Idaho Business Complaints
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Several people have approached me about writing complaints they have against local businesses. This is obviously a touchy subject.
On one hand, consumers should approach businesses themselves if they have problems. If they cannot resolve those problems, then they should file a complaint at the Better Business Bureau. Another negative issue is that publishing complaint stories at IdahoFallz.com can portray Idaho Falls businesses in a negative light to the world, since we rank high in many Idaho Falls-based searches.
On the other hand, approaching the business in private does not always get satisfactory results. The business owner or manager can be much more bull-headed in a private office with one customer. That owner or manager would be much more congenial if the issue is aired in a public forum where many locals are watching their reaction. The BBB is limited in that they cannot force businesses to take any remediation.
Finally, this is the Internet age, where anyone can kvetch about anyone or anything online. I would rather provide a single discussion thread for locals to make their case against local businesses and those businesses may respond, as opposed to multiple articles making multiple complaints. This can also be a forum for other customers to voice their good experiences.
So, what complaints do you have against local businesses?
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Comments
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0 
0 Since I’m still fairly new to IF, (less than a year), I really don’t have any complaints against any local businesses. Aside from the occasional lack of customer service at a business or restuarant, I’ve come across no major problems in Idaho Falls.
Over the years though, I have found that writing a professional letter to the head of a company or organization has usually gotten me the best results. I’m really big on writing letters to express both my dissastifaction AND my good impressions/experiences with a company or business.
If I’m at a restuarant or hotel on vacation or out buying a big ticket item and recieve great service from the salesperson or customer service rep,and they’ve gone out of their way to make my experience a good one, I enjoy writing to their supervisor and telling them how happy I was with the service and pointing out who the person was the did such a great job. It’s nice to deal with people who take pride in their work and go above and beyond to make the customer happy. I don’t think enough people do that, plus it makes the person feel good that someone actually took the time to inform their supervisor of a job well done. Granted I don’t do this on an everyday basis, just on special occasions where its warranted. And almost always when I go on vacation.
When I’ve recieved very poor service and the salesperson or customer service rep was extremely rude or if I recieved unsatisfactory service that wasn’t remedied at the time it occured, I will write a polite, professional letter to upper management explaining my dissatisfaction. Nine out of ten times, I will get a response back thanking me for writing and am usually compensated then, whether it be a free night at a hotel, coupons on future visits, and in some cases refunds for some or all of the amount originally paid. Management has always thanked me for notifying them of the service, whether its good OR bad.
Like I stated before, I don’t write letters regarding petty issues, little things are not worth worrying about. Everyone has a bad day here or there and shouldn’t have that pointed out to management just because it upset you. Writing the BBB as Joe stated is also a very good way to inform others when you’ve really had problems with a business.
Great post Joe, it will be interesting to read others comments and experiences they’ve had.
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0 0 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.
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0 0 Dr Michael Tall Dentistry on Merlin Ave in Idaho Falls.
I used to take my son to his office. Last summer during a routine cleaning he and his assistant looked at an X-ray and both said they could see a tumor in his mouth and both dropped the cancer word. Several sleepless nights and whole lot of stress later and I was in a specialists office. He took one look at their x-ray and said immediately that Dr Tall and his assistant had misread the X-ray. He went on to explain how dentists now use these easier and quicker type of X-ray machines but these machines are unreliable because they have a tendency to create optical illusions. He then went and took an old fashioned X-ray and showed me how there was NOTHING there where the tumor had supposedly been. His jawbone was slightly denser in that spot which creates the optical illusion of a void in the kind of X-rays dentists use. Something that the specialist said dentists should be aware of and be able to pick out just like he did rather than panic parents.
While obviously relieved I’m also very angry that Dr Tall put me through all this stress. Then he has the audacity to send me a letter saying what great news it is that there is nothing wrong. Not a word of apology for his screwup. And of course he sent me a bill. Not to mention the bill from the specialist.
Obviously, my son no longer goes there.
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0 0 ***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.
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0 0 I drink soda pop too!
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0 0 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?)
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0 0 How about barrow pit? Isn’t that a ditch? How about a sell? Isn’t that store having a sale? lol
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0 0 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.
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0 0 I need to call Keyon broadband Internet service today. Their service is fine on weekdays, but it drops off consistently in the evenings and weekends. The Keyon connection slows to a crawl or drops off altogether, despite rebooting my computer and their modem. It’s frustrating because they do not have anyone answering their phones after hours to help, then I usually forget the next morning when my connection is working again.
This behavior makes me wonder if Keyon has all their customers on the same modem, which cable used to have a problem with, so when all those customers get on at the same time in the evenings our speed drops to nothing.
If you’re looking at broadband providers right now, I’d avoid keyon because of the speed and complete loss of service issues they’ve had the last few months.
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0 0 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.
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0 0 I know this post is supposed to be about “complaints”, but I’d like to share a good experience I recently had with the Pizza Hut on Anderson. I believe sharing the good experiences we’ve had with a local business is just as important as sharing our dissatifaction.
Sunday night I called in my order for delivery and was told it would be 30-40 minutes. We always order from this store as we’re only 5 minutes away and we’ve always received our order under 20 minutes. After 50 minutes I give them a call back asking about our order. They apologized and said they were running behind because one of their drivers didn’t show up. I asked if I could just come and pick up the order myself and he said that’d be fine. When I got there I noticed 8 pizza’s waiting to be delivered. The manager apoologized and then gave me my pizza for free plus he threw in an order of cheese stix and extra sauce.
I can understand when something like this happens, as it’s out of their control, so I didn’t have a problem paying for the pizza. But this man went above and beyond the call of duty, which is why we will continue to frequent this Pizza Hut.
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0 0 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.
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0 0 Mike…I hate to say it…but for something like that, you should have taken him directly to EIRMC! Community Care and walk in clinics like that, are not for emergencies such as the one you had. Community Care places are for cuts and scrapes, colds, etc. NON emergency situations.
If you son was in such pain and had pulled his arm out of socket like you explained, anybody would have known to go directly to the emergency room.
You really can’t place the blame on a walk in clinic in this instance.
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0 0 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?
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0 0 These days, CC might also have been more expensive than the ER at EIRMC. CC isn’t the economical Doc in the Box.
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0 0 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.
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0 0 Teton Wireless’s internet is slow and unreliable. Reminds of an earlier post by Joe about Keyon.
My mother had Teton for internet. It got to where she could only access the internet at night. During the day she got constant time outs. She spent many hours on the phone with Teton Wireless and they sent techs out to work on it as well. They all claimed their service was fine and it was her computer that broken. So I got involved and explained how I’d tried hooking up my computer to her internet and had the same problem (which was true). They didn’t listen. We borrowed a laptop and hooked it up and still coudn’t get service. They still didn’t listen.
Finally she dumped Teton and got Microserv. And her computer, which was broken according to Teton, now surts the internet with ease.
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0 0 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.
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0 0 Verizon Wireless
They are my cell phone carrier and have been for about three years now. For the first two years I suffered from continuous dropped calls and no signals on my phone in the neighborhood around my residence but it worked fine everywhere else. I spoke with about ten different customer service reps at their main office here in town about the problem and they basically accused me of making it up since my phone always worked perfectly at their office. One day a service rep finally admitted that there is a huge dead zone on the west side of town caused by the airport. He went on to say that certain phones are affected worse than others and a few phones are nearly useless there. I had one of these latter phones. When I was finally eligible to upgrade my phone I did so and asked the sale person about the dead zone. They knew about it but apparently they aren’t supposed to volunteer that it exists because it might hurt business. Regardless they pointed me to a phone that would work there and for the most part I actually can use my cell phone now at home. But I shouldn’t have had to go through two years of misery with my phone when the real problem was known.
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0 0 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.
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0 0 Guest #19 It sure is hard to see someone we love have to wait in the E.R. waiting room. Probably, it’s hardest with kids.
Given that your son had broken his arm, did the E.R. attending or the on-call Orthopedic Surgeon see him?
I have no idea what happened, but do know if the E.R. staff called a consultant and the surgeon was already in surgery, they couldn’t make that surgery end any sooner.
It would be interesting to know what type of physician cared for your son (and who saw him in follow up).
EIRMC has a really interesting design for an E.R. compared to dozens I’ve seen. I like it far better than the traditional box shaped 3-4 halls. The angles partially shield people who didn’t have as serious of problems from those who arrived in ambulances and helicopters with life-threatening problems. Also, it’s my understanding that some less acute injuries and illness go more in one section than another.
It is hard to tell what “busy” is, given what patients are in the other rooms. Some staff may have been free but physicians not. It may not have just been waiting on an orthopedic surgeon to look at your son, but also waiting on other specialists that the PAs, or Physicians didn’t feel could be left alone until the specialist arrived.
It’s almost impossible to know what patients needed what services before your son and in what rooms those patients could be seen. If someone was dilusional and a psychiatrist was called in, I’m rather certain that person would be in a confined area so other patients wouldn’t be upset by him/her. Yet, until the person told the physician what was wrong, the nobody else could rank the accuity.
Or, it is possible that prior to your arrival someone had died in the E.R. and the staff didn’t appear as busy as other details had to be taken care of. Again, one or maybe two rooms might have been sealed off so the rest of the E.R. was not subjected to what another family was experiencing.
All I’m saying is in a designated trauma center E.R., it is hard to know what happened. When we’re the ones waiting, it sure feels like we’re not important and maybe we’ve been forgotten. The staff may not be at liberty to say anything given both confidentiality and HIPPA laws.
Nonetheless, if you didn’t get satisfaction with any written complaints you sent, send them again. You might want to acknolwedge you understand federal laws have changed and they can’t address the patients prior to your son. However, that does NOT stop you from sharing your view as a parent.
Send a copy to the Hospital CEO, Doug Crabtree, and if your son was ONLY treated by the E.R. doctros, call and find out who the president of the group is now and send that doctor a copy of the letter as well.
Good luck in your journey. I’m sure you will help other kids down the road. Sometimes the long waits just can’t be avoided. And maybe there were specific reasons your son couldn’t have been put in an ortho room, but maybe there was a room he could have gone to, I don’t know. Then again as a parent, do you want your child moved 2-3 times before treatment?
But, the issue of how to better help children wait in the E.R. (for any reason) is an excellent one. I like you being proactive.
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0 0 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?
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0 0 Well Joe, do you still think employees like that should make 15.00 an hour?
This irritates me. People say Wal-mart pays chronically low wages. Well where else is this idiot going to work!? And you know what? She has health benefits! Yep! Yes she does! For her and her kids! Life insurance, disability. All she really has to do is put the freight in the right place! What more do you want a company to give? By the way, those who work in Pharmacy, don’t work in Health and Beauty also known as MAKEUP! They have seperate people who clean the floors, including spills! How do you know she hadn’t already called for a clean-up?! Huh Joe?!
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0 0 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.
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0 0 If you have experienced bad service at the same store on more than one occasion, do you still go there? Why? I wouldn’t. I haven’t shopped at a Walmart in years and my life hasn’t suffered any.
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0 0 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.
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0 0 Keith, I know, I’m an idiot to keep shopping there. What was I getting? A bag of potting soil, two gallons of milk, and those little scissors where the tips curve out a little.
I guess I keep shopping at stupid-mart because it’s the all-in-one convenience. Where else am I going to get those things in one stop, and not pay an outrageous sum?
Should we shop elsewhere and burden ourselves with more stops and higher payments, or should we just demand some minimum customer service levels?
I don’t know what happened before or after I was there. All I know is the girl was really rude to me, and was not trained enough or smart enough to know the scissors I described were the next aisle from where we were standing, there was a long line of impatient people at the pharmacy, and there was a huge liquid spill in the middle of the pharmacy without being cleaned up and the employees did not appear to be doing anything about it.
I will just demand some minimum customer service levels. These local store managers may not read IFz and may not care even if they did.
The corporate executives in Arkansas do scour blog posts about their stores though, and they will hear the complaints even if the local store management doesn’t care.
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0 0 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.
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0 0 I had Seasons West put in my system and they did a top notch job. Used quality sprinkler heads and timer. Were done in one day. That was about 6 years ago and I haven’t had one problem. The were competitively priced too
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0 0 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.
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0 0 are the local ad agencies much more expensive than what can be had out of state?
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0 0 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.
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0 0 It’s about the vendors that they choose to use…they are using vendors out of state at the expense of local businesses just to save a few dollars.
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0 0 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.
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0 0 I wish I could support local businesses more often.
I described buying 2 gallons of milk, potting soil, and the unique scissors.
I could have gotten the milk at Reed’s, and we usually do. Reed’s can get really slammed in the evenings though, and I’ve experienced very spotty service at their drive-through. Reeds also does not accept debit card, so that would have meant an ATM trip or digging out the checkbook.
What would be one stop. I could have stopped at Rocknack’s for the soil.
The little scissors? Maybe the Ben Franklin, but Wal-Mart had these scissors in the pharmacy aisle so … maybe Albertson’s, but they are hardly locally owned in Idaho anymore.
I wish I could support more local businesses, but three stops, three transactions, just for $20 in purchases?
I wish we could have a locally-owned mega-mart. I would shop there for the convenience.
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0 0 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.
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0 0 You are correct poster #37, except one crucial piece of information. The business uses a city owned facility, i.e. Melaluca Field. This isn’t a private business run on private property. They use our tax dollars to make a buck. In turn, within reason, they should give preference to local businesses that are within a range of competitive pricing.
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0 0 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?
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0 0 I thought we were finished getting birthday cakes from the Wal-Mart corporation, after the three-strike fiasco with my son’s birthday cake last May.
My wife said she wanted to try Sam’s Club for our daughter’s birthday last weekend. They went in a week early, and my daughter picked out the cake she wanted. My wife went in the day of to pick it up, and they had lost the order. We had to get one on display and have them mangle it to be somewhat like what our daughter had ordered.
I don’t think Wal-Mart employees are so dumb, but I believe Wal-Mart’s system malfunctions in a way so employees will not perform.
My wife has said she will look at cake-decorating classes and will do these herself from now on. I warn ye all against trusting any wal-mart outlet with your family’s birthday cakes; ye shall be sorely and unnecessarily aggravated and disappointed if ye do.
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0 0 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.
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0 0 Kudos to Dennings. Over the past 3 years, I have purchased a dishwasher, stove, refrigerator and just today a washer and dryer from them. For all of these purchases I visited other stores in the area — Lowes, Home Depot, Sears and Sams. Dennings gave me the best deal, hassle free, free delivery, take out and carry off of the old items and you get the plus of patronizing local businesses. I would recommend that everyone at least check them out before buying any appliances.
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0 0 Awesome, and this year they fixed up their storefront to look much better on the Broadway/Yellowstone intersection.
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0 0 Does Denning’s have a website? I need all new appliances. Thanks in Advance
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0 0 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.
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0 0 I purchased a coffee table from oakridge furniture and got a great deal and great service. The sales people were not pushy and they got us in and out of there in no time at all.
I also love the 5 & Diner and go there often because the waitresses are so nice. (can’t understand your thought process on that one)
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0 0 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??
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0 0 SEARS
I tried to buy some stuff there with my credit card. The manager would not accept it because I had not signed it and instead put please see ID on it. Even when I showed my ID that showed I was the same person he still wouldn’t take it unless I signed the credit card. I know it says on the back of them that they aren’t valid unless signed but I will not sign my credit cards until the day comes when all stores begin checking ID on all checks and credit card uses. It many seem like a hassle to you but you don’t know what a hassle is until you’ve had your checks or credit cards stolen and then had stores gleefully accept them from the people who stole them when if they would merely check ID it wouldn’t happen. .
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0 0 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.
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0 0 I’ve always done the “Please check picture ID” on mine and never had trouble, but I’ve heard some stores are trying to be silly about it.
Really, the card is not valid huh? The card won’t swipe, the company won’t verify, the store doesn’t get paid because I want an ounce more security by not signing the card? Identity theft is a much bigger issue than an unsigned credit card, and they are being silly to think they are “tackling the problem” in this manner.
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0 0 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?
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0 0 Go into the local post office and you’ll see a sign stating they will not accept credit cards with “see ID” written on the back.
Speaking of business complaints, don’t ever use Benny’s Lawn Care service. Big nice yellow page ad but they come up really short in finishing a job, showing up on time, doing what they agree to do, I could go on and on. I highly suspect most of their employees are illegal on top of it.
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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.