23-November-2009

Customer service hell

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If you've ever called the customer service desk of some large organisation, you may have experienced frustration, anger or despair and been left with the feeling that you are nothing more than a nuisance or unwanted interruption to the person on the other end of the line.

I had a similar experience several times recently when I called a telecommunications company to arrange for services to be installed at my home. I must have spent no less than four hours in the last month skulking in the bowels of their telephone exchange either on hold or choosing frantically from the range of inappropriate options some disembodied voice presented me with.

Awful telephone music for another ten minutes...

I wouldn't mind if this time had actually got me anywhere but to this day I still haven't had the equipment I requested completely installed to my satisfaction and I am currently waiting on the phone call I was promised.

Another thing that really bothers me when I ring up these places is the number of times they have to transfer your call to someone else who 'might' be able to help. This will usually mean you have to suffer some awful telephone music for another ten minutes and you may be cut off at the end of that and then have to go through the whole process again. Of course going through the mill again including the extra long pre-recorded message advertising their website which is almost but not quite more useful than the help desk you are trying to get through to.

It seems to me that the bigger a company gets the more impersonal the staff in customer services become and it is only the smaller companies that are able to offer a more human and user friendly service. I myself work in the support department of a small organisation and have some idea of what it is like to deal with customers on a day-to-day basis. I don't think the people I deal with would be very happy if I put them on hold, lost their call or transferred them around the office every time they called.

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Ask yourself are you emotionally happy with the product and service. It really doesn't matter anymore if it doesn't work..

Murphy's Law

All firms want higher Customer Satisfaction

All those firms introduce new and special rules and procedures whereby the Service Staff must comply and follow.

These new rules inevitably totally demoralise the technical support staff who no longer feel they are worth anything in the Game any more.

Customer Satisfaction drops as the Support Staff don't give a damn anymore.

Swings and Roundabouts 29-Sep-2009 19:41

Dear Custumer services today 16.50 my telephone line constantly busy I can not phone out at all the last 40 minutes every of my telephone set I got 3 show the same problems my number 01843 833427 seems only the broadband works ? I need urgent help ! will I have refund for this trouble ?

Desmond 06-Aug-2009 17:28

I want to know who this person is who's pretending to be Mr Hicks and Moaning Minnie. It is obviously the same person by the use of the word LoL and the way they have written it, and the fact that they don't use spaces after commas and full-stops. I don't take too kindly to being impersonated whoever you are, and if you must do it at least try and make it a bit more convincing. Jesus.

Siobhan 28-Jul-2009 21:27

Moaning Minnie; I think you may be suffering from "pot, kettle, black" syndrome like your friend the Hickhead!

grumpyoldwoman 28-Jul-2009 19:04

HA Ha Gotcha,It was me who put your name instead of mine,just shows,LoL,you are all stupid,mind you,Hicks,I think grumpyoldwoman is the thickest,shes a real saddo,LoL.

Moaning Minnie 28-Jul-2009 09:44

I have just Logged into this site and there is a comment made below that claims to be by a Mr Hicks,It is not me The real Mr Hicks,I would never say such a thing,I suspect that it was put there by none other than grumpyoldc**t(grumpyoldwoman).It is a very suspicious thing,I Log into the site and she is there waiting for me,Is she in cahoots with the site owners?

Mr Hicks 28-Jul-2009 09:38

LoL,Oh MikeP,I love your comment below,it is soooooooooooo funny,LoL

Mr Hicks 28-Jul-2009 09:31

I guess for some of us ..... "the make of your first car IN which you first had sex" ....the first fumbling attempts at sex took place in the first car. Mine was a Singer Gazelle estate car held together by rust, fibreglass patches and masking tape. I'm talking about the car, not the young lady!

MikeP 27-Jul-2009 15:41

MikeP

I misread your "... the make of your first car or when you first had sex..." as: "the make of your first car IN which you first had sex".

My memory has now jammed on an happy, endless loop remembering that event.

Good man yourself. I am much obliged to you. Thanks for enlivening an otherwise quiet afternoon. :)

Manx Hound 27-Jul-2009 15:32

What p****s me off is when you explain what you need, they say something awfully ungrammatical such as : "You can speak to myself...." you go through the whole rigmarole of mother's maiden name and the make of your first car or when you first had sex, and then they say they can't help you and put you on hold and the line goes dead after a 12 hour wait!

MikeP 27-Jul-2009 15:20

Do you find it as annoying as I do when you want to get information from certain organizations, they put you on hold, they transfer your call to a different department, just to be told you have been put through to the wrong department, then they almost mimic 'little britain' by saying "Computer says no" These people get paid to help customers/clients so why can't they do that?

Anonymous 27-Jul-2009 15:16

Been a 3 mobile customer for a few years and recently they sent me another handset out of the blue. They claim I entered into an additional contract with them, which I did not. They have refused to cancel it and even though ive made 19 phone calls and written to them (posted via recorded delivery) have not responded.
The call centre is in india and the staff are simply not empowered to do anything beyond listen to your complaint. Then nothing happens to it, no follow up, no resolution, I just keep getting billed. I'd cancel the direct debit, but that means losing my original number (as all charges come in on the same debit code). Never touch 3 mobile, if something goes wrong they abandon you and just keep billing you regardless. As soon as my original mobile contract ends I plan to port my number to another provider and shut down my Direct Debit - forcing them to pursue me through the courts as I hope I will get the chance to contest it in the small claims court.

3robbedme 29-Jun-2009 00:15

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