Customer Service does not exist in my world. There are no Customer Service reps in my world. They don't exist anymore. They have gone the way of the dinosaur. Customer Service hasn't existed for quite some time. At least such was my experience the other day which left me scratching my head in wonderment.
A little background.
I needed information regarding the type of information that a certain field required. The form had contact information, who I assumed would be able to assist with my question. So, the first conversation went something like this:
"The First Call"
Customer Service #1 (CS1): "Hello can I help you?"
Me (ME): "Yes, I need assistance with something on the xxx form."
CS1: "What kind of help do you need?"
ME: "Well, I am trying to find out what type of information should be entered into one of the fields."
CS1: "I'm sorry but I cannot tell you that information."
ME: *stunned by this answer*
ME: "You can't tell me what kind of information is supposed to be entered in the form?"
CS1: "No, we are not allowed to disclose that information."
ME: "But how am I supposed to find out? I am not expecting you to tell me what dollar figures to enter, but I'm looking for clarification."
CS1: "I'm sorry but I cannot help with this. You need to call this other company."
ME: "So you don't know what the field requirements are? Or you can't tell me."
CS1: "You need to call this other company."
ME: "Okay, fine...give me the number."
CS1: "Here's the number x-xxx-xxx-xxxx."
ME: "Thx" *sighing, fuming, and still stunned*
The subsequent conversation went something like this:
"The Second Call"
Customer Service #2 (CS2): "Yes, can I help you."
ME: *here we go again*
ME (ME): *for sake of brevity, I proceed to recount my previous conversation to THIS rep. I hear a lot of dead air, and wonder if I have been speaking martian language. So I wait.
CS2: "You need to speak with a financial advisor for that information. We need to open a file for you."
ME: *still bewildered, but I agree*. "Okay."
Now, here is where it gets bizarre. She starts asking for my vital information, and account password information. My antenna went up (as did my blood pressure).
ME: "Excuse me, but why are you asking for all of this information?"
CS2: "This is to better serve you. A financial advisor will contact you."
ME: "But I am not asking for financial help. I need someone to explain the requirements of a field on a form. That's all. The field has no guidance or explanation. No user help."
CS2: *air*
CS2: "Oh"
CS2: "I am sorry. I did not understand you. You need to call this other company."
ME: "I just did and they sent me to you."
CS2: "Then I am sorry. No one can help you."
So, to sum it up, no one could help me. They were forbidden to disclose information. They plainly didn't know. So I left both of these calls, having wasted about an hour of MY time, AND not having received any sort of assistance.
However, before I was able to hang up, I was asked to complete a customer sat survey.
*stunned* - why would someone ask for a customer sat on something where the customer wasn't satisfied?????
So I replied in the affirmative, and completed the survey.
Judging from the above conversations, how do you think they ranked??? hmmm????
ARGGHHHHHH!
7 comments:
Good rant! And, very true too!
Remember a couple months ago, I had problems with my long distance phone service and got a total run-around too from them when I tried to contact them. BTW, I'm still waiting for their response as to how long it will take for them to correct my "issues" with them! LOL So much for customer service!
Hopefully you are able to figure out what you are suppose to fill out, etc.
This reminds me of a situation I was in for literally weeks over the summer. Our internet broke down in our house so we went through the whole process of buying all new routers and adapters for both my mother's computer (the main one) and my computer. We set them all up and still no internet, or at least for me.
We spend hours on the phone with Linksys over the space of several days trying to figure out why the part that I bought was NOT working or setting up properly. They finally told us to contact the internet provider who proceeded to send up the adapter part...but sent us the wrong kind two times in a row! My mother finally went out and bought yet another adapter aned set it up one night when I was at work.
Turns out the only freaking thing wrong was that the original adapter was defective, but instead of admitting that perhaps their company had a defective part, they just sent us on a wild goose chase trying to get the internet fixed. If they had admitted from the very beginning that "Gee, maybe the part you bought is bad" it would have saved a whole lot of time.
And don't get me started on how NONE of the people I talked to from Linksys spoke English...
No one can help you?? This is the answer you get from customer service????
HOLY MOLY.
Customer service just isn't what it used to be. I've had to wait hours for these folks just to answer while being on hold. I enjoyed your rant lol.
Oh my gosh!!! What a bunch of nonsense!
You showed a lot more patience than I would have in this situation. :-)
I left a comment on your post for 03/03. :-)
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