This is the place to vent about companies or individuals that you are angry/disenchanted with. Who's in your dog house? Send yours to bmtg@usesoap.com and just maybe it will find its way onto this page...
Brother Nature
Fox Sports / Directv
White Russian
Carl's Jr. Downtown Plaza, Sacramento Location (new)
Major League Baseball / Directv
Arco AM/PM Gas Stations
Brother Nature's Dog
ESPN Online
Craigslist Flagger Community
Home Depot
Sacramento Regional Transit Lite Rail
John Elway
Matt Leinart
The Diesel
Albuquerque Tom's E-Mail Etiquette (new)
Nightline
Sandman
Home Depot
Radio Station 1140 AM and The Don & Mike Show
Albuquerque Tom
The Plumber (and all service guys who refuse to go the extra mile to do the
job right)
Forum Excerpts
Home Depot
Fox Sports / Directv
Date Entered: February 18, 2007
Reason Entered: For a very poorly executed NASCAR Hotpass.
Thanks
for the FREEView of Hotpass on Directv.
Here is why I will not be ordering the season pass:
1. Commentators: I'll watch my local FREE broadcast if I want commentary. I want to feel like I am in the passenger seat of the racecar. I want to crank up the volume on my stereo and hear only the sounds of the racecar, the race, the chatter between driver and crew. I do like the national broadcast in the upper right of the screen (although as most of the viewers like me do have another tv and could put on the national broadcast) but I don't want to hear it. I suggest offering this type of audio with no commentators on the second audio channel instead of the national broadcast audio. If this happened I may reconsider ordering the season pass.
2. Commercials: I am paying to watch the race from start to finish. If I want commercials I will watch the FREE broadcast. You are double-dipping by me paying to watch AND airing commercials.
Carl's Jr. - Downtown Plaza, Sacramento Location
Date Entered: June 8, 2008
Reason Entered: For consistently providing an overall poor dining experience.
Within the first five minutes after placing my order, I experienced the following:
This location has long had its problems and unofficially entered the Dog House several years ago. Back then it got so bad that a majority of the employees quit one day. Management seemed to turn over repeatedly. Service was painfully slow, orders were typically wrong, the soda machine did not work properly 80% of the time with the output being either no carbonation or no flavor, and the place itself was usually messy with sticky floors that would put any discount movie theater to shame. The only way it has survived, it seems, is because it is one of the few fast food places left downtown. Burger King, Taco Bell, McDonalds, Arbys, and Wendys have all left, leaving the Downtown Plaza food court, Quiznos, and several Subways to go with the overpriced alternatives.
Fast forward to today and it seems they have put some of the problems behind them, but it is still not a location to be recommended. I have avoided going there, but have given them a try once in a while. Now the service is not so slow, orders are correct, the soda machine works more like 50% of the time, and the place is not quite as messy most of the time. Something new is that a group of hobos have taken to occupying the tables nearest the exit while they play chess. They are not a problem, though, and instead add a bit of ambiance, as they are not disruptive and do not ask for money.
Major League Baseball / Directv
Date Entered: March 9, 2007
Reason Entered: For ignoring / alienating their fan base
by monopolizing the Extra Innings baseball package.
Major
League Baseball's decision to go with the exclusive deal with Directv is a
slap in the face to the fans. The incurably buffoonish Bud Selig doesn't see
what the outcry is all about. He figures if you still want the baseball package
you used to receive on either cable or Dish Network, you can switch to Directv.
Then he minimizes the number of people who can't get Directv and dismisses
them as a minor casualty in the pursuit of money. For those who can't get
Directv, MLB simply urges people to pay for the online package so you can
watch the games on your computer.
What they don't seem to get is that it is rarely a good idea to limit and take away the choices of the fan base. Some people can't get Directv because their location is not suitable for a satellite hookup due to interference. Others can't due to being in a rental situation with restrictions on what they can have. And there are others who could switch to Directv, but do not like the idea of having to switch only to get the baseball package when they have already chosen either cable or Dish Network over Directv for whatever reason. And chances are that most people would rather not use their computer to watch ball games either because their connection is slow, they don't want to watch on such a small screen, or some other reason. How fun is it to have some friends over to watch the game when you all have to crowd around the computer?
Exclusive rights in this case is the same as a monopoly. A monopoly makes plenty of money for the sole provider, but in the end it is the consumer who suffers.
Arco AM/PM Gas Stations
Date Entered: March 9, 2007
Reason Entered: For being about the only gas station that
still charges a service fee to pay by ATM.
Forty five cents to use the ATM at an Arco gas station. I don't know of any other gas station that charges any fee for the ATM. Even the 45 cents might be okay if there were other non-cash options. But you can not use any credit cards at Arco. It is either cash or the ATM. Arco may argue that this is one way to keep cost down, but that would seem to be a hollow argument as places like Valero offer similar prices, but do not charge an ATM fee in addition to accepting credit cards. Arco needs to get out of the Time Machine and join the new world.
Brother Nature's Dog
Date Entered: March 8, 2006
Reason Entered: For repeatedly getting his freak on with
his blanket in front of everybody and being a general nuisance.
This dog has been skirting the line for a long time and has now finally crossed it. Since Brother Nature won’t put him in the actual doghouse, the BMTG Senior Council has put him in the virtual Dog House, where he shall stay until Brother Nature can retake control and establish himself as the master of his own domain. I recommend that B. Nature fill up his tivo with as many episodes of the Dog Whisperer that he can.
The dog needs a name change as well. The given name, “Alla,” is simply too close to the Islamic concept of God. Until a suitable name has been given, I shall refer to this dog as either “Dog,” “Diggler,” or “Punk.” Once he has been put in his proper place, I could see going to the softer sounding “Doggy,” “Diggy,” or “Punky.”
ESPN Online
Date Entered: Sometime in 2005
Reason Entered: For making too much content subscriber only.
ESPN
online has made its way into the Dog House for moving so much of their content
to paid subscription only. At first it was only a small percentage and was
therefore only mildly annoying, but at some point they made the decision to
increase the percentage of the site that was only accessible by paying for
the Insider subscription. It is not as if they don’t have enough advertising
revenue from their cable network and advertising on the site. Are they so
arrogant over at ESPN that they think we cannot live without their insight?
There are plenty of other sites on the Big Machine now that are excellent
free alternatives, which have weakened the value of the majority of ESPN’s
subscriber only content. Instead of being the premier online sports site,
as they used to be, ESPN is now just another face in the crowd.
Craigslist Flagger Community
Date Entered: February 2006
Reason Entered: For ganging up to remove valid posts.
The user community of Craigslist has the ability to flag any item posted. A post can be flagged for content that is inappropriate, misplaced, or has violated the terms of use, etc. If enough people flag a post, that post will be removed.
The problem is when a group of flaggers gang up to remove posts that are completely valid. Once they have decided to gang up and remove certain posts, there is no recourse other than to repost, leading to having that next post removed in the same way. This process continues until you give up, since the flagging gang, having nothing else going on in their lives, will not give up.
In
the case of pets, the gang of flaggers are in full force. Craigslist does
not allow the selling of pets, but does allow you to charge a small adoption
fee, which they now call a rehoming fee. This fee, whatever you want to call
it, is reasonable and accepted by most of the community, as they understand
that there are expenses, in the form of time and money, that are incurred
when taking care of animals that need to be "rehomed". The flagger
community, however, seems to think that any fee is not appropriate and has
essentially taken the law into their own hands by picking off posts that they
object to, even though there is nothing in the posts that violate the rules
of Craigslist.
Craigslist has allowed itself to be hijacked by a small group of what the BMTG refers to as the bloated and sluggish crowd. Similar to the tiny percentage of people who object to God being in the Pledge of Allegiance, even though the vast majority does not object, these are the types of people who try to impose their views to the detriment of the rest of the community. They should have the right to voice their opinion, but they should not be able to circumvent the rules when that opinion has been rejected.
Home Depot
Date Entered: Fall of 2005 (repeat appearance)
Reason Entered: For failing to take responsibility for their
mistakes when problems arise on major purchases/projects.
UPDATE #2:
The Home Depots in Boise, Idaho, seem to be exempt from the problems that
plague those in California. The Boise locations are stuck in the Time Machine
that the rest of the city is in and therefore still give customer service
a priority as if they were a brand new franchise that needed a satisfied clientele.
UPDATE #1:
After taking the issue to the corporate level, a resolution was finally reached.
It is far from a perfect solution and took far too long to reach this point.
Home Depot, at the corporate level, gets credit for getting to a reasonable
result so we can continue the project. Even though they have stores everywhere,
Home Depot remains the last resort as a place to go. My experiences at Ace
Hardware and Lowe's have been almost the exact opposite of my Home Depot experiences,
with knowledgeable help being readily available. For more see the excerpts
from the Home Depot Dog House Fourm.
There
have been two major projects that Home Depot made mistakes on and failed to
take responsibility for. Home Depot’s mistakes, coupled with their gross
mishandling of the problems and resistance to taking responsibility for those
mistakes, have resulted in extended delays of many months. The first problem
ended with a refund of the product and considerable loss of time. I had to
spend more money than the original purchase to get an alternate product from
another company. The second problem is currently unresolved. After repeatedly
telling me that everything would be fixed, Home Depot has proven to be impotent
and unwilling to fix a problem that is a direct result of their mistakes.
It is understood that mistakes will happen. The problem with Home Depot is that when they are the party making the mistake, they are completely unwilling to step up and take responsibility for it. Store management responds with inaction, often failing to return phone calls or returning calls days later. Representatives who claim to understand the issue say they don’t have the authority to fix the problem and leave it to the store manager to refuse to do anything. They are like a large insurance company that will repeatedly deny a valid claim, just waiting for you to go away.
Sacramento Regional Transit Lite Rail
Date Entered: November 2005
Reason Entered: For trains that routinely
run late with no explanation, and for the unsavory element during non-rush
hour times.
Rush hour operations: During rush hour you can usually
expect the train to be late. Just a few minutes late? No, it is never
a surprise when you wait 30 minutes for a train that is supposed to arrive
every 15 minutes. There was one day when the train I was on stopped at a station
and did not get going again until about an hour had passed. During that time
there was no information given and no explanation as to how long the delay
would be. You are hesitant to get off the train, as you can envision getting
off only to watch the train leave without you because the doors won’t
open to let you back on. Many days the trains run fine, but on any given day
your trip may take an extra 45 minutes or more for no apparent reason, and
rarely, if ever, an explanation.
Non-rush hour operations: During non-rush hour periods the train is a haven for thugs, school-age delinquents, and unwashed crazies who can fill up more than half a car with their special scent. They ride the train as if it were their own personal vehicle and that they have free reign to be as loud and obnoxious as they want, sometimes roaming up and down the car looking for their loud and obnoxious friends.
John Elway
Date Entered: NFL Draft time, 1983
Reason Entered: For refusing to play for the Baltimore Colts
Elway
said he would refuse to sign with the Colts if they selected him with the
first pick of the draft. They did draft him, but traded him to Denver for
the fourth pick (offensive tackle Chris Hinton). Just one year later, the
Baltimore franchise moved in the dead of night to Indianapolis. There are
many athletes who belong in the Dog House for similar behavior, but Elway
stands out because he is my first memory of an athlete refusing to play for
a team – he set the precedent. So he will serve his time in the Dog
House in place of all the prima donnas out there.
Others who followed Elway’s example:
NFL - Eli Manning – refused San Diego (2004)
NBA - Steve Francis – refused Vancouver (1999)
MLB - J.D. Drew – refused Philadelphia (1997)
NHL - Eric Lindros – refused Quebec (1991)
Matt Leinart
Date Entered: January 4, 2006
Reason Entered: For his conduct immediately following the
Rose Bowl
The
USC quarterback showed poor form during his brief interview immediately following
his team’s loss to Texas, when he blamed his defense for the loss and
indicated that USC still has the better team. Instead of conducting himself
with class and giving credit to Texas, his comments just sounded like sour
grapes.
Albuquerque Tom's E-Mail Etiquette
Date Entered: June 8, 2008
Reason Entered: For his cut and paste e-mail response quotes
Albuquerque Tom always adds a comment from a previous email instead of the entire thing. Does he get charged by the letter? I’m suspicious that he cuts and pastes to his advantage and some time in the near future he will take us to court, the People’s Court. I know he is still crying about his sweet 16 birthday party weekend and how it ruined his life, but let me reiterate that I thought he was 21 and he never paid for gas or provided grass.
He mocks my hatred with even more email response quotes. Albuquerque Tom is acting like an immature 16 year old full of life and innocence. He is naïve to the world, needing someone to guide him on his journey into manhood. After 20 plus years of leading him, sometimes against his will, I’m finished.
Nightline
Date Entered: December 15, 2005
Reason Entered: For what the show has become after Ted Koppel’s
departure
Since
Ted left, the show is nothing more than a training ground for 2nd stringers
who are more concerned about filing a clean five minute story that lacks any
deep thought than they are about understanding the issue at hand. The stories
seem as though they were researched for five minutes or less using a blog
as the primary source. Discussion, if any takes place, is generally regulated
to one guest, who has a modest amount of information, and a stand-in host
who drew the short straw. The "new" Nightline is bloated and sluggish.
Home Depot
Date Entered: July 2004
Reason Entered: For an entire store that is a joke.
UPDATE:
Sandman's water heater problem was the latest subject of a Home Depot
horror story, prompting him to say, "The Dog House isn't enough. They
did it again to me this weekend. I am moving them from the dog house to the
out house where they belong." For more see the excerpts
from the Home Depot Dog House Fourm.
This
entire store is a joke.
Items purchased and problems:
$180.00 ceiling fan - the remote control was missing. Had to go back to the
store for a replacement, as fan would not turn off.
$45.00 - toilet - toilet had a chip in it the size of a silver dollar and I had to go back and get it replaced.
I have gone there 10 times and not once has anyone ever said, “Can I help you find something?”
My answer to them is yes. You can help me find something - how about employees who care about customers? The commercials look great - but reality is a mother, and the reality there is a joke. I will not be spending one dollar there ever again if I can help it.
Radio Station 1140 AM and The Don &
Mike Show
Date Entered: 1996 for 1140 AM and December
19, 2005 for Don and Mike Show
Reason Entered: 1140, for taking off Scott Farrell and for
their pig mentality toward revenue dollars. Don & Mike, for their Christmas
sabbatical
Since
the Christmas break, 1140 has been playing re-runs of the Don and Mike Show.
Re-runs on a radio show. They call this the best of. I call it filler non-sense.
My beef is two-fold. There is no way these losers should be allowed three
weeks off for Christmas. The workingman gets business days off and they get
15. This is unacceptable. What does 1140 AM do about this? Nothing. They keep
playing the re-runs. Do they play an upstart show during the Don and Mike
"sabbatical"? Of course they don't.
Secondly, a day after the Rose bowl, the host of Sports Talk, Mike Lamb, goes on for 15 minutes about the great time he and his son had at the game. Do I care about this? No. I hope his son gets tea-bagged in the men's room by a Texas fan. We will never see the Rose bowl in person and I don't need to hear about his great time. Give me insight and analysis and keep your mini-vacation to those who care.
Due to 1140’s pig-like mentality to advertising revenue I will not
be supporting the following sponsors of theirs:
The Sleep Train
The Diamond and Gold Vault
Paramount Equity
The Plumber (and all service guys
who refuse to go the extra mile to do the job right)
Reason Entered: For refusing to retrieve a toothbrush
out of a toilet
My
problem is also toilet related, though it seems to be many kinds of professional
services are disappointing. My youngest son threw something down the toilet
and it kept clogging. I had to tile my floor so I took off the toilet, snaked
the line and found nothing. I put the toilet back on (wax rings are magical)
and the problem came back. I called a plumber. He snaked the toilet and thought
he fixed it. I asked him to check it a few more times and it came back. Aha!
He took off the toilet, turned it upside down and did a variety of tests to
determine the problem was with the toilet, not the line. He advised me to
get a new toilet, saying that sometimes things get stuck in there that you
can never get out. What that meant was that he didn't want to try to get it
out. This cost me $110. I also went to Home Depot and bought a higher quality
toilet than Sandman (about $100) with no silver dollar sized chips. I have
heard stories around campfires about $45 toilets eventually shattering without
warning and severing legs and other appendages. I'm sure they are lies, but
toilets are very important devices and the purchase should be made carefully.
The picture I just had in my mind of a shattering toilet killing someone made me laugh out loud. Sorry...anyhow, when I got home I thought about it. If there is something stuck in there it should be able to come out. After about 5 minutes I retrieved a toothbrush. Very few service guys go the extra mile to do a job right. I did for free in 5 minutes what this professional couldn't do for $110. I returned my toilet without incident and saved $100 (I actually love Home Depot) and the toothbrush is still useable today so I saved another $1.49. I heard on the radio driving home tonight that two Iraqis were killed by cheap, shattering toilets today. Senseless deaths.
Also the plumber didn't laugh at anything funny I said. And I said some funny things. $110. Gone. Like yesterday is gone. Like Elvis and his mom.
The Diesel adds:
Like the skinny guys who can contort their bones to go into abandoned wells, plumbers should have a frail helper that can shove a long bony hand into a hard to get to place.Albuquerque Tom responds:
This guy did have his great grandfather in the van who was able to fit his arm into the toilet all the way up to his shoulder, but the toothbrush was further down. I think a super powerful vacuum would be cool or a chopping chainsaw type snake that would obliterate all in its path. Technology should be used to help plumbing.The Diesel:
You could core apples with it afterwards to spread its cost over multiple tasks. Maybe all of the openings in a toilet should be built with a super heat resistant material. A fire blaster could then be hooked up to the toilet and fry anything in its path. Then the old guy with the bony hand can reach in and pull out the ashes that are odorless and cool to the touch.Albuquerque Tom:
I like the idea of eating apples that have been cored with a Toilet Snake Tooth, but the fire blaster is much more practical. Heat resistant or not, I am going to hook up my Fire Blaster to the toilet today and see what happens. I bought the Fire Blaster 8000 about 6 months ago and only used it once to scare away a cat who was hanging out in our front yard. When my neighbor’s garage caught fire, I ran inside and hid the Blaster in the rafters and sort of forgot about it.
With great power comes great responsibility.
Excerpts from the Home Depot Dog House Forum
Sandman:
Gents...I have yet another home depot horror story to tell you at our next
gathering. It happened this weekend.
White Russian:
I'm sensing a good addition to the Dog House...
Sandman:
The Dog House isn't enough. They did it again to me this weekend. I am moving
them from the dog house to the out house where they belong.
White Russian:
I'm sensing an Open Letter as well...
The Diesel:
You have my attention. Better not be one of those Sandman stories that have
a great headline but little else. If this is good enough we should buy a single
share of Home Depot stock. That will allow us to add the letter to the agenda
of their annual meeting, whenever that is.
Sandman:
Their annual share holders meeting is at the parking lot of Mardi Gras lanes
on Madison Avenue.
The key note speaker is Joe Nelson.
White Russian:
I went out of my way to purchase a water heater at Lowes and the experience
was much different than Home Depot. I had two people helping me. We ended
up ordering one that was not in stock. They said it would be about two weeks
for it to arrive. It arrived more than a week early and Lowes actually called
us to let us know it was in. I don't think the Home Depot phones have the
capability of making a call out...
The Diesel:
I'm starting to believe that the both of you guys are simply problem customers.
Like Siegfried and Roy you guys are very dramatic. I will have no part of
this open letter. I will sign it but refuse to write one word of it. I've
had nothing but fantastic experiences at Home Depot and I like their mascot
Homer Depot as he looks like a hard worker.
White Russian:
Maybe you don't expect enough. The only reason I bring up the Lowes experience
is to offer a contrast between them and what usually happens at Home Depot
when you go beyond just buying a part. The problems I have had with Home Depot
have only been for special orders or major projects. For the simple purchase
of something you can get off the shelf, I have not had problems. The two things
Home Depot has going for it are their low prices and the fact that they are
everywhere. I would be interested to hear about one of your fantastic experiences
as a counter point to Sandman's hellacious weekend experience.
p.s. How many times have you had someone from Home Depot come out of the store
to flag you down to give you additional advice? I went to Ace Hardware to
get a part for the water heater we are replacing. He actually stopped me from
buying one part and told me how to go about the problem. As I was getting
into my car, he came out of the store to make sure I turned off the breaker
before working on the wiring. It was something I already knew, but the point
is that he was willing to actually try to help a customer, even after said
customer left.
The point of these examples is not to be dramatic, but to show that customer
service does exist at other places devoted to home improvement...
The Diesel:
How about 10 examples Mr Horn,
White Russian:
Responses to each of the 10:
Brother Nature:
I was thinking of Corey Hart 'I Wear my Sunglasses at Night', not Jim McMahon.
White Russian:
I never liked the name Corey Hart - sounds too gay...