Comments on: Of Customer Service And Tech Problems – A Rant

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:36:48 +0000

John, Skype is indeed cheaper but I’d have to leave my computer on all the time and I don’t like doing that. I mostly use Skype for chat, which is way under using it I know… it’s been a long time since I’ve been an early adapter

By: John D Carmack

John D Carmack — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:31:03 +0000

You know, Skype is cheaper. And, if the modem goes down, at least you have voice mail. .-= John D Carmack´s last blog ..Should It Be Hard? =-.

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:49:27 +0000

Ed, you’re right. I work to buy local. Checking local services now for broadband or something close. Thanks for the reminder. I’ll let you know what I find.

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:39:10 +0000

I’ve actually done tech support and customer service and it’s hard work. It’s particularly awful when the company won’t let the CS reps find solutions, but require them to stick to a script no matter what.

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:30:08 +0000

Lol, right on Spike – unfortunately about all I know in this case is the bloody connection should work! In fairness to them, they have tried to figure it out. Yesterday’s tech, a delightful man with sad eyes spend 20 minutes up the pole, went under the house and said “I don’t know….” I appreciated that… and everything was working. Seems to go off in 40 min. increments…

Now get on that bank!

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:25:23 +0000

Hi Brian, Cox came out again yesterday and the truth is they don’t know why it’s happening. If your internet is down your phone is also down if you’re doing digital phone with cox and I don’t think it should go off and on like that. I work at home during the day and it’s getting truly unacceptable. I’m in north park, where are you?

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:04:03 +0000

Spike is right that you can't sleep-walk through any customer service experience. This isn't the same as being rude or obnoxious to the customer service person on the phone or the installer visiting your home - they are just low-paid cogs in a corporate machine. However, you need to be conscious of your rights and don't take 'no' for an answer. I've learned three lessons from bad customer service: escalate, get local and don't put all of your eggs in one (corporate) basket. The customer service person or installer or simply the first line of interaction and are more cannon fodder for angry customers than anything else. The power to light a fire under a problem is held by the supervisor. I remember spending days calling three-letter package deliver service about a problem. I spoke to the supervisor and cleared it up in minutes. The second lesson is try to find the service with the most local roots. This doesn't mean the local office of the nationwide conglomerate, but the small company where the CEO lives in the community. To larger companies, you may be just one out of millions of faceless customers. For a locally-based service, you may run into the owner at the grocery store. But one of the most important lessons is not to keep all of your technology eggs in the same basket - or beware of bundling. Bundling is great for the company; it ties customers together through dependence on a single source, turning your cable provider into a utility that can switch off your tv, internet and phone in one fell swoop. i get my internet from one company, tv from another and phone from the guys down the block. This way, if I have a problem with my network connection, I can isolate that and not worry about debugging my entire living-room or find my phone doesn't work because I'm late on my cable bill. Ed’s last blog post..Chicago Sun-Times Files For Chapter 11

By: SpikeTheLobster

SpikeTheLobster — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:17:08 +0000

Ouch. That sucks, Anne. As with most places, customer service here varies wildly: on the one hand, there are companies who do it incredibly well. On the other, there's my bank who still owe me about $1,500 and manage inter-departmental communication in a fashion similar to six people trying to talk to each other in different languages. The only thing I have ever found that works to push these people into action is knowing more than them. Then when they say "We can't do that because of data protection rules" or "I can't do that in this department", you can cry "Nonsense!" and force them to do something helpful. They hate it, but it works. SpikeTheLobster’s last blog post..12 Reasons Writing Is Better Than Sex

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:25:29 +0000

I’m in San Diego (like you?) and we haven’t had any problems with the cable phone from Cox. The internet goes out every so often, but then I just “borrow” the wireless from my neighbor who must be on a different system. It’s never been out long enough that I had to call to get it back on.

Then again, I don’t use the phone that much during the day, so perhaps it’s out often. Wouldn’t be a bad thing; getting bugged on the phone while you’re working is annoying.

By: Michelle Kafka

Michelle Kafka — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:13:20 +0000

Hi Anne. So sorry to hear of your experiences. Actually I took a job outside the home to make up for financially and I am giving out the customer service; I work in a gallery – opening doors for the customers and directing them, etc. But I miss writing so I am coming back to it and still managing to work.

No problems here with our phone or cable service just the computer being a bit slowish.