r ransom wrote:Wouldn't that be nice.
The number parcels I've had end up delayed by going to California is ridiculous. One shipping company uses both international 2 letter codes and usa state 2 letter codes. And then confuses itself. Instead of traveling from one side of the city to the other for next day delivery, my parcel gets a week vacation in California. Then the company tries to charge me brokerage and duty (twice). It's a real pain.
R. Ransom, Let me tell you a story.
I have had a lot of success by digging around to find the Apex predator of the companies that bring me pain. The trick is to find the corporation that owns whatever bullroar company owns the mopes who are ignoring you, or otherwise making your life unmanageable. There is nothing more dynamic and satisfying than having the holding company's CEO's office calling the president of the company that giving you s**t to dress them down for dissing a constituent.
My best story is to tell you that for 20 fricking years, the company that pretended to "manage" my pension, sent letters to me to tell me how great they were doing for me. But when I called the number they had in all their letters, the CSR (customer service rep) response was rude, abrupt, and disinterested. As far as they were concerned, I was not their client and I did not have an account.
It took a little time to find the parent company, and to write a terse letter to the CEO of the international holding company telling him (it's always a him, isn't it?) that if, in fact they did not owe me the money that they continued to tell me was in my pension account, then that they could possible be overstating the amount they needed to hold in reserve for future pensioners. This is a big deal for large corporations that need to hold monies in reserve to pay to its employees in the future -- it's money they cannot invest in current expansions or projects. They can invest in very conservative assets, but not much more. In short, I appealed to their greed.
I told him I was enough of a data manager that I understood that my account was not an anomaly -- that it represented a small but significant number of accounts that, for his company could represent quite a bit of cash being held in reserve that could be put to use today. I was rude, abrupt, callous, and very disrespectful to whatever company they hired or department they used to manage their employee retirement accounts. Basically, I told him to "man-up" and figure out WTF was happening with the mopes he or his minions hired to manage the retirement accounts. The letter included the time and date and the fact that the last CSR that I spoke with not only told me I did not have an account, but also was unwilling to tell me how to identify him or his location. It included the "Oh yay! Aren't we doing a swell job for you," original letter and the disrespect and possible abuse I experienced with on the telephone with the CSR.
I was not out of control, but I was very angry at the treatment from a international company that I worked for in 2 countries for 10 years. I wrote the letter, spent a few days editing and document it, then sent it registered to the overseas corporate office. Imagine my surprise when weeks later, I got a mailed response from the HQ office of the CEO. He assigned one of his, well, someone who reported directly to him, told me that indeed I did have a retirement account with them and added a specific person in the US to call. Given that I have never personally met the CEO of
ANY company I've worked for, this was a big deal.
I called the person he mentioned in the email and very quickly transferred the money into an account I could manage directly.
Here, my laboriously written bla bla bla can be reduced to an example of the Squeaky Wheel Syndrome, and possibly a grand Winston Churchill quote: "Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense." delivered in a speech to Harrow School in October 1941 - during possibly some of the darkest days for the UK during WWII.
I will be cheerful in helping you write a finely crafted letter to the nettlesome company that has yet to figure out international shipping. As an American expatriate, I am uniquely qualified to re-write and/or edit your letter to them. If they continue to be unresponsive, I can help you find other companies that can provide the products or services you need without the crapola you are currently forced to endure. I think I am well versed and can help you tame the beast in the company you are currently working with and/or find a company that can provide what you need with far less hassle.
We all need more peace in 2026. Let's start here.
Happy New Year, everyone.
Barbara
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