I've worked in sales and customer services before, call center's and so on. There's a certain level of training, and logging and being as helpful as possible with customers. Working in this background in the past I changed my attitude and how polite I am when I deal with any companies. I'm extremely polite because I know how they work and how stressful it can be. So my rant/story: I have been with o2 broadband since early 2010, they were great, I get a static IP, 24/7 customer service and no problems. Mid 2011 they changed some things, they have more broadband customers now, a lot of call center's, and a lot of problems. I changed my current bank account so moved all my debits. I informed called o2 about this they sent me a text and email to say it was confirmed. I then a couple of months later have my broadband disconnected. They demand three months payment, (I rarely check my statements and so on) So I had no idea. No warning before. I called spoke to a supervisor and made a manual payment, she had to double check something and so on. I made a manual payment and made sure this time they have the correct details. Two weeks later it is disconnected again, and then I get a text saying my broadband has been completely disconnected. I call back ask them what's going on they say I owe them 70 something pounds, they double checked and apologized because I already paid! But because it wasn't automated it was something so on and on. So turn it back on, sorry sir it's not that simple because of "you not paying" it has been cancelled we require a termination fee and a new contract. I was fuming! This guy double checked, apologized again spoke to another supervisor who kept apologizing, agreed to give me three months free (which I find out is standard for any new customer). So I had to go 5-7 days while this new system was set up (which is actually a bad deal compared to the last one) Now they have a 250gb download limit, they slow down p2p and file sharing on peak times which means 4pm to midnight. So on. The connection was updated last Thursday on the 24th and active I was ready to go. It didn't work, kept disconnecting. So I called, everything's fine. They will test and call me back on Friday. They didn't so I called Friday afternoon, oh sorry sir it should have been escalated to the second line team. So spoke to someone else, they did something to the noise ratios so on. Still no change. On Saturday (failing to call me back again). Sorry sir your old settings are still on our system we need to update your new router on Monday we will call you back. Again nothing. I called again on Monday, third time have activated the router on their side the account is now from pending to active but it takes until midnight we will call you back (today Tuesday). I called again. It takes 5 working days for our backoffice to connect it. Sorry for the problems. (Guy was babbling, didn't know what he was talking about, a supervisor will call me back within 24 hours) I felt bad for him, I refused to get of the line spoke to someone on the second line team. Spoke for another hour, finally switched the IP from static to dynamic and now everything is fine. That's all they had to do. I'm still not happy. They still have to make it "active" in billing. I asked for my MAC code on Friday, I have to wait five working days and I'm switching. I called many times, got a different version of events every time I called, been put on hold for 15 minutes after being told. "Do you mind holding for a minute sir". I'm fuming. I really am. I'm switching asap. *Deep breath* Rant over. So, any similar stories?
Yeah, but from the other end of that kind of stuff. Trust me it's almost as hard dealing with that stuff from the other end.
Bought a washing machine once. Well..I say bought...we never actually had it in our house. It was from Powerhouse, who not coincidentally went out of business about 6 months later. They kept failing to deliver it when they said. At one point the person on the phone assured me that it had been delivered that morning. I told her that unless their delivery men got it through the letterbox she was lying to me as no one was their to let them in. Then she said "Why are we trying to deliver it if no one's in?" Because you were meant to deliver it yesterday when someone had taken time off work to be in!!!
hahaha well if some chimp rang through and was moaning about whatever... then I'd be inclined to give him the worst possible service in the universe. He's a dirty chimp after all - that he even managed to dial a phone number goes against all the rules and norms that humanity stands for.
All I expect from Customer service reps is: a) competence b) politeness c) the ability to understand why I'm angry Fall short of those three qualities and I'm going to lose my rag.
Like I already mentioned I already worked in that environment. I was a supervisor, I made rules added ideas and so on. Surely a company like o2 should be able to adequately train everyone to be on the same page at least? The back office system for a customer should have relevant tickets, last advisor's comments and what is going on. I shouldn't be told by one that the signal noise ratio has been adjusted and it should be fixed now. I shouldn't be promised a call back 4 times and not receive one. I shouldnt be told by 5 different people in the same department "I'm sorry I can only apologize I don't know why you were told that". That is just not acceptable. At least it wasn't where I worked. If I didn't know something, I wouldn't make it up I would pass it on. Or find out and get back to them.
My father had a big one in summer 2009. He hired Home Depot to redo his roof. It is a one where it has peaks and edges so its not flat. So they shingled it. My father made clear he wanted the whole roof done but later realized they only did the flat part and not the peak. Its a good roof, but not what he aggreed on. So he wouldn't pay. They threatened to take him to court and such but my dad has all the papers and evidence and they haven't got a leg to stand on. In the end they left him alone....hehehe
a) Agreed. b) Without a doubt. c) Is your reason justified? Is there much they can do about it? When I worked for a spares company, I had someone shout and swear at me to complain that something that hasn't arrived, when I asked for his account or order number, post code or anything. No relevant details, he shouted at me for stealing his money. Turns out, he ordered with a completely different company. I can give 100 different variants of idiotic customers. I always stay polite now. Just in case I could be wrong.
but....some chimps can use typewriters! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcSUWP0QNeY"]It was the best of times, It was the blurst of times. - YouTube[/ame]
So that's how I get a free new roof? On roofs, avoid like the plague anyone who knocks on your door and offers to wash/and paint your roof so it's like brand new. They ruin the roofs and cost an arm and a leg. I used to be one of these people, I was lied to by my employer and was only advising what I was told to. They are a nightmare.
You mean like a prostate exam? I figure that's pretty much what customer service is most of the time, both for the customer and the rep.
That's how you get a free new roof Just hire some stupid peeps who don't know their ass from their head, agree on a complete job done, then refuse to pay when they're so stupid they don't understand what 'do the whole roof' means.
This actually reminds me of another story. My uncles restaurant he was completely renovating it, of course they need most of the money up front for parts and labor and so on. In the end the money had quadrupled, the time was x4 and so on. I can;t remember how he solved it in the end.
Nope. Got our money back after another aborted delivery. Muppets so no wonder tyhey went out of business.
Last winter (mid January), our garage door broke. The guy we connected said he get it done in 2 days. It took him 2 weeks.
I certainly thing my reason is justified, otherwise I wouldn't be angry. If a customer goes nuts on you, you should hang up. Aint no excuse for profanity or abuse, but I've lost count of the number of times I've been given attitude for being irritated.
Where oh where, oh where shall I begin? Let's start with some of the more recent you ease you fellow readers in... gather round children, don't be frightened, Uncle Chimp will tell you all about the land of the grown ups. Having recently purchased a house we set about decorating it, painting and filling in crack went without a hitch and carpeting and flooring was mostly painless (ran over by a day as he said he needed to go to a funeral when he was, in fact, at another job and then the floor started lifting and we had a time trying to get him back to sort it), it was furniture that proved to be my undoing... Ordered a lovely two seat manual recliner and a single powered recliner from CSL who told me it will be at least two weeks before delivery, which was perfect. A couple of days later I received a text saying I have to call them as my furniture was ready to be delivered and they can't keep it as they don't have space. Unfortunately, the above carpets were yet to be installed, much pretending to be out of the country later, the recliners arrived and looked all good... Looked all good... After the delivery people had left, we had a good sit and recline, but when it came to standing up, problems arose. A loud clunking noise could be heard. You sat down, it was ok, you stand up "CLUNK". I tried to ignore it but couldn't and I had to call up customer services who arranged to send out a technician, some three weeks in the future... To be fair, the technician arrived early and fixed the problem (a spring was too close to the frame and was catching), but what concerned me was that he was very, very busy... I just dropped some £1700 on leather recliners, only to find that the guy who fixes them is run off his feet... However, that was relatively pain free. Harvey's, from whom I got my dining table and chairs was another matter... After being told it would take 4 weeks to deliver, I got a phone call on the 5th week saying that it was ready to delivery and all I had to do was pay the balance, which I duly did over the phone. i was told the delivery people will be in contact. Several says later I received a text from a company called Harkers saying I should call them to arrange delivery. There must only be one person working in that office as it would ring and ring and ring and a lady would answer, who then put me through to another lady who I swear was herself, just in a different room. Anyway, delivery was arranged, but when I had to rearrange, for the day after my original date, they told me I couldn't and if I needed to reschedule it would have to be for the following week. I decided to keep the original delivery date and got my wife to wait in for it (after all, we were on week 7 or 8 from ordering). The best Harkers could do was a 12 hour window (8am to 8pm) with a phone call an hour before to say that they were coming. On the day of delivery, I left work early and by the time I got home they had called my mum's number (I told them to ring either my wife or myself) to say that they'd be there in 20 minutes. So much for an hours notice... 45 minutes later, they arrived and set about installing the table and chairs, we noticed scratches on the table and wrote it on the delivery note and the guy said he'll make sure we get a new table, and set about building the last chair. An hour later he quit as the final chair was wonky, as in proper wonky donkey... "Don't worry, I'll make sure you'll get a new chair", he said. What happened next was my fault because I believed him... I rang Harkers and the lady who answered but me through to herself in a different room. The driver had not been back to the depot yet but she'd call me when he gets him. Eight hours later, I called back and was told the driver had been back and his report said the table was to be swapped out. "Great", I said, "What about the chair?" "What chair?" came the reply. "The chair you guy spent an hour trying to fix, that chair" "There's nothing about a chair here, we can only go by the paperwork". Some 20 mins of arguing later, with them refusing to give me the drivers number, I was advised that I need to contact Harvey's Direct. Before that, I managed to get the drivers number off the saved calls on my mum's home phone and sent a message asking the driver what went wrong - to this day there's still no reply. Harvey's directed me to their 0844 numbered call centre, which rang and rang and rang for 30 minutes before someone picked up. They assured me, they'd sort everything out and that a technician will contact me soon to arrange an appointment. Days later (week 9 of ordering), Servico (who fix wooden furniture) called and said they had only two dates for me (taking me to week 12 and 13). I chose the closet date which was today between 7am and 9am. By 9.30am I was on the phone to Servico asking where the technician was. The girl seemed shocked (Oscar nomination shocked) that he wasn't there yet and she said she'd call him and call straight back. At just after 10am he finally arrived and claimed his van broke. Looking at the table he said he couldn't fix the chipped edge and that it wasn't worth doing, the table needs to be replaced. However, the chair wasn't going to be a problem for it. Ten mins later, he gave up on the chair and said that he needs to order new legs... As of right now I have a dining table and chair not fit for purpose, waiting on Harvey's to get back to me in about 5 to 7 business days, which will be week 13 from ordering... Livid. In the next chapter I will tell my epic 12 hour, 4 phone stint trying to get my money back from a money grabbing travel agent (the awful Expedia), after Japan suffered the massive earthquake, some 3 days before we were due to fly. The story is full of lies and wild, wild offers (I was offered travel on the 31st April... April has 30 days...)
A while ago, I was in MFI (now defunct furniture company). Some chap came in and launched into a clearly rehearsed tirade of abuse about this lawnmower that he'd bought. The man was so wound up about it that he was shaking. He felt quite silly when he'd finished venting. He'd bought the lawnmower from B&Q, across the road.
