Liars Abound - LENSCRAFTERS & COMCAST

April 9, 2009 by admin.

I don’t know what is happening to customer service. This week I had to deal with two cases of blatant lying by representatives of two big businesses.

I’ll start with LENSCRAFTERS. I have to admit it, I like wearing glasses. I’ve tried wearing contacts, but I just like my face better with glasses. I’m sure those of you that are smartasses are thinking of reasons to comment on my face, but we won’t go there (the whole glass-houses thing). Anyway… about once or twice a year I buy new eyeglasses. The last three years I have been using Lenscrafters. It usually costs between $300-$400 for a pair of trendy eyeglasses. Infrequently I receive coupons from Lenscrafters offering $50 off. In this recent case I received a $50 coupon that stated “Good with other offers.”

I had purchased a pair of glasses in 2007 that had proved to be troublesome. The glass would chip around the frame after a few days. I decided to use the coupon to replace the glass in those glasses (the glasses had been purchased from Lenscrafters). I went to Lenscrafters and was attended by “Seth”. I would have said “helped by Seth”, but he was no help at all, he was actually a hindrance. After I had waited 30 minutes for him to enter my info into the computer (I kid you not, 30 minutes!), I followed him to the checkout counter. At that time I realized that I did not possess the coupon for $50 off. I told “Seth” that  would have to go home to get the coupon. “Seth” countered with “no, that won’t be necessary, I can take it when you pick up the glasses”. I persisted: “Are you sure?“, I asked “I don’t mind going home to get it, it’s $50, so it’s worth the trip”.

“Seth” assured me “Don’t worry, I can credit you at pick-up.” So, against my better judgement I elected to trust this Lenscrafters representative and I paid for my lenses and went home. At home the issue did not leave me without regret. What if “Seth” quits goes on vacation or is fired? I found the coupon and, with a little luck “Seth” would be at Lenscrafters the next day. So I decided to take the coupon in the very next day.

I arrived at Lenscrafters and approached a representative. I told her my story and showed her the coupon. She inspected the fine print on the coupon with the zeal of a Dutch diamond broker. Squinting at the mice-type she said “Sorry, this is only good at time of purchase”.  The blood rushed to my brain as my anger kicked in. I explained that I explicitly told ”Seth” that I would be happy to go home for the coupon,  and I was positive that this was not right! Then I asked” Can I speak to the manager?” The lady gets up off her, er, stool and saunters over to a man dressed for fishing. He was wearing a hat emblazoned with fishing jargon and a T-shirt with a fish along with shorts. “I’m here on my day off, we don’t dress this casually” the man said. I thought that this was odd, since obviously he was dressed uber-casual and he WAS sitting behind a Lenscrafters computer, working. I was telling him the story when suddenly, from behind magical hidden access panels appears none other than “Seth”. Surely he would remember me and his promise from just a dozen hours earlier. I reminded him of my offer to retrieve the coupon the day prior and his promise to make it good at pick-up. “Seth” looks at the coupon and squints. He takes it to an area with better lighting and tilts it for inspection as if it was a counterfeit bank note.

“No… you see here in tiny type? It says it’s only good at purchase” his words hitting me like ball-peen hammers to my forehead. I immediately reach out and with my thumbs gouge out his eyes. Then using his empty eye sockets like bowling ball finger grips, I grab his skull and dash  it to the floor, where it cracks in half spewing brain and brain juice. At least that’s what I imagined…  but reality sets in and “Seth” repeats “Sorry, this is only good at time of purchase”. Now I’m really mad. I tell “Seth” he lied to me and that unless the coupon is accepted and applied I will cease to be a Lenscrafters customer. This hits him hard - my words change his blank stare into a slightly cross-eyed expression, much like a baby with a full diaper. He tells me only a manager can help me and that I should come  back when that manager is present.  Then he walks away.

 I am totally enraged by the blatant lies and casual attitude of the staff at Lenscrafters. They absolutely do not care if I ever come back . I’m not sure if they care about anything. They have the work ethic of a Goldfish eternally circling a glass bowl.  They are oblivious to the economic condition of their employer. If Lenscrafters ever folds they will simply move to the next store in the mall. Instead of eyeglasses they will peddle the next item, maybe Glamour Shots or the latest DVDs. They are mall workers and like coal workers are simply holders of their most recent job. Not a career, just a job. So my threat to never again set foot in Lenscrafters is as effective as shouting at that goldfish bowl.

Since that day I have filled out forms on Lenscrafters website to notify them of my dissatisfaction. No reply. Tomorrow I will send a certified US Mail letter. If they respond I’ll post it here.

LIARS AT COMCAST TOO

The following day, fresh from my Lenscrafters battle, I made a phone call to Comcast communications. I was comparing prices between services (Dish & Cable) for my mother. My cable was fine. I was happy with the serices I had. While the Comcast Rep. “Brian” was telling me about the different packages available to my mom, he mentioned that many subscribers are actually paying too much since they had purchased “unbundled” services. A bell went off in my head. Was I paying too much? That would be a catastrophe,  after all, look at all the crap I was going through for $50 at Lenscrafters.

So, that nice man”Brian” offered to look at my bill and figure out a way to keep all the stuff I want and lower the price. After a few keyboard clicks and a couple of “yups” the answer was ascertained. “Brian” had discovered that my bill was higher than it should be. I was paying $208 a month fo internet and TV. If I were to change my service to Internet,TV AND phone service my bill would go DOWN by $15! Whoa, if I added service my bill would be reduced? That is nonsensical. “Brian” explained that Comcast is trying to capture all of the market, phone, TV and internet. “Brian” explained the “reward” to customers that purchased the maximum of Comcast’s serices was a lower price. So as stupid as it seemed, if I were to add the Comcast telephone service my bill would be lower. I agreed to accept the additional service based on the guarantee of a lower bill on identical service (I had all the movie channels).

A few days later Comcast installed a phone I did not need in order to lower my bill. I did not attach a telephone to the line since nobody I knew had the phone number. The only people that could call would be wrong numbers or solicitors. That night I settled in to watch TV and as I surfed through my channels I noticed some were missing. They were deactivated. I called Comcast and they told me they were not in the package I had purchased. I would have to pay $10 extra for each of the movie channels that were now missing. To get back what I started with, it would raise my bill to $228  a month!

“Brian” had boned me. He led me astray and sold me a load of crap. I was a happy customer and he fixed that, he made me unhappy. So after spending hours on the phone and making two visits to the Comcast office I am almost back to where I started. My movie channel TMC still is not working. I’m sure if I unplug my cable box and stand on one foot, waving a dead chicken over my head, it will come back some day. After all, my bill is back “down” to $208 again. All I’m missing is the actual ability to watch the channels I’m paying for.

“Brian” was and is a liar. Comcast is no better than Lenscrafters for hiring employees that just don’t care about their customers.

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