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Whatever Happened to Customer Service?

One of the things I've done to save money -- sort of -- is participate in Coca-Cola's MyCokeRewards program, through which customers enter codes found on bottle lids and carton boxes of Coke products on the website. Participants receive points for the codes and can later cash the points in for T-shirts, tickets, movies, DVDs and various other items.

Diet Coke has long been my favorite soft drink, so when I registered for the program back in 2009, I figured I could get something back for the money I spend on the soda.

Well, I cashed in some of my Rewards points back on Jan. 3 for two tickets to an NBA game scheduled for Feb. 14. As of Jan. 31, I still had no tickets. So I sent an e-mail to MyCokeRewards using the website's contact form asking about the tickets. Two days later -- Feb. 2 -- I got an e-mail that says: "Thank you for contacting MyCokeRewards.com. We appreciate the opportunity to assist you. We want to help and will look into this further. We will get back to you within 5-7 business days." Well, the game is only EIGHT business days away. What good does that do me?

So I tried calling customer service instead, and all I got was the same thing. "I'm really sorry. I wish I could help you more, but they're looking into it," the guy said, "and someone will get back to you within 5-7 business days." Again, what good does that do me? What's the point in having customer service that is unable to do anything but tell you to wait until it's too late?

I think that at this point, I probably should just write off the game. And maybe MyCokeRewards, too. This is very, very frustrating.

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