Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Don't Get On The Bus

One of the best parts of having a blog is that not only do you come across interesting people, but when you encounter something that pisses you off, you have the perfect outlet to vent your frustrations. Well, that's what I'm about to do right now. Please forgive me, but I am about to go there.

There's a certain bus company, and to avoid potential legal ramifications, let's just call them Hound Dog, that I absolutely hate with a passion. I believe that you would be hard pressed to find a more unprofessional company in American history. Yes, with our recent economic turmoil, we've come across companies such as Tyco, Enron, and Adelphia, but even those companies didn't screw as many people as Hound Dog has. My earliest memory of Hound Dog has to do with the birth of my brother. When my brother was born, I was only 19 months old, but I swear that I remember my parents leaving me with my Grandmother, and I was playing with a toy bus. And that bus just happened to be a replica of a Hound Dog bus. Little did I know that Hound Dog would be a thorn in my ass the next 30 years.

My next significant memory of Hound Dog revolved around a bus trip that my mother, brother, and I took from Chicago to Los Angeles. We were moving there to be with my father. (Long story for another blog). Well, we left pretty close to Christmas. The trip was relatively uneventful, until we reached a little shit hole town called Green River, Utah. For those of you who are geographically savvy, Green River is about 100 or so west of Grand Junction, Colorado. If you're unfamiliar with Grand Junction, then you're beginning to understand just how much in BFE Green River is. But I digress. So the moral of the Green River story is that Hound Dog had us stuck there for let's call it 12 hours. That may not seem like much, but to a 9 year old, it was an eternity. I don't know what they eventually did to get us on our way, but what I do remember is that we made it to Los Angeles on Christmas day. I don't believe that was the original plan. But when it comes to Hound Dog, the only plan you should make it to have them piss you off at some point.

Over the course of the next 21 years, I've had many Hound Dog tales. There's the time that I lost my entire CD collection in Pittsburgh, the time I was on a Hound Dog bus that broke down in the middle of the expressway in Atlanta (and we sat in the middle of traffic for more than an hour with cars speeding past us on both sides), and the time that I got left in Walcott, Iowa at a truck stop while all my possessions were on a bus heading towards Chicago.

The moral of what I want to say is that in this kind of economy, its no wonder how many of these companies are losing money. Companies that treat their customers like crap deserve to be teetering on the brink of collapse. Other companies that fit that mold in my opinion are:

I've been a customer with them for 7-8 years. And to this day, I still don't know why I'm with them. Their customer "no" service is horrible. When it comes to them, I feel like I'm in a bad marriage, but for some reason I just can't leave. (Right now, it the $200 divorce cost that keeping me with them. Lol)




With my job, I spend way too much time in this place. My biggest problem with them is that there never seems to be anyone around when you need them. There prices are a little high to me as well. And I swear that if my company didn't have an account with them, and they weren't open 24 hours, I wouldn't have to have them.





Yes this is my bank. Why? Once again, I have no idea. Probably because they are one of the few banks that I have found everywhere around the country. Which makes it convenient given my constant travel. If you're not a customer, I don't recommend them. They are the bank that introduced $3 ATM fees. Their customer service is average at best.



For those of you who don't live in Chicago, count yourself blessed that you've never had to deal with these people. Jewel is a grocery store, and I hate going to the ones in the city. (Suburban Jewel's seem to be ok). When you go to this place, you might as well expect a serious attitude to be sold to you along with your milk and eggs.



Any mechanic fits this category. There aren't too many places that I dread going, but the local mechanic is definitely one of them. When you go, you already know that you're gonna get screwed. They do it with a smile on their faces which actually makes it much worse. I hope that someone will soon open up a repair shop that's not a pain to go to.



I know that its up to us to spend our money with companies that provide the best service possible. And while that's usually our goal, we sometime find ourselves caught in a bad set of circumstances. Its just then that we wish the old adage of "The customer is always right" were still the prevailing wisdom. Unfortunately, the desire of "customer service" has too fallen victim to the almighty dollar.


-DrizaDre-

15 comments:

Treasure said...

OH MY GOD!!! You hate Bank of America too!!!??? As of today I officially hate them and everyone who works at all of their banks accross the country! I was this close *demonstrating the closeness with my index finger and thumb* to shoving my check card down the assistant manager's throat today!!! My reasons for why are a blog within themselves, so I won't even get into it...But wow, it really is nice to know that I am not alone...And I really feel you on the not leaving them because you travel so much, etc... That is my reason for not stomping in there and closing down my checking and savings account with them right now!...Plus I really love that "Keep The Change" feature they have. lol

Lechelle said...

lol...You forgot Charter Communication - I'm in Missouri. They don't understand that it's cheap to keep me then to loose me (customer retention). I have to call every few months for them to lock me into price for my pipeline internet service. YUCK!

Untouched Jewel said...

Don't feel bad about the sad tales of Greyhound. I had one myself (and one was all it took). I traveled from Grambling State to Cali from school one semester. I swear to you that them f*ckas lost over $200 worth of my luggage in Dallas somewhere, and they had the nerve to tell me to present my original ticket in order to be reimbursed. HOW THE HELL CAN YOU PRESENT THEM THE ORIGINAL TICKET, WHEN YOU GOTTA GIVE IT TO THE DRIVER WHEN YOU CHANGE BUSES?! I never rode that nasty ish again. I was so pissed, because I had brand new shoes, jerseys and what not in my luggage. It was not the best experience ever. I hope they do go out of business.
Now as far as Sprint, I haven't had too much of a problem with. As long as my phone was still on, we had no problems. Thank God I never had to deal with customer service for anything drastic. But I gotta say they do have the best plans out compared to other companies.

Ishea said...

What do you expect when you take the bus? Better yet, who takes the bus further than a few miles to work and back? It baffles me. I think you need to pay the extra hundred bucks or whatever it is and get an airline ticket. You'll probably still encounter a few annoyances but at least you're on a plane.

Not so Anonymous said...

Yes, the free venting and therapy are two of the many things I love about blogging.

Wow, I think I've taken that Hound Dog twice and both times it was an utter pain due to the travel time...argh.

It seems that everyone hates Sprint...I've been with them since I first got a cell phone in 2001. I hated them when I was in college because the actual service was bad in that city, but they are ok with me now-a-days, albeit I haven't had to call them for anything.

LOL at B of A...everyone I know who banks with them, hates them. Their Green counterpart is just as annoying...i bank with them.

Miss.Stefanie said...

B of A is hellll!!! So is sprint, I stick to Cingular....

♥ CG ♥ said...

LOL. I could go on and on about companies I hate. Directv is on the top of my list.

Anonymous said...

I have t-mobile....and I also bank at bank of america....

Anonymous said...

hey whats your number....haha

Teems said...

Although I never have hitch hiked I am pretty sure I would have better experiences than with hound dog! LMAOOO

I am with sprint only because no one else with leave and I have that PCS to PCS. But with this new 100 deductible for insurance. GTFOH! They have great deals for new but they treat existing customers like crap!

I bank with BOA because they seem more like the "worlds local bank" than HSBC ever did! But If I look at my statement and see 3 dollar fees I am going to be tight!

For some reason I stopped getting your post updates- I had to re follow

Angel said...

And here was me thinking that your customer service was amazing

or is that only for tourists?

Kryssy said...

lmao @ Hound Dog...
I actually don't mind Bank of America.... but Sprint is just bananas with bad service...

Jillian said...

LOL..my father lives in Grand Junction..LOL so i KNOOOOW you were way out there hahahahaha...

smh..I use to have sprint...talk about no service drop call city..i only stuck with them because they didn't charge me for calling my mom in Guam...

nothing like a good blog session..and it's FREE! hahahaha..

have a great weekend Dre!

Quentin said...

Yea I hear a lot of people say they hate sprint, they phones and plans decent tho. What Jewel you shop at? The one on 95th pretty decent.

The Raw Truth said...

Lol, Ive never heard of anybody complain about bank of america, then again i dont know too many with it. Im more of a chase/citi bank man myself lol. I see u have some of the frustrations many of us have with these big companies