A copy of the email in which I politely ask woot to stop sucking. (And their reply)
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Dear suck-of-a-woot:
Here I am thinking it’s kind of lame that I sign up for an account near the end of a woot! deal, only for your system to tell me (once I enter all of my info after multiple subsequent page loads and an exhausting exercise in speed-typing data-entry) that the deal is over, despite the fact that I began signing up LITERALLY less than 1 minute before it expired (the website said I could get the deal for the next minute).
So, now I’ve decided I’d rather not deal with a company that ropes me in to things without being forthright, and lo and behold, what do you know? I can’t delete my account.
You guys are what is wrong with the internet. You and LinkedIn. *shudder*
Please. Delete my account now.
“And don’t ever show your face on this muse again.”
username: REDACTED
email: REDACTED TOO
By the way, 1999 called and they want their backwards “customer-retention” philosophies returned promptly. They’re running out of bozos to bankroll the tech-boom bubble.
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What, no witty reply to my charming banter? I guess that voice is reserved for the stuff they’re trying to hock on the cheap. Shucks.
I’m a fan of yours; that’s why I read your blog. With that in mind:
#1: I don’t think you were being reasonable to expect to be able to complete any kind of sign-up process in less than 1 minute.
#2: I’ve bought many things from Woot over the years, and I’ve found their customer service to be excellent.
#3: A few years ago, they were bought by Amazon. Make of that what you will.
Steven —
First of all, my post is mostly (obviously?) a tongue-in-cheek response — mirroring their copywriting style — to their lame decision to force me to email them to cancel my account.
Had woot allowed me to cancel my account without the runaround, it would have been a non-issue. That said, when I viewed my signup experience through the lens of interacting with a company that was apt to hold me hostage and make it inconvenient to cancel at my will (with the hopes that I would merely neglect closing my account), then it was clear I was working with (at minimum) a divisive company. If I can sign up online, I better damn well be able to cancel my account online as well. Otherwise, you are merely manipulating me, and I have no interest in dealing with you.
Same here. It was even worse for me. I get a deal alert from Woot. I get really excited, see the deal, it’s PERFECT. I sign up, place my order, get verification emails and see the charge pending on my visa account. I LOSE almost 6 hours looking for a grinder for my new toy, reading reviews, and getting my wife excited. I SHOULD have been studying for my upcoming exam. The next day, I check my account to see when the order would be shipped. Nope, nothing there. I contact their customer service, and they finally respond by saying my order was DENIED. WHAT THE H**L!! Supposedly, they had “problems” with my card information. I’ve NEVER EVER had problems with my credit card, and they SHOULD clear the charge before sending out ANY authorization email.
I promptly asked them to delete my account. So idiotic.
How’s this. I purchase a couple of Christmas presents from Woot on an account set up through my Amazon.com account. On my next credit card statement the purchase shows up – on my work credit card. My personal card was the default, I had made a couple of work purchases from Amazon which is why my work information was in there. My personal card had expired. So far I take responsibility, even though I had not been alerted that the expiration date was past, nor did they ask if I wanted to use another method of payment since my primary method was unavailable. That would have been nice, but ultimately that was my responsibility. I called Amazon.com customer support since the payment was through their system and was informed I would have to go through Woot’s customer service which is an email only service. I do the email thing explaining what had happened and asked that the charges be reversed from my work card to my personal card which I had updated the info on. The automated response said that because of heavy volume, it would take about a week to get back to me. Twelve days later I emailed again asking for someone to please respond. The next day I received a terse response that they couldn’t reverse the charges and that there wasn’t another account to charge to even if they could. So, I can only conclude they are incompetent if they can’t make a simple credit to one account and charge to another and they are liars because I know my personal card info was up to date. Now I get the joy of having to go through a formal review at work because my card was used for a non-work related purchase which I was told I could avoid if the charge was reversed. And yes, I am also disgusted that I can’t cancel my account except by going back through their “customer support.”