Jeffry Houser's Blog - Customer Service

Letter to my Oil company

info@theflexshow.com (Jeffry Houser and John Wilker) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:16:00 -0400

I went over the number of gallons I pre-paid for my heating oil this year. In fact this is the highest amount of oil I've used in the past 5 years. Every single year it has gone down as I've "learned" the house more. Along with the bill from the oil company, I sent them this letter:

Included you will find a check for XXXX for the oil delivery that occurred on April 8th, 2009. I have to say I was very surprised to find out that I had used up the pre-pay amount, so I reviewed my records. This is my highest oil usage in 5 heating seasons, and I am 118 gallons over the average of the last 3 years. This year's calculations do not yet accommodate for a 'final' delivery that has traditionally happened in the end of May or beginning of June. During our yearly cleaning / inspection at the beginning of the season, I had your technician turn down the heat on my hot water heater, which I expected would help limit my usage. All this makes me wonder if the first fill up (11/3/08) accidentally went into my neighbor's tank. The fill location is labeled left side; however there is no fill valve on the left side of my house. I attached a copy of said receipt for your own amusement. The overrun hurts extra since I locked the price in at what turned out to be an obscenely high amount, and I am currently not generating any income. If there is anything you can do on your end, or you have any thoughts to share on the matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

What would the oil company do next? A stellar customer service move would be to credit my account for the initial fill up. It would make me a customer for life. An okay customer service move would be to not charge me for the overrun. They'd say things like "It was ~6 months ago; we may have screwed up, but don't know. You should have been watching the tank to be sure it was full every time you got a fill-up." This is kind of like splitting the difference. If they do this, there is a ~75% chance I'd stay w/ them as a customer. A realistic business decision would be to say "It's way to late to complain about something that may have happened 6 months ago. We're sorry, but tough luck." I'd shrug my shoulders and say "whatcha gonna do." At this point, there is a 50% chance I'd stay as a customer. Could something else have cause the discrepancy? A horrible customer service response would be to cash my check and not contact me at all. This wouldn't surprise me. 25% chance I'd stay with them for the next heating season. Last time I had a complaint with a different oil company, the person yelled at me on the phone saying everything was my fault. I not only stopped being a customer, I filed a complaint to the BBB. I wish I knew more. I wish I knew that they did something incorrectly. I wish I caught the mistake--if there was one--back in November.

When do you notify the customer that they will be incurring costs?

info@theflexshow.com (Jeffry Houser and John Wilker) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:00:00 -0400

I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau against my oil company, Edward S Mull. After multiple back and forth, the BBB just dismissed my complaint. I hate being wrong, but am not sure that I am. I have a service plan at the highest level of protection on my heating system. Traditionally the water pumped into my steam heat system has been very low and the water gauge barely moved during my first few years in this house. However, it was starting to pump 10-20 gallons into the system every few days. I did not feel this was normal, so had them come out to take a look at the system. They agreed it was not normal. First they did some type of chemical treatment. That did not help. Then they replaced a switch. That definitely helped, and now the system pumps in a couple gallons a week (instead of 10+ every few days). I assume the numbers will lower when it gets warmer and the heating system tuns off. So, no problems I had a problem they came out multiple times and put in place a fix, right? The problem occurs a few weeks later when I received an invoice in the mail for a used switch. I was unaware I was going to be incurring any costs. The oil folk have been out multiple times over the past 4-5 years to perform the service and I never got an invoice. I assumed that if I was going to be incurring costs I would be notified. This is the way I run my business. I figured this would be a "Customer Service 101" thing. So, I called and spoke to someone. He explained that burner switches are covered, but end switches are not (because they never break). He said "she" did me good by getting a cheap used switch and not charging for labor. But, I'd have to talk to "she" about any billing issues. I was not notified I'd be incurring any costs. I was not given the opportunity to do a cost or warranty analysis of "used" vs "new" parts. I should not be billed when I had no say or input in the process. I put my thoughts down in a letter and snail mailed it to them. "She" called me, refused to remove the charge and we fought on the phone. Apparently it was my fault for not asking if I would be incurring a cost. It is my fault for not knowing that "End switches" are different than "Burner switches." Edward S Mull only notifies a customer if the cost is going to be over $100 (which the 'used part' was not). As soon as I got off the phone with "She" I filed a complaint w/ the BBB. Company responded explaining the switch vs switch issue. I responded saying they did not address the root of my complaint and asked for documentation on their "customer notification" policies for uncovered work. The policy documentation they provided does not cover such an issue; it just says "Customer will pay for stuff not covered under this agreement" to paraphrase. Company responded again and actually tried to address my complaint. They said they'd be more than happy to put the 'old broken part' back in at no cost; however if I have future problems they will charge me for new parts and labor to address the issue. If that truly was their policy, then why didn't they do that in the beginning? I said that I didn't feel that putting an old broken part back in was a good move. BBB dismissed the complaint. The question is, do I have them put back in the old part (and then have the issue fixed by a 3rd party) or do I just pay the 'unethical' charge to keep them 'happy' while I search for a new oil company? After all that has happened I'm cautious about letting them back into my house. Even if I were to watch them like a hawk, I have no way to judge the service done on a furnace. So, am I wrong in wanting the charge removed from the bill? Is the company right for doing "uncovered" service without notifying me of the cost?

Paypal Weirdness

info@theflexshow.com (Jeffry Houser and John Wilker) — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 12:43:00 -0400

I have a contractor doing a small job for me. He accepts payment via PayPal, so I went ahead and sent payment via PayPal for $200. My business card was declined. I tried it a few times, verified the card number, etc... Finally I called my credit card number. They said that they needed "verification" that I (the owner) was authorizing the charge, but the PayPal interface was not "advanced" enough to give me those details, just that it was declined and should contact them. I guess since PayPal is used in a lot of eBay scams, I should be happy that they needed verification. It is a minor inconvenience. I verbally verified the charge and then sent it through. Everything looked fine. The $200 (I said it was small) charge was approved and my PayPal account shows the $200 dollars leaving my account. Whenever I send a payment via PayPal, I get a confirmation e-mail. That confirmation e-mail came today, just like all the other times. Unfortunately, this time it shows that I sent $24,200. Yep, that is right, there is a 24K difference between what I intended to send and what the confirmation e-mail says I sent. That's a huge discrepancy, and about 5 times more than the limit on my card. I guess I'll watch to see what is actually charged to my card. Scary stuff no matter how you slice it.

Dell Just Called

info@theflexshow.com (Jeffry Houser and John Wilker) — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 16:08:00 -0400

Dell just called to tell me that they were going to have someone call me. No, I'm not kidding. They called to tell me they were going to call. Apparently the service contract on a server I bought is about to expire and they wanted me to renew. I didn't even know that the server had a service contract. It's a dev server, and sits in my office next to my other machines. If it goes done, it's inconvenient, but not the end of the world. I told them they were wasting my time by making two calls ( and thus interrupting me twice) and they better not call back. I was a bit irate on the phone, I think. The Dell call center person was polite nonetheless.

Netflix Weirdness

info@theflexshow.com (Jeffry Houser and John Wilker) — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 00:02:00 -0400

I know it's been proven that Netflix purposely penalizes people who are massive users of the system. They even, recently, modified their terms of use to say that. From a business perspective it makes sense. If you send out 100 movies a month to a user and only charge them $20, you lose on shipping. The throttling tactics delay shipments of movies. i think I'm being throttled in some manner, but I'm not sure why. If I watch 2 movies a week, it's a lot. There have been times when Netflix movies have been delayed in getting to me (currently right now its happening with Halloween: Ressurection but more on that later). The most telling case is Killer Klowns From Outer Space. I had three movies out. I sent one back. They sent me Killer Klowns. This was during the holiday season (late last year). due to other stuff going on, i never got around to watching / finishing the other two movies so did not send anything back. After waiting two weeks for Killer Klowns to show up, I reported it lost in the mail. They sent me another one ASAP, and all was fine. Fast forward to January, I finally finish going through all three movies and send them back at once. They send me three new movies; yet I recieve four. the fourth movie was the missing Killer Klowns. It was still in that christmas envelope. I suspect they packed it up for me, sent me the e-mail announcement that it was on its way, but held off shipping it. This is not the first time that type of thing has happened. Delayed movies have shown up at the very same time as 'non-delayed' movies. i think my movie watching habits are sporadic at best. Anyway, with Halloween Ressurection, I have not yet recieved the announcement that they recieved the movie I sent back and sent the new one. So, imagine my surprise when I signed into my account today to see that they had recieved it, and it was slated for a delivery of 4 days ago. Suspicious. i bet it get when i send the current two I have back, and the 'new batch' gets sent out. That could cause problems, however. I'm holding one so I can watch it with T. Who knows when that will happen?

Tracfone Problems

info@theflexshow.com (Jeffry Houser and John Wilker) — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 12:12:00 -0400

December 13th, I ordered a Tracfone based on a recommendation of a friend. I got sent an e-mail receipt and waited. And waited. I called roughly two weeks ago (a month after I placed the order) and was told the order hadn't shipped yet. I asked why, they said they would escalate it and get back to me. They never did. I called back today and was told the order was cancelled because the phone was on back order for more than a month. Why wasn't I notified? That's a serious customer service snafu. I was told I wasn't notified because they don't do that. It's in their terms and conditions. Well, I checked the terms and conditions listed on the site and it is not actually listed in them. I'm a bit miffed because the deal I ordered under no longer exists, so now I have to buy the service and the phone (instead of just the phone). Is it worth it to save an estimated $400 a year. I'll probably give it another attempt... Update 2/5/08: Some people had posted the the personal number of Fredrick Pollak, the CEO of tracfone to this blog. Tracfone's in-house legal counsel contacted me to ask if I would remove the number. After discussions with my own legal counsel, we decided to comply. All comments with said number have been deleted. Tracfone representatives also asked me to say this on their behalf:


If you have an issue with TracFone that you cannot get resolved quickly and efficiently, call the Corporate Headquarters, Executive Resolutions Dept at 1-800-876-5753 and these specially trained agents will gladly assist you until your matter is resolved.

I invited them to post this information themselves as a comment, but in case they decide not to, there it is.

Two Hours

info@theflexshow.com (Jeffry Houser and John Wilker) — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 00:38:00 -0400

I spent two hours on the phone w/ customer service trying to get connected to my DSL. It just stopped working. Totally crazy. The resolution was for me to go and buy a new DSL modem. After two hours, they wait until the stores are closing to tell me this. :groans: The second level support guy (spoke English) was a lot better than the first level support guy (didn't speak English). I made the first guy esclate it when I asked if I could speak to someone competant. Thank you Paul for ATT / SNET! I was able to run out to Circuit City (which closed at 10, not 9) and buy a new DSL modem. I plugged it in and it worked immediately. I spent yet another hour putting the computers back together (I had moved around 3 systems in the process of dealing with support ). :groans: On a good note, I got to get together w/ D tonight. I had some Pizza at the place by Rookies. It was good. He took a full time job w/ the company that he had been consulting through. He's pretty happy, and I couldn't be happier for him. There is nothing like seeing someone energized to energize yourself.

Sams Club

info@theflexshow.com (Jeffry Houser and John Wilker) — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 19:49:00 -0400

I just submitted this to This is Broken.com. ( although due to the amount of submissions they get, there is only a 10% chance it'll make it up there) I placed an order on SamsClub.com. SamsClub.com is not actually an e-commerce site, so it was an order that I would have to pick up in the store. I realized I had selected the wrong location for pickup and wanted to try to cancel my order. As you can see in the screenshot "You can cancel the order by contacting a member service rep within one hour." First off, there is no number on the site, so how do I know where to call? That is inconvenient, but I'm not sure if it makes it broken. The number was in the notification e-mail I received. I gave them a call and got through to a service rep. I gave him my order number and it was not yet in his computer. He told me that there was a 20 minute delay before the order would show up on his computer. He asked me to call back in 10-15 minutes. This is broken.