Customer Service no longer exists

[MossRoad]

Doubling down on my wager.

 

[MTGreen]

A couple/few months ago I spoke to a woman who had a baby crying in the background. I asked if she was working from home? She said yes and apologized for the baby crying. I told her it wasn't a problem for me, as I had been a baby myself many years ago. She started laughing and we had a great call and she was able to help me.

In all seriousness, in the past few years, I've made a conscious effort to be nice to people in customer service, instead of being pissed off that I'm having trouble understanding them, or getting what I need immediately. I've gotten a lot better service since then. It might not be perfect, but at least I'm not fuming when I hang up the phone and the person on the other end says thank you because they mean it, not because they have to.

I appreciate your outlook and agree. It stinks, but the issue ain't going away and the need to call customer service from time to time also ain't going away; so you can make a choice whether to get your blood pressure up about it or not.
I try to tell myself that even if they're incompetent at least they're contributing to society (ours or theirs) and not just mooching off tax money.
There's a quote from a long dead British fellow about "every person I meet is my better in some respect, and in that I learn from them". I try to keep that in mind when dealing with people like this -most times it works but sometimes they still end up being bad for my blood pressure...

 

[BnRidge]

I while ago I attended a seminar on lean management. The speaker was from AG Edwards. AG Edwards is an investment firm that will invest in (aquire) a company, make changes to improve the bottom line, then sell hopefully for a profit. It was interesting listening to the enthusiasm the guy had about basically buying, then ransacking a company, eliminating or reducing unprofitable segments, and optimizing product lines, labor, suppliers, and target customers to add value to the company. Service of accounts and sales came up many times. I wonder if the companies mentioned here who have intact and quality service practices have not been through the buy, lean, then sell scenario. One example was Hobart, the food processing equipment company. They were losing money, and went through the sellout process. Hobart is/was a highly respected company. If you had Hobart equipment, you had top of the line, including service. If your unit broke down, you could expect same day service and be promptly back up and running. The speaker went on for 10 minutes about how he was installed as CEO and dismembered that concept. Now reduce that down to my level as customer, ranting to the person in the service truck that now shows up a week later than previously would do little good.

 

[kenmbz]

My issue is with Xfinity/Comcast.
They have designed their call queue to put you back into the queue and never get to an agent, ever.
Figured out when you call, you need to immediately hit a bunch of keys and the system drops you into a place where you can ask for an agent, ask for anything else you go back into the re circulation queue.

Even after I got to an agent, that person was not able to help.

 

[MossRoad]

When I was responsible for a customer service phone system, it was queued for first in, first out. So everyone that called in was in a nice, neat, orderly line.

When corporate took over, they installed a new system that wasn't based on queues. It was based on buckets.

When you called in, they threw you in a bucket to swim around on hold. When a service agent was free, they'd reach into the bucket and pull out the first minnow they could catch.

Depending on call volume, you could be in there for a minute or the rest of your life.

 

[Oaktree]

I while ago I attended a seminar on lean management. The speaker was from AG Edwards. AG Edwards is an investment firm that will invest in (aquire) a company, make changes to improve the bottom line, then sell hopefully for a profit. It was interesting listening to the enthusiasm the guy had about basically buying, then ransacking a company, eliminating or reducing unprofitable segments, and optimizing product lines, labor, suppliers, and target customers to add value to the company. Service of accounts and sales came up many times. I wonder if the companies mentioned here who have intact and quality service practices have not been through the buy, lean, then sell scenario. One example was Hobart, the food processing equipment company. They were losing money, and went through the sellout process. Hobart is/was a highly respected company. If you had Hobart equipment, you had top of the line, including service. If your unit broke down, you could expect same day service and be promptly back up and running. The speaker went on for 10 minutes about how he was installed as CEO and dismembered that concept. Now reduce that down to my level as customer, ranting to the person in the service truck that now shows up a week later than previously would do little good.

I can see both sides of this. If the company, pre-acquisition was losing money clearly they were doing something wrong. I doubt either of us knows what went on in this circumstance, but it appears that the goodwill generated by the CS dept. didn't outweigh the impact to the bottom line. Sometimes it takes an outsider to make the tough decisions, especially when dealing with a company that's not profitable.

Amazingly, the best customer service I have gotten was from the Indiana Department Of Revenue, Department of Transportation and the Department Of Motor Vehicles. When I had the trucking business, I talked to all three on a regular basis and never had a bad experience. A couple of the agents gave me their direct numbers so I could call them back directly and not have to go through the phone maze or explain my issued from the beginning to a new person. They were always very helpful and courteous.

That's been my experience with the DMV as well. Don't have to deal with them very often, since in my state the town/city clerk can handle vehicle registrations, but when I've needed to go they've always been professional.

I just tried to make an appointment to have a tire plugged at the local Ford garage. They couldn't get to me this week! They're booked solid Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. They offered to let me drop it off and see if they could squeeze it in. On their website they have a large banner on the homepage saying "We are hiring for ALL POSITIONS".

I didn't really want to take it to Joe Blow's Tire Shop since it's my wifes SUV with nice 22" black painted rims. I figured some guy on work release or crack/meth will screw it up.

Don't know how it is in Ill., but here November is pretty busy at any tire place, with summer-winter changeovers and/or snow tire purchases. I have separate summer and winter rims, so I can do it myself, but a lot of people don't.
Personally, getting a flat fixed isnt' something I'd bother with going to the dealer for...any tire shop or garage can do it just as well and for half the price. Not sure the likelihood of getting "some guy on work release or crack/meth" is any greater there than at the dealer.

 

[RSKY]

We had our house roofed about a month ago. The guy that owns the roofing company came over and said he would have his most experienced crew do the work because one of the guys had more experience putting on the rubber cover on a section of flat roof. His was not the cheapest bid. Been there, done that, having to get it redone because of the crappy job that didn't show up until years later.

The crew was entirely Mexican and they worked. And they worked hard. I could write two or three pages about those guys,...and one girl, who did the actual work. They were great.

So anyway a week or so later we noticed one spot on the roof that was a slightly darker color that the other. I thought that one of the workers had spilled a coke or something on it. But after a fairly heavy rain it was still there. It looked like a 3-4 foot circle. So I called the company owner one afternoon. He said that they had noticed the spot too but thought it would disappear after a rain. He had told us before they started that these shingles were a little different and had a coating on them that would wash off after two or three rains. But it didn't. They showed up the next morning to check it out and told us that the shingles had to be defective. So the Mexican foreman got on the roof and changed out the shingles for new ones. No problems, no arguments, no hassle, just came and corrected the problem. And the owner was on the phone to the shingle company's customer service rep while all this was going on. Problem solved.

The roofing company owner said that was why he only used ATLAS shingles. He refuses to use other brands unless the customer insists for some reason. Said they had a proprietary process that made their shingles longer lasting, non streaking, and that they sealed down better. Also their reps always answered the phone when he called and tried to solve any problems he had.

Just wanted to let you know that there are companies and people that give good customer service.

RSKY

 

[Jstpssng]

I had problems with my taxes ONCE. I claimed my kid when she should have claimed herself for the first time, so when she went to file, she couldn't. I'd already gotten my refund.

So I made an appointment, got all worked up about going to jail, etc.

Went in, told them what happened, they showed me how to file an amended form, figure out what I had to pay back, and that was pretty much that. Kid filed an amended return, and got what she should have.

I had problems with my taxes years ago. In 1993 I filed a short form with my W-2s. I either lost my copy or never bothered to make one.

In 1997 I had been working for myself for 3 years when I got a notice that I had underpaid my 1993 taxes, plus had filed late. I asked them for a copy of the return which of course they couldn't produce as it didn't exist; so instead they sent me a copy of the transcripts. The problem was clear as day; when somebody data entered my '97 return they accidently entered the wrong year, applying one portion of that return to 1993. They then REAPPLIED it to my '97 return. Yet the IRS never makes mistakes while penalties and interest can quickly double the amount owed; so after going round and round and round with them I finally said S**** it, and paid the $5000+ they said I owed.

 

[Oaktree]

Yet the IRS never makes mistakes while penalties and interest can quickly double the amount owed; so after going round and round and round with them I finally said S**** it, and paid the $5000+ they said I owed.

I ran into something like that with the state of Vt. Some of my earned income came from that state so I had to file income taxes on that income. Their tax form is, to say the least obtuse, especially for a non-resident who only owes Vt. tax on a fraction of their income.
Apparently one year I miscalculated and got a bill from them for underpayment. There is no way to contact them directly, only via email or fax(!). Went round and round via some weird "secure email" routine, but they never did tell me where the mistake was. Like you I finally just said enough and paid what they claimed I owed (couple hundred as I recall).

 

[MossRoad]

And on the 8th year, God burned his oldest set of annual tax records.