What a shitty company when it comes to customer service and providing resolution to problems.
I've trekked across several countries in Europe by car, train and bus.
Taking the bus is one of the cheapest methods of going from one country to another in Europe. If you can put up with sitting there for long periods of time. I have purchased and road on Flixbus buses three times in the past.
The positive side of most of Flixbus is it's cheap and it gets you where you need to go. It's warm inside the bus. Moderately spacious, not cramped. There's a slide up food tray. The bathroom is functional. The Wifi didn't work well. The power outlets works fine. The luggage seems managed fine, even on stops of boarding during long trips (I don't know how the bus driver managed all that).
There have been no problems in the past but this most recent booking was a small nightmare. The type of nightmare you get when you a certain type of food and forgot to brush your teeth before sleeping.
I booked the ticket in the United States a week ahead and the last several rides had no problems. On that day I was at the bus station waiting with everyone else. I have been at this station before. I am here 35 minutes ahead of the "arrive 15 minutes before departure" time. I spoke to a little guy wearing glasses who spoke little English (each big city Flixbus station has an attendant...so far that I've been to) about my booking on the app and printed paper. He says "wait here". Done. I stroll about the area a few feet but not too far. I never left the station platform. So, it's half an hour later and I have been checking the front of each bus for a sign indicating for my trip to Hamburg. None. It's now departure time and I speak to that little guy wearing and he says wait. I just assume the bus is late. 15 minutes and I ask for a third time. He now says "he called, it go". Meaning the bus already left. This is bullshit. I am now upset and a little distraught. One, it is now an onset that I missed my trip to Hamburg. Two, will I get my money back? Three, I am stranded in the little German city I am currently in. It's cold and I did not make a booking for a night(s) stay here. I had booked a stay in Hamburg that night...Thereafter...Four, I was lucky enough to get a few nights booking, I paid for, in the same place I slept in the night before, lucky they accommodated me because in this cold, a night outside is death-rimental. Five, I did not get to go to Hamburg and it ruined all the places I meant to visit after; basically like a domino effect it screwed up my trip schedule and all the plans I paid for ahead of time.
What did I do after the little guy wearing glasses who spoke little English (as a Flixbus attendant) screwed up? I went to their little booth. Not all or any stations have them but this one did. It's like a little shed, like a little newspaper stand. I spoke to this German guy after waiting on a slow attending line. I was told first I had to re-book with a paid ticket, he can't reschedule another bus. He then said call customer service, he will not do it. Kicked me out of the booth, into the cold after waiting on the long line, nothing more. My phone can't call European numbers. Back in a warm place where I could use my laptop I sent them an email and 2 days later, no response. Can't get a refund via their automated rescheduling website because it is a -past booking- I cancel all my thereafter Hamburg trips and I get a voucher minus a dollar for the trips I paid for for my next booking with Flixbus.
I am livid.
I will never use Flixbus again. Even if I do not get my money back which is not a big deal. I'm going to try and issue a chargeback. I have never issued a chargeback before on anything, ever.
Sunday, November 19, 2017
Sunday, September 17, 2017
Papa John's Pizza just lost a customer
Not that it matters much to the profit margins or growth of their business (unless this becomes a wide spread and viral issue) because it's not about the (mediocre to bland tasting) pizza but the experience. Papa John's Pizza just lost me as a customer and in the future when a friend or family wants pizza or anyone remotely suggest Papa John's I will suggest anything else except Papa John's Pizza.
When I was younger, our go to commercial pizza place was Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut has a better crust in my opinion and tastier ingredients though Papa John's offers a better variety and their pizza's taste lighter. There are light taste differences so I use to be able to go for either or but if one was next to each other I would go for Pizza Hut.
Lately, in the past few years there have been a few Papa John's opening in my area, especially around where I work. So, co-workers and I would sometimes order from them. When you make purchases at Papa John's on your account with them you get points for free pizza for your next order. 15 to 25 points will get you a pie. So, my account racks those points up and so does my co-workers. I also get promotional points from marketing here and there. I've gotten a few free pizza pies from Papa John's this way. I have a few expired on me. I mean who keeps track of pizza points?
The other day Papa John's sent me a promotional offer with a few points. I login the account and I saw I had a free pie available. But I didn't want pizza then. Today, I had a couple teenagers hanging out in the house and what better way to keep them happy with some pizza! I remember those points and made my online order like before. So, we drive to the Papa John's 10-15 minutes away. I showed the cashier my order on phone. He checked the order and denied me my order. I asked why. What was the reason? He said there was some kind of fraud with my account and I had to make a purchase online to get the order. Correct, that made no sense. Basically, I did not get my order even speaking with the manager. Confused at the explanation and agitated. I sent a letter about my issue to Papa John's via Twitter, Facebook, their Customer Service Email and I called their Customer Service number. Being on hold for 10 minutes after my explanation while the representative I spoke with called the location inquiring why? The answer was still fraud, something wrong with my account. So, the representative escalated the issue to a team that will contact me in 24-48 hours with another rambling excuse.
What's the moral behind the story?
In the past I have come to realize a companies marketing team is not in good communication with the chain of operation. Oh, give customers points when they buy something so in the future they can come back as return costumers. Like a little game, it is a sale booster but it isn't always honored. A: It is somewhat false advertising.
B: I use to be a light fan of Papa John's (not so much for the food quality, just the branding) but not any more. The experience of the douche bag employees that handled my denied order in comparing with the advertisement just seriously lost them a good customer. I unsubscribed to their emails and in the future whenever I see anything related to Papa John's I will think of this experience.
When I was younger, our go to commercial pizza place was Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut has a better crust in my opinion and tastier ingredients though Papa John's offers a better variety and their pizza's taste lighter. There are light taste differences so I use to be able to go for either or but if one was next to each other I would go for Pizza Hut.
Lately, in the past few years there have been a few Papa John's opening in my area, especially around where I work. So, co-workers and I would sometimes order from them. When you make purchases at Papa John's on your account with them you get points for free pizza for your next order. 15 to 25 points will get you a pie. So, my account racks those points up and so does my co-workers. I also get promotional points from marketing here and there. I've gotten a few free pizza pies from Papa John's this way. I have a few expired on me. I mean who keeps track of pizza points?
The other day Papa John's sent me a promotional offer with a few points. I login the account and I saw I had a free pie available. But I didn't want pizza then. Today, I had a couple teenagers hanging out in the house and what better way to keep them happy with some pizza! I remember those points and made my online order like before. So, we drive to the Papa John's 10-15 minutes away. I showed the cashier my order on phone. He checked the order and denied me my order. I asked why. What was the reason? He said there was some kind of fraud with my account and I had to make a purchase online to get the order. Correct, that made no sense. Basically, I did not get my order even speaking with the manager. Confused at the explanation and agitated. I sent a letter about my issue to Papa John's via Twitter, Facebook, their Customer Service Email and I called their Customer Service number. Being on hold for 10 minutes after my explanation while the representative I spoke with called the location inquiring why? The answer was still fraud, something wrong with my account. So, the representative escalated the issue to a team that will contact me in 24-48 hours with another rambling excuse.
What's the moral behind the story?
In the past I have come to realize a companies marketing team is not in good communication with the chain of operation. Oh, give customers points when they buy something so in the future they can come back as return costumers. Like a little game, it is a sale booster but it isn't always honored. A: It is somewhat false advertising.
B: I use to be a light fan of Papa John's (not so much for the food quality, just the branding) but not any more. The experience of the douche bag employees that handled my denied order in comparing with the advertisement just seriously lost them a good customer. I unsubscribed to their emails and in the future whenever I see anything related to Papa John's I will think of this experience.
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Orange Is the New Black compared to Attica
It's been about 8 months since I've published a blog because of my environment. Last blog was an anticipation to post about my latest adventure to Europe. I did it. I spent a month traveling from New York to Boston then to Iceland, The Netherlands, Germany, The Czech Republic and then to Copenhagen before my flight home back to the New York City. I will likely write about my adventures on that another day.
There are a few topics that interest me. Traveling and culture are of course two subjects. Another two would be survival as a homeless person and the inner system of the prison culture. I'm going to talk about the latter subject.
This topic of the television show Orange Is the New Black comparison to Attica brought up by a friend raises a few interesting topics. My first thought was there must be some correlation between the two. She also mentioned in the subject the book to compare the television show by: Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy by Heather Ann Thompson.
Orange Is the New Black plots about a Caucasian lady (Piper Chapman played by the actor Taylor Schilling) going to prison from an average, what seems to be middle-class lifestyle. She does some money laundering for some drug dealers/smugglers and is sent to prison. She then has to adapt to prison life and there comes the rest of the cast of female inmates and what happens in Litchfield Prison. Ok, fine, the topics from scenes illustrate properly as the shows category: Comedy-Drama. At some points it will highlight on Lesbianism, violence, race, hierarchy, power struggle, mental health, survival and other prison life subjects BUT here's what makes the show Award Winning: it turns those very real subjects into a huge spin on satire. It turns those real subjects to the point of soap opera in prison for a show based on a non-fictional story line.
In season five one of the episodes during the riot a couple of prisoners started shouting Attica! But briefly after they did that they discussed why they were shouting it. They had no clue, they were just following along with others shouting it. They're not stupid, just a lack a knowledge I guess. I defend their ignorance for a few reasons. I too lacked that knowledge. I didn't know anything about Attica Correctional Facility, until I read the book Blood in the Water, except it was a well known prison. I figured something big went down there but never sort to research it's history. And it happened 47-48 years ago. It being in history is one thing I learned, the date of it's occurrence. I also learned that what put it in history is the riot and why the riot occurred. I learned that it's still in operation. I had assumed it was closed down for such an old prison.
Does the show compare similarly with the book Blood in the Water or the Attica uprising? I can't compare it the television show with the actual memoirs the show is based on from Piper Kerman's Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison.
Yes, the television show Orange is the New Black has a light similarity to the book Blood in the Water.
-Piper Chapman is sent to prison for a somewhat considerable low-level non-heinous White-collar crime compared to some of the prisoners serving jail time in Attica before the Attica riots were also doing low-level non-heinous Blue-collar crimes. They were sent imprisoned for reasons other than their crime.
-Some of the actions and themes taken place in the show did also occur in Attica prison based on the comments from prisoners in the book such as abuse and sexual misconduct.
-The book and the show sort of give a little story line or description of prisoners and their life inside and out. I like that the show gives scenes relating to the prisoner's earlier life before they were imprisoned. The book gives a very light why prisoners are in jail.
-Racial and hierarchy between prisoners and guards did play a major factor in culture life in both prisons.
-In the show the riot began when one or more (with her associates) of the prisoners lead by prisoner Taystee started a sort of stampede. She was upset over a briefing by the warden defending a guard that killed her other prison friend. In the book, it was stated that the Attica riot began when one of the guards was struck in fear or sort of defense. A certain block of prisoners were being rerouted from one part of the jail to another when one gate had been locked the prisoners were trapped and for one reason or another fear of being trapped in a sort of tunnel caused a prisoner to assault a guard and that's when a single action from a circumstance caused a chain of chaos.
Warning: Spoiler Alert!
-In both themes, negotiations were not fruitful in the immediate future. In the show who knows what will happen if there is a season six. In real life or that is in the aftermath of the Attica riot there were questions on why the outcome with such as forceful raid actually necessary and lawsuits.
-In both there were negotiations (of course different demands). The show had a list of comfort and entertainment negotiation demands while the actual Attica prisoners of 1971 wanted amnesty and fairer treatment.
-In both story lines there was raid or that is a storming of the prison by force. The actual event is said to have had 49 prisoners/hostages lives lost. In season five of the show besides, Poussey dying in season four, two died.
-Both gave a look inside what prison life is like but probably not the whole story, one I would gladly never like to experience.
There's probably more and some details slightly off or not written but just an update on what's currently on my plate.
There are a few topics that interest me. Traveling and culture are of course two subjects. Another two would be survival as a homeless person and the inner system of the prison culture. I'm going to talk about the latter subject.
This topic of the television show Orange Is the New Black comparison to Attica brought up by a friend raises a few interesting topics. My first thought was there must be some correlation between the two. She also mentioned in the subject the book to compare the television show by: Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy by Heather Ann Thompson.
Orange Is the New Black plots about a Caucasian lady (Piper Chapman played by the actor Taylor Schilling) going to prison from an average, what seems to be middle-class lifestyle. She does some money laundering for some drug dealers/smugglers and is sent to prison. She then has to adapt to prison life and there comes the rest of the cast of female inmates and what happens in Litchfield Prison. Ok, fine, the topics from scenes illustrate properly as the shows category: Comedy-Drama. At some points it will highlight on Lesbianism, violence, race, hierarchy, power struggle, mental health, survival and other prison life subjects BUT here's what makes the show Award Winning: it turns those very real subjects into a huge spin on satire. It turns those real subjects to the point of soap opera in prison for a show based on a non-fictional story line.
In season five one of the episodes during the riot a couple of prisoners started shouting Attica! But briefly after they did that they discussed why they were shouting it. They had no clue, they were just following along with others shouting it. They're not stupid, just a lack a knowledge I guess. I defend their ignorance for a few reasons. I too lacked that knowledge. I didn't know anything about Attica Correctional Facility, until I read the book Blood in the Water, except it was a well known prison. I figured something big went down there but never sort to research it's history. And it happened 47-48 years ago. It being in history is one thing I learned, the date of it's occurrence. I also learned that what put it in history is the riot and why the riot occurred. I learned that it's still in operation. I had assumed it was closed down for such an old prison.
Does the show compare similarly with the book Blood in the Water or the Attica uprising? I can't compare it the television show with the actual memoirs the show is based on from Piper Kerman's Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison.
Yes, the television show Orange is the New Black has a light similarity to the book Blood in the Water.
-Piper Chapman is sent to prison for a somewhat considerable low-level non-heinous White-collar crime compared to some of the prisoners serving jail time in Attica before the Attica riots were also doing low-level non-heinous Blue-collar crimes. They were sent imprisoned for reasons other than their crime.
-Some of the actions and themes taken place in the show did also occur in Attica prison based on the comments from prisoners in the book such as abuse and sexual misconduct.
-The book and the show sort of give a little story line or description of prisoners and their life inside and out. I like that the show gives scenes relating to the prisoner's earlier life before they were imprisoned. The book gives a very light why prisoners are in jail.
-Racial and hierarchy between prisoners and guards did play a major factor in culture life in both prisons.
-In the show the riot began when one or more (with her associates) of the prisoners lead by prisoner Taystee started a sort of stampede. She was upset over a briefing by the warden defending a guard that killed her other prison friend. In the book, it was stated that the Attica riot began when one of the guards was struck in fear or sort of defense. A certain block of prisoners were being rerouted from one part of the jail to another when one gate had been locked the prisoners were trapped and for one reason or another fear of being trapped in a sort of tunnel caused a prisoner to assault a guard and that's when a single action from a circumstance caused a chain of chaos.
Warning: Spoiler Alert!
-In both themes, negotiations were not fruitful in the immediate future. In the show who knows what will happen if there is a season six. In real life or that is in the aftermath of the Attica riot there were questions on why the outcome with such as forceful raid actually necessary and lawsuits.
-In both there were negotiations (of course different demands). The show had a list of comfort and entertainment negotiation demands while the actual Attica prisoners of 1971 wanted amnesty and fairer treatment.
-In both story lines there was raid or that is a storming of the prison by force. The actual event is said to have had 49 prisoners/hostages lives lost. In season five of the show besides, Poussey dying in season four, two died.
-Both gave a look inside what prison life is like but probably not the whole story, one I would gladly never like to experience.
There's probably more and some details slightly off or not written but just an update on what's currently on my plate.
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