Every year, Neil Young hosts this Bridge School benefit concert at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View. John and I went with G&J last year, and this time we were planning to take his sis S and her beau. So as with nearly all my Ticketmaster purchases, I got everything ready (multiple browser windows open) before the sale commenced at 10a. For some fucking reason, this year I could not get the middle tier seats! It was either bid/auction for orchestra seats or buy lawn seats. So I went through the prompts a gazillion times, switching up the parameters selecting  “best available” then trying specific seat types. So odd, but nothing came up except lawn seats. So fine, whatever. I wasn’t shelling out $200 pp for a lineup I barely even know. I got four lawn seats, and that was that.

Well later, I realized that Shoreline does this 4-pack deal on lawn seats, and the savings is about $60 per pack! So studying the user interface again, I saw that in the drop down menu, instead of selecting “best available” and being offered the lawn seats, I was supposed to select “4-pk”. There was no special promo code or whatever. I mean, shouldn’t the program automatically see that I am purchasing 4 lawn tickets and just bill me the package price? Blah, blah, I discover on further research that Ticketmaster has this 3-day return policy for certain venues… I figure I’ll put this in my back pocket just in case.

So I call customer service. First, I read my order number like three times, and the guy still can’t pull it up in the system. Finally, he gets it via last name. So I explain the situation, and he gives me this canned reply: unfortunately, we can’t retroactively apply a discount code. Um, it wasn’t a code, and the system should have just told me I qualified for the package. Back and forth a few times where he repeats his line, and I rephrase but basically reiterate my talking points. No movement. So then I say, ok well if you can’t issue a credit, let’s just process a refund and then I’ll re-buy. Again, he says all sales are final. A blatant lie. So then I say that I read the online policy, and for Shoreline, there’s a 3-day refund. Then he says he can’t guarantee that I’ll get the same seats… Uh dude. Lawn seats = shitty seats = first come, first serve. That doesn’t apply in this case. Finally, he processes the return, the whole time telling me it’s a goodwill, one-time gesture. Blah, blah. Lie. I mean, here’s the deal. Ticketmaster policies should be consistently applied, and the people who work in customer service should fucking KNOW the policy. Wth, I dunno if he was lying intentionally or if he was ignorant. Either way, thankfully, I did my homework before the call… Who are these people? In the end, I got what I wanted but hell, something is fishy, right? The lesson? You gotta give push back, big time!

A few days later, I was a dumbass, and I forgot to take off my FitBit before my horseback riding lesson. I had a rockin’ lesson, but shit, we did a lot of cantering. At some point during the ride, I remembered feeling a hard knob on my inner thigh where it touched the saddle. I was going fast, so I couldn’t look down, but I thought maybe the reins got stuck funny in my saddle. Well, after feeling all triumphant post lesson, I realized FitBit was gone! Shit!! And there was no way I was going to recover it from a monster, dirty, dusty arena.

To be honest, the device had already started losing luster with me months ago, so I figured this was a good excuse to escape the FitBit burden. But then I got home, and well, you know me. I was all bummed about losing this $60 device and having to cancel my account. So I researched online. A bunch of people said they lost their device and when they asked to close their account, the company gave them a replacement. Huh, really? So I did just that: I emailed them that I lost it while riding, and what’s involved with closing the account.

Well this morning, I got a reply that basically said, sorry you lost it. We’ll close your account once you confirm your email. Uh… what?? So here’s the thing. I always want to give the vendor an option to take the “right” path. I mean, sure I lost it. It was my fault, BUT at the same time, I wore the device the way it was instructed to be worn. And I know a bunch of people who have lost the device just in normal day-to-day activity. It’s not like I created some jimmied version of wearing it. I had it clipped to my bra, and while it was bumpy ride on the horse, was it THAT bumpy that a clip should fall completely off? Needless to say, I was a little disappointed by the inconsistent customer service. So I wrote back, explaining that I had heard in some instances that a replacement is offered. I attached a receipt and added that I have purchased five devices for our family (my dad, his dad, and also our niece). Whattdya know, she offered me a replacement in the next email.

The thing is, why do these people have to be prodded? I mean, in both cases, the situation ultimately worked out fine, but I’m a bit annoyed with the arbitrary nature of this. Like had John written the email and they said no, he would have just left it. Ah well. I guess persistence pays off. 🙂

Interestingly, John explained that from FitBit’s perspective, replacement is actually the smarter way to go. Because it’s such a small device, it’s bound to get lost, and are people really going to keep shelling out the dough to replace? No, so once the device is lost, they are lost forever as a customer. Ah, why didn’t I think of that angle?