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July 26, 2007
Now Taking Complaints
Few things turn me into a crazed, hair-pulling shrew more quickly than having to place a call to “customer service.” I know I’m not alone here. I thought it would be therapeutic if we all shared some tales of hellacious experiences, complete with names and details. I’ll go first.
1. The Horrifying Chutzpah of CreditReport.com
or
Supervisor? What Supervisor?
(Don’t click the link or your credit card number will travel from your wallet to their site and you’ll be charged $9.95 for the rest of your life and into perpetuity!)
While trying to get a free credit report through Experian, I was abducted by aliens and redirected to the CR site. Somewhere along the way, I allegedly (and I’m a lawyer, for God’s sake, so the print, if it existed, must have been microscopic) agreed to pay $9.95 each month for credit “monitoring.”
When the charges for $9.95 showed up on my credit card bill, I emailed the company and asked how to discontinue the monitoring service. I was told to contact customer service.
Thus began a miserable afternoon. First, the representative refused to cancel the monitoring service because I would be placing myself and my credit score in DANGER. He spent several minutes emphasizing that the company would no longer be able to alert me of “suspicious changes” in my credit report if I took this reckless action. I persisted, he reluctantly granted my wish.
It was when I asked that the previous monitoring charges be removed that the shit really hit the fan. I explained that I had not signed up for the service; the rep insisted that I had. I asked to speak to a supervisor; the rep countered that none were around. I commented that it seemed unlikely that he would be working without a supervisor; suddenly the the rep had a supervisor but she was on a conference call. I volunteered to hold; but the rep, who thirty seconds earlier had no supervisor, now was certain that the conference call would last until next Tuesday. He put me in the supervisor’s voice mail. I left a message I was certain would never be retrieved.
I was mighty pissy at this point. The only reason I wasn’t yelling was that I made the call from my office and I didn’t want the other lawyers to think I was uncool under pressure.
I called back. Service rep number two was impolite and cocky. We went through the same conversation, except that I refused to accept the supervisor’s voice mail and said I would hold. I got cut off.
According to the site, “CreditReport.com is designed to put the consumer in the driver’s seat when it comes to their credit report information.“ (Apparently subject/verb agreement is not part of the deal.)
After talking to Jason #604, I felt more like someone who’d been kidnapped on the street corner, bound and gagged, and tossed into the trunk.
2. Delta “Delivers” Delayed Baggage or “Let Me Pretend To Make A Phone Call”
I flew to New York recently to attend a conference. When I got to New York, everyone’s luggage arrived but mine. A kind lady in the service center at the airport told me my bag had been taken off the plane because the aircraft was too heavy, (Damn, I shouldn’t have packed two padded bras) but that it would be delivered to me by 9:30 that night. I filled out a form and asked that the bag be delivered to Aunt Lulu’s apartment, which has a doorman, and gave my cellphone number as the contact number.
I went to the apartment where I was staying, freshened up and bought groceries, got my nails done, then took the bus up to Lulu’s neighborhood and told her doorman about my suitcase. Lulu and the baby were out of town, and her husband was exhausted so I ate sushi alone then went to check on my bag at 10:00 pm. It hadn’t arrived.
Idiotically, I had packed my phone charger in my suitcase, so my cell phone had little juice left. Juan let me use the lobby phone to call Delta, where I reached Frau Know-Nothing.
Her first line of defense was that the people at the airport should not have told me that my bag would be delivered by 9:30.
“Look, I can’t help what the lady at the airport told me,” I said.
“She should not have said we could do that. The delivery truck does not get loaded until after the last flight in, which is–”
“Isn’t that really between you and the lady at LaGuardia?” I asked. “I just want to know when my bag will be here.”
It would be delivered no later than 6 a.m., she told me triumphantly, as if she were announcing that I had won a million dollars tax-free.
“I need you to be a little more specific,” I said. “I’m not staying at the address where the suitcase is being delivered. Is it coming in the next couple of hours, or closer to 6 a.m.? I need to decide if I should stay here and wait on it or go home and come get it in the morning.”
“It will be there by 6 a.m.,” she repeated.
“I don’t think you understand,” I said. “I’m waiting here, where the suitcase is to be delivered, but I can’t sleep here. But at my place there is no way for you to get in touch with me because there’s no doorman, the buzzer is broken and my cellphone is about to run out of juice. If you could give me a smaller window of time I could decide if I should wait here for it or if I should go home and sleep and come back in the morning. Can’t you call the driver and see where he is on his route?”
“I am not allowed to call the driver,” she said.
“Okay, I want to change the address where I’m delivering the suitcase. Can you call the driver and tell him that?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, call him up.”
“What is the address?”
I gave her the same address for Aunt Lulu’s.
“But that is the address he already has.”
“I know. I want you to call him and ask him where he is on his route, and which way he’s headed, so I know what to do. I need to get some sleep before this conference in the morning.”
“I cannot call the driver.”
“But you just told me you could.”
“Ok, I call the driver. You hold.”
I held. Juan was pacing in the background. He motioned at me to get off the phone.
Fifteen seconds later Frau came back on the line. “He says it will be there by 6 a.m.”
“You didn’t really call him, did you?”
Silence.
“Look– I can make it easy on this guy. You ask him where he wants me to be so I can get the suitcase. I’ll go anywhere between here and 50th Street to meet him. Tell him I’ll stand in the middle of Park Avenue topless, waving my arms, so I’ll be easy to spot if that will help me get my bag.”
“Please hold.”
This time she was gone several minutes, and when she came back, she said, “Your bag will be there by 2 a.m.”
I figured this was the best I was going to get, so I thanked her (“Danke”) and hung up.
The bag showed up an hour later.
Interestingly, Delta has a section on its website that answers questions about baggage. One question is “What can I take to ensure that my baggage will arrive with me?”
Delta has no real response other than to recommend that you stuff everything you can in your carry-on in case your real suitcase doesn’t make it.
I might suggest handcuffing yourself to your luggage, thus ensuring that you and your baggage travel together.
But Delta, please don’t blame me when the nice agent at LaGuardia tells me my suitcase will arrive at 9:30 and I believe her. And for God’s sake, when I call to ask about the suitcase, let the agent call the driver. Doesn’t helping the customer help you in the long run?
Okay, readers, I’m sure you have some customer service gripes. Or any gripes! Let loose! We’ll all feel better.
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July 26th, 2007 at 4:35 pm, Amanda Says:
Oh YES! Let me tell you about my recent interaction with Verizon.
One of my coworkers received an e-mail saying there was a billing problem with his Verizon online account and he needed to call the following toll-free number to correct the problem. Being the office manager, I was responsible for calling the number and straightening things out.
I called the number. I argued with the electronic answer nonperson. I sat on hold for a good while. I finally got a person. Person told me I needed to speak to a different department (in spite of the fact that this WAS the number listed on the e-mail alerting us to the problem…but whatever). She gave me another toll-free number, then transferred me. Where I sat on hold awhile longer, then argued more with electronic answerers (if that’s a word), then held some more. I got Person Number 2. I explained the situation and the e-mail. Person Number 2 tells me I have the wrong department, gives me a third toll free number, and transfers me AGAIN. I hold. I hold even longer. I argue with another electronic voice, and I hold some more. Person Number 3 answers. This person was actually very sweet, HOWEVER, I had once again been sent to the wrong place for this problem. This time she put me on hold (for a LONG TIME) while she tried to connect me to the department that I actually needed. She came back and said they weren’t picking up, even though they should not yet be closed. I hold some more. She comes back again and tells me that department is experiencing high volume and I should call back early in the morning. She gives me a FOURTH toll free number.
Early the next morning I call that number, argue with more electronic voices, hold some more and finally get a person in–believe it or not–the correct department. The person looks up the account and sees NO BILLING PROBLEM. She looks up all the accounts for our office address–while I hold–and continues to find NO BILLING PROBLEMS. She does not know why we received an e-mail saying there was a billing problem, but there is no problem, thank you have a nice day.
Yeah. Thanks. (And thanks for letting me share…this was fun!)
July 26th, 2007 at 7:13 pm, MamaD4 Says:
I just have one word: Sprint.
How I hate them. I can feel my blood pressure rising just thinking of them. I can’t even begin to share my painful story…therapy is beginning to help. I found it very amusing that Spring was rated #1 on the “Worst Customer Service” poll on MSN awhile back. It was interesting reading other folks’ horror stories!
And Anne, I too somehow have become prey for Credit Report. Every month another $9.95 for both my AND my husband’s (two different reports, of course) reports leaves my checking account. I called them about a month ago and they were very nice and cancelled mine, but of course, though I could sign hubby up, I can’t cancel because I’m NOT him. Well, duh. But hubby will never get around to doing it, so I guess that $9.95 will just keep going and going…
Hubby says what’s the big deal? It’s only $10!
But wait…this is a rant about customer service, not husbands!
July 26th, 2007 at 7:14 pm, MamaD4 Says:
Second paragraph, I mean Sprint, of course, not Spring…elevated blood pressure from stress causes my fingers to swell up, making me unable to type coherent sentences!
July 26th, 2007 at 7:18 pm, Kim Says:
Well, I recently went to get an old picture of my niece copied for a scrapbook at one of those big warehouse stores - okay, let’s say it was called Sam’s. This photo is about 26 years old, in it, she’s 2 years old and having her photo taken somewhere. If I had to guess, I’d say it was at a defunct grocery store chain in Milwaukee.
There is no copyright symbol on the picture, no studio name, nothing except that it was made with Kodak paper. Also, the photo is well-worn from being carried in my wallet.
I scanned it at Sam’s, went to pick up my two copies for $.14, and the clerk, WAVING the reprints in front of me, told me he wouldn’t sell them to me without a release from the studio.
Hello - no studio name, no way of finding out, long time ago. He then suggested that I pay the Library of Congress $75/hour to research where the photo was taken so I could obtain a release for the $.14 photos!!! I told him I could pay the good Library for 10 hours of research and they couldn’t figure it out either!
GRRRRR. I’m all for copyright protection, but this was taking it to the letter of the law, not the spirit. And him having my pictures right there, which he said he would shred, just made it worse.
Actually, what made it better yet was that I was honest about the situation. Had I made up fake letterhead on my computer and come in with a fake release, it wouldn’t have been a problem. But, as he told me, if I came back with a release, he wouldn’t accept it anyway, BECAUSE NOW HE KNEW ME.
Yeah, whatever. I went to Walgreen’s, signed a form, stated the facts, and walked out with my prints 20 minutes later. Gotta love it!
July 26th, 2007 at 8:13 pm, Sam in SC Says:
A certain Northwest ticket agent in Baltimore is the devil! After informing her that she was the rudest, most unhelpful, non-service oriented customer service employee I had ever encountered, she told me that even if she had the information I needed, she wouldn’t give it to me. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, but in the moment, you could have knocked me over with a feather. . .literally. I sent Northwest an email to complain…two weeks ago…no response…not surprised.
July 26th, 2007 at 8:59 pm, PicMomma Says:
I was in a car accident on Memorial Day (I was not to blame!). As per my insurance, they towed my mangled car to the closest service location. They had it for a month. Countless condescending phone conversations with the shop manager, hours sitting on hold with the insurance agency and FIVE trips down there (40 minutes away from my home) only to discover that my van was STILL not right. I was snowballed into letting then take it back yesterday morning. The manager was, again, making it seem like I was being paranoid. He did call yesterday afternoon to tell me that there were some major things wrong with it and he would call me FIRST THING tomorrow morning (today). Here it is, 9pm and I haven’t heard a word from them. Color me shocked. I’m already looking at a year to get my neck back into shape, I just wonder if it will take that long to sort out my vehicle!
July 26th, 2007 at 10:17 pm, mom2ameliaB Says:
Direct TV!!!!! For some insane reason, no one at this company can understand that my mother has been DEAD for two months and is therefore not watching television and should not have to pay for service. Three payments have been deducted from her checking account! I called to tell them she died, sent them a death certificate to prove that she died and mailed them a letter reconfirming that she’s dead. My last call to customer service resulted in a somewhat nice lady named Jeannette assuring me that I will have a refund in 10 business days and they are very sorry for my loss and hate that I’ve had so many problems (blah, blah, bullshit). I assured her that if I didn’t get momma’s money she would be hearing from my attorney because I cannot call them even one more time and have to listen to Mrs. Robot Voice or try to communocate with Sandeep in India!
July 27th, 2007 at 12:45 am, Mamaluv Says:
I have an ongoing beef with Northwest Airlines. Won’t get into it here, as will cause my blood pressure to skyrocket! Sorry to hear about your woes - I guess it happens to us all.
I tell ya, I would switch to another provider (of any service - airline, utility, whatever) if they guaranteed I would not have to talk to the electronic voice. I spent a wasted five minutes shouting “English!” into the phone the other day, and then I had 16 other prompts to get through before I had the privilege of waiting on hold for the next available customer rep for whom my call was, as I was repeatedly assured, very important to them.
Grrrr.
July 27th, 2007 at 11:17 am, Shayna Says:
I just moved from Baltimore to Washington DC and the new place I moved into already had phone, internet, and cable set up. So…I called my old cable and internet company without incident and had those services shut off. When it came to contacting Verizon (phone service), however, it was like a stealth mission to even find the phone number. It’s not listed on their bill and unless you can navigate their website like a navy SEAL, it’s really not readily accessible information. I finally found the phone number, though, and spoke to an automated system for ten minutes before being CUT OFF. OK fine, automated system, I can totally take you. I call back again. And again. Each time, when the system recognizes that I have asked to speak to a customer service representative, I am cut off. Whatever. As I mentioned, I am smarter than a machine. When I called back two days later, I chose the option for “set up new service.” Of course you’re not going to cut me off if you think I want to PURCHASE service… I managed to get a hold of a customer service representative. Wanda ensured me two weeks ago that my service would be discontinued on the date I desired. Now I just have to wait for the final bill and see whether or not they actually did it.
July 27th, 2007 at 11:42 am, Stephanie Honeycutt Says:
Dish Network. I detest having to call them so much that I let a funny noise on our TV 2 ride for several months because of the nightmareish menu options you hae to go thru to get a live person. But I will say that once you get someone, they are usually very helpful, probably out of fear of getting verbally blasted by the customer…..
July 27th, 2007 at 11:52 am, joanne Says:
UPS is my bane. I loathe them and won’t usually use them unless I absolutely must. They won’t leave packages at my apartment building without a signature, yet like most people, I work so I’m never home when they come. I was expecting a new fan. I saw it was going to be delivered on a specific day. I race home and beat the UPS driver. And I wait all evening. Finally I go online and see that my package is being returned because it was damaged. I call. Customer service is less than helpful saying they’ll tell the shipper (amazon) why it was returned and I have to wait to hear from them. The next day I check to see if I have an email or anything and I see that UPS has returned my package because I refused it. Now I’m livid. I hadn’t refused the package. I call UPS back and was told that’s their standard operating procedure. Whatever, I email amazon the whole story including how I did not refuse the package (because I’m paranoid like that) and discover that my fan is out of stock and I can’t get a new one. I’m getting a refund from them. A week later I get a dunning email from Amazon because I refused the package and they’re giving me a refund (which they had already given me), but in the future I should look at their list of why packages get refused so I can avoid the situation.
July 27th, 2007 at 1:11 pm, KLee Says:
My particular bugbear was AT&T. Back in college, I had a roommate who had moved back from Germany where her family had been posted militarily. She and I had a falling-out and she moved out of the house. Two years later, I get a bill from AT&T that has about five really expensive calls to Germany on it.
I call AT&T customer service trying to find out what these calls were, since I knew none of us living in the house had called Germany. The rep tells me that the calls had been made two years previously, but due to some sort of error, had not been billed to my account. I complained that the calls had been made TWO YEARS previously, so why were they billing me for them now?!? The customer service rep said that they can legally bill me for calls made up to five years in the past. Great.
I tried to explain that the person who made those calls no longer lived in the house, and I wasn’t about to pay for them, since I didn’t make the calls. The rep assured me that even though I hadn’t made the calls, it was *my* name on the bill, and I had just acknowledged that the calls *were* made from my phone, so therefore, I was responsible for paying the charges, and they were so sorry, but there was really nothing either they or I could do about it; so just suck it up, and pay the bill.
I got so angry, I told the rep that they weren’t even bothering with lubrication, they just shoved a dry one up me. (I have since matured. I think.) Then I paid the bill.
July 27th, 2007 at 3:04 pm, Cassie Says:
Being a travel agent, I will be honest. Delta is the worst airline to fly, or to deal with customer service issues with. This is the airline that dumped me at the airport overnight with no connector service, because their beyond moron level.
Next time buy traveler’s insurace, you’ll get money for any delayed baggage, etc. It’s worth it, 200%.
July 27th, 2007 at 3:09 pm, Amanda Says:
Just to throw a little positive note out there (since I vented the negative yesterday) my customer service with Cingular has always been outstanding. (I only hope that now that it’s AT&T it stays that way.)
July 27th, 2007 at 3:50 pm, Joy East of theKingdom Says:
This was hysterical! Bless your heart…I can only imagine.
I am in customer service myself (16 years now), so when I am dealing with customer service, I try to be a little more empathetic and as cooperative as I can.
HOWEVER, it also makes me a real b**ch to deal with when I am not getting what I consider as “good customer service.” I make no bones about it and ask for the supervisor.
I then follow up with a letter to the president of the company, including dates, times and names (whatever I am given) to outline the service I encountered.
On the other side, I’ve been constantly amazed at the way I am treated when I am trying to obtain information to help a customer. You would not believe how hard it is some times. I’ve had customers refuse to give their telephone numbers, street addresses and their names and expect me to get a technician out to service their equipment. How am I supposed to help someone if they won’t tell me who or where they are? Help me help you people!
But I can say this, if you call my customer service department, you will hold for less than a minute. We are REQUIRED to answer within 15 seconds…a standard we maintain. Not bad for a national customer service center huh??
July 27th, 2007 at 4:01 pm, Joy East of theKingdom Says:
Oh yeah,
the whole Amsouth/Regions merger really tested my patience back on the 13th. I had been issued a new atm card for Regions, but it had my former married name on it. I haven’t used that name in over 8 years! When I called to have it corrected, I waited on hold 15 minutes only to have the CSR tell me that she needed to transfer me to another department for them to fix it. After another 15 minutes on hold, I got the card division who told me that she needed to transfer me to account services, and before I could tell her that’s where I’d just been transfered from, I was put on another 15 minute hold. I had not even been a Regions customer for 24 hours yet and already, Mama was not happy! When someone in account services came to the phone, I explained my plight again only to be told that I called the wrong state! What?! I tried to explain to her that I’d called the right number to begin with, but had been transfered all over God’s green earth, but guess what…Yep…another 15 minute hold…well it was 15 minutes when I hung up because my lunch hour was then over and I had not gotten my problem resolved and I hadn’t eaten lunch and now I was expected to be cheery to the next caller who was not going to speak intelligible English or give me their name.
Guess that’s why Regions is no longer using “the relationship people” as their slogan.
July 27th, 2007 at 4:36 pm, Alex Says:
Kim -
I had the same copyright issue with Walmart a few months ago. Exact same. Pictures being waved in my face, being told they would be shredded, everything. The pictures were of my grandparents at a senior year school dance. I told the Walmart clerk that a release would be impossible because if the photographer wasn’t already dead, he sure was on his way. I was so mad I cried right then and there (hate it when I do that). The clerks response? NADA. Absolutely ludacris.
July 27th, 2007 at 5:40 pm, Susu Says:
Many times you can just hit the zero “0″ on your telephone and go straight to a customer rep. Never had a problem with Costco, T-Mobile, Alabama Power, Parisian (sorry to see you go!!).
July 28th, 2007 at 10:58 am, Cassie Says:
For some reason my post didn’t click yesterday.
Switch to US Airways, they give the best customer service. And they are the easiest to work with.
Delta sucks, and that’s putting it mildly coming from me. The travel agent, me, that the screwed royally on a flight out of Dallas. Me that had a seat. We won’t get into it.
The best advice I can give anyone flying right now, but the traveler’s insurance from TraveLite. I swear by them, and they give you money on delayed luggage, delayed flights. Trust me I will do it next time I fly now.
Delta needs a major over haul.
July 29th, 2007 at 7:09 pm, Pam Says:
Girls Gone Wild… I know, I know. Somehow, my 65 year-old mother started receiving lesbian porn from GGW. I’m a huge believer in being nice to CSRs (customer service reps) since I used to be one, but I was ticked. I will give myself props for not ripping CSR Rodney a new one, but I did speak my mind. “My mother is 65 and has been receiving lesbian porn videos from your company. She is certainly not interested and does not want these, so did you confuse her with her nudist neighbor, steal her credit card number, or purposely try to give her a heart attack?”
I’m pretty sure that Rodney has received calls like this before. He apologized, refunded the money and then told me that it was a different company who took my mother’s money and has been sending her the porn… from GGW. Uh-huh. So I called DCC and apparently they sell long distance phone cards. Since the advent of caller ID, no one in my house answers calls from numbers we don’t recognize. So how she agreed to purchase long distance calling cards (and why would she since she uses a cell phone?) is beyond me.
By the way, DCC usings the same customer service as GGW and they SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION like your address and credit card and phone numbers with each other. DCC then placed the blame back on GGW. I still have no clue how my mother got on the mailing list for GGW.
By the way, Air France has crummy customer service, too. And I’m going to say much worse than Delta seeing as I went commando for almost 3 days in Austria because they couldn’t even find my bags.
July 30th, 2007 at 9:39 am, Jax Says:
Delta is by far the worst. Thanks Cassie for the heads up on traveler’s insurance….
We were stranded in New Orleans. Our initial flight was to be around 6:30 p.m. Every 20 minutes, the flight time board would change to a new time. And there (of course) no rep to talk to, ask why. Around 11:30, I see that our flight was CANCELLED. WTF! I called the 800 # (no one at the service desk) and the fine reps in INDIA had no idea what I was talking about. Then - a miracle! A lady appears from nowhere and tells us “Bad Weather” was to blame. Oh hell no! There was only about a dozen of us- and by this point we were pissed. There was no way in hell we were staying IN THE AIRPORT until the morning. Bad Weather only means a cop out so they don’t have to accomodate you for THEIR poor planning. Some lady plopped open her laptop and demanded to show her WHERE the bad weather was on her Doppler map, the Delta rep got flustered. Well, guess what? They planned wrong and the pilot exceeded his flight hours for the day. Who cares? Not my fault! Then she says, well, I doubt we can accomodate you, because the first game (post Katrina) at the Superdome is tomorrow night, and hotels are booked. Still not buying. MAGICALLY we were all booked into a hotel- didn’t get there until 3 a.m…. Then were delayed by 2 more hours in Atlanta. Ever wonder why the cheapest flight out of NOLA is the 6:30? Now you know!
DELTA= Doesnt’ Ever Leave The Airport!!!!
I feel better
Jax