tikiera

Very bad vibes to Primetime Shuttle.

I make my reservation online because the wait is too long on the phone.

It all goes through.

Then they call me to tell me that the need to pick me up 25 minutes earlier. Since it was already obscenely early, the new time moves it into no way in hell I will be awake that hour.

The kicker??? They waited to tell me that the time they had confirmed was no good until AFTER they charged my credit card. And their cancellation policy is such that I have to wait 30 days for it to come back.

I am angry. I wish death and destruction on them. I can't really afford to wait 30 days to get my money back.

To clarify - I check my bank account after making the reservation. The charge is listed as literally less than minute from the start of the call to tell me that the time had changed.

And I lost my temper with the poor CSR - their phone tree is dumb and doesn't have an option for cancellations, nor does it have anyone ever answer unless you are making a reservation. And the reservation people take forever to put you through to the people who can help you, so by the time I got through to the person who wanted to tell me why this was all my fault (and tried to) I was already mad.

I don't care if they say it's subject to change. Changing to before 5 am when the flight isn't until 8 am isn't cool.

So, I spent the last year and a half singing Border's praises.  It had an awesome rewards program -  5% of what you spent in the year went into a account that you could spend in December - a freebie that meant that during the Christmas shopping season you either got a bit more to spend on gifts, or could use to buy  yourself a gift (and a ton  of new books come in December - always been a problem for me with not wanting to spend money on myself, but wanting the new books).  You also got personal shopping days if you spent over a certain amount in one month that gave you a %10 saving on a day of your choice.

I signed up.  Carried the card everywhere (for those random must buy book emergencies).  Gave one to my boyfriend.  Urged friends to get the card.  (It was free and had benefits)  Didn't buy new books anywhere else  - not for myself, not for gifts, nada.  No one bought a book around me that wasn't at Borders because, hey, free books at the end of the year - it felt wasteful to go to anywhere else, so I would gently persuade the purchaser that my card at Borders was a better deal than B&N.    Ended up having to (in that year and a half) buy one book at B&N 'cause it was a last minute Christmas gift that no Borders in a 60 mile radius had (and we did check) - and it felt _wrong_  'cause I knew I was essentially losing money - no potential discount days or books back.

So, I get an email today.  Borders is oh so happy to announce their new program.  No more personal shopping days.  No more once a year free books.

Now it's spend $150, get a $5 credit that is good for one month.  The month immediately after you spend the $5.  They think this is  _better_

It is.  Only for them.

Well, I am not going to keep track of how much I spend and realize when it's above $150.  Especially since many of the purchases made on my rewards card weren't by me - they were by any given friend who needed a book when I was around.

And really, what besides the burt's bee's lipglosses and chocolates at the front $5 in a book store?  The days of the $5 paperback are _gone_.

The program is clearly designed to give as little benefit possible - and to make the benefit as inconvenient to use as possible so that it isn't used.

So, Borders went from a 10 on my scale of customer loyalty to a -10. 

New books will have to come from Amazon.com, I guess, and I will have to factor in the shipping time/inconvenience of having to have them shipped to someone else's house (I can't receive packages at my home because UPS insists that someone be there to sign for them - I am not kidding, it's freaking insane). 

Grrrrr...