Customer service is dead, long live the snark!

[republic]

I've been so busy the past few months I haven't been able to frequent the boards like I used to...I hate to just come in here after such a long absence and gripe...but here goes.

I am nolonger a Paypal customer.  After 14  years they have chosen to lose a customer over $75.  Their explanation was that "I'm sorry the system...there's nothing I can do".  What sort of customer service is that?  "If only my computer would let me click this button....sorry.  NEXT!"

Then...the very next day I ask a question of an online vendor about a product.  Just trying to make sense of their return policy.  The response was snark was they "never make mistakes" and if anything happens its "obviously the customers fault" ending with a single word sentence "So...."

What bothers me even more, is that a "millennial" would just accept these things...so the trend continues.  They don't' care if an old fart makes a stand because there's a few dozen teen/twenty year old with a credit card to max out.

Sorry to rant...nice to see you all again.  :)

[LongBlade]

Sorry to hear that.

IIRC Paypal is notorious for refusing to intervene in customer payment disputes. I have used them a few times but prefer to avoid them if at all possible.

IIRC someone around here who is/was a regular on one of the wargaming sites I have hung out on had an experience where someone accidentally paid him something like $1000. Through the goodness of his own heart he returned the money - Paypal wasn't going to do a thing about it.

[airboy]

I've been so busy the past few months I haven't been able to frequent the boards like I used to...I hate to just come in here after such a long absence and gripe...but here goes.

I am nolonger a Paypal customer.  After 14  years they have chosen to lose a customer over $75.  Their explanation was that "I'm sorry the system...there's nothing I can do".  What sort of customer service is that?  "If only my computer would let me click this button....sorry.  NEXT!"

Then...the very next day I ask a question of an online vendor about a product.  Just trying to make sense of their return policy.  The response was snark was they "never make mistakes" and if anything happens its "obviously the customers fault" ending with a single word sentence "So...."

What bothers me even more, is that a "millennial" would just accept these things...so the trend continues.  They don't' care if an old fart makes a stand because there's a few dozen teen/twenty year old with a credit card to max out.

Sorry to rant...nice to see you all again.  :)

Nice to hear from you.  Individual companies do stink in customer service and deserve to be dropped from your patronage.

But most companies stress good customer service - within the limits of still making money and not forcing lower level employees to spend too much time with the obviously insane (ever work retail - you know what I mean).  Chick-fil-a's founder just died, and they have made a lot of money providing much better customer service in fast food than all of their competitors.

[BanzaiCat]

Thing is though, these companies have the power to make things right. This is why a lot of customers are a-holes when they don't get their way - too many people have learned that being a loud jerkoff will get them their way. I'm not like that, though my wife is. Neither approach worked in our last situation.

We bought a 55" flat-screen TV from samsclub.com last Black Friday, 2013. We bought it mainly just to have it - we didn't have anywhere to put it but we knew we would probably be able to get a new entertainment center for it in early 2014 if I got a bonus from my company. The bonuses didn't come, so the TV, when it arrived, stayed in the box. The box was in perfect condition with no scrapes, bends, breaks, tears, or anything. In hindsight, we should have opened the bloody thing and tested it. But we didn't - as I said the box was pristine when it arrived via FedEx (that should have been clue #1).

A few weeks ago my father-in-law arrived with a new puppy and an entertainment center for this new TV. They set it up, pulled the TV out, and plugged it in. Somehow it had a stress fracture in the lower right part of the screen, so more than half of the TV was just f*cked-up colored lines. Someone during shipping or in the warehouse dropped the goddamned thing and broke it. We had it inside our house behind our couch for months - nothing leaned up against it, nobody kicked it, everyone left it alone. And it was busted.

We then got the customer service run-around (Sam's Club said to call Vizio; Vizio said to take it to Sam's Club; Sam's Club said to call SamsClub.com; SamsClub.com said to call Vizio; etc. etc.). Finally I had enough and told SamsClub.com to stop the buck there. They flat out refused to do anything to help. Neither did Vizio, except to offer us a new TV at a discount.

So, we were out the $548 that damn TV cost us. Again - in hindsight we should have checked it when it arrived. Expensive lesson learned. And granted it was well outside the return range (90 days) for them to replace it. But dammit - this wasn't our fault. They could have done a HUGE service and replaced it, and made us very happy and have nothing but nice things to say about them. Now they've lost us and everyone we can we tell how crappy they are. We probably spent $300 or so a month there, but not any more. Not that they care that they've lost us, but I hope that $548 gets shoved up their butt cracks and is lit on fire. They've just lost about $3600 a year in revenue because of this.

But anyway...again, expensive lesson learned, and f*ck Sam's Club.

[bayonetbrant]

After having worked in retail customer service for 4 years at Kinko's and having been responsible for providing the best service my team could (I was a manager for half that time, and the only person in my dept the other half) I refuse to accept bad customer service. 
I have pulled out of drive-thru lines when they take too long to take my order (and by "too long" I mean two full songs on the radio) and I have left shopping carts full of merchandise in stores when there's 6 people gabbing around a register and only 2 registers open with 11 people in line in each.  If you make me wait to give you money, I'm gone. 

I walked out of a store one time when I used the courtesy phone for help to ask if they could send someone to check and see if they had an ottoman still in the box back in the stock room, and if not, I was fully prepared to buy the floor model.  10 minutes of standing around waiting after they supposedly sent someone to me, I left and I've never been back to that store.

The entire family walked out of a Cracker Barrel one time when we were seated and handed menus, and then left there for over 10 minutes with no acknowledgement at all - not even the serving staff for the neighboring tables asked "has anyone helped you yet?"  On the way out I told the hostess why we were leaving and the manager tried to catch me on the way out the door, and I politely but firmly informed him that he should've been paying attention before we walked out.

I refuse to accept bad service anymore, after seeing how easy it is to do it right from doing it myself for years.



Flip side - my most recent trip to Verizon to get my phone replaced was one of the best experiences I ever had.  When we upgraded our phones, I tried to get my coprorate employee discount applied to the line, too.  Somehow they didn't properly apply the discount but did manage to remove the insurance on my phone (I am notoriously hard on phones). 

So when my screen cracked on my Droid Ultra, I called in to start the claim and they told me they didn't see the insurance on it, but saw where it had been canceled.  They recommended I go talk to the local store manager and see if he could help me quicker than waiting for the wheels to turn at the call center, and if not, to call back and they'd fix it, but it could just take a little time b/c of the way their queues worked.

So plus-one already: they're trying to help me faster, but noting that no matter what, they're going to help.

I go to the store and explain the problem.  The manager looks up the account quick, and goes into a blur of action.  They don't have Ultra in stock right now, so they're going to give me a Maxx instead (same phone, 2mm thicker, longer battery).  And they're going to do it as an upgrade w/ a manager over-ride for the fact that I'm out of cycle, so they can (a) do it right away, and (b) give me a new one instead of a refurbished unit.

So plus-two and -three: fixing the problem faster, and actually going beyond what I was expecting.

Then the real kicker: the upgrade price on the unit is $49.95.  The deductible on the insurance claim I was fully prepared to pay was $99.

Big-ass plus-four: save me 50% on the cost.

And I was out of the store in under an hour.

[BanzaiCat]

I used to work retail on all levels - CS goon, supervisor, and store manager. I managed a Hollywood Video for four months (surprised I lasted that long) before I quit.

Like you, Brant, I hated bad customer service. Nobody wants to be yelled at for trying to do their jobs. But it's REALLY hard when corporate tries to tie your hands. Hollywood Video was one of the biggest douchebags when it came to hours. My store was the busiest in the district but they refused to let me schedule more people on busy nights (Friday and Saturday nights, and God help us if it was raining, we'd easily have double the people in the already-packed store). This was back during VHS days (1997 or so). We had a drop box outside that would fill in minutes but I never had enough people to man the counters and go grab the returns and check them in. It made our jobs miserable and pissed off customers because we couldn't help them like we should have been able to. I wanted to give them the movies to rent, dammit. I just didn't have enough hands to go around to help everyone. My district manager was a jackass that was having an affair with one of the assistant managers. More to that story but it pisses me off even to this day to even think about them and their collusion. Hey, I just remembered why I only stayed there four months - lol.

[Gusington]

Welcome back Republic. Good customer service is always good for business. It's when laziness or cluelessness gets in the way that I start to have issues.

The reverse is also true...I have a good buddy whose wife always treats service guys like crap...mechanics, plumbers, carpenters, etc. And wouldn't you know it, they almost always have issues with the work done. Coincidence? I don't think so. Sometimes (maybe most of the time) some common sense and common decency towards people working on your property is all it takes to have a good experience.

[LongBlade]

Welcome back Republic.

+1

[Jarhead0331]

After having worked in retail customer service for 4 years at Kinko's and having been responsible for providing the best service my team could (I was a manager for half that time, and the only person in my dept the other half) I refuse to accept bad customer service. 
I have pulled out of drive-thru lines when they take too long to take my order (and by "too long" I mean two full songs on the radio) and I have left shopping carts full of merchandise in stores when there's 6 people gabbing around a register and only 2 registers open with 11 people in line in each.  If you make me wait to give you money, I'm gone. 

I walked out of a store one time when I used the courtesy phone for help to ask if they could send someone to check and see if they had an ottoman still in the box back in the stock room, and if not, I was fully prepared to buy the floor model.  10 minutes of standing around waiting after they supposedly sent someone to me, I left and I've never been back to that store.

The entire family walked out of a Cracker Barrel one time when we were seated and handed menus, and then left there for over 10 minutes with no acknowledgement at all - not even the serving staff for the neighboring tables asked "has anyone helped you yet?"  On the way out I told the hostess why we were leaving and the manager tried to catch me on the way out the door, and I politely but firmly informed him that he should've been paying attention before we walked out.

I refuse to accept bad service anymore, after seeing how easy it is to do it right from doing it myself for years.

I once walked out of a strip club with the entire bachelor party after I got into a fight with a stripper over excessive charges for a lap dance. True story.

[GDS_Starfury]

dammit!  Im not getting into this again FFS!  I TOLD you how much Gus charges for the champagne room!

[W8taminute]

Sorry to hear about that bad experience.  Seems like this kind of thing is getting out of hand.  Here's another story for you guys.

3 years ago I bought a Samsung front loading washing machine from Lowes.  Like a complete sucker I also bought their extended warranty service as well, 4 years for 170 bucks.  Wouldn't you know the machine broke down 6 weeks ago.  Do you think Lowes honored their extended warranty?  I'm still fighting to get the reimbursement check from them. 

Never ever ever ever ever ever buy an extended warranty on anything.  These guys take your money and you never see it again.  Better to just shell out the money for a new product because nothing lasts the way products did back when.... >:(

[GDS_Starfury]

why did ya buy a washing machine?  isnt that what the wife is for?

[W8taminute]

She broke down many years ago and I'm still waiting on my reimbursement check on that as well!!    ;D

[mirth]

Back when Circuit City was still around, I went in to pick up an Xbox 360 becaue they were advertising a bundle deal I wanted. They didn't have any on the floor and told me there were none in stock. I had already checked online and it was listed as in-stock for that store, so I figured they were lying to get me to buy one of the non-bundle 360s that were on  the shelf.

I went home ordered it online for in-store pickup, returned and picked it up and then asked for the manager. I let him know what happened and explained how I wouldn't be buying any of the additional items I planned on picking up from his store. Instead I went down the street to Walmart and bought everything else there, about $100 in extras.

I wasn't surprised when Circuit City went belly up.

[Gusington]

Me neither, that place was like a ponzi scheme and opium den in one...it made Best Buy look fantastic in comparison. Not as good as a lap dance from me, but close.

Not to hijack this thread, but I was shipped to the ER from the Hustler Club in NYC because a stripper's stiletto pierced my arm. Not the kind of stabbing I was hoping for or expected!