Idaho Business Complaints

This post begins with a reminder. There are disclaimers here on idahofallz.com, but please remember:
This post is the sole responsibility of the author, and the website where it is posted is NOT responsible for any of the content. I (the author) am only sharing a personal experience of a friend who does not want to be identified about a business with which this person had a negative experience. The following comments are based on the story related to me by that person. I was one of the people who queried Joe about posting an article, but this is a much better place to post this…

For about 10 years, my wife (and more recently, myself) have used King George Plumbing to address any plumbing problems that we have encountered. My wife was so pleased with their service that when she began managing a small apartment complex, she instructed her tenants to use them as well. King George responded successfully to several (3 or 4) issues at the building (mostly clogged toilet lines), and problems were resolved to the tenant’s satisfaction. When my wife’s friend called her with a frozen sink drain (the pipe was routed against an outside wall) during our recent very cold spell, my wife did not hesitate to recommend King George to her.

The friend (we’ll call them ‘customer’ to help alleviate confusion) called King George, they arrived promptly. Customer showed the plumber where the problem was, a kitchen sink drain near an outside wall. The plumber said he should be able to blow out any blockage, and asked for an attachment to hook up to water (a faucet). Customer recommended the dishwasher water inlet, which was very nearby, and had a regular ‘outdoor faucet” type hook-up, but the plumber stated that he needed an outside faucet. Customer took the plumber outside, where he picked an outside faucet. Customer stated that if her drain pipe was frozen, she was certain that this outside faucet would be frozen as well. She asked the plumber not to use it.

Customer works from her home, and went inside to take care of some clients, leaving the plumber to do his work. After a short time, the plumber came to her with a prepared bill for $180, stating that the problem had been solved and everything was ready to go. Customer wrote him a check, and returned to her work. The plumber left at about 10:30a.m.

Customer continued to work in her home all day, and at around 4pm, her children returned home from school. When her daughter went downstairs to change her clothes, she quickly returned, stating that the carpet was “really wet”. Customer went downstairs to find about 3 inches of water covering her basement floor. She instructed her son to go outside to the faucet that the plumber had picked, and turn it on and off very quickly. When he did, water poured from her ceiling into the basement.

Customer immediately called King George to explain the situation, and they sent someone back out promptly. After evaluating the situation, he stated that another pipe had frozen, and he sees it “all the time.” When confronted about using the (now broken) faucet after being asked not to, he stated he would call his boss. After stepping outside to make the call, he came back in and said that they would refund half of her bill for the original work. Customer stated this was completely unnacceptable, and demanded that he call the supervisor again. He stated that the supervisor was “in a meeting” so he would not call him again. Customer called the shop immediately and the supervisor answered the phone. Customer and the supervisor had an argument on the phone, and both were fairly rude to each other. The supervisor at one point asked to speak to her husband so he could “talk to someone who [knew] what was going on.” The customer became very angry and stated that King George was responsible for the damage to her basement. At this point the supervisor stated that “[we] have good insurance, and if you want any money from us, you better sue us.” The supervisor then told her not to call any more, as he had her number and would not answer the phone anymore.

Customer called her bank and put a stop-payment on the check to King George. She called her homeowner’s insurance, and they immediately began the process of clean-up. At this point, the damages are over $5000. Customer’s homeowner’s insurance is pursuing litigation against King George.

I am completely shocked that this has happened, especially since we had no problems over numerous ineractions over the course of 10 years. I really hope that this was an isolated incident, but I would strongly encourage other people to use caution when selecting any plumber to do work on their home. I know that we will no longer use King George Plumbing.

One thing that I forgot to note is that I also encouraged the customer to file a complaint with the BBB.

I agree that writing a letter can be an effective way to resolve issues. As a former manager in the food services industry, we were definitely able to better address concerns/complaints of customers when they arrived in writing.

***Whistles***

Wow, that is horrible!

You have to watch out for those dentists. About 12 years ago, my lifelong dentist left his private practice to join the Oral Health Center on Woodruff (across from Smith’s).

I went in with sensitive teeth, and the new dentist (don’t remember the name) declared all of my old fillings were bad and had to be replaced, at a projected cost of several thousand dollars and several visits.

Fortunately, a friend of mine in the local dentistry business told me that particular dentist was well known for ordering up unnecessary and costly procedures.

I called the Oral Health Center back and asked if a discount was possible, since they were taking on the benefits of my old dentist’s clients (and he would have given me a discount to fix his own work), but of course they refused. I told them the rumor I had heard, and instead of denying it I got some furious questions about who told me that. I declined to name my source and never went back.

12 years later, my fillings are still fine. I discovered my teeth only got sensitive when I drank soda pop.

I thought it was funny when I moved up here last year and heard everyone call soda, “pop”. Everywhere I went, restuarants, convienence stores, my g/f…all call it “pop”. Must be a regional thing, as I haven’t heard it called pop for about 30 years, and even then it was my grandfather who called it that. Another “word thing” I thought interesting to the region was “Jockey Box”?? When I first heard that I was like WHAT?? What the heck is a Jockey Box?? Ohhhhhh you mean a glove box? Ok, but it still didn’t make sense to me. Maybe there was something I didn’t know about Idaho. You put gloves in your glove box…do Idahoans put their jockey shorts in their glove box or dashboard compartment if you will? Sorry to get off the topic! One eyed trout got me laughing with his soda pop comment.

(and what is it with “fry sauce” everywhere I go? Don’t people use catsup in this state?)

UPDATE on Comment #1:

About two weeks after the incident between my friend and King George Plumbing occured, George himself called my friend and apologized for his behavior, and admitted that his staff was responsible for the damage to her home.

He is now working with my friend’s home insurance to take care of the problem.

I’m glad that my story seems to have a happy ending, but it still doesn’t hurt to be cautious when searching for someone to do any kind of work on your home.

We had a birthday party for my son last Saturday. We ordered a “Cars”-themed cake the week before from the westside Wal-Mart, for pickup at 10 AM on Saturday morning.

The Friday afternoon before, at 4:30 PM, the Wal-Mart bakery called us to say their sprayer died, they ordered a new one overnighted but they could not guarantee it would arrive in time for us to have the cake by when we needed it the next morning.

I thought it was short-sighted for the bakery to not keep a spare sprayer on hand and re-order spares when they die, but whatever I don’t run their business.

My wife called the dreaded Ammon Wal-Mart, ordered a 1/4 sheet with Cars theme, and made sure to spell our son’s name because his contains a letter that is unusual. The employee read it back to confirm spelling.

I drove over at 10 AM and picked up a tiny 1/8 sheet cake with my son’s name misspelled. I called my wife to ask and confirm she ordered the 1/4 sheet and spelled our son’s name correctly. She remembered the person even spelled it back.

I picked up some other party things and went to the customer service counter. I told the employee I was having a bad overall Wal-Mart experience and wanted to speak to a manager.

I was surprised when an assistant manager arrived to talk to me, who looked like he was still in high school. Surprised because a full manager had been walking around and even behind the customer service counter while I waited.

I made a joke about “when it rains it pours” to the assistant manager, but he didn’t seem to get it. I stated the problem I had with the westside store, now with the small cake and misspelled name. I said I just wanted a discount off the cake and I’d be on my way to the party.

The assistant manager took the cake and walked to the bakery. As he left I told him I was in a hurry, running late for the birthday party.

I waited about five more minutes, and was starting to walk over to the bakery to see what the delay was when an employee gave me the phone from behind their customer service desk. It was the assistant manager saying their bakery employees were saying they had the order right.

I could not believe I was being accused of lying. I told him I had not been on the original phone call, so I called my wife to ask, and she said the opposite. I said I couldn’t say what happened, but I know she knows how to spell our son’s name, and that he was either going to give me a discount or not but that I had to go I was in a hurry.

The assistant manager finally came back and said he would give me 10% off. He told the cashier I went to, but when the cashier rang it up and gave the discount, someone else came up and started hassling her about giving a discount.

Let me relate another cake example where Albertson’s went beyond great customer service. When I graduated college, my wife got a cake that said “Congrations” instead of congratulations and also misspelled my name. She pointed out the name misspelling at pickup, they scraped it off and redid it, but then the cake looked pretty bad.

She called the next day and mentioned it to an Albertson’s store manager, and asked if she could get a discount refund. The manager refunded her the entire cake price. We figured half off was fair enough, but we were impressed by that Albertson’s manager.

Now we have a Wal-Mart assistant manager who was explained the other problems I had just experienced with Wal-Mart, and told I was in a hurry.

He made me wait 10 minutes while he “investigated” the issue, then essentially accused the customer of lying, then gave me a lousy $1.23 discount on the cake. They sure know how to make a person feel marginal.

I feel like Wal-Mart makes customers “earn” the discount, instead of quickly admitting their mistakes and quickly rectifying them. I wasn’t screaming or yelling or cursing or degrading: I just said what the problem was and asked for a remedy.

Perhaps this was our fault. Apparently we shopped at the wrong store: Wal-Mart. We are endeavoring since then to not make that mistake again.

COMMUNITY CARE IS RUDE & UNPROFESSIONAL.

Community Care on Channing Way pulled an under handed trick. My 3 year old son pulled his elbow out of socket and was screaming in pain….as this had never happened before we did not know exactly what the problem was. We rushed him to Community Care…there were 2 other people in the lobby waiting….I checked us in at 2:40 p.m. They had us wait while he was screaming and crying…the other people even told the receptionist to take him back as they were not in immediate pain….at 2:50 p.m. I went back up and pleaded with them to take him back and help him. The receptionist told me they would get to me when they could and acted like I was putting her out by asking. I could see the Doctor in the back just standing there writing notes….he wasn’t treating anyone…all the while my son was still screaming. My wife said, let’s get him over to EIRMC…she started to leave with my son in tow….just moving him caused more pain.

She made it out to the car and I asked her to let me go in and try to see if they would see him as we would probably have to wait at EIRMC too. I went back in and spoke with the nurse…she said to bring him back in and they would take him back. I thanked her and went to bring him back in. He was still crying as we brought him back in. The nurse had us come back. I thought that finally we could get him some relief. The nurse shuts the door and proceeds to ream us out for upseting the receptionist and the other patrons in the lobby! She tells me that the Doctor on duty told her to tell us to leave and go over to EIRMC. We were stunned. They called us back in so to lecture us and then kick us out!

Needless to say, we left, went over to EIRMC. They took us right in and the doctor immediately treated him for nurse maid’s elbow. He even took the time to show me how to fix this problem if it should occur again. EIRMC has received alot of bad press in the past. However, in this instance, they really shined.

COMMUNITY CARE WILL NOT GET MY BUSINESS AGAIN. They were rude, unprofessional and caused more pain and suffering.

Ehhhh, he probably should have gone to the emergency room, but the community care employees sound like they were rude about it.

If they wanted to make their point, they could have done it in the parking lot while they were loading up, not called him back to make the point while the kid was screaming.

In fact shouldn’t they have told him immediately to do that when they first got in the waiting room?

I agree. The staff at CC could have been a little more accomidating and not so rude with their comments. I’ve gone to that clinic on a couple occasions and everyone there was very nice to me. Who knows? Everybody has a bad day from time to time, but that’s no excuse.

The point is, Walk-In Clinic types are not hospitals and people should realize this. I only frequent these when I can’t get in to my primary care physician and it’s a non-emergency which doesn’t warrant a hospital visit.
Sorry for your bad experience Mike. It must have been very frustrating at the time it was happening.

Eastern Idaho Medical Center: My son broke his arm while riding his bike. After taking the 20 minute drive to the hospital, I checked him in, provided all of the necessary insurance information and while he was in great pain waited for a period of 3 hours in the waiting room. Several other non emergency cases were taken, and even the check in staff became concerned with the length of time that we had to wait.. They were not overly busy, however they could have at least allowed the child to be placed in a room to aid him in understanding that help was coming. Instead we waited in the waiting room watching the television until someone decided it was time to provide him with “Emergency” care. When this was brought to the attention of Administration after care had been given, there was no follow up to cure the problem so other families are not vicitimized by the lack of care that was provided in this or other cases.

Verizon Wireless:
I have been with Verizon for 8 years. After moving to the area I began to have daily dropped calls. After customer rep said that the phone could cure the problem a new one was purchased. More dropped calls. When they sent a tech to the area they said that the area was marginal, but would not do anything to boost the signal. When talking to another rep I was told that they would not guarantee phone calls inside a building. I laughed and said that they were suggesting that I go outside each time I received a call? Even outside the calls were dropped inside the City within eyesight of the tower. The point is that Verizon has become so big that they fail to understand the consumers perspective of having a working phone, especially if you are using it for business. And if you plan on going into the 17th street facility for help, plan on waiting for a long time, and hope that you get one of five people who know what they are talking about.

Wal-Mart at Taylor Crossing (Westside).

Needed those little scissors where the pointy tips curve a little bit, like using on fingernails/cuticles.

Asked girl employee in pharmacy area. She stared at me for several seconds like I was an idiot, crunched her forehead, and told me scissors are in the crafts area, like I’m a moron and should have known better.

I knew she was clueless, but sometimes so am I. Crafts area did NOT have those scissors.

Went up and down every pharmacy aisle looking for those scissors. Not so easy since there was a long line at the pharmacy pickup counter, stretching back into the aisles. There was also a huge liquid spill in the middle of the area where you go place your pharmacy orders.

Walmart employees all around, but nobody seemed to notice or care about the customers or the large liquid spill. I shoulda slipped and sued, huh?

Passed that girl again. She was complaining to another employee about something. Her voice sounded like she had a defect. I begin to feel sorry for her instead of anger.

Found those scissors in the makeup aisle. THE MAKEUP AISLE.

The GIRL walmart employee did not know those scissors were in the MAKEUP AISLE.

Incredibly, when I first asked her about the scissors, we were ONE aisle away from the MAKEUP AISLE.

Incredibly, I found TWO aisles containing scissors in pharmacy. The department this girl was working straightening shelves.

So are Wal-Mart employees incredibly stupid or incredibly rude?

You got me there on the wage issue, this employee definitely did not deserve more.

Besides putting freight in place, these employees are expected to answer customer questions on where items are in the store. If they don’t know, they are to ask someone else. I’ve worked retail, too, and I remember that much of it.

Perhaps makeup is a separate department and thus universe from the pharmacy universe, and that might be my mistake. I did ask her the first time when we were the aisle next to makeup, which I think was a shampoo aisle, which is again still health and beauty isn’t it?

Besides working in the department or next to it, I’ll go ahead and voice my stereotype that I believe women generally are more aware of the products on the makeup aisle more than men. Disagree?

Maybe she had called for a cleanup. I don’t know that. I doubt it because she actually wasn’t ever over by the spilled area. Perhaps the pharmacists called for a cleanup. Don’t they usually have those orange/yellow cones in every department to place over spills, to warn customers? Those can be deployed in 10 seconds.

This is the same pharmacy where I’ve noticed other customer service shortfalls.

I just discoverd I could have qualified for a PRIME home loan but Legacy mortgage stuck me with a SUB-PRIME loan that costs much more. We had other aggravating issues at the time of purchase with them, now I find this. Don’t use Legacy mortage, on holmes.

I don’t have a complaint but does anyone here want to recommend, or not recommend, a good business to install automatic sprinklers in our yard?

Or, to stick with the subject, tell me if you have any legitimate complaints against any sprinkler business and I will cross them off our list. Thanks ahead of time.

The Idaho Falls Chukars are not East Idaho Business Friendly. They are taking alot of their advertising business out of state. We just bought them a new ballpark and they are going outside the area to save a few bucks. It’s wrong and Kevin Green should be ashamed of himself. They want our support but they have no loyalty to local businesses.

Mike-
So are they not advertising with you? What do you offer locally? The Chukars usually do not pay for advertising anyway.

The ballpark is for the city. The Chukars maintain it, but the high schools and Am Legion use the ballpark.

Joe,
In reference to your #28 post. Your comments reflect the problems that downtown Idaho Falls is having. I refer to “….it’s the all-in-one convenience”, and “Should we shop elsewhere and burden ourselves with more stops and higher payments…..”

Not picking on you, but buying from locally owned businesses is good for everyone.

But, post #34, if I am running a business, I would also buy from the vendor who gave me the best product for the best price. In state or out of state, whatever saves or makes me money because that’s how you run a business.

Now, if local vendors were willing to at least match outside offers, I bet he would consider their offer!
So why is he getting better offers elsewhere and not here? Anyone? To keep business local or in Idaho you have to compete and be willing to match their offer if you can afford it.

Well that goes back to the previous question, should our tax dollars be favored towards helping local businesses or towards getting the best value?

The complaint was made about BCSO patronizing a former deputy for uniform services, the complaint being the appearance of a good old boy system rewarding the good old boys.

If we have our city prioritizing local services regardless of cost, we have the appearance of the good old boy patronage system going on, right?

How about a rule that the city prefers best value over local business, unless the difference is less than 5-10% of the total cost?

Just wanted to give a plug for Albertsons B-day cakes. I’ve never had a problem with an order mixup and we have used them dozens of times.

Awesome, and this year they fixed up their storefront to look much better on the Broadway/Yellowstone intersection.

These are just my opinions and what experience has taught me, but I find it helpful when others share, so here, for what it’s worth, are my recommendations.
PLACES THAT HAVE THE CUSTOMER SERVICE THING FIGURED OUT: Smittys, O’Dells, Cardons Car
Wash, Albertsons on Broadway, (the managers are fantastic), the IF Public Library and Eastgate Drug.
Two places to avoid like the plague,if you don’t want horrible service after the friendly sale, are Oakridge Furniture and Wall to Wall carpeting. If you want details I will provide. Also to avoid over-the-top-friendly, waitresses-on-steroids, stay away from 5 and Diner. They are way too chirpy for our dining experience.
Also, K-Mart employees do not seem to be trained to help customers locate items. Most act indifferent and irritated if asked, so I go to Walmart.

Verizon 17th Street. A few months ago I purchased a new cellular phone which has a 1 year warranty. The phone froze and would not accept or dial calls. Called customer service who suggested to take it to the Service Center on 17th Street. Upon bringing it in to the local “Tech” she immediately examined the phone and said that there was a scratch on the screen and that invalidated the warranty. She would be more than happy to give me a replacement at 50.00. I explained that the scratch did not affect the the internal components and that the scratch had been there since the phone was purchased. She would not budge and was not even willing to look at the phone to see why the problem was occurring. Not wanting to give Verizon, especially this store an extra 50.00 bucks, I took the phone home and called the service line who got the phone working without having to replace the unit due to a small scratch. I wonder if local mechanics could use this tactic to their advantage, you have a computer problem with the on board computer in your car, but your windshield has a crack in it from a rock. They refuse to check the computer chip problem unless you have your windshield replaced first??

SEARS:
Post #48 explained a situation in which I experienced also. Due to identity theft issues, I also have my card showing “see I.D.” and the manager who was less than professional would not accept payment even though there was ample Identification to clearly show who I was. The manager actually did me a favor, due to the fact I went to another store who gladly accepted my payment and saved a considerable amount of money. By the way Corporate was informed of this managers conduct and indicated that there had been other concerns that were aired.

I don’t sign any of my credit cards. I use the “See ID” caption also. I’ve never had a problem. But, I have never tried to use it at Sears. Maybe I’ll give it a try to see what my experience is like. Since K-Mart and Sears are now owned by the same entity, does K-Mart also have the same issue?

Hmmm, a mom. You HIGHLY suspect most of Benny’s employees are illegal? And you base that on what?

Skin color? Language spoken? Your super x-ray vision that saw into their alien souls?

I’m just curious how you can make that assumption. Your poor experience with them is a valid point, but the other ‘on top of it’ piece really didn’t seal the deal for me.

Speaking of blowing customers off - has anybody had a local building crafts contractor actually SHOW UP to do a job?? I have never seen such careless disregard for common business sense (or common courtesy). If a contractor is too busy to take on more jobs they should say so up front, not lie their way into the job then simply vanish! What kind of idiocy is this? I’ve had this happen probably 9 out of 10 times. They seem to consider this business as usual in Idaho. And some of the ones who DO show up, you usually wish hadn’t after the rushed, screwed up mess they leave behind.

One that showed up AND did great work - Morgans - got the job and will get any and all work we have done in the future. They got the project done on time and to my exact specs. Very professional!

I have wasted countless hours emailing and calling Cable One tech support and spoken to the local support manager about my slow internet speed problem and have been given nothing but the run around. They keep denying there is a problem and claim “it must be your modem”. I just happened to run across the REAL story while doing research on nationwide service issues. It appears I have been lied to from the start and all Cable One internet customers are now intentionally being ripped off.

Cable One just had a drastic change in their internet service that they appear to be denying to customers even though it is published on their website (deeply buried in an obscure location). They now throttle back bandwidth to HALF of the advertised speed you are paying for from 12 noon to midnight! In fact, my connection is more realistically about one third of what I pay for.
The link is here:
http://www.cableone.net/internet/limits.htm

This is blatant FRAUD as far as I’m concerned. They advertise, and charge for, the full rated speeds:
http://www.cableone.net/internet/plans.asp

I’m currently gathering information to forward to the Idaho Attorney General’s office for a complaint. If you want to check your own speed to see how much you’re being shorted, check out the following speed test links:

http://myaccount.cableone.net
Go to My Plan, then My Speed Test. It will do a local area and main internet test.

http://speakeasy.net/speedtest
Run Seattle, San Francisco, LA and NY.

http://www.dslreports.com/stest
Click on Flash 8 speed test. Run San Francisco and Palo Alto tests.

http://www.speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test
Click the world map to test any location on the planet.

If Junior High kids could have done the job, why didn’t you just do it yourself?
We understand you’re not happy with your service, but there’s no need to exaggerate.

I really have to strongly discourage anyone from getting into that Keyon wireless internet service.

I got it because Qwest sucked and Keyon was cheap. It delivered the 1.5 mb speed as promised (which Qwest could not despite promised) for several months, but then it started going really bad. Each night it would slow to a crawl and often drop off completely. I had to reboot my system numerous times each day, they swapped out every single piece of equipment and nothing improved. Finally they agreed to let me out of the contract early due to admitting their failure to deliver service for several months.

But alas not the end of the story there. I still got billed the following month and they never came by to remove the equipment. I’ve called a few times and they keep saying they will refund the money and send someone by for the equipment. I finally got on the roof and took it down myself because I did not want to wait around for four hours with a no-show again, and I wanted to patch the holes in my roof from their antenna before the snow came.

Yesterday I called several times, hit the first 1 option for sales, and each time kept getting dumped into someone’s voicemail box instead of to the sales department. Finally someone answered, they said the person who would refund me the money was new and probably missed it, and they had no way to tell the local guy that their equipment is sitting on the side of my garage for the past six weeks waiting for them to pick up any time without appointment. I anticipate this is not over yet, especially if that equipment gets stolen.

Keyon has some friendly employees on the phone (when their system lets you talk to one) and installers, but the company is obviously being mismanaged and cannot function well. Do not go with Keyon for service.

I’ve always had a great shopping experience at Target. When I ask for help, they are right on it, and if the one who asked can’t or doesn’t know the answer, they get someone else pronto. Never have felt they were pushy. Granted, I haven’t shopped there in quite a while, and don’t shop there very often because they are clear across town from me. Maybe their policy has changed.

That’s a tightrope for retailers to walk. On one hand customers complain they can never find help, on the other they complain they are getting bugged with too many help offers.

I’d prefer the problem of too much help myself.

I would have to put Blackers Furniture into the the same category as Target. I hate going there and after our last experience wont go back. We told the salesman we were just looking and would let him know if we needed anything. The guy followed us like a hawk, if we paused to look at something he would run up and try to join our conversation. I was afaid to even talk becuase if he heard a word he would jump in and asked if we liked this model. Finally my wife told him we were just looking and would let him know if we had any question. He still followed like a bad spy trying to stay in the shadows, as soon as we stopped, there he was again. We just left. Bought a couch at Oakridge, even though we liked the one we saw a Blackers better. We just couldn’t deal with this vulture salesman.

Phase 4 stereo is a pretty good place. It used to be on the Northgate Mile, but moved to 17th Street, near K mart. I’ve been buying stuff there since 1994, and have never been dissapointed.

Computer store salesman are the most annoying to me. I don’t claim to be a computer expert but I know what all the numbers mean when talking about a computer’s specs. So I certainly know what it is I’m looking for when I go in for a computer. And I certainly know enough to know the differences in quality between brands. I told the salesman repeatedly that I would only need help if I decided to make purchase and I didn’t need him otherwise. Yet he still hovered over me treating me like I was a complete noob with computers explaining things to me that I already knew like what 2048 SDRAM meant and was good for. I realize many people are mystified by computers and appreciate that help but in my case the salesman lost a sale because he wouldn’t leave me alone.

Great customer service at Albertsons in Ammon - Recently I had surgery and consequently have a back brace that I must wear for 2 to 3 months. My first trip out of my home was to Albertsons to pick up a few items. I was barely a week post-op and alone. I collected my items and headed for check out. Now mind you, I was quite emotional for a couple of weeks, and I’m not supposed to bend, twist, etc. I had difficulty loading my items on the counter and about 1/2 through, realized I forgot milk. The struggle of getting my items on the counter was enough and I was on the verge of tears wondering, Now what am I gonna do? The clerk took one look at me, asked me what I needed. I told her I forgot milk as my eyes watered with tears. She raced back to grab the milk, called someone to help me out and away I went. About a week later when I was feeling better I went back in and thanked her. A couple of days later, I picked up a few more things and this time a gentleman was the cashier. He carefully loaded each bag so that none were more than a pound or two and offered assistance out. Everything that we take for granted (like tying your shoe or showering) has been far more difficult in recent weeks. But without exception, when I’ve had to shop, they’ve been awesome.

Can we sue a national company in small claims court?

I had considered taking Qwest and Dish to small claims court because of their ridiculousness in canceling my accounts (it did cause monetary and credit report issues for many months until they finally cleared them up).

oops I meant “courts” not “courst”…whatever that means ha ha

Sorry to hear that Kareie!
Obviously Ammon is set up differently than IF, because my bill has the Electric, water & sewage altogether which comes from Idaho Power.
I really don’t know what you can do about this, other than try to speak with a supervisor today and tell them your situation. But from what you wrote, it looks like they already set up a payment plan with you. The problem is, you signed their paperwork telling them you would make these payments, it’s up to you to follow through. It’s not their fault that you lost your job. Since you can’t afford the payment, you probably can’t afford an attorney. However, most attorneys offer the initial consultation free, so it might help to contact one and ask their advice on what to do. Other than that, all you can do is go back and speak with a Supervisor there, but it looks like you may be stuck having to pay the bill regardless.
Good luck & let us know what happens. Perhaps somebody else can provide some advice on what to do?

Good point Joe

Kareie - In my own experience, the Ammon city offices seem to have some very incompetent people working there. They appear unable to do the simplest things like keeping track of records and billing. When I moved here I had to practically throw my money in their faces to convince them I should be paying Ammon utilities. They kept claiming my subdivision wasn’t in Ammon even though it was on every map and verified through the county! Then a couple of years ago they accused me of NOT paying my bill until I personally handed them the canceled check that proved they had cashed it. One of their geniuses had credited someone else’s account with my payment. And not so much as an apology from this ditz after essentially calling me a liar.

You should consult an attorney - the first visit should be free - and see what your legal obligations are since you did nothing wrong here. Don’t take the City’s word on anything.

Big 5 Sporting Goods Ammon:
Recently a young man went into Big 5 to make a purchase of a jacket. He looked through the store and found a jacket that was suitable and within his price range. The rack that he retrieved the jacket from was marked as a sale rack with signs at both ends of the rack showing the sales price. Upon taking the jacket to the counter to pay for it, the price rang up as the regular price. He politely informed the clerk and pointed to the display sign showing the sales price. The clerk was friendly but had to ask the assistant manager Chris about the difference. Chris who had discovered his new found superiority in the store took the young man back to the rack and showed him the display price. Chris was not going to budge claiming that they did not have enough room on the rack for just sales items. It should be noted that all of the colors and designs were essentially the same. Chris was going to utilize his authority and failed to understand that Bait and Switch tactics are illegal. He could have made this a positive experience for the youth, but instead was cocky and arrogant. The youth refused to pay the price and then left to a competitor who offered a better jacket at a better price. Calls into the local store to talk with the manager went unanswered and corporate only has an answering machine. This is one of the problems so many people are shopping on line taking money outside of our area.

During the busy holiday season I decided while I did my shopping to have my oil changed while shopping at Wal Mart. I have never been a big fan of either store in Idaho Falls as the employees are poorly trained and the managers amd co-managers do notknow how to handle simple situations. I left my car and was assured that they would call when it was done. After waiting an extended period of time we walked to the service area and saw it sitting outside. When I went to pay for the bill, I was told that the plug was snug and due to liability circumstances they would not change the oil. I asked why they had not called and received every exuse in the book. Now when you think of it if you are working in the pit and you want the day to go quicker, it would be easy to say that there is something wrong with the plug to help you get to your coffee break. Took it to another reliable place that had it done in 10 minutes without a problem. These are the type of busiensses that don’t care about the customer or even the employee, your time would be better spent somewhere else.

I agree that in most cases Jiffy Lube could be trusted more than Walmart. But not always.

Last time after I had my truck serviced at Jiffy Lube I went and washed it the next day. While washing the tires I noticed that one of my tire valve stem caps was gone. Jiffy Lube had checked all of my tire pressures the previous day. I decided to check the remaining tire valve stem caps. Of the 3 that were still on the tires, 2 of them were barely started to be screwed on and the other one was on tight but it was cross-threaded! There were 4 valve stem caps on my truck and not one of them got put back on right. It really made me wonder if they screw up something that simple if they are competent to do anything else right. I had to go back to Jiffy Lube and have them give me a cap to replace the missing one.

Funny thing was I got a call from a survey company a few days later and it was a satisfaction survey for Jiffy Lube. I told them exactly what had happened, and after that I got a telephoned apology from the manager of the local store. But not until I had taken their satisfaction survey.

I used to change my own oil, but realized I was wasting more time and not saving much more money than having a service.

By the time I buy the oil and filter, create the mess all over my hands, make myself filthy by crawling under the car, then having to dispose of the oil properly at the recycling center, I think it really is faster and more convenient to get it changed by a service. But if it works better for you that’s great.

I agree with both sides; my dad taught me how to change oil and change/rotate tires when I was just 17; valuable skills! But my problem, CR67, is what to do with the oil??? I know that most of the chains recycle their oil…..so I feel like I am paying 28.50 for that (as well as having someone else check my tire pressure

That’s where I take mine. It’s free and its close, so for me its convienent.
And I don’t go out of my way to pick up the oil and filter. I go to WalMart each week anyways so I just pick up the supplies when I need them. Quick and easy.

I always do my own oil changes and lubes.

I learned long ago to never trust any quick lube place to do anything right. I’ve had bad experiences with each and every one I have tried. Jiffy Lube forgot to put the oil cap back on once. Then they only finger-tightened a drain plug. Next time they installed the wrong oil filter resulting in NO oil filtration. My daughter’s Honda Accord engine was destroyed by failed main bearings within three days of having her oil changed at Grease Monkey in Rexburg. It appeared the bearings had gotten red hot and were totally burned and blackened. This would only happen if the engine was run with no oil (on this engine it would take only a minute or two). Of course they denied any responsibility. Evidently something similar happened to another person at the Jiffy Lube on Woodruff - I saw a guy picketing the store with a sign that said, “My oil change cost me $700″.
The small inconvenience of doing it myself is worth it to me and I know it’s done right. I’ve also saved lots of money over the years. Just about enough to pay for my daughter’s new engine!

I’m beginning to rethink this, maybe I should start changing my own oil again. I don’t think I’ll save so much money and probably will lose time, but I absolutely agree that these quick lube places cannot be trusted to do the job right, or to take responsibility when they do make costly mistakes.

Thanks for the heads up Brian. Now if anybody knows of a good mechanic here in Idaho Falls, that’d be great. I need to have a tie rod replaced on my suv and I’ve been putting it off as I’m not sure of a good mechanic around here. Any ideas?
Thanks!

Thanks Brian!

Yeah, they do good work but are very expensive. Took my wifes car there last year and they charged us an arm and a leg for a rebuilt alternator.

I swear by Oswald’s service on Yellowstone. I’ve taken two cars and numerous company vehicles there and never had a problem. They’re honest (have even saved me money on occasion) and reliable.

I just have to let you all know about bad business. My ex works for a local HVAC company here in town. I have his kids in my house, anyways on the 3rd of January I went to work and my kids called and said the house was cold. I called my ex for 2 hours and called the on call service to get the message to him. He never called me back. I finally called my brother who works for a local supplier and he called Alpine heating. Rob at Alpine came right out and my house had heat in an hour. The complaint I have is that the company Alpha Mechanical is obviously not a family oriented business, this is who my ex works for. He did not seem to care that his kids had no heat and the on call service did nothing to notify him that we had no heat. It took me almost three hours to get ahold of someone and than when I called Alphas main line number a lady answered and I said is this Alpha and her reply was yes this is Misses Alpha, Alpine had my heat going within an hour I wasted three hours to try and get service from another company who cares nothing for families. I tried to give the company the benefit of the doubt but it is no wonder my ex has done a 360 change since going to work for them, and none of them have called to see if I got heat in my house, and of course my ex has since changed his number. I just hope that you guys call Alpine Heating and not Alpha, the service is nothing to speak of.

I’ve got another complaint about Sage Creek Auto Repair. My wife took her car in to have them install a new windshield washer bottle and they ended up charging us almost double of what they originally quoted us. AND they ended up keeping the car all day. Something that should have taken 1-2 hours max,(from what they told us) took them 8 hours AND they charged us an arm & a leg. I even supplied the washer bottle. (a factory OEM part) Only thing involved was the labor.
Unfortunately we didn’t get a “written” estimate when they quoted us the price last time. I should have known better, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt and it came back to bite me in the keister!

Stay as far away from Sage Creek Auto Repair as you can!!

Speaking of HVAC repairs, I would NOT recommend Hipwell’s. I called them about my gas furnace not running. I showed them what it was doing and they spent several hours ripping a hole in my basement wall and running a ridiculously huge, new duct because the furnace wouldn’t start (huh?). SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS later he left. Next day my furnace wouldn’t start. Needless to say I was hot, and not from the furnace. Since they had done quite enough damage already I decided to become my own expert and did an intensive online search and study of my furnace. After finding and digging through the manufacturers manual it became rather obvious the problem was probably a bad “inducer” which is a fancy name for the ventilation fan. Using the diagrams I realized how easy this furnace is to work on and verified the problem in about 10 minutes. I called Jewel’s and they had the part for $200. I had it fixed and also repaired a screwed up drain Hipwell had installed, that wasn’t working, within a few hours.
I spent $700, at Christmas time, for nothing! I never recommend them to anyone.

I hate drive thrus, and I absolutely refuse to patronize any businesses where I can hear the employees complaining in front of the customers.

I used to work with a woman who complained about patients in front of other patients. Horrible. Of course this was long before HIPAA, but I’m thinking, I bet she hasn’t changed.

And when the workers complain to each other about their jobs, or about a coworker or a manager, I just tell them that it’s inappropriate for them to be having this conversation in front of a customer.

Most of the time, they look at me like I’m an old fogie, what do I know? Well, I know enough to report the conversation to the manager, and never return to that business.

I agree…..I can’t stand drive-thru’s. I’m not big on fast food to begin with aside from ordering the occasional pizza. Regardless, Joe’s suggestion of crock pot cooking is something I do at least once a week. So many things can be cooked this way and all you have to do is throw everything in the pot, put it on low and by the time you get home from work, the whole house smells awesome and you’ll have a great dinner waiting.

Speaking of crock pot dishes made me hungry! So I stopped by the store after work today and bought a nice pork roast and vegetables. I cut up all the veggies tonight and before I leave for work in the morning I’ll throw everything in the pot and be set for an awesome dinner tomorrow night.

To get back onto the topic of local business complaints, I have to give props to the folks at Mt.View Redi-Care. It’s the fairly new clinic right there by the round-a-bout at Taylors Crossing (500 S Utah Ave to be exact). I went snowboarding up at Targhee over the weekend and I wiped out pretty bad, really twisting my back. I had to cut my trip short and was laid up the rest of the weekend. I kept ice on it to reduce the swelling and took some ibuprofen for the pain. But today at work sitting at my desk was really painful and I thought I better get it checked out. Now although I have good insurance through work, I don’t yet have a primary care physician, so I decided to stop by Mt.View Redi-Care on my lunch hour, being that their fairly close to where I work. I have to say that compared to the Community Care Clinic I went to last year when I had the flu real bad, this place was 100 times better! I got right in with zero wait time, and everyone from the staff to the nurse to Dr. Corbin Bunnage….everyone was very professional & very courteous. I had some x-rays taken which showed some bruising on my lower spine and the doctor prescribed me some meds and set me up with a referral to have it looked into further if it doesn’t heal up within a week or two. (which he believes it should) I was so impressed with the care I received, I wrote them a thank you note as soon as I got home from work.
I can’t stress enough the amazing care I received from the staff & Doctor at Mt.View Redi-Care. Their “bed-side manner” is second to none and I would and do recommend this clinic to everyone that may have an issue that doesn’t require an actual hospital visit.
Way to go Mt.View!!

Excellent. I hope they put Community Care out of business. Community Care is neither professional or competent. I am glad to see other business’ giving them a run for their money.

Schlotzky’s Deli? I’ve never been there in the what 10 or 15 years they’ve been open, but they must be doing something right.

Thanks for the crockpot tip Babs! I appreciate it.
As for Schlotzkys Deli…… Joe, you’ve gotta try that place! Awesome sandwhiches! Like their slogan goes…..”funny name, great food”….or something like that. I always get “the original” when I go there. Definately check it out the next time you get a chance.

I’ve always wanted to try their pizza, but everytime I get there I end up getting the same thing! I’ll have to give it a try sometime.

I just received a call from the nurse at Mt.View Redi-Care asking how my injury was & if I was feeling better today. (that’s a first!)
This is definately the place to go if you ever need to see a Doctor about a non-life threatening injury.
All I can say is “impressive”!

Oh, Mike, on the one hand I can see that not hiring felons could be considered by some folks to be a plus, but on the other, if the felons have done their time, haven’t they now paid their debt and deserve as much a chance as anyone else to work in a good place and have a good life?

Just as you did with me and the school minor medical issue, I’m asking you out of curiosity, to understand where you’re coming from here.

As it stands now, many felons work in restaurants as it is. In my view, it is a plus that felons don’t work in Franco’s Pizzeria. Many felons have poor hygiene habits personally and professionally. Some have Hepatitis conditions from A to C. Many felons can also harm your food if they know who you are and have had dealings with you in the past. (lol) Additionally, I don’t necessarily like being served by someone with numerous tattoos and nose rings (whether they are a felon or not) but many do make these types of choices. Plus, I don’t want these jokers handling my credit card when I pay for an evening out….several months ago a server over at the FireHouse Restaurant on Hitt Road had a card reader and was caught skimming numbers! I realize these generalizations are not exclusive to felons, but if I was an employer and/or a patron and had to choose between the two…..I would opt for the person without a proven criminal record of serious nature! Hope that helps explain it.

Those are really good points, I wanted to try that new Franco’s for the food but now I support that “no-felons” idea. I wonder if any other local businesses make this decision? If there are more than a handful I would start an article to publicize them and keep track.

…several months ago a server over at the FireHouse Restaurant on Hitt Road had a card reader and was caught skimming numbers!

Was that reported in the news? Holy cow, this is the kind of thing we need to share.

Has anyone ever seen the movie Waiting? Its about waiters at a restaurant, similar to say Applebees, who do all kinds of nasty things. Having worked in the food industry back in high school I can say there is an unfortunate bit of truth about the nasty things that happened in that movie that do happen in real life. Word of advice - never be rude to a waitress and never under any circumstances send your food back to be fixed.

In fact in this movie there is a running gag where the employees expose their genitals to one another as practical jokes. It was in the media a few years back how Taco Bell employees in town were doing this same thing. I hadn’t seen the movie at that time but its now obvious in hindsight that they likely got it from the movie

For heck’s sake, I don’t think I can stand it, after reading all this stuff. I used to want to eat at restaurants…

Mike, thanks for your honest response. My honest response back to you that is that it makes me cringe to read the sweeping generalizations that you (and others) apply routinely to all felons, and to all restaurant workers in general. But that’s the stuff for another post, another day.

(No, I’m not a felon, and I don’t work in a restaurant either).

That being said, I probably commented somewhere on this site about a friend of mine who said that if you saw what goes on in the kitchens of any restaurant anywhere, you’d probably never go back.

The visceral reaction to that concept isn’t the same as “if you saw what goes on in the stock room of any major department store” or “if you saw what goes on in the break room of any office building” because we’re expecting a different level of cleanliness for our food.

eugh!

Soooo, are there any cooking classes offered around Idaho Falls? I read somewhere that Dolores Cassella offers gourmet cooking classes in her home, anyone know much about that, or cooking classes offered at EITC?

I’m suddenly motivated to learn to help my wife cook more at home.

I am skipping lunch today due to all this information. Yikes!!!! I am really glad the Post Register puts Health Inspections in the paper now. It is a real wake up call to restauranteers and the patrons.

Is Dolores Casella still around? She use to rant and rave in Letters to the Editor with frequency. I haven’t heard much about her for quite a while. My daughter took a few classes from Rush’s and she made some wonderful meals. They also have a class in the summer on outdoor grilling.

I believe Dolores offers cooking classes on a private basis for small groups. I’ve seen her eating at Happy Chinese Reataurant (Park Ave. in Idaho Falls) on a daily basis over the past month.

With all her surgeries and health issues, she offers these classes for a small fee to help pay for medication that she needs and living expenses. You might be able to catch her over there, or call her. I believe her number is in the phone book.

Speaking of Community Care, a coworker last week took off work and went to CC with strep throat symptoms. The doctor said he didn’t think it was strep, but took cultures and said he would get back to her with the results. Three days later the doc had not called and her symptoms were much worse, so this girl went to her regular doctor, where she was diagnosed with strep throat and ear infection.

Not cleaning the condiment containers happens quite a lot at many restaurants. I have a relative that works at Red Lobster and they claim it happens there. I will only use full bottles or request one from the server. I used to work at JB’s in Boise a long time ago after high school and the manager was the one you had to watch! I remember one time I threw out a container of very rancid shrimp and he dug it out of the trash, rinsed it off and put it back in the fridge! I finally told the assistant manager who threw it out. This guy would also make me put moldy, mushy strawberries in the pies I made. I tried to trim out the garbage but again, he would fish them out of the trash and slap them back in the pie filling. It’s amazing what a little pie tone will cover up! To this day I still won’t eat strawberry pie unless I make it myself! Or most anything else unless I watch it being prepared and the cook doesn’t look like a hepatitis infected lowlife.

On a HAPPY note - I also love Happy’s. I hope they stay in business forever. Lots of very tasty food and absurdly good prices. Great service And good oriental beer.

cafe del sol= eat up={and the cook doesnt look like a hepatitis infected lowlife} was more indicative of your persona than I realized.as there are many veterans who contracted the illness serving our country for your right to have a opinion on food service personnel ,so you could offer such great wisdom on the local sanitary establishment,hope foreign produced ale was pastuerized.

Anonymous - I’ve been in and around enough kitchens (commercial and otherwise) in my life to have developed ZERO tolerance for any filth or corner cutting. As long as restaurant managers hire drug addicts, felons and immature teenagers (not too many veterans in those categories) as cooks there are going to be problems. Nearly every time there is a sudden outbreak of hepatitis in a community it can be traced back to a restaurant employee. A mandatory blood test for new food service hires would curb that trend but I don’t see it happening.

In the article, “Paper Checks Belong to a Bygone Era”, there were comments about having a mandatory tip added to payments made with credit cards, unless it was determined a cash tip had been left. (Let me know which restaurants those are so I always pay by check.) I didn’t know it was legal for restaurants to authorize banks to withhold money above what the cardholder had signed for….or am I seriously clueless about what is going on with credit cards and restaurants? I have no problem with tipping, but I also usually leave a cash tip whether I pay by check or plastic.

Will something terrible happen if you change the pre-determined amount of their tip? When do you sign that contract? Before, or after receiving the service? Help!

I tip based on the level of service I get. If service is particularly poor I don’t tip at all. Not too long ago I was a local restaurant and the waitress was rude and didn’t come by to refill our drinks a single time. So she got no tip. Here’s a hint to any waiter staff reading this: in my opinion the #1 important thing you can do to earn a tip is be quick about refilling drinks.

Another thing that will downgrade your tip is being too chatty. I’ll bring a friend to eat with me if I want a friend so don’t try. Be courteous but let us eat. I don’t care about your life and I certainly didn’t come out to eat to hear about it. All I want from you is quick courteous service and drink refills.

If restaurants were to include the price of tips in the meal to insure better pay for the wait staff, I’m guessing most people would eat at home due to “food costs”. It’s courtesy and good manners to tip but not required in most restaurants.

Wait staff have a tough job. They deal with all walks of life including very ill-mannered and mean people. Some people seem to think they are the only person in the restaurant (regardless of how busy they are and/or short handed) and the waiter should be sitting at their feet lest they want something. Then you should jump over tables like superman to get it to them as quick as you can. That way they can complain that you weren’t leaving them alone.

I would not want to be a waitress.

Nemesis, I’m gathering from your posts that you would have the personality for it. I think it takes a very social, mild mannered person to be a great waiter/waitress. I waited in my younger years too for extra money. Some days I loved it, some days I hated it. But I was (not anymore) very shy with people I didn’t know. Some would take my shyness in all the wrong ways and I’d go home crying.

have a good night.

Happys’ employees/management certainly make me feel happy, but as far as their food goes, in my opinion, it’s very bland, it’s fresh and of high quality though. It seems as though I’ve had to put salt on my dishes there, to bring out most of the flavor. Otherwise I can see why they ranked in the top ten Chineese restaraunts in the U.S.A. Thank God they don’t use MSG. Anyway, I LOVE chineese food. Can anyone tell me if they have tried Ming’s in downtown I.F., and how their food is? I’m going to try it near the first of May, if I get a positive reply. Sonic’s hamburgers in Ammon seem very sloppy to me, I love their drinks though. Although Tom’s Gyros seems a little dirty and in need of a good paint job, their hamburgers are very tasty, if you don’t mind a lot of grease and lettuce. Their fry sticks are to die for too. And their gyros are a real treat, best i’ve ever had. Hot Diggity Dog was a real dissapointment for me a few times, as the buns for the dogs I got, were soggy wet…this has happend three times now, their fries weren’t half bad. Anyway, I’m just very hungry right now, as if you couldn’t tell, and I wanted to give the positive and negitives in my opinion of some food joints. Remember, if you get good service, please tip, the wait staff count on it. I’m going to order a pizza now, HhhhMmmm, I wonder who I should order it from?

StarsAglow,

Ming’s is my favorite restaurant in town. It blows away Happy’s in terms of freshness, taste, and certainly service. The entire restaurant is staffed by Ming and Jenny Lee, a husband and wife who used to be head chef and waitress at Happy’s. They are the sweetest couple and always eager to please. Get the ginger beef! If they are busy, be prepaired to wait since it’s only the two of them working.

Oh, and I would check the credentials on Happy’s “best 100″ award. Someone told me it was one of those awards where the first 100 restaurants that sent in $200 made the list… not that it’s a bad restaurant.

Well Cr67 post 140 on Papa Johns was pretty much made up #1 there is no guy there that has a really greasy hair and studs in his nose and lip and no-one has a bunch of tattoo and periceing’s as for the rag being dirty i can see it but a white rag can look dirty pretty quick but being late afternoon i highly doubt that they were wiping counters down at that point in time…

I know what I saw because I was sitting there watching it all happen while my friend was waiting for his pizza. I’m not going to say something like that just to say it….I used to order from that Papa Johns, so it was disappointing for me to see. I for one won’t be back….I’ll stick with Papa Murphys.

I don’t like it. It does hurt businesses and you never know who just has an ax to grind. Again, I think names should be left out if you can’t say something good.

But that’s where we all need to quit speculating don’t you think? If someone has a complaint that is that bad, they should probably contact the BBB or at least management, but not Idahofallz.com.

I try, and again sometimes my mouth gets ahead of me, to (pardon me but) stfu if I can’t say something good, unless I am saying it to the person directly. It’s just what I believe needs to be done. War stories are one thing. But slamming a person or place on a public forum especially, I just don’t agree with. I don’t think it always has to do with sensitivity issues either. It’s embarrassing and humiliating and costly for a business and can be costly for a person.

Praise all you want. Everyone needs a pat on the back.

Does that mean you’d rather talk about others?

A lot of restaurants are noted on here. Why doesn’t anyone call the health department if its that bad? That will be published in the PR for all of IF to see.

I disagree Mike. I think there is way too much bashing here. But it’s not so much the site itself that concerns me but some of the people posting. Some are a little scary and it would seem some use this site as a way to get revenge with perceived injustices knowing they are anonymous as we saw on Radford’s thread last week.

There is a difference between opinions about todays issues going back and forth, and people just out to be cruel. I also question if people can’t find anything better to do with their time than spread malicious gossip around?

One thing I will add to some of the first posts here. IMO EIRMC should not have made the little boy with the broken bone wait. CC should not have made Mike’s little boy wait with his elbow. I think something like that could have been take care of there unless they had one really new PA or MD on shift. The biggest problem you have here is that people seem to go to places like EIRMC for a running nose doing nothing more than taking up necessary time for the staff. This can and should be treated at either a CC or your private physician. You stated that they weren’t busy and that may be. EIRMC and CC should be able to establish that a broken bone or displaced elbow takes priority over a sore throat, running nose, etc. It’s called triaging a situation. I did break a bone once and was taken directly back to a room. Xray and visit took about an hour and I was sent home and told to see a specialist to cast it as it was not displaced. A displaced bone would have been treated there at EIRMC with the doctor o/c.

Not all clinics have X-ray equipment though nor the means to put a displaced bone (broken) back together. Maybe CC doesn’t but I was under the impression that they do. If not, that needs to be handled at the hospital ER. People want to run to their doctor if they think they are having a heart attack. Do Not do this. You are wasting valuable time and the doctor does not have the means to keep you alive if you are having a heart attack. He/she is going to send you to the ER and by the time you get there, you could be a DOA.

If my child had a broken bone and was not taken back right away, I would be notifying upper management of the issue asap. Sometimes people become angry and leave without ever saying anything to the people who can make a difference. Sometimes people just complain to complain. The manager should be able to decipher between the two.

Talk about sensitive. Where does it say evil? Sounds to me like it’s a marriage issue?

Before we have to cast the eye of Sauron upon anyone and send out the orcs…I’m going to offer a change in discussion.

Has anyone noticed that the sales tactics at The Smith Group (Smith Chev) have changed? I’ve heard they have a new manager.

We went car shopping in March - the last time was 3 years ago - there was quite a difference for us, and it wasn’t good. It wasn’t just one salesman, either. On two different lots we got either the bait and switch tactics or something else involving more aggressive tactics. We finally left and bought from another dealership that listened and found us what we were looking for. A lady I work with mentioned they had had a similar experience with them recently and ended up buying elsewhere.

Prior to this, we had enjoyed a good relationship with this dealership and had purchased several vehicles from them over the years. Was this just an isolated thing or has anyone else had this experience with them?

CR67s idea is like the other article about the improving the library. They could have taken it as bashing the library, but instead the director came here and addressed ALL the points. He explained why they did not think some things would work, he said he would investigates some of the suggestions, and he admitted a couple problems and took care of them quickly. It was as honest and upfront as you could expect or want. He did not make a fuss that people were saying things anonymously, he just dealt honestly with each criticism. The library is improved already.

Why can’t a person or business who thinks they are being “bashed” do the same? Explain why a criticism has no merit or acknowledge a mistake happened. Simple.

Car salesman may be feeling management pressure with this tough economy. That is no excuse to do those sales tactics though.

It’s true that most employers want to know if there’s a problem, it’s the only way to correct it. Most people have backbone enough to talk to the management team personally without announcing public griefs behind the wall of anonymous handles. Nobody is going to bite you.

Babs is correct. Kind of like kids texting all the time instead of actually opening their mouth and talking. They would rather text than talk.

I guess we are just an older version of technological geekery…..we type out our complaints rather than use word of mouth. Great point guys!

Poky Business Owner….I always inform the management when i receive bad or unacceptable service from a restaraunt or business. As a matter of fact I wrote a one page complaint to the management of the Olive Garden regarding that jerk that came in and demanded to get a table ahead of everyone else. To this day I have yet to receive a response. So my next option is to voice my concerns here and/or the local Better Business Bureau, as well as friends and family. I have no problem whatsoever voicing my opinions directly to management and I often do. And 9 out of 10 times, they’ll thank me for doing so. If a business owner can’t handle constructive criticism about his business and/or employees, than he has no place being in buisness for him/herself. Same goes with a manager of a restaraunt/business. Knowing somebodys name has nothing to do with the service they received. We’re all adults here and most of us can tell when a poster comes online to voice a concern about a business, as opposed to some teenager fooling around trying to badmouth a business.

If indeed you confront the owner first and get no satisfaction then maybe you have every right to be upset. A lot of businesses are governed by laws that prevent them from discussing issues regarding clients so they can’t defend themselves on a public forum. Your take only works with some businesses not all. Many businesses deal with so many clients through the course of the day that they would have to knwo who what and when it happened to defend it at all which can’t be done on a public forum. Stating that an owner can come on board and defend themselves and correct a problem isn’t always realistic.

Now if you’ll excuse me I have a business to run and need to be up early.

Has anyone ever had a problem with FreeCreditReport. com? I signed up for a free credit report last October. The deal with this site is, in order to get your free credit report, you have to sign up with them by giving them your CC information, which they’ll bill you 14.95 a month, unless you cancel within 7 days. I didn’t see that as being a problem as I just wanted to see how my credit report looked. I cancelled on the 3rd day and thought that was that. NOT SO FAST!!
Last week I received an email from them stating that my membership was cancelled because the charges weren’t going through my credit card. (last month I lost my wallet and had to get a new credit/debit card, insurance/medical card, etc etc.) Needless to say I was furious to find out this company (CreditReport.Com) failed to cancel my subscription and has been charging me since last October! Granted I should probably read my bank statements more often (which I will now!), but the thing is, 15 bucks a month can easily go unnoticed in my acct. When balancing my checkbook, I usually round up to the nearest 5 or 10 dollar mark, like if I pay 12.45 for something, I’ll round the charge up to 15 dollars, this way I always have an extra couple hundred dollars in my acct at any given time.
I wrote them and explained the situation and I haven’t heard back from them yet. I was just wondering if anyone has had the same problem with this company.

I also had a similar problem with PCTools.com. I purchased a product from them and then cancelled after a month. Then I found out 3 months later they were still charging my account. Luckily I still had the cancellation email and confirmation number which verified when it was cancelled, so they had no choice but to reimburse me.

If I don’t get any results from FreeCreditReport.com, I’ll take the issue up with Visa since they cover all purchases made, I’m sure they’ll be able to get a refund for me. (I hope!)

Does anyone else have any horror stories regarding online purchases? I’ve made a few purchases over the years using Amazon, Ebay, TigerDirect, to name a few. And I’ve never had any problems dealing with these companies. Since then I’ve purchased a pre-paid Visa card to use specifically for online purchases, (aside from bill payments, utilities, car insurance, etc) This way only the money I put in the account can be taken out, and I don’t have to worry about my checking account being drained without my knowledge.

Just remember:
F R E E does not spell “Free” with credit report dot come baby!

freecreditreport.com is a CHARGE site. Avoid them! That’s the one with those highly annoying commercials playing every ten seconds on every tv and radio station in the country. Why pay for this service when it supposed to be free??

The legitimate FREE site is the annualcreditreport.com site in post #200. It’s actually is free unless you want your numbered score which costs $7.95. You can get one free report every four months if you only use one reporting service at a time. I just rotate through them - Transunion, Experian, Equifax.

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

CR67-
If they are ignoring your requests to cancel the account and still charging you, inform them you will file a fraud complaint if they persist, then do it.

FTC complaints:
https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup

IC3 complaints:
http://www.ic3.gov/

Guest - I’m sorry about your experience at Flying J. It bugs me that more places won’t give discounts for cash. The other day I was reading a news report that said with the fees that the credit card companies charge the gas stations for using their cards, they have actually made more profits than the station owners lately. If it costs the station 2% (or more) to process a credit card, I think those who pay cash should get a rebate. Otherwise those who pay as they go are subsidizing those who buy on credit. I don’t think that’s right.

If you buy very much gas I know of a way to save 10%. That’s 40 cents per gallon at the current price of about $4.

Both Smith’s and Fred Meyer are having a tax stimulus promotion. I think it goes through the end of July. If you buy a $300 gift card they will add another 10% making the value $330 for the cost of $300. You can buy up to $1200 worth of the cards, all at once or in $300 increments.

The cards can be used in the stores or at the gas pumps. If all you use the card for is gas, you are getting $330 worth of gas for $300. The only catch is that you are pre-paying but most people will buy $300 worth of gas within a couple of months at the most.

When you buy the $300 card Smith’s will also give you a coupon you can use one time to get another 15 cents off per gallon. However, when you use the card in the store you will not get their normal gas discount for spending certain amounts since you got a gas discount coupon when you bought the card. I hope that makes sense.

At Fred Meyer you can also get a 10 cent per gallon discount for each $100 you spend in the store during a calendar month. The discount is good until the end of the following month.

I hope this helps someone. I bought a card for each store and will probably buy another one before the promotion ends.

I had a similar experience with Wal-Mart in Sept of 2007. I took my truck in for some needed repairs as it was a holliday and all of the other businesses I would have normally used were closed. I needed to pick up some items and needed an oil change as well as a valve stem on one of my wheels replaced. I was going to be traveling very early in the morning and returning late at night so I figured I would kill two birds with one stone. I dropped off my truck, picked up the groceries that I needed and returned to pick up my truck. I was told that it would still be a while as they were busy. I realized it was a holliday so I made arraingements for someone to pick me up and return later. I returned shortly before the tire/lube shop closed and picked up my truck.
As I was leaving the parking lot I heard a strange noise from under the hood and stopped in the turn lane to investigate. As I opened the hood of my truck I immediatley realized the problem. They had forgotten to replace the oil fill cap (and had just laid it on the top of the engine I am assumming). The oil cap fell from the engine into the cooling fan blades, causing two of the five blades to break as well as damaging the oil cap beyond use. I immediatley returned to the store and pointed out the problem to them and they acted as if I had caused the damage myself. They then asked if I could find another oil cap in town and pick it up. Now I have managed a retail store locally and felt that if this situation had happened while I was working we (the company) would have replaced the cap and fan without question as the employee caused the damage and tried to make up the inconvienence to the customer. Instead, I had to find another ride, as the one that had dropped me off had already left, to find an oil cap from a parts store. I then had to drive my truck the next day with a broken cooling fan. I contacted several dealers in the valley and none of them had a fan in stock, but would order one in. I was forced to drive my truck for three more days with the broken fan, which the dealers said was not advised due to being off balance which could cause premature wear of the bearing on the shaft that connects the engine to the fan. The bill was about $300.00 which I had to fork out of my pocket hoping to be reimbursed by Wal-Mart.

I had to miss several hours of work for which I am paid hourly, not salary. My job at the time was in Blackfoot and in order to get there I needed to drive my truck which was being fixed.

After the dealer fixed the fan I took the repair bill to the management in Wal-Mart on Utah and was reimbursed, but was still forced to pay for the oil change that caused all of the problems in the first place.
Like I mentioned before, I used to manage a retail store and we believed that if you give the customer good service he/she MIGHT tell one or two people but if you give the customer a poor sevice they WILL tell at least ten people. I have told at least 10 peopel and now I have reached out and told how many more?

I would not recommend ever taking any vehicle to Wal-Mart on Utah for any reason.

I have mixed experiences with Stuff Marts, they tend to be low-end and not very good quality merchandise or customer service (hence the super low prices).

I truly hope they care enough to thoroughly investigate that situation and rectify any customer service issues.

I agree with CR67 (and so nice to see your smiling face here again, metaphorically speaking!) but I do think sometimes people (not on this site, but I read some of the comments on the original site Guest linked us to) have a “knee jerk” reaction to WalMart, that it is evil and everything about it is “bad”…..

Honestly, I think Walmart has a necessary place in our society as I think that some people really can’t afford to buy their food and other basic necessities anywhere else . . . .I also know that their prescription drug program has allowed many people (especially the elderly) to buy their prescriptions at a low cost.

But I doubt I would trust my car to Walmart……it’s not their “thing” which is why I head off to JiffyLube….is that not open on Sunday?? the original poster said his “only option” in IF was to go to Walmart.

BTW, why wouldn’t you change your oil before heading out on a long road trip?

Thank you Easterner, I appreciate that!
Both you and hmmm make some very good points. I’m not sure if Jiffy Lube is open on Sundays, I’m leaning towards no, but like Easterner pointed out, I always make sure to change my oil and top off all fluids in my vehicle before taking a road trip. But regardless of the reason they needed to stop at WalMart for an oil change, I’d like to say “thank you” to Guest for your comments and for informing the public of the shabby auto service this person received. That’s what this post is for and hopefully a WalMart employee will notice these comments and appropriate action will be taken to ensure this type of issue won’t happen again.

I also agree with the produce and meat comment at WalMart. Although they recently started selling this pretty decent brand of beef called “Steak house brand steaks & ground beef” (I think that’s what it’s called?) their produce has always been terrible at both WalMarts. I like to frequent Fred Meyers (or sometimes Smiths) for my produce & meat products. Fred Meyers, although a little pricey, always seem to have the best looking and freshest produce around. But again, you get what you pay for.

I will not shop at the Jiffy Mart on Elm ST. next door to Hot Diggity Dog anymore. Once I came in with a dollars worth of pennies, I asked if one of the owners of the store, who was working at the counter that day, if I could have a couple of penny rolls soI could roll them up for her. Her response: “I don’t give out penny rolls, we are not a bank”…Rude as all hell. I told her, that “What, it costs maybe two cents a penny roll, if even a cost at all”. She told me to F Off, and not to come in anymore. I gave her all of my change, left it on the counter, told her that she could buy some penny rolls for her selfish reasons, and left. She came outside as I was leaving and said these are yours and threw them on ground. HA, I wonder who had to pick them up. I didnt let this bother me too ,much however. I came in again, about three months later, and she said to me: The Pope right?, huh I said. “The Pope!!!?. Geeze lady, I said yes the Pope. She relaxed and said good, good. What now I have to be Catholic to shop there? Her Son, is always asking me if I need help, every 2 minutes. When I come up to pay for my items, I usually have to wait ten or more minutes because of a so called “Important Call”. There prices are much higher then any so called “Mart”, that I now take my biss’ elsewhere. Her husband, calls me a “Hi Big Boy”, I was big, now I’ve lost all that weight, so when I came in last, he was there, and it felt great to say, hello Big Boy, how are you today?. He wasn’t too happy with the remark…oh booo hooo, I should have offerd him a tissue. The sodas anb drinks, are warm, especially in the summer. Hey Jiffy Mart, I have an idea, why don’t you cool up the drinks a little more, so you have a reason for the outragoes price on them, so you can make more of a profit…DAH! Anyway, who’s the one who is un-appriciated now. What goes aroun d, comes around. I have had many friends tell me the same things about this store. So I know what I am talking about. I am not worried about slander, as I can prove otherwise. Get over yourselves Jiffy Mart, and put your egos back in your pockets. No Kudos for Jiffy Mart, and buyer beware. All other stores in this town have treated me with respect, as I treat them. No wonder Jiffy Mart is about to go under, from what I hear. Oh…isn’t that just too damn bad.

I had the same reaction to the Post Office stamp machines. A POST OFFICE where you can’t buy STAMPS!!?!?! Sometimes you just gotta say, WTF??

Thankfully, Smith’s Food King, right down the street, always has stamps available. There is also a ship and copy place right next to them where you can mail your packages after the P.O.’s normal hours and weekends.

I don’t understand how you can complain about something that you clearly knew about beforehand. Rules are rules and if they broke them for you, they’d have to break them for everyone and what would be the point in having rules anyway if their not going to be enforced.
I don’t think your complaint is valid. The employee was only doing what he was supposed to do. And in the end you’re actually punishing your kids by not taking them back because of something that was clearly your fault. Interesting.

Especially not taking your children there anymore because of it? Grow up lady and don’t make your children pay for the mistake you made.
I agree with comment 219, this isn’t a legitimate business complaint.