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Mar. 23, 2005 So what is it about on-the-phone customer service? Why do they say they know what you’re going through when they really don’t? I wrote a column just before this one where I described the service guy and what happened to me on my first bout. Well, at this point, I really have my doubt about the way customer service on the phone is run and how these “representatives” go about their duty. Don’t tell me that you know what I feel when I say I can’t do without a stove and an oven for a month. I had to go through that in College and University, and I don’t want to go through that all over again. I pay for a working oven; I pay for your warranty. When my critical appliance which makes everything run smoothly decides its time to conk out, I want you to fix the problem. I don’t upkeep my parts and service warranty just so you can milk the money from me. No. I would like it fixed in a timely manner. Simple right? You’d think so, but that’s not really what happens. It was quite interesting. The service guy said I would be without my oven for about a week because they had to special order a part. I said, “That’s fine. If we have to wait for a part to be special ordered, we have to.” I’m not unreasonable. Never have been never will be. What made me unglued was when some service representative kindly leaves me a message on both my home and work voicemails saying, “We’re sorry, but your parts won’t be in until near the end of the month instead of the 10th of the month.” That did it. I work long hours, as does my husband, we have enough of take out as it is. Now the service department for our oven wanted to force us to eat take out and frozen dinners for a near month. I wasn’t going to let this issue go. I promptly called them, and let the service representative know exactly where I was coming from. I said, “We can’t go for a near month without a stove and oven! That’s ludicrous! All we have is the microwave and a toaster oven—how long is it going to take to make any dinners? Are we going to have to live on frozen dinners and takeout for this whole time? Is your company going to pay for our dinners? Do you know how much it’s going to cost to eat out, especially if we try to eat healthy like we do at home?” All they could say was, “Yes, we understand.” And what I did was said, “No, I don’t think you understand at all. Have you had this happen to you? If this was you, would you now want your stove and oven fixed on a timely basis.” Then I threatened to take our next furniture and appliance purchases for our move in the summer elsewhere. That got them to overnight the parts and get my oven and stove repaired on the day that was promised. Why should we, as customers, go to these extremes? Can’t these companies just give us what we require to keep our lives going smoothly? Regular consumers don’t ask for much—we just ask that you keep your promises. You say you’ll fix something at a given time; you fix it by that time. End of story. We don’t want messages left on our voice mails telling us that you’re changing the date of repair on us. What are we? Something to be trampled on? I don’t think so. Word to the wise, don’t let yourselves be walked over by customer service representatives—hold your ground, you do have rights, especially if you paid for those rights. To those customer representatives that do their job—thank you. We customers do appreciate that greatly. Those that try and empathize when you really can’t—don’t bother. When customers have concerns, they want those concerns fixed, so just fix it and forget it. Till next time. ------------ About the author: Barbara has been writing short stories for the enjoyment of friends and family for years. She has published three books, Collection, Collection II, and Pawn: A Novel. Barbara lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and enjoys writing, reading and tending to her other field: accounting. Websites: http://www.barbaraannamarjanovic.com http://www.authorsden.com/barbaraannamarjanovic Email: blueswan28@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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