Nightmares of Walmart and the Debacle of Moneygram

As companies grow bigger it seems their customer service declines and their capacity to care for the customer is rated far lower than how much money they can take from you.

Don purchased a Moneygram money order at Walmart and after 3 weeks determined that he didn't need it. He decided to take his unmade-out money order complete with the receipt intact back to Walmart.

The first store in Leicester, Massachusetts, (where he purchased the money order) repeatedly stated that he was cashing a money order. "No I want a refund." "Sir, I don't know how to do that and if I did we would need 2 forms of ID." "I don't want to cash it, I bought the money order, I just want my money back." After 20 minutes, with a continuing run-around Don left for a meeting.

After the meeting, Don presented the money order at the Walmart in Worcester, Massachusetts. "In order to cash a money order, it needs to be filled out." "I don't want to cash it, I just want a refund. I bought the money order, I am the purchaser." After repeating this a couple of times, the customer service agent said, "Okay sir, I can refund it if you just make it out to yourself." With great reluctance, Don made out the money order to himself and signed the front and back, thinking all the while that this would not end good.

The agent called Moneygram to process the money order and nearly completed the process of clearing the money order but was disconnected. When she called back Moneygram had flagged the money order due to suspicious activity.

Don left and after a 50 minute ride reached home where he called Moneygram. After explaining the harassment and clown show he had been through, the customer service agent at Moneygram apologized profusely and told him to return to the last Walmart he had been to and present the money order because she had removed the flag.

By the time Don arrived at the Worcester Walmart, a new crew was at work and they had no knowledge of what had happened earlier, nor should they,but Don had to explain what happened.

The customer service agent at the Walmart Customer Service desk began to explain how to cash a money order.

"I don't want to cash it, I am the purchaser, I want to refund it." "I'm sorry sir, I don't know how to do that." Can you find someone who can do it?" asked Don. "No sir, we are very busy." "I expected this," said Don, "I copied down the amount of the money order, the phone number to call and instructions on how to reach an agent at Moneygram who can help." "Sir, I'm very busy, I can't do that. We have procedures we need to follow and the book with the refund procedure is not here." "You don't need the book, all you have to do is call Moneygram." After a few minutes of fervent discussion, the Walmart customer service person finally called Moneygram.

"No, it isn't blank, it's been filled out." "He says he is the purchaser." "Yes, the serial number is 'xxx'" "Yes, the mount is $141.03" "No, he didn't buy it at this store." "Sir, we can't refund this money order." "What!!??, give me the phone!"

"Sir," said the Moneygram customer service agent (a male). "we are not obligated to refund a money order." "What!? You mean you can take my money and then not return it! I gave you my money, I want my money back!" "Sir, we are not under any obligation to refund a money order, we just sell money orders." "You can't do that, that's my money. I want my money back" and round and round they went for about 10 minutes. "Okay sir, just give the money order to the agent."

"Sir, do you have your Walmart receipt?" "What? I just want a refund of a money order that I bought from Walmart in Leicester. No, I don't have a receipt." "Do you have an ID?" "I have a passport and a military ID, but the passport is expired."

"Sir, we can't accept these ID's, if you had not filled out the money order, we could just refund it, but now that you have filled it out, you are the payee and you must present a valid ID." "What!? I was just doing what you told me to do! I would not have filled it out except that the customer service agent here told me I had to do that!"

"I'm sorry, sir, I can't help you. Please take a claim form, fill it out, attach the original money order and mail it to Moneygram and they will send you a refund in 4 to 6 weeks minus the processing fee of $15.00."

Don spent 4 hours of drive time, covered over 80 miles and used a half tank of gas without getting his money.

You know who is not using Walmart for financial services again nor Moneygram.

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Worst Hotel: Union Street Guesthouse, Hudson New York?

The management here seems to have no idea how to run a hotel or to take care of the people who provide for their business - their guests.

From reviewing other sites and guest comments, I would suggest that you stay far, far away from Union Street Guesthgouse in Hudson, New York.

They Will Fine You for a Negative Review

According to today.s article in Business Insider, Union Street Guesthouse will fine you $500 if you post a negative review about the hotel or their services.

1 Star Reviews on Yelp

Yelp is a third party, impartial service that seeks to provide honest assessments of a business by providing the ability for clients and customers of a business a space to post their experience with that business. Here, the Union Street Guesthousee in Hudson, New York doesn't rank so well.

Recommendation

I haven't been to the Union Street Guesthouse or to Hudson, New York, but it would seem, basaed on customer reviews, that if you don't want to share a bath with strangers or use a used bath towel or put up with cigarette smoke and roaches in your room, you may want to consider a different place to stay.

D & D Masonry of Chicopee, Massachusetts is a Rip-off!

Dear Sir,

D & D Masonry of Chicopee, Massachusetts is a rip-off. In 2012 my 86 year old mother was "enticed" into receiving chimney cleaning services for her chimney. The services were performed as scheduled but upon completion (and payment by check of her $100), the serviceman indicated that she also needed retiling of the chimney to the tune of $600.

Being on a fixed income, she was very reluctant to accept this work, but she was pressured into signing a contract for said work because the chimney "was falling in." It's not.

The service person for D&D Masonry scheduled an appointment for the following week for the retiling, but no one ever showed. After several phone calls it finally grew too cold for the work to be performed and D & D Masonry said they would schedule the work for the spring.

Spring came but D & D Masonry never did.

A few more phone calls and my mother was promised "you are next on the list," "we will call you back," we will schedule someone to go out," "someone will be there next week, tomorrow, Monday, etc," "the president of the company will call you," etc.

It is now summer of 2014, 2 years past the scheduled service date and D & D Masonry has yet to do the work promised, even though they have taken $600 of my mother's money.

Stay away from D & D Masonry of Chicopee Mass because they will rip you off and steal your money.

Festivity Favors Offers Invitations & Announcements - http://festivityfavors.com

Festivity Favors offers a variety of party invitations and announcements at competitive prices.

Featuring a large assortment of themes, Festivity Favors will help you make your party or announcement a success by providing the invitation you need.

I was impressed that Nancy - the owner of Festivity Favors - offers change of address announcements. I thought that that was a unique offer that few other services offer.

Nancy's prices are reasonable and in line with other providers and her themes are eclectic and fun.

I would recommend Festivity Favors to anyone.

Stay Clear of Kleargear !!!

Woman gets $3,500 fine and bad credit score for writing negative review of business

In 2009, Jen Palmer’s husband bought her some Christmas gifts from KlearGear.com. When the merchandise still hadn’t arrived a month later, PayPal closed the transaction and refunded her money.

Palmer tried to contact the company to inquire about the order, but couldn't get in touch with anyone. Frustrated, she wrote a critical review of the company on RipoffReport.com and moved on.

But as KUTV reports, KlearGear.com resurfaced three years later and has turned Palmer’s life upside down, slapping her with a $3,500 fine and reporting her to the nation’s three major credit agencies.

"This is fraud," Palmer told the station. "They're blackmailing us for telling the truth."

Here’s what happened. Tucked away in the agreement language almost no one ever reads, was a clause stating that anyone who buys something from the website agrees to never publicly criticize the website.

The exact language reads:

"In an effort to ensure fair and honest public feedback, and to prevent the publishing of libelous content in any form, your acceptance of this sales contract prohibits you from taking any action that negatively impacts kleargear.com, its reputation, products, services, management or employees."

However, on some review sites individuals claim that the clause only went into effect in 2013, meaning that Palmer should be exempt from the fine policy. Interestingly, review sites also contain a number of mixed to negative customer reviews but only this one mention of the company actually issuing a fine to a customer.

And the actual language from the clause has since been removed from Kleargear's website.

In fact, the company may be facing some heat for bragging about it's own reviews. The Better Business Bureau has issued an alert against KlearGear saying the company has falsely claimed to have received an A+ rating from the BBB. "As of November 28, 2012, the BBB became aware that the company's website is displaying a BBB Accredited Business logo and BBB Rating A+," reads a statement on the BBB website. "However, the company is not an accredited BBB business and the BBB rating is not A+."

As of November 28, 2012, the BBB became aware that the company's website is displaying a BBB Accredited Business logo and BBB Rating A+; however, the comapny is not a BBB accredited business and the BBB rating is not A+. - See more at: BBB  of November 28, 2012, the BBB became aware that the company's website is displaying a BBB Accredited Business logo and BBB Rating A+; however, the comapny is not a BBB accredited business and the BBB rating is not A+.

Still, someone from the company contacted Palmer’s husband via email and told him he had 72 hours to remove her critical review from the site Ripoff Report, or face the $3,500 fine. Her review read in part, "There is absolutely no way to get in touch with a physical human being" at the site, adding that they have, "horrible customer service practices."

Nonetheless, Jen Palmer actually contacted Ripoff Report but that site demands $2,000 to remove a post.

Naturally, Palmer refused to pay the fee. Then, she found out that not only had Klear Gear imposed its arbitrary fine, but they had reported the “failure to pay” status to the major credit bureaus.

And the credit bureaus haven’t been helpful either, refusing to remove the mark from her husband's credit score. Jen Palmer says that she and her husband are now receiving rejection letters from lenders as a result of the negative mark on their credit score.

So, the Palmer's now find themselves at the mercy of three unresponsive entities: the website that fined them for exercising their First Amendment rights, the review site that refuses to remove her post and the credit bureaus, which are taking the side of the website over a customer who may be the victim of corporate fraud. In the meantime, KUTV has put the Palmer's in contact with a media relations representative at Experian, in an attempt to resolve the situation.

"I have the right to tell somebody else these guys ripped me off," Palmer said.

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