My home automation (X-10) is very long in the tooth. I want to upgrade to something new that will work with CFL and LED lighting. I've gone to Smarthome a couple of times to try an figure out which way to go and each time I've ended up completely confused. Kudos to you for navigating that morass and actually deciding what will work for you. I agree the delivery is disappointing.

Wayne, I think your experience is more the norm than it is the exception. Kudos to you for putting an emphasis on customer service, it goes a long ways to make Pelican stand out.

The January after I got married it came time to do our taxes jointly for the first time. The federal taxes were pretty straightforward and I didn't have any problems with them.

The state taxes were an issue. The state of Illinois issues a PIN for each filing entity (business, person, couple filing jointly, etc.) to ease in electronic filing. My old PIN would not work, nor would my wife's old PIN. I needed to get a new PIN. I went to the Department of Revenue home page. After reading six different FAQs that told me I would need to request a new PIN and clicking six links that said "request your new PIN here", I finally got to page that told me I had to call the Department of Revenue to request the PIN. (Despite the fact that six different web pages told me I could do it online...)

I call the Department of Revenue on Monday morning at 7:00 a.m.. I get a recorded message that tells me that their call center is currently not open and to call back during business hours: 9-11 a.m. and 2-4 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday.

I call back on Tuesday at 9:00 a.m., I get the same recorded message. I keep redialing and keep getting the recorded message telling me that they are not open until around 9:45, where I get a busy signal. At 10:00 I give up for the day as I have other stuff to work on.

Wednesday I call throughout the day, and they never bother to actually activate the phone system.

Thursday they turn on the phone system at around 9:15 (I'm guessing as pennance for not taking any calls on Wednesday). I get a busy signal all morning. They never turn the phones on after their lunch break.

The following Tuesday after two hours of redialing, the phone rings. It rings! There is a noise of the line being picked up, then dead silence. After 30 minutes of dead silence, I finally get a voice telling me that my estimated wait time is 45 minutes. 30 minutes of dead silence later, I get a voice telling me that my estimated wait time is....45 minutes. About five minutes after that, I get a real, human voice on the other end.

"Hello?"

I explain the situation. The lady on the other end tells me to go to the web site to request a new PIN. I explain to her that there is no place on the website to request a new PIN and that it told me to call this phone number. She huffs. She tells me that I need to file my taxes by mail then. Click.

That's why your sales are up 37% over Q2 '07...kudos!
c

What Matt said.

I'm simply appalled at the "standard" of customer service out there. People who look the other way when they're talking to you, carrying on personal conversations while they're "helping" you, screwing up your orders, screwing up your charges, etc.

BTW these are all just off the top of my head stuff that has happened to me in the past week. No joke. The standard out there is horrible. If I acted like any of today's "typical" people at any of the many McJobs I've worked in my life, I'd have been embarrassed by it. I was always taught to do a job well and with pride, whether it was digging in the dirt or designing buildings from the air-conditioned comfort of an office. And that's ALWAYS what I've done.

Amazing how simply "doing what you're supposed to" can set you ahead of 90% of the competition. Simply amazing.

I hate how some companies penalize you for taking the cheapest shipping option. Pick 2nd day and they will ship it that day, pick economy ground and they will hold the package for several days prior to shipping. I have experienced that with some third party sellers on Amazon. I guess they count on the higher shipping fees for their profit and try to encourage buyers to use the faster shipping service.

So true...I've always felt the same way about work also..there are so many people (seems 90% of the workforce) that do the bare minimum to not get fired, that merely being diligent and doing what you are "supposed to do" in the first place, puts you well ahead of the rest. Push just a little harder and bingo - you're at the top of the pack. Really not hard at all....

I have been flying AA for over 35 years (2 million+ miles) and have been an Admiral's Club member for over 30 years. Recently, I see that AMEX Platinum card (which I have, no big deal) holders can use the Admiral's Club for nothing as long as they have their card and are flying that day on American. So I let my club card expire, seems crazy to pay for both. Two weeks ago, I'm flying first class to San Diego and I'm in the club trying to log on to wifi available to club members. Unfortunately, I am told by an Admiral's Club attendant that had I kept my membership, I'd have access to the internet in the club. She could have cared less that I have been paying this bytches salary for years and get no loyalty in return.

The stupid thing is that if they allow AMEX members to have wifi access it's creates less of a problem for members w/o computers.

Bimbo told me I could get a one day access to the internet for $12.95, yeah, right.

I wrote AA customer relations and got a really stupid form letter reply. Customer Service sucks almost everywhere and loyalty means nothing.

I just don't understand their thinking on something like this.

that's why i spend all my money on here.. :D

I've been buying parts from Pelican for over 6 years and I've never had a bad or even neutral experience, every transaction has been 100% positive and better than I expected. Where else can you find this kind of service?

My two recent 'customer service' experiences...

1. A big name sub-store. She slowly takes my order, slowly makes the sandwich, looks at my sandwich drink and cookie. She rings it in says 'that will be $8.02', then she asks if I want the combo price. Duhh I have all the pieces of the 'combo' in my hand. She screws around with the machine for afew minutes and says (straight face) 'that will be $8.02'. WTF? But I've hade enough, I hand her a ten dollar bill, she hits some buttons, digs into the till and hands me..... you guessed it $8.02 in change. I just walked out.

2. Today at Golden Arches. Coffee and a snack. She says $2.57. While she is gone (a lonnnnng time for fast food) I lay out all the change on the counter. Two piles each with four quarters, five dimes (stacked) and seven pennies. She looks at the money, rolls her eyes, like cash is a inconvenience to her' groans out loud, then says 'how much is there?'. I say $2.57 and she just dumps it in the register, she can't be bothered to count it.

Not quite the same as Pelican.

I don't even have a Porsche anymore, but always mention Pelican if I get into a conversation with a Porsche guy. I have always been very happy with the service, and I consider the tech forums to be an amazing free service that benefits the global Porsche community.

I've never had a Porsche but I do the same thing when talking to someone about them...:cool: