Everyone can ignore my comments in my last blog about being more positive. Its official....after further reflection it’s not in my nature to be one of those happy go luck, passive type of fellows. Lets face it....I could never be a Jedi....but definitely a Sith Lord. I ran across a web site that asked you questions to determine if you would be a Jedi or a Sith Lord. Mine came back with a 98% rating as Sith Lord. lol
Moving On......
I have a total beef with Corporate America. Over the last couple of weeks I have had three separate issues that required me to call a "Customer Service Department". The experience for each has been extremely frustrating.
First Up...
AMERICAN EAGLE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
I made the genius move of losing my check card somewhere. In turn, I call the credit union and reported the debit card lost. The rep on the phone was very nice and even told me that this has happened to her in the effort to make me feel better. Then she told me that she needs to transfer me to the Check/Credit Card Department so they can arrange for me to get new cards. The next thing I know I'm on the phone with a guy with a heavy Indian accent. I have no problem with Indian people at all. I have met some wonderful Indian families. My personal experiences have led me to believe that within their culture they are focused on family, education and establishing gainful employment. As I am on the phone I relay all the information to verify who I am and what account I need a new card for. I happen to have 4 different accounts with the credit union. A personal checking account, business checking account, joint saving account w/ Abby and credit card account. First he tried to cancel my credit card, and then he tried to cancel my check cards for my business accounts. How hard could this be? I gave him the exact info he needed. He put me on hold 3 separate times to speak with his supervisor. The annoying part is he made me verify who I was 3 separate times....same freaking questions over and over and over again. After a 45 min conversation on the phone he informed me that my new cards would show up in 7-10 business days. My cards arrive 10 business days later and I call to activate them. I reach a women with a heavy Indian accent...she verifies who I am. I asked her a couple of times if I use my same pin number....and she informs me that everything should be the same. I place my card in my wallet and hand Mary her new card. The next day Mary calls me from the check out line at the grocery store indicating the card is not valid. This time I call the credit union directly and they told me that we have new pin numbers for both the cards that usually show up a week after we get the cards. Great....this would have been helpful to know during all our conversations. I double checked the letter that came with the card.....Nada. The good news is we have the option to use the cards as credit cards or debit cards.
CHARTER COMMUNICATION CABLE COMPANY
It was Saturday afternoon and I receive a call from Charter Communications about a special they are running on their cable services. Earlier this year, I consolidated my home phone, home fax, cable, and high speed internet all over to Charter. I was saving about $65 a month having everything with Charter and I picked up unlimited long distance and free voice mail. The women on the other end of the line was reading off some script in front of her and was difficult to understand due to her heavy Indian accent. I had no idea what she was trying to offer me so I tried to simplify the conversation. OK....This is what I am paying. I currently have these services with you. What can you offer me that would give me more for less? A half an hour later and being placed on hold a couple of times they were able to offer me more cable channels and a faster internet connection for 35 dollars less than what I was paying. Then she made me run around the house for 20minutes connecting, disconnecting then plugging and unplugging the cable modem and cable box. After this she total me that she needed a tech to get into the house on 28th to finish the adjustments. The night before the 28th Mary gets the automated call that they will be coming out to the house between 8am and 1pm. Mary wasn't happy about being trapped in the house and just hoped they would arrive sooner rather than later. 1 O’clock rolls around and she calls the Cable company to find out what the deal is....I have a slang word I look to use in these situations.....find out what the dealio is. Mary ends up speaking with someone from one of the local offices. Come to find out there was no need for the tech to come in, around or near the house. All the changes were done automatically. With a baby in one hand she runs around the house connecting, disconnecting, plugging and unplugging the cable modem and cable box. Gees, didn't we all ready do this. Then I get a call from Mary somewhat annoyed with how everything was handled. You are so mistaken if you think the story ends soon....lol. The next morning I get up make coffee, feed all the pets and turn on my computer to check my e-mail. Go figure no internet connection. What the F**K!!!! I reboot the cable modem, wireless internet and the computers. No go....F**K!!!!! I call the internet division of the cable company and get this new automated system. Hot voiced computer chick asks me questions, makes me reset the modem. We must have gone through 6 different tests. Then she determines I need to speak with an actual person and transfers me. Sure enough on the other end of the phone is an Indian fellow with a heavy accent. He makes me verify all over again who I am and pretty much has the personality of a rock in a rock garden. Then we continue to turn shit on and off and on and off. What the f**k this must magically change something. The he puts me on hold for 10 minutes so he can go speak with his supervisor. My ass....he went to take a piss or smoke a cigarette. Then he gets on the phone and instructs me that he can have a tech out in a few days to change up the modem or I can go to the local office and switch the one I have for a new one. So I went down to the office in Willimantic and waited in line with 10 people. It seemed like everyone in line had their cable turned off because they owed money. Great!!!! Even better is they had this TV in the lobby that showed waves crashing on a beach over and over and over. They were attempting to show how clear the HD TV with an HD Cable box looked. News Flash....the clarity looked like shit....and after standing watching and listen to your little display for 20 minutes all I wanted to do is take a piss. I swapped the cable modems and guess what.....I can only get a connection when I connect directly to my PC. It won't work using my wireless network. I'm now going to my last resort and calling my IT buddy to help me. So....I pray he can help me and I don't need to call Charter again.
I have one more story....but what is the point.... I think everyone gets my point. I respect the fact that these corporations are trying to save money by farming out certain services. The one problem I have is........it isn't working!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When consumers call customer service departments for the most part have a problem....so they usually aren't the happiest people in the world. So some genius out there said....hey here is a good idea....lets hire some people from another country who have learned English as a 2nd language and create a call customer service center. It can be difficult enough to work through a problem.... having a cultural and language barrier only makes it worse. The training needs to vastly improve or companies need to reconsider farming out calls centers. How can they be saving any money if their phone reps take twice the amount of time to handle problems mostly due to communication issues? I didn't put this blog together just because of my recent issues. Over the last couple of years I have heard similar stories from family, friend and business associates. I now know how they feel.
I think this issue will hit home when On Star farms out their call center and some of these board members and executives walk a mile in my (our) shoes.
Moving On......
I have a total beef with Corporate America. Over the last couple of weeks I have had three separate issues that required me to call a "Customer Service Department". The experience for each has been extremely frustrating.
First Up...
AMERICAN EAGLE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
I made the genius move of losing my check card somewhere. In turn, I call the credit union and reported the debit card lost. The rep on the phone was very nice and even told me that this has happened to her in the effort to make me feel better. Then she told me that she needs to transfer me to the Check/Credit Card Department so they can arrange for me to get new cards. The next thing I know I'm on the phone with a guy with a heavy Indian accent. I have no problem with Indian people at all. I have met some wonderful Indian families. My personal experiences have led me to believe that within their culture they are focused on family, education and establishing gainful employment. As I am on the phone I relay all the information to verify who I am and what account I need a new card for. I happen to have 4 different accounts with the credit union. A personal checking account, business checking account, joint saving account w/ Abby and credit card account. First he tried to cancel my credit card, and then he tried to cancel my check cards for my business accounts. How hard could this be? I gave him the exact info he needed. He put me on hold 3 separate times to speak with his supervisor. The annoying part is he made me verify who I was 3 separate times....same freaking questions over and over and over again. After a 45 min conversation on the phone he informed me that my new cards would show up in 7-10 business days. My cards arrive 10 business days later and I call to activate them. I reach a women with a heavy Indian accent...she verifies who I am. I asked her a couple of times if I use my same pin number....and she informs me that everything should be the same. I place my card in my wallet and hand Mary her new card. The next day Mary calls me from the check out line at the grocery store indicating the card is not valid. This time I call the credit union directly and they told me that we have new pin numbers for both the cards that usually show up a week after we get the cards. Great....this would have been helpful to know during all our conversations. I double checked the letter that came with the card.....Nada. The good news is we have the option to use the cards as credit cards or debit cards.
CHARTER COMMUNICATION CABLE COMPANY
It was Saturday afternoon and I receive a call from Charter Communications about a special they are running on their cable services. Earlier this year, I consolidated my home phone, home fax, cable, and high speed internet all over to Charter. I was saving about $65 a month having everything with Charter and I picked up unlimited long distance and free voice mail. The women on the other end of the line was reading off some script in front of her and was difficult to understand due to her heavy Indian accent. I had no idea what she was trying to offer me so I tried to simplify the conversation. OK....This is what I am paying. I currently have these services with you. What can you offer me that would give me more for less? A half an hour later and being placed on hold a couple of times they were able to offer me more cable channels and a faster internet connection for 35 dollars less than what I was paying. Then she made me run around the house for 20minutes connecting, disconnecting then plugging and unplugging the cable modem and cable box. After this she total me that she needed a tech to get into the house on 28th to finish the adjustments. The night before the 28th Mary gets the automated call that they will be coming out to the house between 8am and 1pm. Mary wasn't happy about being trapped in the house and just hoped they would arrive sooner rather than later. 1 O’clock rolls around and she calls the Cable company to find out what the deal is....I have a slang word I look to use in these situations.....find out what the dealio is. Mary ends up speaking with someone from one of the local offices. Come to find out there was no need for the tech to come in, around or near the house. All the changes were done automatically. With a baby in one hand she runs around the house connecting, disconnecting, plugging and unplugging the cable modem and cable box. Gees, didn't we all ready do this. Then I get a call from Mary somewhat annoyed with how everything was handled. You are so mistaken if you think the story ends soon....lol. The next morning I get up make coffee, feed all the pets and turn on my computer to check my e-mail. Go figure no internet connection. What the F**K!!!! I reboot the cable modem, wireless internet and the computers. No go....F**K!!!!! I call the internet division of the cable company and get this new automated system. Hot voiced computer chick asks me questions, makes me reset the modem. We must have gone through 6 different tests. Then she determines I need to speak with an actual person and transfers me. Sure enough on the other end of the phone is an Indian fellow with a heavy accent. He makes me verify all over again who I am and pretty much has the personality of a rock in a rock garden. Then we continue to turn shit on and off and on and off. What the f**k this must magically change something. The he puts me on hold for 10 minutes so he can go speak with his supervisor. My ass....he went to take a piss or smoke a cigarette. Then he gets on the phone and instructs me that he can have a tech out in a few days to change up the modem or I can go to the local office and switch the one I have for a new one. So I went down to the office in Willimantic and waited in line with 10 people. It seemed like everyone in line had their cable turned off because they owed money. Great!!!! Even better is they had this TV in the lobby that showed waves crashing on a beach over and over and over. They were attempting to show how clear the HD TV with an HD Cable box looked. News Flash....the clarity looked like shit....and after standing watching and listen to your little display for 20 minutes all I wanted to do is take a piss. I swapped the cable modems and guess what.....I can only get a connection when I connect directly to my PC. It won't work using my wireless network. I'm now going to my last resort and calling my IT buddy to help me. So....I pray he can help me and I don't need to call Charter again.
I have one more story....but what is the point.... I think everyone gets my point. I respect the fact that these corporations are trying to save money by farming out certain services. The one problem I have is........it isn't working!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When consumers call customer service departments for the most part have a problem....so they usually aren't the happiest people in the world. So some genius out there said....hey here is a good idea....lets hire some people from another country who have learned English as a 2nd language and create a call customer service center. It can be difficult enough to work through a problem.... having a cultural and language barrier only makes it worse. The training needs to vastly improve or companies need to reconsider farming out calls centers. How can they be saving any money if their phone reps take twice the amount of time to handle problems mostly due to communication issues? I didn't put this blog together just because of my recent issues. Over the last couple of years I have heard similar stories from family, friend and business associates. I now know how they feel.
I think this issue will hit home when On Star farms out their call center and some of these board members and executives walk a mile in my (our) shoes.
1 comment:
I've decided after my hell experience with Dell tech support, that the individual who decided outsourcing this should have to spend all of eternity on the phone with these people and waiting on hold listening to their stupid music and their stupid messages!!
Hugs!
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