have you ever had to be a "karen"

[KristinCB]

Please know karens of the world - this is not against you and I do feel bad that your name has taken such a bad rap

We are having nothing but troubles right now as we had a bathroom mishap which resulted in us needing to redo our bathroom.. This happened at the beginning of march and we are no further ahead than when It happened. We had a damaged surround sent to us and we've been fighting now for two weeks with both the retailer we bought it from as well as the place that makes the product. Today I'm on customer service with the retailer and I might end up just losing my mind.. I don't know why places have to complicate things so much especially when they are the ones who sent a damaged product.

I try really hard to be polite and not make people upset but this has cost us so much additional money.. anyone want to pretend to me and get things off their chest while getting this sorted? Only mostly kidding... lol

also to my fellow canadians - i'd avoid dealing with rona for anything major at all costs :P


also - do you like my new siggy from char?! it's so pretty <3

[Kiana]

I just came to admire your new siggy.

Sucks about your issues......

[LynnZant]

Beautiful siggy! Try stopping payment and see if that gets their attention. Sorry you are having all these problems. I hope you get things straightened out really soon.



My 4.5 year old computer went down two Friday's ago. My new one was supposed to come yesterday which requires a signature. I stared out the window until 9:30 pm waiting. I'm sad as there have been no new updates about it's arrival. Not time to get irate yet, but I feel it coming on! ha ha At least I found this laptop in the basement so that I can still get on the internet a bit.

[Leablahblah]

We are also having bathroom issues in our brand new bathroom! It sucks!

I'm so sorry customer service isn't being helpful! I'm so glad that my husband deals with the problems himself because I'm not good with conflicts...

And I love your new siggie!!

[tjscraps]

Oh I can totally be a Karen when needed .. I told some door-to-door alarm salespeople to get the F off my lawn when they boxed me into our trailer on the driveway, therefore preventing me from exiting the trailer and getting to my baby, who was just outside the trailer. Mama bear came out!!! They would not take no for an answer and were acting intimidating and peacocking. Nope, not gonna take it.

[AmieN1]

Ugh sorry! No fun!

We spent an entire day this weekend fixing a sprinkler that we had already paid someone to fix last fall- but shocker- it wasn't fixed. We had them return to do it right 2 additional times and it's still not 100%- but refuse to have them back again & it'll work well enough for what we need. I did go FULL Karen when we were sent a bill after each additional visit! I refused to pay for it when it was to repair their crappy job the first time. They finally agreed after I sent photos of the ABOVE ground exposed sprinkler lines that they didn't even bother to bury. Ugh.

ps- Love the siggy!

[JillW]

I'm sorry you're going through that Kristin ... good customer service is very uncommon these days and it sucks!
I can totally be a Karen if I have to ... I went round and round with Xfinity internet a few months ago. I showed my ugly side more than once to them!
I hope you can get to the bottom of it all and get it corrected SOON!

Love your siggie!!

[cherrygutz]

I'm here thinking about your anxiety level, seriously, and thinking, "wow Kristin is braver than me!" I'm sorry you're experiencing this right now...

I'm scared of Karens, I don't wanna be Karened, and I don't want to Karen anyone.
All things that will require me to talk to strangers fixing our house, I leave it to my husband. And before he speaks to anyone, I have to remind him to tone down his voice because he has a big voice. Like really big voice. And I'm just hiding. But like last year when we needed to have our roof changed and people needed to see all the rooms in our house, I went to the library, starbucks that doesn't have many customers.

Love your siggy!

[KristinCB]

Originally Posted by cherrygutz

I'm here thinking about your anxiety level, seriously, and thinking, "wow Kristin is braver than me!" I'm sorry you're experiencing this right now...

It's causing me so much stress and i think i've had a permanent headache since this whole ordeal started.. nothing got sorted today.. AHHHHHH.

The manufacturer credited the cost back to the retail store.. so I don't know what the issue is. Today the retail place told me the best they can do is a 10% discount on my next purchase of $100 or more.... I AM NEVER SHOPPING THERE AGAIN! :O I finally got him to realize that this is not an issue from our end and the manufacturer has claimed ownership that it was damaged due to them but sheesh.. I just want to be over and done with this. I don't think we can get our $ through stopping the payment since we did receive the item.

Lynn I hope you get your computer soon or that it came today! Lea I'm sorry you are having bathroom issues too!

[nietis]

Ughhhh... I always hate hate hate dealing with customer service and all those things. I'll be a Karen if situations need me to, but here, where language is a barrier for me, I leave most of those conflicts to Lan to deal with. Lucky me

I hope you get it sorted out soon, Kristin!

Gorgeous siggy, btw!

[bienejen]

Is this a decent sized chain store? I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen this work for my BF but try posting your situation and tagging the company on twitter/X. Include how 'disappointed and dissatisfied' you are with the service you're receiving. It's not a guarantee but he did that when he was having trouble with a major national bank and got a response within 30 minutes. It can't hurt to try that.

[LJSDesigns]

I can do a total "Karen" when pushed too far. My sister and I always laugh, because our mom, who happened to be named Karen, was good at letting people have it when she felt disrespected, so we learned from the best.

I had something similar with the plumber yesterday. Mind you, I have been using the same one for almost 20 years and every year, I need to have them in because my AC or furnace, depending on the season is not blowing correctly. You would think the would have fixed it for good at some point in all these years, but it keeps happening. Anyway when I called and asked to set up and appointment, the office manager told me they would get to me when they could. Excuse me? I want an appointment so that I can be there.

In the past, I would work from home, so they could come whenever, but not this time. I have to be in the office, so I need an appointment. I explained this and was still told whenever. Since I was having a bad day yesterday, my buttons were easily pushed and I ended up just hanging up on them before I lost my cool.

Now I have to decide if I want to call again and ask to speak to the owner or just call another plumber. I'm torn because I like to support local businesses, but I also like good service and don't consider "we'll get to you" good service. One other time I had called the owner about something that was not fixed correctly and he took care of it right away, but now that we have the entire "Karen" label out there, I wonder if saying something again will have me labeled as one.

It sucks that you just can't get good service anymore. And I know that is a sweeping statement, but I see it more and more and am disheartened by it. If I am paying good money for something, I want good service. It just seems a fair trade.

[lizziej]

Kristin, I'm sorry you're having so much trouble! I can be Karen when need be, AND legal Karen comes out occasionally, too! I use buzz words that make them think twice, or I'll casually mention I work at a law firm. I don't really like to do that, but sometimes it's necessary.

[lovely1m]

I have done the Twitter/X thing, too, and it works better than most. I hate having to be a Karen in situations like this, but it can be necessary.

[KristinCB]

I don't have any social media anymore other than my business page so I don't really think i'll do that. Darcy is callingtoday because things have still gotten nowhere

[Memaw2Wm]

I can be a Karen if necessary, but I much prefer to kill idiots with kindness.

I spent way too long this morning trying to switch my Dad's prepaid service from his dying 6s to a new SE. Couldn't do it online b/c the old phone keeps shutting down and wouldn't/couldn't receive a security code by text. I did lose my cool with the robo-CSR b/c I needed a human CSR, but I was very polite with the gal I finally spoke with.

ETA: After the new phone was finally activated it rec'd five TMs with codes. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

[bcgal00]

That sucks so bad. I agree about Rona but also....all the other stores too.

I have so many horror stories from the last few years after moving a few times and needing services and products. We had trouble with so many retailers and contractors. We finally have a company that is supposed to be putting in our new deck, stairs and sidewalk but...I'll believe it when it happens. We also have 2 birds with nests under the deck so even if the contractor wants to build the deck he can't, not until the babies are out of the nests. Hopefully they will start out front and along the side but then they'll have to wait another week or two before babies fly out of the nest.

Even mother nature is screwing up our plans LOL. It is fun to watch though, especially mama robin b/c we can see the nest from the kitchen window in Jen's apartment downstairs. So that is the most pleasant delay possible

[MamaBee]

We call having to be a "karen"... going Granny... lol. My Granny had a hair trigger and had no patience, especially for incompetency within businesses. Am I proud of it? no... and one of the reasons I can't work customer service, I've generated too much bad karma. . Now I just have hubby deal with these people... he usually is way nicer than me, but there has been times that I've been shocked at him loosing his control. It's like, people do your job!

I hope it gets figured out and finished!

[KristinCB]

stilllll waiting on them to get us our refund back calling AGAIN today. They said a week ago on wednesday I'd have an email within the hour

[StacyLynn]

Ugh, so sorry Kristin... what a pain.
And yup, I can totally be a Karen or as I usually call it "Bit@#% and assertive". I'm currently in the middle of a mess myself.
May 8 we had a new pool liner put in. I noticed a huge gap along deck, before the left, they told me that the weight of the water as the pool filled would push it back. It did not go back. The gap is approx 2-2 1/2 inches, it should only be 1/2 -3/4 inch.... I've called a few times and they had me send emails with photos... I spent $100 to fill the pool, have been waiting to put all the chemicals in cause girl on phone said it may need to be drained again...ugh ugh. The last phone call, lady told me that the pool rail does not come off for my install, and it totally did...and that its not thier fault and they have no idea.... and I kept saying please just send someone out to look.

Good luck with your customer service issues.

[KristinCB]

i'm sorry everyone seems to be dealing with so many issues as well

[LJSDesigns]

I really think customer service has gone way down hill over the years. It feels like companies don't care if their customers are happy at all. And unfortunately, in most cases nothing happens until you get upset and start pushing back. Maybe we "karen out" because we have to.

[KristinCB]

They were "for sure" going to email by wednesday morning.....sigh.... (this is the 2nd email they promised that I never received) anyone want to pretend to be me? only kidding (mostly) This is driving me crazy. It's been 3 weeks now since this mess all started.. 2 months since our bathroom went out of service. The guy doing the work started today but we still haven't received a refund or information from our damaged product.

Rae - It's funny you said that because Darcy went to okotoks last week (closest home depot to us with the tiles in stock) and he said he couldn't believe how lackluster the employee was - asking for help of any sort seemed to be a huge bother. he was pretty disappointed there too.. usually at home depot the staff are jumping to try and help.

[LeeAndra]

I'm sorry, KCB.

A piece of drywall fell off the ceiling in my office a month ago so I've been working in various other rooms in the house while we called contractor after contractor to get someone to come out to the house for an estimate. Dominic called a dozen+ people with 3 people responding. Our house insurance says that we CAN file a claim but since there's no obvious reason (either wear & tear or shoddy workmanship from the original installation) that it likely won't be paid AND that it could potentially cause my insurance (which I have paid faithfully every month for the last 3 years and never used) rate to go up.

The contractor said he'd be here at 7 am on Thursday so I got up & got dressed (and put on a bra!) at 6:30. He called Dominic at 7:10 to say that he was leaving (his house?) to buy tools & pick up the $200 worth of supplies we pre-purchased at Home Depot and would be here around 8:30. He showed up at 10, worked until 11 at which point he left in his truck, was gone until noon, sat in the driveway in his truck until 12:30, and then demoed the ceiling from 12:30 until 4(ish?). He wouldn't talk to me so I'm not sure what he was doing or when he left at the end of the day. He hadn't brought his trailer with him that day (?!) so all of the supplies are still at HD. There are 6 or 7 giant black trash bags sitting outside the house full of drywall & the room, of course, is still a wreck.

We haven't seen or heard from him since (when he originally said he'd have the job done by Saturday). Dominic assures me that since he left his scaffolding & ladder here that he will show back up to finish the job.

So I understand how you feel.

The kids call their dad a Karen all the time & he's caused some recent drama at the ball field when he said something to Nathan about needing better coaches & all of the coaches heard him say it and, understandably, didn't appreciate it & now things are tense during the games. The head coach texted me and I made sure to not only apologize but also VERY CLEARLY STATE that Nathan's dad & I are divorced (so I don't get the cold shoulder by association).

[KristinCB]

oh man!! i hope you get your stuff finished soon It sucks he's not communicating with you at all.

[TraceyM]

Getting companies to do the proper thing is not being a Karen. It is being strong and pushing them to correct issues they usually have caused.

I saw my sister act like a real and true entitled white girl Karen on video and I assure you it was horrifying and I have not even tried to talk to her since.

Standing up for your rights is not being Karen.

[KristinCB]

you're right.. i hate that i even feel the way I do because none of this is my fault. It's a HUGE expense they are trying to avoid