PlanetFeedback's ShopperCast

Batter Up! And Up And Up

You go to a baseball game, the opening pitch is at 7:05 pm the game ends at 1:21 am a mere 6 & 1/2 hours later.  Think it could never happen?  Well it did.  A 22 inning baseball game that was finally decided by a two run hit.  The final score 2-1.  Yes 2-1.  After hours of what must have been agony, the Colorado Rockies won and their fans left happy, although no word on if they were happy with the win or just happy to get the heck out of dodge.

The employees also endured a long night.  Concession stands can't close cause that is big $Money$, and the grounds crew sat there aimlessly waiting for the never ending game to end so they could clean up and go home.  So while the fans may have gotten much more than their money's worth, makes you wonder if the people who run the stadium got theirs?

--Contributed by Renee

Drive Thru Woes

This week we have seen a few letters on Planetfeedback.com complaining in one way or another about service received at the drive thru.  We guess the main complaint is the lack of service provided by the company, but there are other factors at play here.  Marian H. spoke of her experience at a Kentucky Fried Chicken location in Woodland Hills, CA.  Not only did she receive deplorable service from the employees and even more shocking service (or lack there of from the manager), she was asked to park in a Handicapped parking space while waiting 10 minutes for her order to be freshly prepared.  Marian faced a dilemma, she did not want to park in the handicap space for the obvious reason that she is not handicap and is not permitted by law to park there, so she decided to stay put at the window.  Perhaps a sign like the one to the left would have alleviated at least part of this customers issue.  While we here at ShopperCast understand her reason for not wanting to leave the window, we would not be responsible for our actions if we were in the line behind her.  If you are willing to wait 10 minutes for your food to be prepared, park your car in a LEGAL space and go in the restaurant to wait......SHEESH!

Christie D. had a slightly different issue at a different chain.  She claims that she waited 35 minutes (Why?) in the drive thru, only to be told that they did not have any hamburgers left and to come back tomorrow if they wanted Hamburgers.  She had her children with her that, for some reason never fully explained apparently could not eat chicken.  If you are willing to feed your children McDonalds after 9pm, does it really matter if it is hamburgers or chicken nuggets?  There is not an unlimited supply of hamburgers at McDonalds locations, things run out!  Get over it already! She left in a huff and wound up feeding her children somewhere else, our question is why didn't she do that 30 minutes earlier?

Granted these situations do illustrate customer service at its lowest, we have to wonder how much the way a customer conducts himself has to do with the way they are ultimately treated?

--Contributed by Renee

Pet Food Reprercussions?

It seems like an eternity ago, but the Pet Food recall is still a raw open wound for many.  What did the companies involved know and when did they know it?  Did they over look potential problems in order to save some bucks?  According to an article by the Associated Press there may finally be some semblance of closure.  Wednesday, 3 companies 2 Chinese and 1 American were indicted, in the pet food recalls.  The reports suggest that nearly 5,000 pets died because of the tainted food. 

They have isolated the chemical responsible as Melamine.  "Melamine is used to artificially boost the protein content of the gluten to meet the requirements specified in Suzhou's contract with ChemNutra.  Melamine, which would allow it to pass chemical inspections for protein content, was cheaper than actually adding protein to the gluten" Among the indictments handed down were, 13 misdemeanor counts of introduction of adulterated food into interstate commerce, 13 misdemeanor counts of introduction of misbranded food into interstate commerce, and one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.  These indictments where handed down by the Attorney General of Kansas City, MO, but we are sure that many more are coming from other jurisdictions.....Yay on KC/MO!

--Contributed by Renee

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year....Or Is It?

What is so wrong with Happy Holidays?  We have already seen a letter on Planetfeedback.com complaining about cashiers not being allowed or refusing to say Merry Christmas.  We have been listening to this debate for years and it still causes us to scratch our heads.  We fail to see what the big deal is!  We do not all walk around with bubbles above our heads that identify what faith we are our what holiday we may celebrate.  There are numerous holidays celebrated by many religions during the same basic time of the year.  How very entitled of some people to think their holiday is the ONLY one.

Too us Happy Holidays or even Seasons Greetings seem like appropriate phrases to use.  We cannot imagine the logistical nightmare it must be for the overworked and under appreciated retail worker to try and decipher (correctly) what faith everyone practices and deliver the proper greeting.  We at ShopperCast wonder why can't we agree to disagree and all just get along, after all it is a special time of year.  Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Festivius, etc etc etc......

--Contributed by Renee

The Day Whose Name We Shall Not Mention

Today is the day whose name we shall not mention (except to say it rhymes with "ax...nudge nudge, wink wink).

In honor of all those who face this day with trepidation (especially us here at the worldwide national headquarters of ShopperCast) we shall be uncharacteristically silent except to say check out the ShopperCast Hot Buy Of The Day.

After all, don't they say that the cure for what ails you is to shop?

A Plane Solution?

You've see it on the news.  People are talking about it on PlanetFeedback.

Stuck on a plane for hours and hours.

If you've air-traveled much, you've likely had a time when you've had to sit on the plane, parked on the tarmac.  Waiting.  Sometimes without A/C or heat.  Almost always without being able to get up, have sometime to eat or drink, use the lavatory.

Safety and security rules dictate how these situations need to be handled.  Once passengers are aboard a closed plane, they cannot be allowed to exit and walk across the tarmac.  No?  And sometimes bringing the plane back to the gate isn't feasible.

What solutions would you suggest that the TSA and airlines implement to alleviate this problem?  At what point does discomfort outweigh security and safety considerations?

Snow Days

Mr. Snow Miser has dumped quite a bit of snow and ice on parts of the country.  Schools are closed, businesses are shut down, and governments are giving their employees leave.

As consumers and citizens, how does this affect us?  Some are not in storm-hit areas and cannot understand why their phone calls are going unanswered.  Others rely on our packages to be delivered, our flights to take off on time, and our pizzas to be delivered.  Ice storm or not.

Which is more important?  The safety of the employees?  Or the normal operation of a business?

Where, oh where, did my deposit go?

You put your deposit in the envelope, put the envelope in the ATM slot, and you expect that the deposit will be credited to your account.  Right?

Not always.  Sometimes, things go wrong and the deposit doesn't quite hit your account.  Human error, computer error, delay... all sorts of things can happen.  Life happens.

As a banking customer, it's critical that you verify that the money is actually in your account before you withdraw.  The world isn't perfect and it's not enough to trust and then blame when something goes wrong.

Here are a few other tips:

(1) Always include your own deposit slip in the ATM envelope.  By using the generic ones, you risk making a mistake in writing your account number or having your handwriting misread.

(2) If you possibly can, always keep an extra cushion in your account.  If a single paycheck doesn't make it through, at least you'll have the cushion to cover any checks or other withdrawals you make.

(3) If you have online banking, check to see that the deposit was noted within 24 hours.  If there's no record of a deposit being made, contact the bank.

(4) Re-confirm that the deposit was moved from a pending status to an actual deposit.  If not, contact the bank.

Once the issue is resolved and determined to the bank's fault, they do owe you a refund of any NSF/OD fees they charged you.  They should also compensate you for any fees charges by merchants when your checks bounced.  In some cases, banks can call credit card and other large companies and they can work it out.  You should NOT, however, expect compensation for grief or time wasted.

What You Need Most

When out and about, what's the one thing that's most important?  Helpful sales staff?  A good selection?  Good prices?

For some, it's none of these.  It's a clean and accessible rest room.

While public rest rooms are thought, to some, as luxuries, the fact of the matter is... when you gotta go, you gotta go.

In some places, the law requires that certain businesses (e.g., food establishments) have rest rooms available.  If, for no other reason, than people need to wash their hands before they eat.  A dirty rest room, in addition to bringing the obvious health hazards, prevents customers (and staff!) from having proper hygiene.

We beg of you, restaurants, keep your bathrooms clean!  Same goes to stores that have public restrooms.

And, just as importantly, we beg of the customers to keep these restrooms clean.