at all possible.
Granted their are things that I am forced to buy from corps because I have no choice but any time I can avoid doing business with dirty business' I do so.

:shrug:

I think corporate abuse and materialism are very much subjects for the Democratic Underground

And people do it here all the time. They can't return something, they start a thread about it. They have to go outside to smoke, they complain about it. They get a ticket for running a red light, they complain about it.

I have problems keeping up with the nature of corporate abuse, though.

Just when I think that corporations are evil because they brainwash the "sheeple" into being obsessed with consumerist desires like acquiring large-screen TV's, it become OK to have a large-screen TV and corporations are evil because one of them has shitty customer service.

:applause:

notice I DID say MATERIALISM - I have no idea why people think it is necessary to have a friggin' 1000 dollar TV

He got scammed by a corporation and wanted to post about it. Should we all eschew everything in our lives that isn't "necessary?" What dollar amount is ok to spend on a tv? Can he have cable with that? If so, basic or premium?

a 1000 dollar TV is going to seem excessive - I did not say people cannot have these things, I questioned WHY THEY WANT THEM

Someone who wants to complain about a bad purchasing experience really can't hope to look for much heart-felt sympathy when it's all about his thousand-dollar TV. "For my bedroom" no less! Do I go too far in assuming he already has another thousand-dollar TV for the family/TV/sitting room?

Oh yeah, those Evil Corporations. Screwing over good 'ol salt-of-the-earth thousand-dollar-TV Americans. Is this what our forefathers struggled for when they settled this continent? For this kind of disrespect? And having to talk to no-account cheap-ass Indians in Bangalore or some other god-forsaken hellhole? :sarcasm:

Sixteen Tons - Tennessee Ernie Ford

Some people say a (wo)man is made outta mud
A poor (wo)man's made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that's a-weak and a back that's strong

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said "Well, a-bless my soul"

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin', it was drizzlin' rain
Fightin' and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake by an ol' mama lion
Cain't no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

If you see me comin', better step aside
A lotta (wo)men didn't, a lotta (wo)men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don't a-get you
Then the left one will

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

A lot of the workplace conditions that unions fought to get rid of years and years ago are making their way back into the workplace. We're coming around full circle. We don't learn from history, so we just repeat it.

One of the many reasons I can't stand Bush and the whole horse he rode in on.

whose wages were eaten up by the company store monopoly and the plight of the 21st century American who needs a thousand-dollar TV for his bedroom and receives sub-standard customer service. So similar. So much in common. :rofl:

it is an exciting corporate business idea that says you push the consumer until they push back. The concepts of decency and fairness are thrown out to see how much they can get away with.

Quality control is a joke - they have cut corners to get the product made cheaper overseas. They handle complaints like you were treated - hoping you will give up and eat the loss.

Now, when I sense trouble with a company, I ask for names and phone numbers making it clear the information is for a complaint to the State Attorney General's office.

Under the Bush Administration, Corporate America is totally out of control.

but unfortunately, sometimes I have to acquire new shit.

that new shit usually doesn't work exactly as illustrated. and on my dime and time, I have to struggle to make it worth it's unworthiness. I have to pay for shoddyness.

I try and buy big things on local market. Make them set it up and all that. little more cost but more control. At my age carting around big items is a real job. I end up doing it with PC and it is just light enough to do it with.Once I bought a new ref. and the put it in the middle of the room and left and I had to get them to come back and move it to where it was to go and fix the door for the right side. It is sort of funny to see a little old lady running after the men and telling them they can not leave a ref. in the middle of a room. What were they thinking?

The BBB is pretty useless. They can't punish anybody. Just because somebody is in it doesn't mean they are honest and/or will do the job right. Found this out personally.

Taking names and numbers for a complaint to the State A.G., as suggested above, is much better. Or maybe if you keep going up the chain of command and attempt to get the contact info for the company president and board of directors?

Lots of places have a "customer service dept" to complain to, and then they do NOTHING about what you complained about.

This happened to me when I was in the hospital with pneumonia and complained about the fact that the air wasn't filtered like it was in the OR, and the room AC probably had mold in it. Nice lady came in to my room, talked to me, wrote it all down, acted concerned, and nothing happened.

but, I try not to blame the store I drove to 50 miles away. My wrath goes to the jackholes on the phone in India, and I write the corporation. I tell them I will never buy their crap, and I'll tell everyone I know not to buy their crap until they hire people with english as their first language.

I also had a situation just last week, with a well known VOIP. I'd been a customer for over two years, but when I called to tell them, "I'm sorry, but I'm unable to use your service at my new residence," their wrath was taken out on my credit card, and in red tape, inconvenience, & postage. Most of it I can get back after jumping through credit card hoops, but its the idea that they can make your life hell just because they can.

Circuit City?

IMO, when they pull that crap, NO ONE should buy from them. But that's just my opinion.

took almost a year before I finally got service, then they sent the repair man out, he had to take the guts of the unit away for another 3 months. It was a huge pain in the ass, even writing to the president of the company didn't help. I'll never do business with them again.

Especially not crap. There's better uses to put money to.

Free, decidedly liberal, newsletter delivered to my inbox every Monday morning: (I learned about this from another DUer last year)

www.consumeraffairs.com

I rarely get around the computer and still haven't found a way around the India tech rep blockade. I'm with you - I hate dealing with these people.

to only buy stuff when I absolutely, positively have to have it. It killed me to part with less than $20 for a "Made if P.R.P." toaster. I'm currently checking thrift shops for a sewing machine since my Viking died and the ones I can afford new are made in China.

machine repairmen that come in a couple of days a week to do repairs and service. They also sell second hand machines (they really clean them up to look spiffy). It's just a thought, because my neighbor (she does sewing on the side, to help with income), bought a new serge machine and couldn't stop complaining about the plastic guts.