February 17, 2018 Customer service/client satisfaction/work ethic… or… How did you spend your weekend? Hi everyone…Remember that you have my assistant to thank for this rant because it was she who told me to write about my everyday life in these blogs. That includes the good, the bad and the just plain frustrating, aggravating, etc. The above words… customer service/client satisfaction… are on my mind big time these past 24 hours. They usually pop up at least once a day these days, but today was a real red-letter day for them. How many of you are of the same mind? It seems that this is my weekend not to write or even relax a bit. It is to argue and fight for people/businesses to simply do their jobs. But I must ask the question of myself… these days is it that they are doing their jobs and being lazy, inadequate, unreliable, untruthful… are what companies are all about now? Has society changed that much? Has this malaise infected workers and their employers to such a degree? Here are examples of just two of the four blood pressure building hurdles I have dealt with. And there is still another day in the weekend to go… who knows what other dragon I might have to contend with before Monday. Example One…. Friday afternoon, my phone gets lost. I panic… we all panic when that happens. After much searching, I contact the phone company. Now we all know we never get a HUMAN to speak with right away. It took eight minutes for that to occur. When I did get one, explaining all that happened, I was transferred. I then had to repeat everything I had just said to the other person. They will have new phone on way to me… three days. I just need to give them my couple hundred dollars right now. No alternative but to do so. I hang up. Three minutes later, my phone is found. I call company right back and go through THREE humans where I am telling the same story over and over. (Ever heard of typing in notes on your computer screen about the client’s issue so others might be up to speed on the subject? That is if you are done with latest Netflix episode you are watching instead. How do I know that? I heard one such show playing in the background when I am trying to talk to one of these people.) Anyway… I ask for a refund of my money back to my account. Okay. But it takes 10 business days for that to happen… just wait 14 days to see it. I hit the ceiling… or at least my blood pressure does. I call my bank only to be informed that this phone company is the WORST at pulling this and all they need to do is give the bank their merchant code and funds will be reversed. I call the phone company again… three more transfers. I finally find ONE person in that huge company (in Texas I might add, not in Pakistan) who understands the frustration and goes to bat for me. Upshot… my funds are reversed and will be back in account Monday night, BUT it is bank holiday, so it will be Tuesday. Three days, not fourteen… because I fought for it. No one should have to go through such a mess. That took a total of 3 hours and ten minutes of my time. Second example comes Saturday morning. My internet goes off… we have a bundle. I contact company and another robot must be dealt with. Ever sat screaming the words ‘Customer Service’ over and over into a phone? When I received a human, I was then transferred three times. For one hour and twelve minutes, I am speaking with someone who might have taken one lesson in English if that much. He tests this line and that line and over and over and around and around we go. Until he declares he must send a technician to me… same day… please be home between two and four. So, we stayed home, and I waited… and waited. At fifteen after four, I call the company. Robot… transferred twice… tell story to three people because there are NO notes. Can you imagine what happens when I am told… “sorry, but there was no technician schedule for today for you. We guess he was a newbie and didn’t do his job.” EXPLOSION. It was not pretty, and I do not apologize. No one should apologize to a company who cannot hire and train and supervise competent employees to do their job, so these mistakes do not happen over and over and over to their ‘valued’ clients. If one more person had told me today what a ‘valued client’ I was, I have no idea what I would have done! By the way, know what happens when you ask to speak to a supervisor? Oh my! The line goes dead or the call is simply never picked up. Sunday will dawn tomorrow, and I will be sitting, waiting and watching the clock because this company has assured me that a technician will show up between noon and two. Am I going to hold my breath? No, but I can guarantee you that at 2:01 CST, there may be an explosion to be heard across the state if no one has knocked on my door. Deep breath. Hope your weekend goes much better for each of you! Debra