Meg K.

I don't think it's asking too much of a credit card company to have online chats available for customer service. First of all, you don't have to confirm your identity because you logged in. Second, you don't have to go through telephone torture. Third, if this is Capital One's way of saving money, it would be akin to a bottled water company saving money by bottling fresh toilet water. If I'm banking online, then I expect to find online employees to chat with. For all I care, Capital One's inhuman chat bot named Eno needs to die. I think he's already sick with a virus. You know, a computer virus. Because every time I ask him for help, he gives me a "Contact us" link that lists a bunch of phone numbers. What is this, "Little House on the Prairie"? Phone calls are so yesterday. I'm not going to call. I'll write them a letter and send it to them by boat over the ocean. That would probably be more effective, since it's obvious that no one's home.

I bought what I thought was a $1.00 answer to a question. That's right. $1.00. I'll pay $1.00 to find out why my camera takes bad pictures, because I'm trying to sell it on eBay. But then I saw the bill, and it was $40. AND they'd signed me up for a monthly membership in which I'd be continuing to pay them that much.

Fortunately I paid with PayPal. I immediately filed a claim and included the screenshot that said something like, "Buy this one answer for $1.00!" Yeah, that's pretty deceptive. It's disgusting to me that people with such low morals exist on our planet. I assume these worthless scammers are trying to undercut the Nigerians.

Oh, good! I overlooked an earlier email from PayPal. They've already found in my favor. Pro tip to JustAnswer: stop now before you screw the wrong people. For consumers: note the photo I'm uploading that shows that the same date I filed a claim with PayPal was the date PayPal found in my favor. (Often, PayPal claims take a while, and there's at least a little back and forth. Not today!)

Oh, this is cute. The email they sent me after I registered and thought I'd paid a dollar said this (direct copy/pasted quote):

Membership details:
The $1 join fee has been waived because you are a former member. You were charged the $40 membership fee (Order ID *******-90). Your membership will renew automatically and the membership fee will be charged each month until you cancel. You can cancel anytime via the membership panel in the "My Account page" to avoid future charges. No refunds unless required by law.

No, I've NEVER used JustAnswer before. No refunds unless required by law! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Ohh, I needed that laugh.

So, I just got this message from the BBB:

This message is in regard to your complaint submitted on 11/20/2023 against Transportation Security Administration. Your complaint was assigned ID *******.

Thank you for contacting Better Business Bureau (BBB) in regards to your recent complaint about a company located in our service area. We reviewed your complaint and have determined it falls beyond the scope of services we provide. Unfortunately, we are unable to assist in the resolution process of this complaint and it has been closed as beyond our purview.

Please know there are standard complaint acceptance guidelines we must follow and the primary issue you describe in your complaint falls beyond the BBB's purview. The BBB is unable to accept complaints seeking an apology from the business, those filed by a third party or on behalf of someone else, complaints against individuals, those regarding collection of a debt owed, complaints challenging a business's prices, amount charged or policy or complaints seeking damages or compensation.
**********
Yeah, that sounds about right. So, why do they exist again? Someone please remind me.

I called about my doctor bill and was told that I could get a 50% discount because I'm self-pay. (I don't have insurance.) I asked the person on the phone a million times to promise me that my 50% payment would mark my bill as paid. He swore up and down that it would. A month or so later, I received a bill for the other 50%. The bill stated that I'd only paid half of what was due. I called them back, and the woman on the phone said she'd forward this to her supervisor to be marked as paid. I told her that the first person I'd spoken to had sworn he would do the same thing. So this company is either incompetent, or they're attempting to scam people into overpaying. Either way, this really ruined my day.

I made a $10 debit card purchase on a KY lottery machine at my local Kroger's grocery store, and after the purchase went through, the machine spewed out an error code. The $10 credit never wound up on the machine. I immediately contacted customer service via their email address, but that was over a day ago, and so far they haven't gotten back to me. (It's 7:00 PM on a Monday now.) I suspect they're hoping I'll forget about my $10, and it was probably stupid of me to admit to them that I used a debit card, meaning I can't challenge the charge like I could if I'd used a credit card. (Stupid!) Assuming I'm not going to get my money back, this review can serve as a warning to others. But even if you use cash, the same thing can happen. And no one cares!

This spam site sent me an email with my birthname in all caps in the subject heading. I rejected that name twenty years ago in 2002 and made it legal in 2008. This website isn't worth anything. I imagine they'll go out of business really soon, and good riddance.

So, I submitted a complaint about how I was mistreated by TSA agents upon re-entering the country. Homeland Security is, from what I understand, the overseeing company (or parent company) to the TSA. I'd tried complaining on the TSA website, but they disregard complaints as a matter of course.

I filled out the form on the Homeland Security website, and I didn't actually tell them how badly mistreated I was by the TSA agents. I was afraid to make myself vulnerable and share that, and then get laughed at, mocked, and ignored. They wrote back and scolded me for, and I quote, "Your application did not include an acceptable, detailed, written description of your difficulties with airport screening or United States border crossings."

I wrote back and explained that I was so beaten down that I couldn't cope with more people pretending to care, when in reality they were all laughing at me behind my back, and I begged them to just give me some assurance that they cared.

They closed my case.

Here's an analogy: a kid is bullied by a mean kid in school. The kid goes to the teacher and reports it, knowing full well that the teacher is the mean kid's dad.

"Thank you for telling me about this, David. I promise I'll look into it," the teacher says somberly. As soon as the teacher's alone with his son, whom we'll call Junior, the teacher says, "Great job, Junior! Keep stealing his lunch money just like Daddy taught you, okay?" And they high-five.

I was expecting that going in, and I was braced for it, because I've already been so damaged by all of this. But there was still a tiny part of me that hoped I was wrong.

I wasn't.

Well, you know, I decided to travel abroad, and I figured that I'd be safe re-entering the country. I was wrong. And apparently, the gist seems to be that I should've known better than to expect kindness from the TSA agents. (They eat human babies for breakfast.) I submitted a complaint to their website which outlined the horrific treatment I received in Newark, NJ as I reentered the country on November 14,2023. They haven't replied to it yet because they don't care. I assume though, that if money were involved, they would care. As far as feelings, they probably hope that I never recover. Here's what I experienced:

Re-entering the country in Newark, New Jersey, was nightmarish. I didn't realize that it's necessary to go through security again upon re-entering the country, so I wasn't prepared. My carry-on bag got tagged for having something in it. An obviously angry woman shouted, "Whose bag is this?"
Uh oh. I raised my hand and gave a small wave. She was looking right at me, but she didn't even see me waving my hand. I'm not making this up. She stared straight through me. She was then even angrier because she hadn't found the bag's owner. What was I supposed to do, grab some flags and perform semaphore? I'm too self-conscious for that sort of thing. Geez.
She stormed away, agitated. I followed her over to her counter and pointed to the bag.
"This bag is YOURS?" This seemed to make her even angrier. I had no clue why.
My mouth wasn't working. I nodded.
"Do you have anything sharp or hazardous in here?" she asked.
I shook my head.
She opened my bag and found the tiny bottle of water that I'd been given an hour ago on my previous flight. "NO WATER!" she shrieked. "NO WATER! NO WATER!"
I refused to look at her. She continued to seek out my gaze because she really wanted to shame me, but I just ignored her.
"DID YOU HEAR ME? MA'AM, I SAID NO WATER! NO WATER!"
I twiddled my thumbs and gazed at the ceiling.
She seethed, shoved my stuff toward me (sans the water, which she repossessed on behalf of the airline), and stormed away.
Then there was a walk-through metal detector situation where two employees told me and several other people to just walk through it, rather than stopping and raising our arms. I obeyed, only to have a man yell, "KEEP YOUR HANDS OUT OF YOUR POCKETS!" I'm sure that was my fault, because I should've known better. I'm sure I deserved to be treated like human excrement.
Then there was a woman who asked if I had any powder in my luggage. I couldn't tell what she was saying because she had a European accent, even though I was in the US. "Folder?" I asked.
"POWDER!" she yelled. She glowered at me menacingly.
"Oh! Uh, yeah." (I'd packed some teabags and cocoa in my luggage.)
"Is it more than six ounces?" she asked.
I had no clue. "Um… no?"
"Follow me," she ordered. She turned and stormed away. I wasn't sure if she'd said to follow her or not, so I erred on the side of safety. But several feet away, she turned and scowled at me, so I hurried to catch up with her. I had to go through another security line, which was ridiculous, because I didn't have any powder. (She'd used the word "luggage", but she'd apparently been referring to my carry-on bag.)
Going through another metal detector, I set it off, possibly because my pants pockets have zippers. The employees completely frisked me, and I was already shut down inside, so being violated felt good at that point. It was what I deserved because this was all somehow my fault. It would've been wrong if they hadn't violated me. I had this coming.
I walked right through the next checkpoint because the woman manning it wasn't there. And the only evidence that it existed was her small podium. "Ma'am. Ma'am. MA'AM! COME BACK!"
I turned and approached her.
"I need to see your ticket," she said. "Sorry I wasn't here."
Her apology seemed like a waste of words, since she clearly wasn't sorry, or she wouldn't have abandoned her post in the first place and then made her absence my problem. Also, this was clearly my fault, and I deserved to be screamed at.
I threw all my stuff to the floor and crouched over so I could unzip my carry-on bag and seek out my ticket. Finding it, I stood, placed it on her podium, and then leaned back over to rearrange my stuff again, zipping up my backpack, and so forth. When I stood again, she said, "I'll also need to see your passport." I hurled my stuff to the floor again and repeated the process, standing to slam my passport on her podium and then crouching to close up my backpack. When I stood again, she said, "You can take this to gate C-66 and–"
I grabbed my ticket and passport from her outstretched hand and walked away. The fact that she was trying to be helpful by pointing me in the right direction seemed hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. But hey, if it soothed her own ego and helped her believe that her pitiful existence had even a tinge of worth, then hey, more power to her. I don't want to take that from her.
Then, I approached a checkpoint that involved customs (I think) and my passport. A man told me where to stand, so I stopped there, dropped my stuff, and rooted around for my passport. I was trying to move quickly, but there was no one behind me in line, just one or two stragglers who hadn't reached the end of the winding pathway yet, like the kind you have at amusement parks. But I felt rushed by the employee, so I hurried to locate my passport and to get my backpack zipped up again.
Before I could even stand up, he pointed forward and yelled, "Go stand at that red line!"
I swayed on the floor. And the thought crossed my mind that if it took me a few seconds longer than he wanted me to take, I couldn't care less. I allowed myself to slow down, and I stood carefully and tried to regain my equanimity with my heavy backpack. Then I looked ahead to the red line. It was just a few steps forward. I could totally get there. Just one step at a time.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
I was shocked. But despite my shock, I wasn't fooled.
He seemed concerned. It was almost convincing. But what he doesn't know is that I'm a human lie detector. Thus, his pathetic question went unanswered. I completely ignored him. I did wonder, though, if he'd suddenly realized that he was treating me and everyone else as though we were animals who needed to be herded. It was inconceivable that anyone could live to his age without realizing that you shouldn't treat people that way. And it angered me that I had to share the planet with people who clearly were living throwaway lives with no value.

So, that has been my experience. Please consider supporting me by finding my review helpful. Thanks so much! And I hope that no one else ever has to go through this, but... no one cares. This saddens me greatly.

So, I went to the Target website on behalf of my dad, who likes a brand of men's shirts they carry. I typed the brand name into the search box, and there were zero results. I was confused, but then I just typed in "shirts", and again, there were zero results. No matter what I typed in, there were no results. So, I contacted Target through their online chat function. I immediately explained the issue to the man in the chat, and after several minutes of silence, his response was something like, "I'm sorry you're having a hard time using Target's search function. Can you please tell me your whole name and email address?" And I was like, "It's a website problem!" He asked if I was using the app or a browser, and I explained that I was using the browser at my home box computer. He asked me to try a different browser, so I switched over to Microsoft Edge, which I never use (I guess it came with my computer?), and the same problem occurred. Then he asked me to clear my cookies and browsing history, and I left the conversation. Because whatever's wrong with their website, it's not my fault. Good grief.

I wrote a fun review for an episode of "Law & Order: SVU", and I gave it ten stars. My review was rejected. I have no clue why, and they wouldn't tell me. The review had no offensive language or anything questionable. The rejection of my review made me feel bad about myself, as if I'd been reprimanded for misbehaving; and it made me feel as if I was doing something wrong by trying to share my unique, quirky opinion with the world. I got upset and deleted my account with them. If they don't want me around, that's fine. But it's probably not good for business.

Okay, so I initiated an online chat with someone from NAMI. I said I had a particular problem, and I needed to know which sort of therapy would help with it. The woman asked for more info, so I clarified.

She said, "We don't make referrals to counselors or lawyers here." (I hadn't mentioned anything of a legal nature, and her comment made me feel attacked.) "Do you want information on how to find a healthcare provider?"

And I said, "Uh, no, everyone knows how to use Google. I want to know which sort of therapy would help me with my aforementioned issue."

She said, "I'm not a licensed counselor. Would it be helpful for me to tell you how to get a referral from your doctor?"

And I said, "It's okay. You're an idiot. I'm sorry I strained your one brain cell. Goodbye."

I mean, seriously, what does NAMI offer? They're probably getting government grants and pretending to be useful while taking the money. Ugh.

I didn't want to use their site, but I was trying to follow some content that applies to my career. So to follow, they asked me to register. Fair enough, but then they asked my age. Like that's any of their business? I tried to input that my age was negative six, but they saw through that and gave me the boot. Maybe they should try to make a better first impression. Geez.

HA HA HA HA HA! I needed a good laugh before bed, and an obviously scam email from them came into my inbox. You can't make this garbage up! Total hubris! As shown in the photo, yes, I do live in Louisville. I'm pretty sure he knew that because... wait for it... when I signed up for a free psychic reading, I was asked for my location. [Facepalm.] This is so flimsy as to be cringeworthy. I guess he'll put a curse on me next!

You know how you get a lot of emails from things you subscribed to, and you don't want to hit "spam" when you can hit unsubscribe and not be mean about it? Well... snort. This website sent me an email that I must not have subscribed to at all... online. I legally changed my first name to Meg, and I've gone by Meg (and Meg only) since 2002. Today I got an email from them with my birthname plastered all over it. I know for a fact that I would NEVER have given any website my birthname. They must've gotten my info from some sort of outdated in-person list, if that makes sense. Unfortunately for them, nothing angers me more than seeing my birthname plastered ALL OVER an email. Wow. That's some bad marketing. If they want people to donate money, they need to rethink their tactics.

So, this was our chat log:

[Me]: I don't use a cellphone!

[Tinder]: Hello,

Thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately, your message to us didn't contain enough information for us to be able to assist you.

Please feel free to respond to this email with more information about the trouble you are experiencing so we can help to resolve the issue.

Best,

Brittany

[Me]: I can't create an account! It's asking for my cellphone number! Help!: o

[Tinder]: Hello,

Thanks for writing in. For security reasons, SMS verification is required upon signup, whether you're signing up for Tinder using your Facebook profile or your phone number. To that end, access to a working phone number is required upon signup.

We appreciate your understanding. Please let me know if I can answer any other questions.

Best,

Brenda

[Me]: So, you're discriminating against me because I prefer to use my box computer? Super lame. I'll leave a scathing review on sitejabber. Don't thank me for understanding, because I don't understand. Go [bleep] yourself.

**************
That was some bad customer service. It implies that I don't want to use a cellphone number for duplicitous reasons. In reality, I don't own a cellphone. And they're clearly not willing to work with me to verify my identity. Scumbags.

So, I called the number on my credit card. (It's a store-brand credit card through citibankonline.com's website. I won't say which store, because I have nothing bad to say about the store.) I told them I'm planning to travel later this month and wanted to give them a head's up so they wouldn't think my card had been stolen by someone abroad.

At first they seemed to appreciate my calling, but then things took a sinister turn. They said they'd have to send me a code to my cellphone for verification. I don't use a cellphone. I use a landline. My dad, who lives downstairs, also uses a landline. We're not a cellphone family.

They transferred me to the fraud department, and that was when I started to get a bad feeling. While on hold, I wanted to hang up but was suddenly afraid that I'd be accused of something.

"Hello. So, you don't use a cellphone?"

"No, I don't. I use landlines."

"Can you tell me your landline number?"

I told her both mine and my dad's, and they didn't match. (After I got off the phone, I logged in and discovered that my number on file is from years ago.)

"We can't verify your identity. We'll write you a letter."

"A letter? What am I going to do with a letter?"

"Just wait to receive the letter like a good little customer."

"But--I'm traveling! In a week!"

"Ma'am, are you saying you want to speak to someone other than me?"

"Oh, yes," I said... even though that hadn't been what I was saying. I ran with it, because why not?

Don, a supervisor, came on the phone. "You'll have to wait for Citibank to call you."

"When?"

"We often call right away," he said.

"Don't BS me. There's not going to be a call, is there?" I accused.

"Of course there will be a call," he said. "We'll call whichever number we have on file."

"Listen, Don, I was having a great day until this happened. I'm not a criminal. I've never committed any criminal acts. I even stop for every stop sign I encounter, as well as for ducks crossing. And by the way, so does Meg [last name]!" (I couldn't help but add that part.)

So I was treated like a criminal because I don't use a cellphone, and because they had an old phone number of mine on file, and because they couldn't be bothered to find some way to verify my identity.

It seems ironic that I bought the plane ticket with that credit card, and just a week ago. It's all part of this identity thief's con, everyone! [Facepalm.]

Well, someone (riverlink.com) is clearly begging for a bad review here. They asked, and I shall deliver it.

This website is in charge of collecting bridge-crossing toll fees. They sent us a bill for crossing the bridge several times, but it was after we'd sold the car. So I figured I'd give them a call and clear that up.

Well, I WAS in a good mood before spending fifteen minutes trying everything I could to get a live person on the phone and getting nowhere. And it's 1:30 on a Monday (non-holiday) afternoon. Um. My mood went from ten to zero in a short period of time.

Here's a tip for businesses: if you don't want to talk on the phone, don't fool customers with a phone number that includes hours of availability. Maybe just do online chats, or whatever, without putting people through needless hell.

Justfly is a horrible company. Granted, my first two flights booked with them, in 2018 and 2019 respectively, went fine. (Well, one flight got canceled due to a storm, but we were already on the plane, so I wouldn't blame Justfly. But I digress.)

So I booked a flight with them this year, 2021, too. All my travels are round-trip from USA to Prague.

Obviously there have been travel issues due to the coronavirus, but I went to the airline's site to research my flight and travel restrictions. Vaccines? Negative bloodwork? Etc. And imagine when the airline's site said something like, "Enjoy your upcoming trip to Brussels!"

Brussels. Hmm. After briefly checking in with myself to make sure that Brussels wouldn't work (it wouldn't), I contacted the airline, who I only have good things to say about. They explained that the flight from Brussels (my layover destination) to Prague had been canceled, as in the plane wouldn't be taxiing.

I was horrified and contacted Justfly. I don't know how long that leg of my trip had been canceled, but they did nothing to let me know! I spoke with a woman on the phone who kept referring to my destination as Praggy. (You can't make this stuff up.) Praggy. Nice.

She insisted that I choose the next available flight from Brussels to Praggy--ahem, Prague--but it involved a nine-hour layover in Brussels. I knew I'd be exhausted, and I could see from the Justfly website (and the airline's website) that better flights with shorter layovers were readily available. This wasn't about finding that one remaining flight. Rather, it was about giving me the most inconvenient flight imaginable so that Justfly wouldn't have to reorder the entire trip.

I refused to accept the nine-hour layover. I demanded that the lady cancel my flight so I could rebook with the airline directly. (I wasn't stupid enough to tell her I was going to rebook through the airline. I just explained I'd rather start from scratch.)

She promised me she'd cancel through the airline. I immediately bought a second flight through the airline's website. A day or so passed, and my second-bought flight got cancelled by the airline, which was looking out for me. "You've got two nearly identical trips booked," they explained. "We gave you a credit."

So apparently, Justfly had changed my flight to the nine-hour layover one instead of asking the airline to cancel it.

That was about a week ago, and their website still insists that it's trying to process my cancellation. Mm-hmm.

I contacted the airline and asked them to cancel my first-bought flight (the one that morphed into the nine-hour layover one) and to reinstate my second-bought flight. This meant that my trip was secured, but that I'd have to collect reimbursement from Justfly.

I called Justfly and the same Praggy lady kept giving me the runaround, claiming she was waiting for the airline to cancel the flight and refund Justfly. I said it shouldn't matter if they refunded Justfly. I'd paid Justfly for a flight that wasn't going to happen. But it's impossible to reason with someone who's determined to screw you over.

I was able to learn that their parent company is FlightHub, located in Canada. I called FlightHub directly. A recorded message said to call Justfly about reservations made through them. Instead I left a message with my name and phone number and said that their company was horribly run, but that if they'd give me a refund, I wouldn't leave scathing reviews all over the internet.

That was about a week ago. I guess they don't value my discretion. Too bad.

I called the credit card company, and they immediately reversed the charge.

I wrote a 5-star product review for their website and submitted it thusly:

"I was lucky to find two pairs of these on a different website that sells used items. It's love. I wanted to comment on the complaints that the pants don't go up high enough in the waist. Very true. For me, they come up the perfect height in front but are an inch or two too low in the back, so when I sit, I feel like I'm showing some... ahem... Well, let's just say they don't come up far enough in the back when I'm seated. (I don't notice an issue while standing.) It's not likely to bother me because I always wear a top that goes down several inches below the top line of my pants. So these pants may or may not work for you, but it can't hurt to try them out! I don't feel that my fat tummy is hanging over the elastic in front. I was worried about that, but the pants do come up high enough to prevent that (for me, anyway). The quality is nice and I like the snapped pockets. (I'm a huge snaps fanatic.) And oh, by the way, I wear petite because even though I'm 5'8" tall, I have a long torso and short legs. The petite Large fits me perfectly. I'm excited to wear these come autumn! I wish they had a bit more flare in the ankles/calves, but it's not a huge issue."

And I got an email from them saying:

"Please give your review another try. Unfortunately, your feedback does not meet our guidelines.

We really want to hear what you have to say, so please check out the tips below. Thank you!

DO:
- Use the item before reviewing it
- Share specific details and features of the item (fit, performance, color, etc.)

DON'T
- Include your name or personal contact information.
- Focus on customer service of shipping. Our customer service team is happy to answer those questions.
- Use obscenities, discriminatory language or make negative comments about other reviewers.
- Post advertisements, "spam", references to other products, companies, offers, or websites.
- Include specific price information, promotional discounts or other information that is subject to change."

And I'm like, what the freak did I do wrong?! I didn't break any of those rules. Did I? I'm offended.

That's the basis of giving them three stars, but it's one star for their rejecting my review, averaged out by a five-star rating on their wonderful clothing. Hmmph.

So, I did a search for "rainbow stickers", wanting to buy some to decorate my new beige landline phone. It's totally old-school and retro and has a curly cord and everything. But anyway, every time I return to etsy, their home page is showing me recommendations based on my search for rainbow stickers, and half of those recommendations involve male private parts. One particular piece of artwork is a collage of penises done in charcoal.

I originally clicked "report listing" for all of them and chose the option that says something like, "This item isn't properly catalogued as being adult content," or whatever. So some time passes, I return to etsy, and those exact same listings are still staring at me. I report them again. More time passes, and I return to etsy, and it's more of the same. At this point I send etsy an angry and incredibly hostile email. More time passes, and I don't hear back from etsy (which isn't too surprising since I called them whores and sluts), but I return to the site and the same listings are still there on my home page. I'm through.

Please only view my accompanying photo if you're not disgusted by penis art.