I purchased a laptop from Best Buy on April 15. I also purchased a RAM upgrade from 2 gig to 4 gigs. I ask if I am allowed to install it myself and was told it would void the warranty so I paid almost $40 for someone to do something I could’ve done. Later I am told that what he said was untrue and the RAM slots are “user accessible” slots and that I should feel free to mess with the RAM whenever I want.

June 2009 the hard drive died. I took it in and they ran a diagnostic, I asked if they would be able to load the Operating System on the new drive and was assured that it would be returned to me “in working order.” They sent it away, put in a new hard drive, and sent it back. (When it arrived the power cord had been pulled so tight that the black insulation is now a lighter color – very bad because this usually breaks the wires inside and makes it not work and increases fire hazard. I point this out, they don’t care). It was at this point that a different Geek Squad representative informed me that, no, they could not install the Operating System unless I bought the disc and then they would charge me for the install. So waiting two-and-a-half weeks for my computer I have to wait another week-and-a-half for the dics to arrive and load the OS myself. (If they had told me I needed the discs I would have ordered them while my computer was away.) 4 weeks without a working computer.

The second time I brought it in was for a screeching noise my CD burner had made a couple of times right before it stopped burning CDs. The tech looked at it, burned a DVD, told me it was fine and gave it back. I took it home, it would still not burn CDs and it was at this point that I noticed the disc he burned was a DVD, not a CD (he sent it home with me).

Third trip, I take it back in for the CD burner and it is replaced. When I get the computer back it has a rattle and a distortion in the monitor that looks similar to when you hold a magnet to a tv — also the case no longer fits together and there is a huge crack running down the side of it, I point these things out to them and the technician opens the computer (where I can’t see what he’s doing) and “fixes” the crack in the case by jamming it back together and removes the rattle by taking out a “random piece of metal” that he refuses to tell me what it is or where it came from. Great job guys, you’re really strutting that stuff! At this point I ask about the lemon replacement because the glow on the screen is still present and this was the third time I brought it it. He said it needed to have “three repairs,” before it would count and since the second time I brought it in they didn’t fix anything so it didn’t count but I already had 2 replacements so one more and it would be a “lemon.”

Fourth trip, I already ran the diagnostics at home and learned I had a bad mother board. Because of the complaints I had previously (I also point out the glow on the monitor that was never fixed) this order is expedited (meaning they ship it a little faster) I take it in and the technician tells me it is the ram. So I tell him that I tried two other sticks of RAM and had the same problem. So he goes and takes out one stick of RAM and it boots fine, he puts that one back in and takes out the other and it no longer boots, he says it is the stick of RAM. I told him to take the “known good” stick and try it in the other slot to be sure, he does and the computer will not boot. He determines that it is the motherboard because of this and sends it for repair. I figure this is the 3rd part replacement and therefore next time I get a new computer.

Fifth trip, upon picking up my laptop I am told that it is the RAM and not the motherboard. So I inform this technician about the stick switching done before it was sent off and that it was determined in store to be a motherboard problem. He does the RAM switch thing and determines that it is the motherboard. It gets sent out again (this time they do not expedite it). The motherboard is replaced and it is returned to me after 2 months in the hands of Geek Squad and the people they send it to for hardware replacement. The manager informs me that the next problem I have with the computer will get the “lemon” replacement and this one doesn’t count because it was sent off twice for the same problem. (They tell you verbally that it’s “after the third repair” done they give you a new one. After the third repair they THEN told me that it’s, “after the 3rd time they have to replace a part.”) So, assured that the next time they will just hand me a brand new computer I take it home. I call Corporate Headquarters on the way home to be told that, “well, whatever the technician says is probably true.” I point out that I’ve gotten several different stories from them and I want to know what is “true” because I feel like I’m

getting pushed off until it becomes someone else’s problem. Short run I am told that it is not their problem and I should feel free to talk to their legal department.

Sixth trip, I am told that, “No, one of your hardware replacements doesn’t count,” towards the lemon policy. I am not given a good reason why, some crap about having brought it into the store before for the same problem (though it was replaced once so shouldn’t ONE of the instances count?!). ONE: harddrive, TWO: CD burner and case, THREE: motherboard. Not to mention I’m annoyed because the glow on the monitor is getting worse and my wireless card seems to be dropping the signal quite a lot; I had been using my husband’s computer (also wireless and on the same network) to confirm this and his was not dropping signal while mine was. In fact, his was working perfectly. Repairing the connection and even going so far as to restart the whole computer did not fix this problem. Also, the battery no longer charges. After about a minute plugged in the computer says it is charged but lasts less than a minute once the cord is unplugged. The technician check this, plugged it in, tried to show me that it did say it was fully charged and saw no problem there. I told him to unplug it, it took 45 SECONDS before it flashed a warning and died. It dropped power so quickly that Windows did not have enough time to go to stand by and the warning was shown for only a fraction of a second. Technician runs an in-store diagnostics and tells me he thinks it is the motherboard because the BIOS says the battery is fine. It gets sent off for repairs.

Today, I pick up my computer (which has spent more time at Best Buy in the last 8 months than it has with me) to find that the slot for a removable/external wireless card has been busted up. The “plug” that sits in it to stop dust build up will not lock in place. I show the technician, who confirms it. Also, the power cord is once again pulled so tight when wrapped around itself that the insulation is very obviously discolored by the stretch I’m angry but have homework to do so I take it with me and tell him I will bring it back the next week. [in case you are wondering they replaced the: battery, keyboard (which was working fine), and, finally, the LCD panel (aka Monitor)]

I get home and set my computer back up on my desk. I bought a new printer while my computer was away and I set up the printer, I go to put the CD in to install the software to find that the CD drive has been physically broken IN ADDITION to the external card slot. Extremely angry now, I call the store and talk to the manager. The best he can do is tell me someone will call me tomorrow.

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM BEST BUY! Their customer service is crap and they will use every ounce of balogne to get out of their end of the Warranty you purchase. If you DO purchase something (or already have and now regret it) take a tape recorder with you. I don’t suggest hiding it from them, but maybe it will encourage them to start telling the truth and to quit jerking their customers around when they pay a couple hundred dollars for a service.

Thousands of top traders and bankers on Wall Street were awarded huge bonuses and pay packages last year, even as their employers were battered by the financial crisis.

At Goldman Sachs, for example, bonuses of more than $1 million went to 953 traders and bankers, and Morgan Stanley awarded seven-figure bonuses to 428 employees. Even at weaker banks like Citigroup and Bank of America million-dollar awards were distributed to hundreds of workers.

The report is certain to intensify the growing debate over how, and how much, Wall Street bankers should be paid.

In January, President Obama called financial institutions “shameful” for giving themselves nearly $20 billion in bonuses as the economy was faltering and the government was spending billions to bail out financial institutions.

On Friday, the House of Representatives may vote on a bill that would order bank regulators to restrict “inappropriate or imprudently risky” pay packages at larger banks.

Mr. Cuomo, who for months has criticized the companies over pay, said the bonuses were particularly galling because the banks survived the crisis with the government’s support.

“If the bank lost money, where do you get the money to pay the bonus?” he said.

All the banks named in the report declined to comment.

Mr. Cuomo’s stance — that compensation for every employee in a financial firm should rise and fall in line with the company’s overall results — is not shared on Wall Street, which tends to reward employees based more on their individual performance. Otherwise, the thinking goes, top workers could easily leave for another firm that would reward them more directly for their personal contribution.

Many banks partly base their bonuses on overall results, but Mr. Cuomo has said they should do so to a greater degree.

At Morgan Stanley, for example, compensation last year was more than seven times as large as the bank’s profit. In 2004 and 2005, when the stock markets were doing well, Morgan Stanley spent only two times its profits on compensation.

Robert A. Profusek, a lawyer with the law firm Jones Day, which works with many of the large banks, said bank executives and boards spent considerable time deciding bonuses based on the value of workers to their companies.

“There’s this assumption that everyone was like drunken sailors passing out money without regard to the consequences or without giving it any thought,” Mr. Profusek said. “That wasn’t the case.”

Mr. Cuomo’s office did not study the correlation between all of the individual bonuses and the performance of the people who received them.

Congressional leaders have introduced several other bills aimed at reining in the bank bonus culture. Federal regulators and a new government pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, are also scrutinizing bank bonuses, which have fueled populist outrage. Incentives that led to large bonuses on Wall Street are often cited as a cause of the financial crisis.

Though it has been known for months that billions of dollars were spent on bonuses last year, it was unclear whether that money was spread widely or concentrated among a few workers.

The report suggests that those roughly 5,000 people — a small subset of the industry — accounted for more than $5 billion in bonuses. At Goldman, just 200 people collectively were paid nearly $1 billion in total, and at Morgan Stanley, $577 million was shared by 101 people.

All told, the bonus pools at the nine banks that received bailout money was $32.6 billion, while those banks lost $81 billion.

Some compensation experts questioned whether the bonuses should have been paid at all while the banks were receiving government aid.

“There are some real ethical questions given the bailouts and the precariousness of so many of these financial institutions,” said Jesse M. Brill, an outspoken pay critic who is the chairman of Compensationstandards.com, a research firm in California. “It’s troublesome that the old ways are so ingrained that it is very hard for them to shed them.”

The report does not include certain other highly paid employees, like brokers who are paid on commission. The report also does not include some bank subsidiaries, like the Phibro commodities trading unit at Citigroup, where one trader stands to collect $100 million for his work last year.

Now that most banks are making money again, hefty bonuses will probably be even more common this year. And many banks have increased salaries among highly paid workers so that they will not depend as heavily on bonuses.

Banks typically do not disclose compensation figures beyond their total compensation expenses and the amounts paid to top five highly paid executives, but they turned over information on their bonus pools to a House committee and to Mr. Cuomo after the bailout last year.

The last few years provide a “virtual laboratory” to test whether bankers’ pay moved in line with bank performance, Mr. Cuomo said. If it did, he said, the pay levels would have dropped off in 2007 and 2008 as bank profits fell.

So far this year, Morgan Stanley has set aside about $7 billion for compensation — which includes salaries, bonuses and expenses like health care — even though it has reported quarterly losses.

At some banks last year, revenue fell to levels not seen in more than five years, but pay did not. At Citigroup, revenue was the lowest since 2002. But the amount the bank spent on compensation was higher than in any other year between 2003 and 2006.

At Bank of America, revenue last year was at the same level as in 2006, and the bank kept the amount it paid to employees in line with 2006. Profit at the bank last year, however, was one-fifth of the level in 2006.

Still, regulators may have limited resources for keeping pay in check. Only banks that still have bailout money are subject to oversight by Mr. Feinberg, the pay czar. He will approve pay for the top 100 compensated employees at banks like Citigroup and Bank of America as well as automakers like General Motors.

A friend asked for help in transferring their domain and email services away from registermydomain.com, so I sent an email to their support team asking for the details needed to do so.

Never got a reply so I sent that same email again but from an email address that is on one of the domains that was going to be transferred, still no reply but the friend got an email from them saying they only respond to the registered domain, but no answer to the question about transferring the domains.

The friend sent an email and called them to confirm that I am OK to speak on their behalf, so I sent email again asking for details, still no reply.

Today I decided enough is enough (plus the friend has been bugging me) so I called their support number (£1.50/min) to try and get the ball rolling, a lady answered my call and said the person that I have been emailing with (Clive Marshall) was busy but he would call me back, which I was happy with as I did not need to spend any more time on the expensive line.

Couple of hours later I get a call back and it is Clive, I wanted to query why nobody responded to my email and why I had to call the extremely expensive support number to get a response, his response was “Just tell what you need”, I tried again and he responded with “Either tell me what you need or I will hang up”, now I realise people screw up and all sorts of things can interfere with life but such a response to paying customer (not me, but my friend on whose behalf this being done, he is the one waiting on this) is just not right.

This whole things spanned over 4 weeks or so and Clive was the person responding to all emails and he is also the Managing Director of this business, their sales lines which is 0207 number goes to the same place as their support number (£1.50/min).

I would strongly suggest to anyone that they avoid this business if at all possible and use an alternative.

Kind regards,

Yura

I am writing this letter to share my experience in ordering a limousine.
I was a customer of  Executive Pathway Transportation Services.  (3588 N Military Hwy Norfolk, VA 23518 - (757) 461-1331) That was my first and last time with this company. They left me unsatisfied, confused, and completely ruined my birthday.
I wanted to order a limo for my birthday party. So, I called Executive Pathway Transportation Services and ordered the car from 6 to 8 o’clock for Saturday night. I paid in full.
Then I invited all my guests to be at my house by 6. It’s really hard to describe my confusion, when I received a call from the company after 6 o’clock on Friday night, and they told me that they were going to cancel my reservation without any explanation. I didn’t know what to do. It was too late to call any other company. I asked the operator if they could do something to make it work, and she said that all they could do was to schedule the limo to come to my house at 5:30 and to bring us home around 9. I didn’t have a choice, not all of my friends could come an hour earlier, but that was fine. And on Saturday night the limousine came at.. 4:30 and the driver said that he will leave at 5 no matter what! He didn’t want to wait for anybody, so we had to pay him extra just to wait for my friends (to wait for the time we agreed upon). I was really nervous,
they canceled my reservation at 6 but told me that the car would be leaving at 5:30, and the driver didn’t want to wait till 5:30…
And this is what happened next. On the way home the driver stopped the car in a middle of the highway, in a place where there was no emergence stopping line. No warnings, he just stopped the car. All my girls and I were really scared. It was around 9 o’clock, it was raining, and the cars could hit us at any time. There was no emergency; he wanted to fix the music, risking our safety.
Nervous, scared I tried to calm the girls down. When we came home one of my friends tried to get some explanation of what happened, but the driver was so rude, he didn’t seem to care at all, he told us to do whatever we wanted about that and left.
When I got into the house, I realized that I had left my camcorder in the limo, I called the driver, but he said that he didn’t have anything in the car. He was very impolite and didn’t want to talk at all.
When I called the company, the owner told me, that he basically could do nothing. I waited while he talked to the driver, but it didn’t change a thing. I had received no apologies, nothing. However, the owner promised to contact me, which he never did.
It just seems to me, that the company doesn’t care about their customers at all. I do not recommend ordering their services.

Thank you for your time,
Tamara

When she called to cancel the service on the broken pager, Melissa Godfrey, our office manager, was told on March 23^rd by Erica, that the service would be cancelled, but that we would be charged for the full month of March. New problems when Melissa called to cancel both pagers today. Ms. Godfrey was told that in fact the service on the broken pager was not cancelled as of March 23^rd, and instead the Community Development Center would be charged for March, April and May because the request to cancel the service was not submitted in writing on March 23^rd per Aquis policy.

Another concern is with issues experienced by our business manager who has noted frequent errors on the billing statements. When she attempts to follow up on these, once again we have encountered continual problems as we contact Aquis Communications representatives.

In calls to Aquis customer service, when asked to speak to a supervisor to follow up on the complaints, we are told that supervisors are not available to address customer issues. Instead we have been directed to leave a message and that a supervisor would return the call. After leaving a message following the March 23^rd customer service call, we have still not received a call or response from a supervisor or management at Aquis. Again, we feel this is a very poor example of customer service, how can a customer service supervisor not be available to answer customer concerns and complaints?

With these ongoing service and equipment problems, the CDC has decided to cancel the service with Aquis Communications so that we can locate a more responsive communication company.

We are a nonprofit agency that works solely with developmentally delayed children and adults. We operate on a minimal budget. Due to inoperable equipment, therefore I am requesting consideration be made to reduce, prorate or remove the March, April and May payments from the CDC account. 

I hope, by sending this letter, I am not only advocating for the fair treatment of our company, but also alerting you to some serious problems within their company. Please note, the Community Development Center is forwarding this letter to the consumer advocacy groups listed below in an attempt to communicate the serious nature of the inadequate service delivery Aquis has provided.