Friday Frustration

I'm definitely frustrated. I'm stuck in an endless voicemail loop from hell! Here's the story. 

We paid a bill to a local medical facility. In fact, we paid it twice--which I didn't discover until they billed us a third time. Once I received that third bill, I knew I had paid it. It's that investigation that made me realize that I paid it twice! Then, I went to my bank account to see if those checks from the bank had cleared--and they had. Sooo, thus the phone calls began.

Call:

#1. Me:  It went straight to voicemail because they are helping others and cannot answer right now. I explained the problem and asked someone to call me back. Their voicemail message said that I would get a return call within 48 hours. So, I waited--all the time thinking that they will tell me that they needed to be talking to Butch--who was the recipient of the bill. You know, all that privacy stuff!

#2. Them: they leave me a message saying they need more information as they cannot find "him" in their system. (What? What the heck kind of system do they have? Isn't everything computerized?).

#3. Me: I call back and it goes straight to voicemail again. I leave the account number and Butch's birthdate. Once again, I explained that we are due a refund for the overpayment. I request a phone number that someone will answer. Due to dozens of nonsense, scam calls, I have unknown numbers blocked.

#4. Them: They leave me another message for me to call them and actually mention the fact that possibly I have unknown numbers blocked. 

#5. Me: I call back and it goes straight to voicemail. I leave the message that all I want to know is when I can expect to be refunded. Seemed like a simple message to answer.

#6. Them: Another message for me to call them--ignoring what I've asked for. Now I'm really fired up.

#7. Me: I call back and go straight to voicemail. This time, I'm really ticked. I say, "It's obvious that we are never going to talk in person. I just want to know when to expect my refund! Please leave me a message letting me know!" 

Now I'm in the waiting mode again! I told Butch about the whole frustrating scenario. I suggested he call the office and ask to speak to someone in the billing department. That's when it hit me--we'll still get the voicemail. They NEVER answer the phone and don't intend to. 

#8. Them: This message makes me feel like we might getting somewhere. They have turned this over to the "review" department. Actually, I'm not that hopeful. I think "turning it over to the review department" might be code for "it'll be a cold day in hell before we get back to you!" 

Do I sound cynical? That's how I feel. We'll see.

So, speaking of frustrations, I have another bee in my bonnet. 

For Christmas, I got ALL of the girls (7) these really cute monogrammed necklaces with matching earrings. They loved them--well except for one. The monograms were these block letters all interwoven and pretty cool. But Mindy's is indecipherable. You really cannot tell her initials. 

The day after Christmas, I contacted Mint & Lily customer service via email. Someone got back to me right away and said she understood my confusion (I had sent a picture of the necklace). Although the gal was very nice, it couldn't just be a simple exchange. She issued me a gift certificate so I could re-purchase the necklace and earrings. But what she failed to do was re-imburse me for the postage and handling. 

So, she issued another gift certificate with a link to just click on. Well, it wouldn't "click!" Ugh! After a little more back and forth, I finally got a link that worked. Honestly, I don't know why it just couldn't be handled from her end. That seemed like the simple thing to me. Oh, and she said that I did not need to return the first set. I don't know what made me keep them, but I'm glad I did. 

The new set arrived a couple days ago. IT'S EXACTLY THE SAME!

This time I contacted customer service and said that if this is what it's going to be, then I wanted a refund. 

Someone got back to me and asked me to send a picture. I did. A few hours later, she asked for a picture of the original one. I considered just sending her the same picture. But then, since I still had the first one, I put them side by side and took the picture. 

Like I said, exactly the same. 

We cannot make this out at all. The only letter that makes sense is the "M."

Late yesterday afternoon, I got this message:

"I completely understand your frustration, Barbara. I can see from the photos that both the necklace and earrings aren't meeting our quality standards, especially since this was meant to be a replacement order. I'm going to have our management team review this situation right away to determine the best resolution for you. We'll get back to you very shortly with a solution."

Hopefully, they'll try to do the monogram again. If not, I'm pretty sure I'll get a refund. We'll see...

Okay, that's the end of my frustrations for now! Well, not really, but since the other one is scrapbook related, I'm saving that for tomorrow!