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Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5112
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 12, 2005 - 3:04 pm: | 
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There was an article in the NY Times a few months ago about how big companies seem to have new policies of bad customer service. There's too much evidence to refute it now, considering how often they make errors in their own favor. They often don't give you trouble when and if you point out their errors, but you have to take the initiative.
I generally like the service I get from T-Mobile. The people I call at customer service are polite and helpful. But, ...
We needed new batteries, and it ended up being only $5 more to replace our four phones than batteries. A good battery costs about $20. The phones were $80 each, with a $55 rebate, each, costing us a net of $25. The only other catch is that we would have to commit to a one-year contract, which is fine for us. Of course, rebates are another scam, because companies know you might not bother sending in the forms. They also make arbitrary rules so that you can trip up and accidentally not comply with the rules, so you lose out. So my wife diligently and punctually sent in the rebate forms. We got back form letters, saying we had not sent in our forms were not sent in time, but they had. My wife called customer service. The woman said it was a big problem. The company had sent many of those letters out erroneously. She is correcting the problem for us.
Do they plan to send unsolicited corrections out to ALL of the customers? I don't know. She didn't say. They might be relying on complaints.
Sorry for my cynicism, but these "accidents" are just too profitable and numerous to overlook. Yet I feel we are pretty powerless to change the trend. |
Soda
Supporter
Username: Soda
Post Number: 2330
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 12, 2005 - 6:05 pm: |
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Repeat after me:
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Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5116
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 12, 2005 - 6:09 pm: |
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How do you do that, Soda? ;-) |
Soda
Supporter
Username: Soda
Post Number: 2336
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 12:37 am: |
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Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 608
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 7:46 am: |
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Tom,
There's a similar problem going on right now in South Orange with South Orange Disposal. They somehow "lost" all the November (or maybe October and November) receipts. They got the checks, and cashed them, but they lost the record of them due to "computer problems." So what would one expect them to do? Personally, I'd include a letter to all customers in the next bill, stating that there was a problem, and could they send either a copy of their canceled check, or some proof of payment for the previous month. What was their solution? Just send out new bills with the previous month shown as being overdue.
Eventually people figured it out, and called. I believe SOD was going to take out an ad in the Star Ledger, or the News Wrecker, rather than contact their customers directly. Not sure if they did take out the ad, as I don't read either one.
But I love how it was their problem, and rather than taking ownership of the solution, they passed it off on their customers. I wonder how many people simply paid their bill twice, not realizing they were being double billed. I wonder if any of them will ever get their money back.
Customer service is a joke these days. |
ML
Supporter
Username: Ml1
Post Number: 2185
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 9:17 am: |
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In the past few weeks, I've been on the phone with tech support from both Linksys and Apple, and each was very helpful. The wait for a support rep was reasonable, and each stayed on the line with me for at least an hour until we had the problem solved. It's frustrating to describe computer problems over the phone, but within those limitations, they both did a good job.
The iMac problem (after lots of trial and error) appears to be hardware-related, and Apple has new RAM on the way to me now, and I should be able to fix the problem myself.
But anyway, both Linksys and Apple provide good telephone tech support for their products. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5128
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 11:00 am: |
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It would be nice if something like a class action lawsuit were easier to file. Or something less severe but something with teeth.
It's not that phone support is usually bad, ML. It's the accounts payable and receivable departments. The woman at T-Mobile seemed quite concerned about her own company's mistake. She corrected it dutifully.
These trends seem predatory to me. It's very dismaying. |
ML
Supporter
Username: Ml1
Post Number: 2186
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 11:03 am: |
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I don't disagree with you about customer service generally Tom. I just thought I'd share a couple instances of good customer service. |
notehead
Supporter
Username: Notehead
Post Number: 1859
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 11:20 am: |
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Tom, you are absolutely right. I see this kind of thing most often with credit cards and phone companies.
My parents recently got cell phones (from Verizon), and they were overcharged for at least the first 4 or 5 months. Every time, my mother had to wait on hold to talk to someone, and go through the bill, line by line, and convince them that the charges were wrong. I have no doubt that Verizon is totally uninterested in taking steps to improve their accuracy. |
campbell29
Citizen
Username: Campbell29
Post Number: 121
Registered: 4-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 11:26 am: |
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Verizon has the worst customer service ever. Once, for some unexplained reason, they disconnected my email. I was on the phone with them for 2 hours trying to get it turned back on. I must have spent at least an hour of that time on hold bouncing between departments. I loved the fact that when they would transfer me away they would ask "have I been able to assist you with your problem?" when the answer was obviously NO!
Finally, I became belligerent and told them that I was not asking them to cure cancer, merely to find out who had turned the email off, and connect me to that person so I could get it turned back on. I guess after that outburst they sent me to the department for unruly customers, where surprisingly enough, they were able to get the email turned on in 5 minutes.
One thing I find really annoying about all customer service is that you can never get back in touch with the person who originally helped you, so if the same problem occurs again, you must relate the entire tale of woe and start over. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5129
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 11:33 am: |
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The benefit of the doubt says that it's mere incompetence. But the pattern is all too visible.
To T-Mobile's credit, we had a bill dispute with them. The conversation got long, and the woman seemed to have decided that a happy and loyal customer was more important than the time to argue, so she decided in our favor, and she wasn't even convinced that we were right. So I really feel that T-Mobile "sucks less" than the competition.
Yeah, the banks are the worst, with all the sneaky ways they get you in debt to them. I'd like someone to reel them in. Not during this administration! |
jjkatz
Citizen
Username: Jjkatz
Post Number: 538
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 11:34 am: |
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Oddly, the Sales number usually has shorter hold times than the Customer Service number at many companies. Sometimes I just select that and then tell the salesperson my problem. It's worked on occasion.
I'd like to add Kohler (the faucet company) to the list of companies that provide good customer service. We have a drip and they've been very responsive and nice. |
ML
Supporter
Username: Ml1
Post Number: 2187
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 12:22 pm: |
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quote:Oddly, the Sales number usually has shorter hold times than the Customer Service number at many companies. Sometimes I just select that and then tell the salesperson my problem. It's worked on occasion.
That's not odd at all. Sales is the priority and after you've bought it, you're on your own, bub.  |
woodstock
Citizen
Username: Woodstock
Post Number: 863
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 12:56 pm: |
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One more story to add to the list...
We used to have Horizon BC/BS of NJ. Not through a company or plan, just on our own. When my youngest daughter was born, they never paid any claims for her. Not her birth, not her first checkup, no claim in her first year.
Now, according to their policy, birth is supposed to be covered under the mother, and within 30 days, they cover no questions asked. We called Horizon within a week of the birth, and they put her name on the account. Then the fun began. Each rejection that Horizon kicked out was because "xxx is not a covered member." We'd call, they'd say "sure she's cove... um. One minute. She's in our customer service (and billing database, but not the 'insured' database." They would fix it, and then the next rejection would come. This went on for almost an entire year until they finally fixed things. I had to threaten to contact the NJ insurance commissioner and file a fraud complaint (I was paying for her insurance, but they were denying it). I guess that got their attention, and some supervisor's manager's manager called to apologize and clear it up. Then they rejected my other daughter's claim. I stopped paying the insurance, and landed a job that covered us.
All that said, Horizon did give us a nice refund after each year of almost $8 from premium reductions that went into effect after we paid. |
woodstock
Citizen
Username: Woodstock
Post Number: 864
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 12:59 pm: |
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And Tom, I don't think it's intentionally giving bad service. I think it's cutting costs, and not caring about giving decent customer service. It's cheaper to have uneducated people answering the phones, and not give them resources to help. I don't see it as malice, just a business decision (a bad one, in my opinion).
In other words, I don't think they intend for your customer service experience to be a bad one. That's just a consequence of being a slave to the markets and quarterly reporting (IMHO). |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5131
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 1:01 pm: |
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Oh yeah, health insurance companies. They lose claims we mail them. Funny how that happens. We always send them return-receipt-requested mail, and they stopped losing our claims. Funny how that worked.
This negligence is every bit as bad as malice, woodstock, so I cut them no slack. |
woodstock
Citizen
Username: Woodstock
Post Number: 865
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 1:06 pm: |
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Tom, I definitely didn't mean that they (the companies) should be cut any slack. I sure as hell didn't cut any slack to the drones that answered my calls. But I try to understand that the people on the other end of the phone are just poor slobs trying to make a living, just like me. It's their boss's boss's boss's boss that I want to get my hands on.  |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5133
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 1:17 pm: |
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I agree! I try to be kind to the poor slobs.
Oh, another ploy is to outsource the responsibility for bad practices. I was getting an AUTOMATED telemarketing call from Chase, because I have a credit card there. I got them every single day. The message said I should call a certain number, which put me on hold.
I escalated this through many managers. I could only do this because I had time, being unemployed at the time. I got a letter saying they'd look into my problem. That was it. One person on the phone tried to claim that they're not responsible for the practices of telemarketing companies they hire. Of course, that doesn't fly with me, and I convinced the guy to see my point for a microsecond. |
jjkatz
Citizen
Username: Jjkatz
Post Number: 539
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 1:30 pm: |
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My "oddly" was meant to be sarcastic.
 |
algebra2
Supporter
Username: Algebra2
Post Number: 2835
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 1:36 pm: |
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Campbell -- I was about to post about how good I thought Verizon's customer service was. They're alwasy so nice and helpful when I call! |
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 336
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 4:37 pm: |
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The new mantra for major companies dealing with us retail customers is "service with a sneer." Which is a new low, since "service with a smirk" has ceased to be SOP. Service with a smile and service with results went out of fashion a decade ago, it seems. |
ML
Supporter
Username: Ml1
Post Number: 2188
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 4:52 pm: |
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jjkatz,
I thought so, but I wanted to reply just so I could use the word "bub." |
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