PDA

View Full Version : Customer Service?


lynn
10-11-2005, 09:25 PM
A friend of mine bought a pack of batteries and after she opened the package she noticed it wasn't the type she needed. She went back to the store hoping she could have it exchanged/returned but the store told her that after the package has been opened, they can no longer sell it so her request was denied.

This reminds me of a story a co-worker told me. Her boyfriend goes grocery shopping every week and buys pretty much the same thing every week (bread, egg, milk..etc). One week he noticed the bread tasted a little saltier than usual - he returned the following week and demanded for his money back and the store actually refunded him :shock: !!

Scenario number 3 - I was planning our Christmas party last week and I called several restaurants asking for their availability - one restaurant was the one where our Christmas party was held last year. They informed me that they are looking @ a buyout this year and therefore won't be able to accomodate us because we don't have enough people. I thought that was a reasonable explanation and took it at face value. I told a co-worker of mine why we can't have our Christmas party at the restaurants we attended last year and she literally picked up the phone and yelled @ person responsible for booking. She told them that we tipped very generously last year and that we had quite a big bill and why they had a sudden change in policy - to put it plainly, she wasn't just being demanding, she was being an "angry customer" blasting with full firepower. What happened in the end was the restaurant was kind of giving in to her demands but b/c they were booked on the days we wanted so that was the end of not.

So, what's the moral of these horrifically long stories?? It makes me wonder that perhaps in getting what we want as customers, maybe we should be more demanding and perhaps resort to yelling if necessary?? I've worked in customer service roles before and i understand the difficulty they face so when dealing with CSR, I try to be polite and reasonable and at times asking to see their supervisor but it's quite clear that being polite obviously doesn't get the job done. Any thoughts??

Laura
10-11-2005, 09:37 PM
I think it really sucks that yelling gets things done, because that leads to a lot of bad behavior. I've also seen that sometimes you have to ask a lot of questions, and the same question several different ways, to be sure that you're getting the real answer to the question that you are actually asking.

I just had a really stupid customer service go-round. I never got mad, I never got angry, I never yelled, but at the end of it I told them I would never ever do business with them again because I felt their customer service was completely worthless. What was I doing? I was trying to get ahold of the documents for the cruise I took last week. All the times I ever booked in the past, they came in an envelope about a month before the cruise. This time I booked through a different travel agent, one who I had never used before. They said they emailed me the documents, and I never got them. We even checked our spam filters, and there was no indication that the documents ever arrived. I called and asked about these three times, and they kept telling me they sent, then re-sent, then re-re-sent them. Of course you can imagine that I was starting to get worried, how were we to get on the cruise without our documents????

Finally I got my answer -- from an internet discussion forum that had nothing to do with my travel agent. So I got all straightened out for my cruise (seems that I could get everything I needed just by going to the cruise line's web site) -- but the stupid travel agent didn't know that and never told me that. Every time I asked where my documents were, they said "oh, we'll just email them again." After the third time I told them I had figured it out an alternative method of getting what I needed. I also wrote them a very calm and precise letter telling them exactly where their customer service had failed me during the whole process of booking the cruise (they did some stupid things, like randomly changing our cabin number on us and also showing that we had a balance due on our account when we were in fact paid in full). I told them that I wasn't looking for compensation or anything for these inconveniences, but that I was just reporting them so they'd know the kinds of things that they did not do very well for us. I also told them that since I've since learned that I could do every single thing they did for me myself (online through the cruise line's own web site), I would never be using their services again.

The never replied. Not even to say "we're sorry your experience was not what you hoped it would be." So that's yet another black mark in my book.

At least we were able to get on the cruise, and we had a nice time. But here's a lesson: no matter how many bonus frequent flyer miles they tempt you with, do not book a cruise through United Cruises/Bryn Mawr Travel (of Chicago).

Katarzyna
10-12-2005, 12:07 AM
Customes service can really be a nightmare. The worst system to get through is banks and other financial institutions. They simply have a system of routing you through 10 deprtments before you reach the right person.. Yelling can save couple minutes on hold if you really get annoyed...

cocodrilo
10-12-2005, 06:43 AM
It sometimes, unfortunately, takes a fair amount of voice-raising to get the point across to some people in the service industry. I have worked in that field, and I know exactly what goes on. Politeness matters, but if you are on the other end, getting totally unacceptable service no matter what the establishment, the customer has the right to state his or her opinion. I complain when I feel I am getting screwed, and I comment when I feel it will be beneficial for the establishment to better serve their clients' needs the next time 'round. To side with business owners, I have heard so many pathetic cases of dissatisfied customers going totally berserk and even threatening to sue over trifling matters. (i.e. the woman who carelessly spilled hot coffee all over herself and sued McDonald's and WON!) Some people are out to make a buck or are expecting favors and this is just not cool.

dTas
10-12-2005, 11:16 AM
i bought a PDA phone from Sprint and the customer service was great (when it came time to make a sale)

1 year later my phone was dying. it would not hold a call, etc etc... so i went into sprint (several times in fact) and asked if they could fix it. the answer was no, that it was probably one of the "extra" programs i had downloaded and installed causing some sort of operating system failure. they even had thier "technician" take a look and were sure i would have to buy a new $600 phone to replace my old one.

but hey... they were running a sale! so i could get $150 off!!!

i left disgusted.

eventually, after some web searching, i found out that all i needed to do was buy a new internal battery ($40). so i bought one online, installed it myself, and now my phone works great!!!

i keep meaning to back to the sprint store and chew them out for trying to sell me a new phone and not knowing how to service their own products.