Hello…How May I Annoy You?

Posted on 02.11.07 in Thoughts and there are 8 comments.

I’m currently on hold with Sprint. I lost my phone and I want to switch back to my old phone.

I thought I’d called the customer service department, but apparently I’ve called the customer annoyance department.

I suppose I should have pressed #1 at the tone.

I LOATHE talking to customer service people. It’s not their fault. They’re put into a position they’re simply not properly equipped or trained for, given a script, a fake American name and expected to actually help me.

My threshold for customer service frustration has slowly been eaten away over the years to the point that right now, I’ll dive into a long Seth Godinesque diatribe about the sad state of customer service even if I have to be on hold for five minutes. My poor husband has to listen to all my ideas about how customer service should be improved.

My expectations of customer service departments are so low that on the rare occasion that I actually get a representative that:
1. Doesn’t have a thick accent.
2. Is knowledgeable and can actually help me.
3. Is polite.
4. Doesn’t put me on hold.

I rave about them and ask to speak to their manager to tell them what a great job they did and that they need a raise.

So, basically, if they meet my minimum expectations I am elated.

Does anyone else dread calling customer service departments or is it just me?

The Comments:

Skip to comment form

I usually dread talking to customer service too, but I must say that I just had a wonderful customer service experience with Sprint this past week.  I guess it’s a mixed bag.

The one I really like it where the recording says something like,,,

“STOP, our menu has changed”

I despise it with a burning passion.  The worst is people with the thick accents.  I usually will ask for someone else that I can understand.  I have no shame about that anymore and it usually works out for the better.  I give them two sentences to make sense.  Then I say, “I am sorry, I cannot understand you, I need to speak to someone else.”

Verizon has been pretty good so far.  I wouldn’t go back to sprint if my life depended on it.

This happened just this past week.  Our water heater went out on us - very shocking to discover by stepping into a freezing cold shower.  I take a look at it an figure that it is likely the thermocouple that has gone bad, but the heater is still under warranty so I give them a call.  After my call is transferred to somewhere in the Indian Subcontinent, I speak to a friendly, accented man who says “Yes, I think your right, your water heater is not heating.  Go to Lowes, by this part, install it, and send the receipt to X address and we will reimburse you.” Uhm, it’s under warranty, right, so that means someone who really knows what they are doing comes out to fix it, right?  Or, not. 

Rather than argue with a man who practices tech support psychology ("So, you’re feeling angry?  Why is that?  How does that make you feel?  Oh, it makes you feel angry. Why?") I go buy the $15 part, study the instructions and learn that I can, indeed, replace the thermocouple if I carefully follow the 19 easy, illustrated steps they list.  After I give up trying to loosen and remove functional parts without breaking them in the process of repairing the heater, I decide I can wait one more day until the plumber I had already called could find time in his schedule to come out and charge me $225 for a half-hours work.  Considering that I already had the needed part, that means that plumbers make $500 an hour.  Man, am I in the wrong line of work!

#2 and #3 are by far the most important for me.  I treat people with respect and expect others to do the same for me.  The minute they become condescending, I’m hanging up and calling back.  Oh, and I can tell if they’re reading from a script as well.  No-no, naughty naughty.

Euphrony!

That’s SO wrong. The company is going to pay for that labor, right? It’s under warranty because it’s not SUPPOSED to break, so if it does, any costs involved should be theirs.

Sometimes I think I should have been a lawyer. If I didn’t think reading legal documents would bore me to death, I do love confrontation (that sounds awful, doesn’t it?).

I used to be the ticketing manager for a radio station that did several concerts each month. On the night of the show, I was in heaven when people would come to the ticket office to complain about speakers being in their way or some other unexpected obstruction.

I found it so challenging and fun to try to transform an angry customer into a blissfully happy one (front row seats and meet and greet passes often do that...).

I also enjoy “discussing” issues with customer service people when there has been an error. It’s a fun challenge to be super nice but still try to get a fair outcome.

I’m really weird, I think.

Oh, you’d better believe that I’ll be submitting the bill in full to that silly address they gave me.  Come on, most times with a warranty it is voided if you open the box yourself.  And here they’ll tell any Joe Blow off the street to do the repair work on his own.  How cheap is that?

Oh good Euphrony. I’m glad to hear you’re sending that bill in!

Share Your Comments:

Name:

Email:

URL (optional):

Smileys

Remember me.

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below:

My Twitter Posts