The Consumer Complaints Blog

Fighting the trained monkey in modern society.

December 6, 2010

Heinz Jordan and Company Limited

Filed under: Retail — Editor @ 9:48 pm

I’m e-mailing about a company in Markham, Ontario called Heinz Jordan and Company Limited, which is an art supply company.

My complaint is really with their CEO, Birgit Cooper, and their Nova Scotia sales rep, a guy named Roy Thornhill.

I had e-mailed both of these people yesterday, along with their colleague in Quebec, to complain about a sketch pad of all things, because they had used a Canadian flag to represent the English language and French (as in France) flag to represent French-speakers (not just Quebecois) on their bilingual packaging, and I thought this was extremely stupid, ignorant and prejudicial toward the French across Canada. So I wrote them an e-mail reminding them that Canada is bilingual and this packaging is extremely offensive to French speakers throughout Canada- not just Quebec. And to make it clear, I didn’t accuse them of anything directly and was being polite, assuming they would get the point and apologize.

And then this is the weird part,

I get a reply from their Atlantic Canada rep Roy Thornhill saying, and I quote,

Roy Thornhill [email protected]>
date 6 December 2010 09:15
subject Re: Heinz Jordan drawing pad

Need I remind you How crooked the Gov is .How many Canadians are poor some Starving .

And this is your Torch????

================
What does this even mean?

and I forwarded this to their CEO, saying good luck with their company, and a short time later got a reply from her

from Birgit Cooper
date 6 December 2010 13:37
subject RE: Heinz Jordan drawing pad

Thanks Roy, I just deleted the email, no point answering him on such a stupid issue.

Birgit
==================

I know this doesn’t involve money and probably doesn’t seem like a huge deal because if that, but this is the CEO of the company acting like that. It’s extremely offensive, unprofessional and stupid and I am absolutely shocked that there are businesses in Canada which can operate with this degree of arrogance and antipathy toward customers and entire ethnic groups in Canada.


Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

November 20, 2010

Mobilia, Point-Claire

Filed under: Retail — Editor @ 1:01 pm


I made a purchase on September 12, 2010 of a sofa & coffee table at the Mobilia store in Point-Claire, Quebec.

I was told that I will receive the items within 1 week.
The sofa arrived on time with 1 hole and 3 scratches (discovered after the delivery guys already left).
The coffee table arrived only one month later (unlike what I was promised, 1 week).
The delivery people said they were in a hurry and rushed me to sign the waver. On first glimpse the table seemed alright. 5 minutes after they left I realized a chip was broken.
When I called the delivery people to complaint, they told me that since I signed the waver it’s “my problem”.
When I called Mobilia offices to complaint they said they will send someone to repair it.

After being mistreated 3 times in the same purchase (1. receiving a damaged sofa that costs $2,800, 2. waiting a month to the table that was supposed to arrive within 1 week, 3. receiving a damaged table that costs $560), my patience has ended.
I asked to have the table replaced and to speak with a manager.
The receptionist said that the manager can’t talk to me, and that since I signed the waver, I am stuck with it…

Well, I really hoped to be addressed by more professionalism than that from a company that wishes to distinct themselves from the competition (and allows themselves to charge much higher prices accordingly).

I will appreciate any help/guidance in the matter.


Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

September 13, 2010

EverGrain Deck materials from TAMKO

Filed under: Retail — Editor @ 8:54 pm


I planned to do my deck using the “Evergrain” line of products from a company called “TAMKO”. I have been extremely frustrated with their product delivery and customer service to date.

I placed my order with their registered retailer on 07/09/2010. When placing the order, the representative from the retailer contacted their distributor about when the order will be delivered. I was told, and the retailer was told that the materials will arrive by 07/15/2010. Just to let you all know that the base of the deck is already done with the Evergrain product, and it is the deck krailings that was ordered.

07/15/2010 passed and the order did not arrive. I called the retailer and they said that the orders will arrive on 07/28/2010.

07/28/2010 passed and I was told that the orders will arrive on 08/12/2010. This is now planned to be delivered more than a month after the order is placed. I had my contractor lined up several times to put the railings on the deck, who by the way did the base of the deck as well. Now, I can’t tell my contractor a date when he can come and do the railings.

I then contacted the distributor that deals with the retailer. Guess what, the distributor tells me that they don;t have a definite date when they can deliver the products. After probing further, they said they will try to deliver them 09/02/2010 – which is now about 8 weeks after the order the placed. Even so, they are not sure about the 09/02 date as well. After further probing, I learned that it was TAMKO that is delaying the orders.

I called TAMKO, and I received the most rude customer service from TAMKO. All they said that they don;t want to hear anything and I should speak to the distributor only. I said I would like to lodge a complaint with your distributor and they said “I need to speak to the distributor”. They did not want to listen to my problems, at all.

My advise to anyone that plans to use the “EverGrain” products for their decking materials, do not use their product. If you decide to use their product, you will never get ypur deck done on time. I spent the entire summer getting my deck done, and it is still not done. They don’t take any accountability as to delivering products on time or near the time. I amnot sure what their manufacturing process is – but it is insane if someone have to wait this long to get their products. They also have a “Contact Us” in their web site – if you fill out their form – good luck !!! You will never hear from them – it is a total waste of time. I contacted the distributor and the distributor said they ordered the material on the same day my order was placed with the retailer. But the manufacturer does not want to commit a date on the delivery. By the way, these products are made from re-engineered woods – so there is really no dependency on the natural wood either. The whole process seem to be broken and they do not want to correct it – nor listen to their end users who are actually users of their product.

In short – AVOID using evergrain products for your decking materials. USe other reliable manufacturers that will stand by you !!! There are many brands of similar products available in the market.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

June 15, 2010

Walmart

Filed under: Retail — Editor @ 11:02 am


To
President and CEO David Cheesewright
Wal-Mart Canada Corp. 1940 Argentia Rd. Mississauga,
Ontario L5N 1P9. Fax: 905-821-6393
AND
Michael T. Duke, President and Chief Executive Officer,
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
And
H. Lee Scott, Jr., Chairman of the Executive Committee of
the Board of Directors of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc
And
S. Robson Walton, Chairman of the Board of Directors

Corporate Mailing Address, Walmart Home Office
702 Southwest 8th Street. Bentonville, AR 72716. USA
+1-479-2734053 (Fax)

[delivered via fax and postal-mail and email to the ONLY emails provided through your websites and web presences]

Dear Sir,

1) We are writing to express our shock and disappointment at the demonstrated attitude of your staff at Wal-Mart #3037, located at 665 Upper James Street, Hamilton, Ontario L9C 2Z5, near Fennell and Upper James in the Hamilton Mountain Plaza.

2) What is the Wal-Mart PRACTICAL AND TANGIBLE refund policy?

What is the PRACTICAL AND TANGIBLE customer service standard, and attitude and professional accountability of staff who wear a logo on their uniform: “Our people make a difference”?

3) We were shopping on 04June2010 for an audio recording device in the “Electronics” section, and requested the female employee for assistance.

3) She had her name-tag turned “reverse side up” [and later refused to provide her name too] She was NOT wearing any blue-colored Wal-mart apron/ uniform.

Description-wise, she was young, Caucasian-white, wearing a pink-top, approximately shoulder-long blond-haired, female, whose possible name [we are told by another employee] was “Amy”.

4) She heard us and chose to continue ignoring us standing there for over 10 minutes, while she was busy chatting with friends about her PERSONAL weekend-party plans, a matter that most certainly has NOTHING to do with “work”.

Thereafter, while we were still explaining what we were looking for, she began interrupting and NOT even answering the question that was
being asked of her.

5) We politely requested her to stop interrupting and listen to the question before answering.

She walked away angrily YELLING at us: “FUCK OFF” and “Get the hell out of MY store NOW!”.

This AMY was consistent in her obnoxious manner, rude tone and tenor of voice.

In response to our polite requests for it, she refused to provide her name, and also refused to get a supervisor or store-manager for us.

6) We asked another store employee for the store-manager.

After waiting for over 15 minutes, along came a young, Caucasian-white, clean-shaven, male, wearing an ear-ring, and a name-tag that stated, “Tony, assistant manager”.

7) While we were voicing our complaint to him, he began interrupting us, acting as a defence-attorney for this “Amy”, and refused to hear our complaint.

Thereafter, he started arguing needlessly, yelling at us in front of all customers.

He also refused to provide us the contact information for the head-office.

He stated that he is the person “in-charge”. Later another employee told us that he was NOT the person in-charge at that time.

8)Furthermore, he FALSELY and INCORRECTLY informed us that once purchased, we CANNOT return any electronics item, for ANY reason whatsoever.

9) We went to the “Customer Service” desk, and found a female [once again, displaying NO name-tag whatsoever, who told us that her name was Kristen]. Description-wise, she was a young, Caucasian-white female.

We asked her the “return policy” for an electronics item, such as an audio-recorder device. She pointed to the posted notice [which we also later saw on the back of a Wal-Mart receipt, that clearly stated: "14 days with receipt on computers ....", "30 days with receipt on .. Dvd players/ recorders, home audio systems ....".

9) Why did this "assistant manager Tony" FALSELY AND INCORRECTLY inform us otherwise?

Evidently, either he does NOT know it or he CHOSE to purposely misinform us. In either case, how did he even get the job of an assistant manager? Is he fit to be an assistant manager for Wal-Mart?

10) On 04June2010, we called the store manager Donna Cardinal at her publicly-posted phone number [in the store] of (905)389-6333, extension 312.

She has NO voice-mail. We spoke to a Ms. Brenda at extension 311, and left a complaint message for Ms. Cardinal, requesting her to call back.

We got NO return-call-back from Ms. Cardinal.

11) On 04June2010, we left a detailed complaint voice-mail message for the district manger Mr. Ted Wynhofen at his publicly-posted phone number [in the store] of (519) 759-5218 requesting him to call back.

We got NO return-call-back from Mr, Wynhofen either.

12) On 10June2010, we called (800)328-0402 and spoke to a Ms. Faiza, after waiting for over 15 minutes in queue [for the "next available operator/ representative"].

It was extremely difficult to understand Ms. Faiza’s thick accent. Furthermore, she was repeatedly interrupting while we attempted to give her the complaint. When we politely requested her to stop interrupting, she became verbally abusive. We asked to be connected to a supervisor.

She disconnected the call and hung up on us.

She certainly demonstrated a very difficult manner with us.

13) It is very likely that we are a small sampling of the entire customer population that shops at your store. Chances are that if this transpired with us, it may very well have occurred with other customers too. And several customers may well CHOOSE to shop elsewhere [including at better customer-service competitors, and NOT provide you this opportunity to address the problem and thus improve your operations.

As you may also be aware, the best advertisement any business carries is by word of mouth [irrespective of the amount of dollars you may spend on costly advertising].

Guess what we have to tell people that we know about Wal-Mart?

14) We are indeed shocked and disappointed at the poor quality and bad attitude of your staff.

You staff were Verbally-abusive and refused to listen and misinformed public.

15) Now refer to http://www.sse.gov.on.ca/mcs/en/Pages/Your_Consumer_Rights.aspx for “basic rights under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002”. As stated therein: “

You are entitled to a cooling off period.
Let’s say you make a purchase or sign a contract in your home and then change your mind. If the deal is worth more than $50, you have the right to cancel within 10 days. It’s best to cancel by registered mail or fax to get your money back.

Remedies must be timely.
When you take advantage of your 10-day cooling off period and notify the company (preferably in writing) that you have changed your mind, the company has 15 days to return your money. The business has the right to take back the goods provided under the agreement by either picking them up or paying for the cost of sending them back.

Anyone who violates the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 will have to pay.
Individuals violating certain sections of the act are liable to a fine of up to $50,000 or imprisonment of up to two years less one day. A corporation can be fined up to $250,000.”

16) Now, refer to the following websites. It evidences the MULTIPLE complaints against your store. Do you think you should do something about this matter?

(list of sites and other complaints follow)


Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

May 30, 2010

Towne Fire Place & Patio, Ajax – Good Product…Bad Service

Filed under: Retail — Editor @ 9:55 pm


We recently purchased a retractable awning from this business. While the product is good, the service is definitely not. The owner of the business came and did a consultation for us where we described what we wanted from the awning and what it was supposed to do. That included where it was to be mounted in order to accomplish the result we were after. That would be above the patio light so as not to block it off. The awning was ordered based on the consultation but when it was installed, it was painfully obvious that it was too small to do what we wanted it to do. Granted, the measurements on the order were exactly what we got but the consultation we received grossly missed the mark.
When we determined that the only way to get this $1,700.00 mess close to fixed was to move the awning below the patio light which would require me to purchase and install a new light, we were told by the owner that he wasn’t running a charity and it would cost $150.00 or it wasn’t getting moved.

So remember, when John says “Excellence in service is my business – you have my word on it”…..don’t believe him!! There are other businesses out there that I’m sure will live up to that statement.


Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

« Previous PageNext Page »