Impossible Customers
An Editorial
by www.FakeNewspapers.com
Copyright (c) 2005 FakeNewspapers.com
We feel the public customer feedback systems for on-line retailers are a necessary and desireable component to all types of retail business around the world. Increasingly, however, that system is being abused by dishonest customers, idiotic customers, and downright insane customers. When customers file public documents berating a business, that business has a right---and an obligation-- to respond. Publicly.
This document contains and includes our opinions.
This document describes our interaction with one "Angela Johnson":
SouthernGirlz5@msn.com
Angela Johnson
5450 Jamestowne Court
Apt-A
Baltimore MD 21229
410-292-7206
We don't often run across a customer like this---in fact, we can honestly say Ms. Johnson is the worst customer we've ever encountered. We encounter a customer close to this roughly 1-3 times per year, out of thousands and thousands of orders. It always amazes us how one idiot customer can erase the goodwill we feel toward our thousands of sane, honest and reasonable customers. THIS is why retailers are sometimes cranky. And THIS is why Yahoo! Shopping instituted an option for its retail stores which allows them to block certain customers from ordering. We've used that function to block Angela Johnson from ordering from our store.
Johnson placed an order with us at 6:56 a.m. on 6-22-05. She ordered a fake newspaper and specified Next Day Air shipping. Her order is immediately below.
Your IP Address: 68.33.58.251
Article Number: C-00 CUSTOM Write Your Own
Buyer's First Name: Angela
Buyer's Last Name: Johnson
Buyer's Email Address: SouthernGirlz5@msn.com
Date of Newspaper: August 12,1998
Paper Name: Prince Geogre Journal
Paper Headline: State Star Witness Takes The Stand.
Image Description: Angela D.Chamblee Testifies In Wrongful Death Shooting.
Article Headline: Prince Geogre County Officers Indicted.
Byline: Johnthan Wright
Story Location: Prince Geogre County.
ArticleBody: The court room fell silent today as state prosecution witness takes the stand.She is beautiful,young,smart,and her life will never be the same again as stated by Ms. Chamblee.Her friends know her Angela or Devi,her to her family she is the youngest of six children and well loved.On the 20th of September 1995 a young Angela Devi sat on the Montel Williams Show,and introduced the world to racism in Prince Geogre County Police Department.She held nothing back,and made a comment about two veteran deceased police officers shot dead by the first child ever to be given a life sentence Terrence Johnson in 1978,little Angela Devi Chamblee was not even born yet. From that date on Ms.Chamblee along with her family would be the focus target of death threats,that would send bullets flying into her grandmothers Virginia Beach home,causing Angela and her family to flee the state.Death Threats,Drive By Shootings have followed her all the way to the witness stand today,and the FBI would change Angela and her families life more then she would ever know. ( continued)
Our policy states that we "TRY" to process and ship all Next Day Air Shipping orders within 24 hours. After we process and ship an order it's in the hands of the carrier, in this case UPS. The carrier will move and deliver the order in the time-frame and manner specified by the customer when the order is placed (e.g. Next Day Air, 2nd Day Air, Regular Ground, etc.). It's a pretty basic concept that few customers around the world have trouble grasping.
In this particular case, we were able to process and ship within about 9 hours---not the 24 that we advertise that we "try" to adhere to. So already Angela's order is at least 15 hours ahead of schedule. Not only that, out of some misguided sense of niceness (it won't happen again), we went through Ms. Johnson's manuscript and corrected the atrocious spelling and grammer errors. In the past we have found ourselves bound by some errant sense of morality to help out out illiterate customers. Not only that, because we are apparently stupid, and because we stupidly continue to try to be nice, we made 12 copies for Angela Johnson's order, instead of the 10 she paid for. We'll try to keep from making mistakes like this in the future.
We shipped this order immediately after producing it, as we always do. Here's the screen-print from the UPS site. Anyone may pull up the same data by going to UPS.COM and inputting the tracking number shown below (1Z3996YA1399093834):
Note the bottom line of the above image---it clearly shows that NEXT DAY AIR was the shipping method used.
We also sent Angela our standard shipping notice, the same one that goes out to thousands of customers per year. --The same one that is read and understood by everyone. --Except Angela Johnson. This is simply a copy of our posted shipping advisement:
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS AUTOMATED MESSAGE. Your reply will not be received. We're pleased to inform you that your order has been shipped. For domestic orders, WE (not the carrier) guarantee your order to arrive within 10 working days from the date it is shipped (five working days in the case of Next Day Air). Please go to this link to read our shipping policies: http://www.trixiepixgraphics.com/about_shipping.html. If you believe your order is missing, please visit this link BEFORE emailing TrixiePixGraphics: http://www.trixiepixgraphics.com/missing_orders.html. Please note, all packages delivered by FAKENEWSPAPERS.COM (except International) are insured and may require a signature if requested by the UPS or USPS driver. Remember, delivery times can range from two to ten business days AFTER your order has been printed and shipped. Thanks,
Now let's look at the shipping record in more detail:
Note that we purchased shipping at 4:50 p.m. on 6-22, the same day Angela placed her order, and only 9 hours after her order was placed--- NOT the 24 hours we advertise.
Angela's order was immediately taken to the UPS drop facility, but since UPS picks up there no later than 4 p.m., Angela's order would not ship out until the following day, 6-23-05. This is the same situation faced by customers who order on, say, a Friday evening; their order obviously won't ship by UPS until the following Monday. The vast majority of the population of America understands this. No one is stupid enough to threaten a lawsuit or jail time because they place their order on a Saturday night but don't receive it on Sunday morning. UPS only operates within certain hours, on regular business days.
Reading from the bottom of the above image to the top, the progress of Angela's package can be tracked almost minute-by-minute, right up to the point where a delivery attempt was made the following day, at 7:03 p.m. Of course Angela was not available to sign for it. Since UPS sent Angela a tracking number along with a link to track her package, she could have simply gone to the UPS website, like all other customers do, to find the status of her delivery. But Angela Johnson chose not to do this.
Now let's look at the first rambling complaint we received from Angela Johnson. We received this the day Angela's order shipped out:
UPS IS CLAIMING THAT MY ORDER WAS NOT SHIPPED OUT ON TIME
BY TrixieGraphics and therefore I should seek my Next Day
Air Refund back from TrixieGraphics.I'm seeking the refund
because my order will not be delivered today,according to
UPS customer service.UPS is claiming TrixieGraphics did
not get my order out on time and that is the reason why
I will not receive today.UPS customer service did not have
any listing of my order or tracking number.How can I get
my next day air refund back?
Number of Packages: 1
UPS Service: NEXT DAY AIR SAVER
Shipment Type: Letter
Tracking Number: 1Z3996YA1399093834
Angela lied about UPS telling her we had not prepared her order in time---UPS knows no such thing, and would not tell a customer this in any case. Of course we DID process Angela's order on time---in fact some 15 hours EARLY. At this point it was clear to us what we were dealing with. We can spot this type coming a mile away. We responded by explaining the situation to Angela, and to also inform her that she would not be allowed to order from us again in the future. We simply won't interact with this type of customer. No one will.
Your order was placed on 6-22.
We state clearly, and you have even quoted our policy back to us,
that we TRY to process Next Day Air orders within 24 hours. In
your case we finished your order in a matter of a FEW
hours, --NOT 24 hours! Your order was taken to the UPS drop
point. Unfortunately, UPS had already picked up for that day.
Your order was picked up by UPS the following day. Even then, we
never guaranteed that we could have your order ready for pickup
on Thursday---we state that we "TRY" to process and ship within
24 hours. You are actually receiving your order EARLY, not late.
To request a refund in this situation is frankly over the top. We
processed your order in FAR less time than we advertise. We
regret that we cannot
unable to process orders from you in the future.
This
matter is closed..
At this point Mizz Johnson is not yet claiming that she did not receive her order. She is claiming only that she did not receive it within 24 hours, even though that was never promised her, or even suggested, and even though she received it a full four days before we guarantee it to be delivered. We received a couple more snippety little messages from this woman so we blocked her email address in our spam filter.
On Saturday, June 25th, at 6:37 P.M., Angela Johnson placed another order with us. Why she would attempt to do this after she was told that no further orders from her would be honored, is anyone's guess. Our system caught the order; it was cancelled, and we responded as follows:
Order 2143
Order ID trixiepix-2143
Marked Cancelled (not counted in stats)
Mark Reason Other (Customer was warned that she had been blocked from ordering from us in the future. This order and any future orders will be cancelled. Further contact in any form for any reason will be considered criminal harassment and will be dealt with through law enforcement..)
Date Sat Jun 25 18:37:07 PDT 2005
Ship to Angela Johnson
5450 Jamestowne Court
Apt-A
Baltimore MD 21229
US United States
410-292-7206
Because the second order was cancelled, Ms. Johnson's credit card was never charged or even accessed in any way.
Rather than to simply go away, however, Ms. Johnson filed the following complaint with Yahoo! Shopping. This is a doozey, so read it carefully, and refer back to the UPS data as needed:
Mail-Id: 1119880876-605
Name: Angela
Yahoo! ID: made_u_look10
Subject: Complaint
Order Number: trixiepix-2143
http:// ="http://www.trixiepixgraphics.com
Type your feedback here:
June 27,2005
I will begin seeking legal action
against a website/company that yahoo
shopping represents.On June 23,2005
there was an order placed to trixie
pixgraphics.com( Fake-Newspaper)the
total cost came to $81.59(I have my
bank statements for proof)I payed for
next day air shipping.After calling
UPS and found out my order was not
shipped next day air,I sent an email
to trixpixgraphics,who then claimed
"THEY"missed the next day air pick-up
then stated the 72 hour policy of
might not going out on time.UPS
SuperVisor Ms.Pat Harris stated to
me that I was the 11th customer
that has called concerning orders
from trixpixgraphics not reaching
them and trixpixgraphics blocking
their email address when they
tried to find out what happend
to their order and "MONEY"!!
On saturday a second order was
placed for $23.56. On sunday I
received an email from usa orders
stating I was blocked from ordering.
This company took the $23.56 cost
and put it in their pockets without
refunding my money back.I seek A
"FULL REFUND FOR BOTH ORDERS"!!
NO-ORDER WAS SENT TO ME AT ALL
AND I'M NO-LONGER INTERESTED!!!
Yahoo I'm told is also
responsible.I WILL SEEK LEGAL
ACTION TODAY IF NO REPLIES COME
YAHOO.SHOPPING.PLEASE SEND ALL
RESPONSE TO.
SouthernGirlz5@msn.com
410-292-7206
A.Johnson
Now, let's inject some reality to this, as it seems we're dealing with a mentally challenged customer:
We have asked UPS if it has a supervisor named "Pat Harris". UPS says it is unable to find such a person in its files, though we have asked UPS to respond in writing to this inquiry; we believe, however, that Ms. Johnson has simply lied again. We have asked UPS if any of its employees would ever state to a customer, as Ms. Johnson suggests, the number of times any shipper has been complained about. UPS simply laughed---the idea is preposterous, however we have asked UPS for a written denial of this. Angela Johnson states to Yahoo! that UPS told her they had received 11 complaints about us. This is a lie. It is defamation, and is actionable in civil court. In the first place, UPS would never divulge such information. In the second place, no complaints have ever been made about us to UPS. And even if such complaints HAD been lodged, UPS does not keep records of complaints that customers make against OTHER businesses. We are the fastest, most responsible shippers on the Internet today. Again, Angela Johnson has lied, and it has pissed us off in a big, big way. At this time UPS initiated a formal investigation to track Angela's "missing" package. We had absolutely no doubt Angela had received this order; the UPS driver is POSITIVE she received it; we believe Angela is attempting to defraud us and UPS. UPS does not plan to treat this case lightly.
Ms. Johnson stated that "NO ORDER WAS SENT TO ME AT ALL" and she wanted a full refund for both orders. Again, her first order was delivered to her at 6:50 p.m. on June 27th, as shown below. Angela Johnson has lied again.
Regarding the second order which Angela Johnson is demanding a refund for, that order was never charged, never processed, never created, and never shipped. It was cancelled before it was ever processed. That this woman would attempt to extract reimbursement for two orders, one of which she received, and the second of which she was never charged for, is, in our considered view, clearly and documentably, fraud. Fraud is a criminal offense. We're fortunate to have law enforcement backgrounds at TrixiePixGraphics. That makes pushing a charge through the system a bit easier.
At this time we began drafting a formal criminal complaint of fraud against Angela Johnson to be forwarded to the city (Baltimore) police, and will include documentation of threats, email harassment, telephone harassment, and attempted fraud. That complaint will be appended below in time. Ms. Johnson says she's going to sue us. We cannot think of a more fitting action for this woman to undertake. We hope she does. We pray she does. Perhaps in that way a little sense and reality will soak through her thick skull, though we doubt it.
At about this point we began receiving countless threatening emails from either Angela Johnson or her friends (from various "free" email accounts), all referring to this case. We also began receiving hang-up calls on our landline, so we password-protected the line. The call attempts continued (we've logged them) but at least we weren't bothered by them any longer.
We received a notification from Yahoo regarding Angela Johnson's continued complaints. We responded directly to Angela as follows, with a CC to Yahoo::
We are in receipt of your complaint through YAHOO!.
We are drafting a formal criminal complaint against you at this
moment.
You may view our documentation for said complaint at the
following URL: http://www.trixiepixgraphics.com/bad_businesses/demon_customers/angela_johnson.html Once again, you will cease and desist attempting to defraud,
defame, and harass us. Cease and desist.
Also to Yahoo from us:
We are responding to the complaint shown below. Please view our
response at the following URL:
http://www.trixiepixgraphics.com/bad_businesses/demon_customers/angela_johnson.html
We are drafting a formal criminal complaint against this woman at
this time.
But like a bad penny, Angela just kept turning up. She filed yet another complaint with Yahoo, even before UPS had had a chance to begin an investigation. We received this on Monday, 6-27-05:
Trixiepixgraphics has not refunded my money nor has my order arrived. I have sought Lawyer Charles E.Bair to help me get my money back for "2"purchases that were "PAID"to Trixiepixgraphics, "neither ordered received"I would advise Yahoo to look futher into "Fraud" little businesses like TrixiePix"There SO-CALLED Policy on there NEXT DAY AIR SHIPPING IS FRAUD!! UPS IS BACKING MY CLAIM UP concerning complaints from prior customers not receiving their orders and paying for next day air which once again TrixiePix lied and I'm sure gave them some lame excuse as to why their order was not delivered next day air. My lawyer will handle my case in making sure my' money is refunded to my credit card. You should not have a poor trash of a business such as TrixiePix and would advise that you look futher into their fraud of a business. Their unprofessional and common crooks who need to be in a jail cell for fraud,and I hope to send them there!
Enough was enough. We responded to Yahoo as follows:
That's enough. Please don't send us this crap anymore. This
woman's order was delivered, just as the UPS tracking receipt
shows. Her second order was cancelled before her card was charged
because, quite frankly, she is insane, and we refused to honor
further orders from her. UPS is sending its investigative team to
her home and has expressed a desire to send the Baltimore police
there was well. We have already drafted formal complaints of
attempted fraud and criminal harassment and these have been
forwarded to Baltimore PD. Our policy is to TRY to process and
send out Next Day Air orders within 24 hours. That doesn't mean
the customer will RECEIVE their order within 24 hours of placing
the order. It means what it says---that we will TRY to process
and deliver to UPS their order within 24 hours. After that it's
up to UPS. We don't even guarantee to ship out their orders
within 24 hours. We say we will TRY, and we have not once gone
past that 24 hour period. In this amazing psycho's case, her
order was processed and shipped within NINE hours. UPS tried to
deliver to her the following day, but she wasn't home to sign.
They delivered the next business day after that via UPS Next Day
Air (tracking number 1Z3996YA1399093834). Look it up through the
UPS site yourselves. IT WAS DELIVERED. Regarding her second
order, it was blocked and never processed. We realized early-on
that the woman was psychotic, and refused to interact with her
again. You may look up your own internal records to see that her
second order was cancelled, and her card was never charged, yet
she continues to maintain that she was charged, that we kept her
money, and are refusing to send her the second order. You know
what we're dealing with here, we know what we're dealing with,
and UPS knows what we're dealing with. The woman is insane. Ms.
Johnson drones on that she will sue us. We can think of nothing
more fitting for her to attempt. No attorney in the country would
take such a case, and no judge would find in her favor. We can
only hope she wastes a bunch of money in such a stupid attempt.
Now, we have interacted with this woman as much as we're going
to. Her order was shipped. She received it. End of story. Enough
is enough. Once again, the entire case is being documented at the
following URL:
http://www.trixiepixgraphics.com/bad_businesses/demon_customers/
angela_johnson.html
If Angela Johnson can convince UPS that she didn't receive her
order, even though the driver SWEARS she did, then UPS may refund
her money. It's out of our hands. UPS has initiated an
investigation, and it's clear they know exactly what they're
dealing with in this woman. Either she will get a refund from UPS
or she won't. Our job was done flawlessly, accurately,
responsibly, AS WE ALWAYS DO, and we have the documentation to
prove it. Let this stupid woman do what she will. We've had
enough.
It's clear that Angela is mentally handicapped. But even the insane do not have a legal right to commit crimes against others.
The above response to Yahoo was sent, by Yahoo, to this sick woman. But she STILL didn't get it. Instead of even attempting to comprehend the situation, she emailed us AGAIN(!) as follows:
Bair,Bennett,And Barber.
Mr.Charles Bair is now my lawyer. All emails from TrixiePix or
USA Orders will now be kept under investagation.UPS confirmed
No-Orders delivered of 28th,June. A pending lawsuit awaits this
company. Refund my dam money or go to court and lose. UPS IS
has stated to myself and my lawyer that TrixiePix has a lot of
complaints from customers not receiving order they "PAID""
for Next Day Air!! We have the supervisor name and phone number.
Yahoo has contacted my lawyer stating they will look into this matter
and contact myself and my lawyer with what they find out. The telephone
number for this company is fake. My bank has supplied copies of two orders
purchased from me and money sent to this company. DO-NOT EMAIL
ME EVER AGAIN UNLESS IT'S ABOUT MY REFUND!! CONTACT
MY LAWYER FOR FUTHER QUESTIONS AND HE WILL TELL WHAT
HE PLANS ON DOING. MY CASE NUMBER IS #18745101. MY LAWYER
CALLED THE NUMBER MY BANK GAVE HIM FOR TRIXIEPIX AND
AS WE KNEW YOUR NUMBER IS FAKE,AND A FRAUD,ENTER YOUR
PASSWORD "YEA RIGHT"!! REFUND MY MONEY,AND DON'T EMAIL
ME AGAIN,THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING!!
We absolutely believe that this is the dumbest woman on the face of the earth. We believe she is SO dumb that she is a danger to herself and to others. For this reason, we are compelled to appeal to the Baltimore DSHS in hopes they can effect a psychological evaluation of the woman. We don't believe she is capable of caring for herself without help and/or supervision.
Again, we feel badly for this person. But we simply don't have time to sort through crap like this. We're sorry that she cannot grasp the concepts of doing bhjsiness online. We suspect that she has trouble with virtually every retailer she comes in contact with. But any handicap she may suffer does not give her carte blanche to harass, threaten, intimidate, defraud and defame. Either law enforcement or social services will need to find a way to protect the community from her and customers like her.
Further contact from Angela Johnson, whether directly or indirectly, will be treated as additional instances of criminal harassment. Most prosecutors will file harassment charges after three unwanted contacts. We can document around eight or ten at this point. Perhaps this woman thought she could throw out so much smoke and bullshit that somehow, some way, she could extract money from an honest business, that she wasn't entitled to. Let us say only that Angela Johnson has chosen the wrong people to attempt to defraud.
This is a classic example of why we interact with our customers only via email. Had we spoken with this woman via the telephone, she could have said, and would have said, anything she wished, no matter how illogical or outrageous, then denied it later. She's a documented liar, after all. Email-only interaction affords us proof of every transaction.
Next time a customer wonders why a retailer is cranky and suspicious, we ask them to refer to this page as an example of how we're sometimes treated by customers.
Further developments in this case will be appended below:
Update 6-28-05:
Further harassment has been documented from Angela Johnson and a friend, which include emails, threats and more hang-up calls. These are documented. These actions place this matter well into the realm of criminality. We'll post the emails here when we have time. For now, all evidence, including a second complaint of criminal harassment, is being forwarded to Baltimore PD. We've not yet sent the file, as it seems to need appending several times every day. Once the situation calms down, we'll ship off the file, and we'll make ourselves available to appear in court in Baltimore if need be. We simply won't put up with this kind of crap.
For others needing the address of Baltimore PD:
BALTIMORE POLICE DEPARTMENT
HEADQUARTERS
601 E. Fayette Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
More Info
Update 6-29-05:
We've asked for a written confirmation from UPS to verify that the order in question was, in fact, delivered to Ms. Johnson. Here is the UPS reply, verbatim:
Dear UPS Customer:
Thank you for your inquiry. We apologize for any inconvenience caused in
this matter. Our records indicate this package was delivered to 5450
JAMESTOWNE CT STE A BALTIMORE MD 21229 on 06/27/05 at 6:50 p.m.
and was
driver released at the front door.
Update 6-29-05:
13:40 Pacific: As mentioned previously, UPS initiated a trace on this item (Paula Bowman). We are still unable to confirm the existence of Johnson's supposed UPS contact, (Ms. Pat Harris). UPS has no question this item was delivered and is sending a security team (as opposed to just the driver) to interview Ms. Johnson and her neighbors. Depending on the outcome of that interview, Baltimore PD may be brought in to interview her as well. We are awaiting a call from the actual delivery driver and will report his statement here.
Update 6-29-05:
Response to us from YAHOO! Shopping re our reply to them in the Angela Johnson case:
Hello,
Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Shopping.
We appreciate your response to this customer. As always, we do our best
to maintain the best online shopping experience for Yahoo! Shopping
users. Your efforts to provide quality customer service will prove to
be beneficial to your online store and Yahoo! Shopping. Your message
will be kept on record for future reference.
Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.
Regards,
Georgia
Update 7-2-05:
We are still awaiting word from UPS. They relate to us that they have not been able to find Ms. Angela Johnson. In the next few weeks we will be contacting Angela's neighbors ourselves, using public address databases. We will offer a $300 reward for information regarding the "missing" shipment. We will also research the content of Angela's fake newspaper article to try and determine what it might have been used for, by whom, in what context, and in what setting. If Angela convinces UPS that she did not receive her order, and UPS refunds to her, and we later find that Angela used the order in some way that can be documented, we'll forward that data to Baltimore PD and to UPS for further prosecution.
It has also been brought to our attention that this criminal harassment may have been perpetrated using Ms. Johnson's employer's data lines. We'll backtrack the IP to find out. If that's the case, we'll go after the employer for allowing criminal acts to be effected through its systems.
We don't like being lied about, and we won't tolerate it. Not for a New York second. We anticipate having to deal with this woman's insanity, in some way, until she finds a new problem to focus her energies on. This is not, in our view, a human being who goes long between problems.
Update 7-5-05:
TO: ABUSE@COMCAST.NET
We're experiencing an extreme case of harassment and threats from
an IP that traces back to one in your block: 68.33.58.251. It
looks like a static IP. The name of the offender is Angela
Johnson. We realize you can't tell us much, but can you tell us
if this IP is used by a company or an individual? If an
individual, we obviously already know the name. But if it's used
by a company, we'd like to know that so we can appeal to the
company in the hope they can control the harassment from their
end. If needed we'll initiate a cause and obtain a subpoena.
Update 7-16-05:
Suffice it to say UPS took this personally. It was their intention to approach Angela Johnson in the company of Baltimore PD officers. We don't know if this was done---we DO know that Angela Johnson has acknowledged receipt of her order, delivered as shown above. At this time we have enough documentation to proceed with at least charges of attempted fraud and interstate telephone and email harassment. We will submit our formal complaint to Baltimore PD in from 2-3 weeks, to 2 months, depending on time constraints (we have 5-7 years to prosecute this depending on the state's statute of limitations). Law enforcement being what it is today (impotent and apathetic), there is a fair chance Baltimore PD will whitewash the complaint. We've been through that before; we will then convert the case to a "citizen complaint" (similar to a "citizen's arrest") and prosecute the crime(s) in that manner. Are we actually willing to fly to Baltimore to effect this case? You bet, and without a moment's hesitation. This foul, disgusting, pig of a woman has really pissed us off.
Conclusion:
The moral?
We fill thousands of orders per year, almost always without a problem, and on those rare occasions when we do experience a problem with a customer two things are readily apparent: (1) the problem is a result of a carrier's incompetence in delivering our products, whether it be UPS, USPS, or Fed-Ex, and (2) it's immediately clear that the customer in question is one of the 1-3% who are merely problems looking for a place to happen. There are people in the world who have trouble with almost every person they meet, and with almost every retailer they interact with, mostly due to substance abuse problems (druggies, crack-heads, alcoholics, etc.) but some are merely insane.
While we fill thousands of orders per year, the big companies fill millions of orders per week. We found in our business that customers of this type (though this was one of the worst we've ever encountered) run about 1-3% of the total. Most other businesses report customers of this type make up from 5-8% of their customer base, or even more. Next time you (the customer) are dealing with a retailer, customer service rep, or sales person who doesn't seem quite as sappily happy as those shown in the TV commercials, try to remember that that clerk may have been subjected to the outrageous insanity of customers like this one three or four or six times already that day, and they just don't have much compassion left.
We may or may not post our criminal complaint to Baltimore PD as an appendage to this page.
UPDATE:
On 10-31-05 this woman had the balls to try to order two items from us again. Fortunately the shopping cart block stopped her and alerted us. It appears we will have to obtain a restraining order after all.