Updated 10/21/2009 - Other Opinion
and Rating Organizations
S Listings*
Sacramento
Bee - 1) Experiencing High Call Volume message.
2) Dropped call prior to hearing live voice.
However, when manager was requested on next call, she courteously
heard
complaint and had Classified sales
call me back within minutes! 2/6/02 3)
Extremely lazy and slanted news and standards. Discourages
third parties. Recommend boycott. 11/21/06. 4) Doesn't get back to caller regarding Toyota Prius Hybrid battery failures. Toyota is a major advertiser with the paper. 1/31/2010
Safeway
Food & Drug - 1) Junk Mail 8/15/01
Sam's
Club (Internet Services - Shopping Cart)- 1) Had
trouble sending through a payment and used email to contact
customer rather than call. 2) Called support,
who dropped call transfer to billing voicemail. 3) Customer
service is handled by outside contractor that uses different
name and unknown
to customer making customer think they have a wrong number.
4) Message time-out is too short to leave
a reasonable message. 7/25/08
Samsung
(ML-4600 Blazer Printer) - 1) Horrible service. Lost use
of printer for almost 6 months. 8/15/02. 2) Spent half a day
trying to install useless drivers. 3) Down another two months awaiting
drivers for BOTH Win XP and Mac OS10.2 due out in late December or
Early January 2003 as of last notice. (Guess I just won't print anything
for 2 months). I am forced to buy another brand printer today. Samsung
has proven itself useless (based on this experience, I avoided a
samsung
phone purchase. I wonder if stock holders are aware of this company's
inadequacies? Updated 12/06/2002.
SBC
(now AT&T) - 1) When illegal unsolicited faxes are sent to my home, unless you
file
harassment or they do a check on future phones, they can't contact
the sender to tell them to stop 7/12/04
Seagate - Wouldn't honor a rebate for it's hard drive on the basis of an incorrect SKU number (given to them clipped from the box) This is a blatant and common attempt to steal money from its customers used by more and more corrupt companies. - Michael Murphy 1/28/05 Seagate is also in a suit that Cornice claims is an attempt to tie them up in litigation so as to put them out of business. Based on how Seagate handles its rebates, I wouldn't be surprised if Cornice is right. Seagate is also in a suit that has caused them to disable the quieting AAM feature in its drives. Sometimes when companies are losing money, they do crooked things, and this may be Seagate's case: see: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1625453,00.asp See also:
https://secure.rebatestatus.com/bscripts/foxweb.exe/rebatestatus/lu_details
http://www.fatwallet.com/t/54/423196/
http://forums.dealcatcher.com/m_274377/mpage_1/tm.htm#280496
http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-8144.html
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=40&threadid=1467387&STARTPAGE=2&enterthread=y
Service Champions - 1)
Junk Mail 10/21/09, 2)
Mail appears to be personal until you open it to see the brochure in which Keven Cormerford addresses you, "Dear Friend." Of course it's still a BBB certified business. Ha! Ha! 10/21/09
S&G
Carpet and More
Inc (Sacramento CA Area) -1)
Junk Mail 4/3/08
Schwarzenegger,
Arnold Inc (CA Governor 2005-2006Software Center) -1)
Increasing spending on public education where the CA average
is already over $10,000 per student per year. 2) Being a member
of the Republican Party 3) Varying from socialism to fiscal
conservatism with no apparent rhyme or reason.
Serif
Inc (The Software Center - PagePlus Software) -1) Junk
Mail 10/22/02, 2) 99 cent pricing. 3) $99.95 price with X thru it
to imply that it used to be that price.
Service Champions Heating and Air Conditioning
Inc, Kevin Comerford, Rocklin CA -1) Junk
Mail 2) Uses personal return address to disguise the fact that inside is advertising junk mail. As of 7/13/09
The
Shane Company - Now you have a friend in the diamond business - 1)
Offering discounts because "they want to save you money" when
in fact the main reason they offer discounts is most likely
"to get your money." 8/19/04.
SHARP
- You do survey with registration, you provide the stamp. Penny
pinching company. 1/31/02
Shell
Oil Company - Junk Mail 8/20/01
Sierra
Shadows Dental Care - Junk Mail 10/15/01 ,
SIIG,
Inc. - 1) No phone numbers on product packaging.
2) No phone number (other than fax) on web site. 3) Poorly
worded system requirements on product package. 4) Had to look
up company
on web. Called non-toll free number and not offered an operator.
Pressed "O" and got one who transferred me to technical
support. 5) Auto message said they really valued my call, then
placed
me on 10 minute hold on my dime. 6) finally asked me to leave
a message for a call back. This was all just to check on product
compatibility prior to installation and opening package. I'm
still waiting for a call back. 7) So I went to the web site
and filled out a lengthy form email, (which many companies
use to avoid you having a legal copy of the email.) 8) then
it left a ticket number on the screen. When I tried to click
on it, the page disappeared. This is one company that apparently
has very serious communications problems. 10/1/03
SmartDisk
Corporation (VST Corporation's Tri-Media Reader) - Does
not keep drivers up to date, making product unusable. 2) web site
sends
users into an endless loop avoiding direct contact with tech support
most likely to save money 3) web site has user answer a marketing
survey
in order to get a message to the webmaster. 12/8/02
SmithMicro
- 1) 99 cent pricing (ArtRage
Software 8/26/08)
2) Try's to sell very expensive "Download
Protection" via Digital River 8/26/08 when it should automatically
provide
download software if you already have a license for it.
Sony
Corporation - I love it when corporations demand
honest workers, when they are anything but honest themselves.
In that, Sony is typical. 1)On the packaging of their 17 in
1 Multi-Card reader/writer, they admit in single and double
asterisks that they can not read and write 2 of the 17 cards.
Therefore, it appears to really be a 15 in 1 Multi-Card reader/writer.
Someone in development forgot to tell marketing which often
gets a little carried away with the hype. 1/2/07
Southwest
Airlines - 1) Overbooking
Flights 2) Lost luggage (A&E.com TV 9/12/04
e.
Sprint PCS-1)
99 cent pricing, 2) missing unstated benefits in long term wireless
contracts. i.e. no blue tooth, no upgrade path to newer phones, fine
print breaks assumed rebate offered in following months on phones,no
service during free months because service isn't working properly
or ready for consumers, not able to use as modem or PC only capabilities
on some services, no camera abilities 3) broken salesman commitments.
per Gerard Hicks, 3g specialist, Rocklin CA. 4) Extremely poor
phone
support with bad automation program. 11/2002, 5) Selling within the
phone cue. 6)
Billing is seldom right and is overcharging!!!! 7) When customers don't
pay the overcharge amount (after Sprint representative agrees to
remove it), Sprint charges a late fee for underpayment (Billing errors
are a documented Sprint problem for over 10 years) 7) Took over 2 months
to get email due to Sprint system short working. 8). emails have links
written in exclusive Microsoft code where macs can't click on links
and have them go to link, even to contact Sprint!!!!! This is very
shortsighted showing a lack of programming skills. (It's one thing
to maintain free services and have shortcomings but another to charge
for services with so many short comings.
9). Customers have to log in to contact Sprint by email. (Guess Sprint
is too flooded with complaints to allow easier access to it's support?) 10)
Somebody ought to give Claire (the voice support technician) early
retirement. A real human would be nice. 11)Sprint keeps extending
contracts (by years) without customer's permission. The
world still waits for the first honest and efficient phone company.
Square
Trade (Ebay's "not so square" dispute resolution service)-1)
Auto charges your credit card even though you don't want it
too. 2) Was never able to resolve my disputes and is therefore
a fraud to my estimation. 3) Has monopoly on eBay dispute resolution.
It is a service that should be free through all auction houses
to
remove
illegitimate
or
error
feedback. Square Trade is yet another online rip-off company.
4/30/05
Stanford
Ranch Realty (Russ & Rory)-Junk Mail 10/15/01
Staples
- Sold defective Cobra walkie talkies and would not accept returns
over 14 days on all electronics. Even the stores are aware that
there
is a lot of electronic and can't afford to stand behind the products.
2) 14 day return policy 9/1/01, 3) Long rebate processing
time (in hopes customer forgets all about it???) 4) Doesn't
pay out on Staples sponsored rebates!!!! even after store management
goes
to bat for customer!??? 5) Rewards expire (1 year) 6) Ink
cartridge incentives are now part of rewards and also expire in one
year. 7) Complex reward scheme where purchases are posted
much later, sometimes over a month out. Despite website,
reward tracking is extremely complex for the end user. 8) Long
hold time to reach rewards customer service. 9) Store
staff could not update rewards account information. You have to go
online.
8/4/08
Starbucks,
Rocklin & Roseville, CA - 1)
99 cent pricing 2) Frequent restroom and eating area cleanliness
and maintenance problems. Staff is in charge of restroom cleanliness.
3) Poor computer hookups for T-Mobile services that endanger
foot
traffic,
and
jeopardize
computers.
4) Raising prices without having addressed these problems.
5) Terrible parking lot cleanliness with spilled coffee drinks
attracting
flies
and
bees. They
blame
property
management
which blames water reclamation problems. They need to go to
the City Council, Health Department, etc. Don't wait for customers
to act on your behalf. 9/12/04 6) Place is still unclean.
Corporate expects the staff that serves you food to keep the
restrooms clean and they are frequently very dirty for days
on end. It's one thing to support 3rd world coffee growers,
its another to have floors and restrooms like 3rd World countries.
2/25/06. 7) Brand new convection ovens ruin T-mobile
Internet service at Starbucks that use them. After repeated
complaints. to various levels of management, and of T-Mobile,
over a three month period, service is not improved. Refunds
can
be requested
by T-Mobile
users. Of
course one would think that food and cleanliness go hand in
hand,
but
not at
Starbucks where the Internet doesn't always work and certainly
isn't free!
Starstream
Cable, Rocklin CA- Local Cable Service going out of
business) 1)
LOCAL MONOPOLY 2) UNRELIABLE SERVICE. It may be their bandwidth
vendors, it may be the constant movement of the customers
connections, it
may
be the almost yearly replacements of your modem, it may just
be a tech with an attitude - only the hairdresser knows for
sure. In this "you're not in control" world of high
tech, the alternatives to a local cable monopoly may be no
better. Just
don't bet your life on service at any specific point in time.
3)
CABLE -TV - Turning
up the volume on commercials is perhaps one of the
rudest
and
most
annoying
things a station
provider can
do. 9/22/02 4) Called to inform cable went offline for a minute
or so, then my cable TV was fine but internet service started dropping
off by itself. Each time I called, it was like magic that it came
back on. Then, when I hung up, it would go out again. Think someone
was having a little fun??? 5) Numerous phone calls went
unanswered on a Friday 12/20/2002 6) Service seems to go down while
the prices go up. 7) Bandwidth is supposedly increasing as
the internet gets slower and slower. 8) 99 Cent pricing. 9) Charging
monthly for web mail, a service that is free with most internet providers.
Again, when you've got a monopoly, you can do almost anything you
want. Just
keep the local powers that be happy. 12/24/0210) No 24 hour
network monitoring or support. Cable Modem Service out again on 12/27/02. 10)
Slow Service the whole month of February 2003 (would have been better
off with a 14.4 modem some nights) Lost connection again on
3/3/03
numerous calls to answering service from customers and 11) answering
services computers were down as well. Prices keep going up and promises
of service "improvements" keep worsening the service. Time
to sell out to Comcast???? Service again dropped off on 3/6 3:30.
This company just can't seem to get it together even with a monopoly
for their area. Service dropped again from at least 3/22 thru 3/23/03,
then slower than molasses in winter. Another outage at prime-time
on 4/21/03. Another at 7:30 a.m. 5/8/03 12) Service outages 3-4 days
in a row 11/21-25/03 Interfering with eBay sales, home loan processes
and real estate deals in Hawaii. Consistently unreliable service
and no returned calls after 3 messages left with answering service.
The way I post this is thru T-mobile at Starbucks. 11) Company
contributed to Republican campaigns and then ran exclusive debates
on the behalf
of Republicans and Democrats without even inviting the third candidate.
A resulting boycott may have contributed to their going out of business
by selling out to Wave Communications. We look forward to better
service and more objective public access. Good riddance.
Star
Wars Fan Club - 1) 99 cent pricing. 2) Failure to
establish subscription expiration date on requests for renewal.
12/6/04
State
of California - 1) Corrupt political system. 2)
Overly complex tax system resulting in overpayments. 3) Corrupt
politicians 4) Rigged debates which exclude 3rd parties.
5) High Taxes 6) Over budget 7) Taxation without representation.
8) Corporate run State. 4/13/05
State
of Hawaii - 1) Corrupt political system. 2) Overly
complex tax system resulting in overpayments. 3) Corrupt politicians
4) Unavailable forms on the Internet 5) High taxes 6) Taxation
without representation 7) Corporate and Developer run state.
8) During Tax season, their lines are always busy. This alone should be a a suitable
offense since penalties can be accrued if taxes are not filed
on time. 4/13/05
Subway
Sandwiches - 1) junk mail. 2) Claims to have a low fat
menu, but asterisks the fine print that it's if you don't have the
cheese, mayo or other fat condiments in fine print. 3) 99 cent pricing.
8/28/02
Michael
P. Murphy
DBA The Small Businessman - www.smallbusinessman.com
Technical Site Coordinator and Registrant
S Listings (Cont.)
State
Farm Insurance - 1) Homeowner's insurance. Junk Mail
8/29/01,
Jerry Dizon (Rocklin CA) 9/6/01
Subway
Sandwiches - 1) junk mail. 2) Claims to have a low
fat menu, but asterisks the fine print that it's if you don't have
the cheese, mayo or other fat condiments in fine print. 3) 99 cent
pricing. 8/28/02
Sticky Brain (software for the Macintosh) - See Chronos L.C. Software
Sunset
Oaks Adventist Church
(Rocklin CA) - 1) Junk mail. 4/3/08
Sutter Hospital
(Roseville CA) - 1) Spreading flu viruses. After hours, every visitor must go through and wait in the emergency waiting room full of flu victims before visiting patients throughout the hospital. 2) Phone cord was missing for at least three days so patients family could not call patient in room. 3) Magnet was missing for at least three days so window blinds could not be opened. 4) Patient was brought in with hacking cough next to hip replacement patient. 5/3/09
Swiffer Wet jet - 1) Warnings were serious enough to warrant improvements in the device because readers might not read or remember having read the warnings which went as follows:
DO NOT place hands in cartridge housing. Sharp Hazard
DO NOT use rechargeable (nickel-cadmium) batteries. ...because rechargeable batteries might explode under fault conditions.
DO NOT USE Swiffer WetJet to clean up or absorb flammable or combustible materials
Now I'm getting a little worried, Its just a mop for pete's sake!
2) Mop failed during 2nd use leaking all over the place.
11/20/01
Symantec Software (Norton Utilities, Anti-Virus, System Works, etc.) - STILL ONE OF THE WORST CORPORATIONS IN AMERICA, ALWAYS OVER PROMISING AND UNDERDELIVERING, EVEN WITH IT'S NEW NORTON 360 PRODUCTS FOR THE WINTEL WORLD. FINALLY, THIS COMPANY IS GIVING UP ON THE MAC AND I SAY DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT THEM ON THE WAY OUT!!! (After removing the program that caused so much damage as its own worm or virus, I still have to contend with service.symantec.com/numosx/ every time the system updates. THIS COMPANY HAS BEEN ESSENTIALLY STEALING FROM ITS CUSTOMERS FOR YEARS BY NOT HONORING ITS REBATES. IF YOU CAN'T TRUST THEM TO DO THAT, YOU CERTAINLY CAN'T TRUST THEM TO PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER. PERIOD - END OF STORY. This is one of what I call the "anti-christ" software companies. They come to us as a problem solver. Obviously, if all the problems were solved, they would be out of business. Often, this company's software will disrupt a perfectly good system if there is such a thing, hurting rather than helping the end user. 1) No easily accessible address or phone on their web site. (guess they just to too many complaints!) 2) so called award winning support can be a terrible online runaround - even when seeking answers before purchasing their products! Some solutions might have taken only a few seconds with a phone call. Symantec needs to realize that a customer's time is also money. Attitude seems to be that only Symantec's time is valuable and they are more than willing to waste the customer's time. 3) If you really want to screw up your computers watch Symantec bring your OS 10.2 crashing into oblivion. This is the damned software of all time. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Should be a hundred paws. This company has never had its act together. Fortunately for it, neither have its competitors 4) 99 cent pricing, even on it's first time caller tech support calls 5) at $29.95 per incident. However, they have you dependent, so I suppose some folks just shrug and pay it. We are getting used to corporate abuse. 6) Software is upgraded without an obvious box revision making customers buy the wrong product for their needs. 7) Serious software flaws that cost customers hours and days of frustration are not openly exposed by the company (so that new buyers don't find out and wait to purchase a better product?) The customer has to dig for the damaging truth. And this is who we trust to protect our valuable information? 8) After using the Norton System Works, it took 2 work days as I watched this product destroy a Mac OS 10.2.2 system all by itself as I followed dyslexic instructions to the best of my high tech ability. The question is whether Symantec programs fight viruses and corruption or creates it? THIS IS STILL A PROBLEM AS OF 6/12/2004 AND SYMANTEC IS GETTING OUT OF THE MAC BUSINESS WITH AT LEAST 1 OF ITS PRODUCTS. 9) In faxing my refund application since they warrant it for 60 days, I noted that it may take them up to 2 months to send my my refund. I guess it doesn't take them 2 months to sell me the program. Perhaps they have more returns than sales and that 's why the return dept. is so backlogged. 10) Initialization took over 30 minutes and some things remain on my computer due to instructions that were incomplete and incorrect. 11) Doesn't perform on its rebates. Buyer best assumes that Symantec won't honor its rebate promotions. If he or she actually gets the rebate, they should consider themselves blessed!
This is the #1 havoc program of the year after Mac OS 10.2.2 itself. The same program on Windows XP is also inelegant and I am skeptical there as well. However, this is certainly no endorsement of the competing McAfee products either. Both companies have earned the right to go out of business. I would imagine some politics behind the scenes here at "we the consumer's" expense.Few companies have achieved more than one red paw. However, Symantec has accomplished it.12/11/2004
Here it is, 2009 and Norton 360 blows it again. 13) After, loading XP Service Pack 3 and having my PC working just great, I proceeded to load Norton 360 over 5 hours ago. It asked for a restart. The computer wouldn't restart to Windows and wouldn't go back to the last known working configuration and wouldn't do a "safe" restart either. In other words, it became unusable. 14) Of course there are no posted phone support numbers in the manual, so fortunately I had a Macintosh to go online and guess what? 15) Still no phone numbers, but there was a chat support 16) experiencing higher than usual service times. Actually, they should say when they have unusual low wait times. That would be closer to the truth. Unfortunately, the clock keeps on ticking and the worst virus I've experienced to date is Norton 360 itself. As I find the time to write this, I have now dropped from 131 in the cue to 67 in the cue. Gotta love this corporation! 2/20/2008 - Update - Norton could not fix the problem. I will have to try to reinstall windows now. I recommend that you DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT!!!
