Two of my favorite examples are a couple of indepedently owned Goodyear locations that are about 30 miles apart (one in a city where I used to live, the other in the city where I current live).

At Goodyear #1: The first time I ever set foot in the place, they are gently arguing with a customer. The customer, an elderly woman, is insisting to pay for something. The Goodyear employee is insisting that there is no charge. I’m not sure what service was rendered, but it’s refreshing to see a company doing something for free for a customer.

At Goodyear #2: I had been a customer for a while (having switched from Goodyear #1 only because I had moved) and a younger woman (college aged) was discussing her car’s woes with the employee. The employee indicated that everything was fixed and that the charge was somewhere in the neighborhood of $50. I forget the exact charge, but it was clearly for a minor issue.

At this point, the woman comments that she will soon be leaving on a long trip and wants to make sure everything is working. “Is part X OK? Are you sure part Y doesn’t need to be replaced? What about Z?” The voice inside my head is screaming at this woman to shut up before he decides to agree to perform an expensive repair. But he doesn’t. He simply smiles and assures her each time that everything is OK. He probably could have done $1000 worth of unnecessary repairs without her batting an eyelash, but he didn’t.

I don’t know the history of Goodyear #1, but Goodyear #2 has been in business for more than 50 years. Hmm. I wonder what could possibly be the key to their longevity ….

He got in trouble for doing repairs instead of replacements. Apparently he wasn’t providing enough profit for the (internal) parts department. Yes, they actually wanted him to spend $100 of company money to replace a part rather than $30 of labor to fix it

I have no problem selling it on craigslist, but returning it would have been the easiest thing to do.

In the mean time I’ve told numerous people about this and hopefully a few people have read the story on here. I’m just trying to keep people away from the dark side (Target)

saladdin

I closed an account and a yr later they told me i owed them fees cause it was below minimum balance and it had never been closed. and when i went in and showed the paperwork showing i had closed it (which msot ppl wouldnt have a yr later) they were telling me i was wrong. way to go BoA. You suck. and I will never go back.

I miss Fleet, which is what I had before BoA gobbled them up. Similar to my current situation of missing my past love, WaMu and now being all pissed at chase for sucking