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Re: The Death of Customer Service...
We had DirecTV when we moved out of our old house. Customer service was always good for me. Only reason we didn't stick with them was because the new house had a brand new roof and I didn't want to mount a dish on it. I even told them that, if they had any other way, I would have stayed with them. Sounds like it's gone downhill from there.
I've also had pretty iffy customer service from AT&T that dragged through several phone calls until I got that *one* special person that could fix it all in 5 minutes. Doesn't happen every time but often enough that I know what to expect.PSN: JWGoNDComment
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Re: The Death of Customer Service...
This one needs a bump. And a new story. Now, this isn't (it is currently an on-going situation) the worst customer service I have ever had. They've been cordial, but it features many examples of actual bad customer service.
March 15th I ordered a new album from a third-party seller on Amazon. Their overall rating is 98% with over 14,000 ratings/feedback. The estimated arrival window is March 29th through April 10th. Fast-forward to yesterday, March 25th. I log on to my Amazon account to check the tracking information for the item. When I see the item has not shipped yet I search my email for any shipment confirmation from the seller. When I cannot find the confirmation I reach out to their customer service department through their Amazon storefront inquiring when the item will be shipped.
I receive the following response:
The rest of the response is outlining arrival estimates based on delivery time (5-10 business days - average of 5) plus processing time (1-3 business days - no average). They even give me an equation to figure this out: Processing Time + Shipping Time = Total Delivery Time. I am also told that all customers are automatically sent an email on the evening the order leaves the warehouse. I'm also told to look in my spam/trash folders for the email.Hi,
I have personally checked our shipping records and confirm that your order has indeed shipped from our Illinois facility and is on its way to you!
Hmm. I search again. Nope. Definitely not in any inbox. In fact, I find a previous shipment email from them where I had apparently ordered from them last year without problem. I relay this to Susan and ask her to please resend or forward the email to me again.
Coincidentally enough a funny thing happens after my second email. The item ships! I receive my confirmation emails from the seller as well as from Amazon. When I check the tracking information it says the item was shipped on March 25th.
Oh, Susan. I see you.
This morning Susan emailed me with the shipment confirmation and tracking number. That's great! I am, however, still curious so I ask Susan why the item was not shipped before yesterday.
Susan's response:
Oh, Susan. This is not the way. No.Hi,
Your estimated ship date of 03/29/2019 was present on the order detail information prior to checkout.The item actually shipped earlier than expected.
My response back is to clarify that the date she is referring to is, in fact, the original arrival estimate and if it is routine for them to ship items nearly two weeks after an order is processed.
Currently I am waiting Susan's response to this.
In the mean time I have pulled the following information from their seller's page on Amazon:
As if I didn't know Susan was trying to pull a fast one on me.Unless noted otherwise in the ordering pipeline, MovieMars-CDs ships all items within two days of receiving an order. You will receive notification of any delay or cancellation of your order.
I'm not angry or even terribly frustrated. I understand people make mistakes. What really irks me about Susan, however, is I can tell she isn't being honest or open with me. Not to mention there has been no attempt to apologize or make amends for the delay. Instead of maybe offering to refund my shipping or perhaps upgrade me to faster shipping service Susan makes it seem they shipped it earlier than expected. HA!
This is a classic definition of bad customer service. Or the "death of customer service" if you will.
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Re: The Death of Customer Service...
Not sure why you were concerned that your item still hadn't shipped 4 days ahead of a fairly broad arrival window. You contacted them on the 25th and she said it has shipped but you hadn't received an email, it was perhaps still going through the system and hadn't been sent out yet when you first contacted her since the shipping confirmation said it was shipped the same day you contacted support. Usually when you are purchasing an item from Amazon it gives you an estimate of when it will ship. The only mistake I see is that she mixed up estimated ship date and estimated arrival date.Steelers : IX, X, XIII, XIV, XL, XLIII
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Re: The Death of Customer Service...
Yea, I can't throw this in the "death of customer service" category.Comment
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Re: The Death of Customer Service...
Maybe this is more of a 'gear grinder'Comment
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Re: The Death of Customer Service...
I just felt like they weren't being honest with me and skirting responsibility.
More a gear grinder or inconvenience than anything. The flair was to try to keep in line with the OP.
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The Death of Customer Service...
Nah, I get it. It’s fishy.
I used to work for a retail/eCommerce company that produced small toys. We would have to break down the shipping equation relatively often. USPS gets crazy sometimes too.
The software we used sometimes had issues with Amazon orders where they wouldn’t be marked as shipped for some reason or another. That was what triggered the email, when an order was moved from pending to shipped and tracking information was input. It was my job to make sure ALL orders were accounted for even if the process was partially automated. Someone must fix the machines!
Susan may have made a mistake in good faith, and it was probably caught and rectified ASAP. They probably don’t even want to address it.
I do agree it’s bad customer service by definition. People are so quick to demand free this or that, the company doesn’t even want to recognize any potential fault of theirs. We should all give each other a break.
I recently was shipped the wrong ingredients for a food delivery box. I contacted customer service just so I could get the mixture for a spice packet that was missing, but the rep gave me credits equal to about 1/3 of the price of the box, unprompted. That was above and beyond. I’ve gotten a box every week since.
The service is called EveryPlate, and it’s slammin’ and pretty affordable (that’s their selling point). You can definitely foster goodwill with good CS, and vice versa.NHL - Philadelphia Flyers
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Originally posted by Money99Comment
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Re: The Death of Customer Service...
1 thing I have to say about customer service is that I find the online live chats have proven to be way more helpful than any other method of communication. That's really where companies should be focusing on more than just these call center people.
Customer service with cable /phone companies suck over the phone. Doing so online, you get much different responses. I got bill slashed in half by negotiating with customer service /retention people. Over the phone it probably wouldn't work since those people literally try talking you into stuff. Online people you could just cut off and get straight to the point.
On unrelated note, if the store has price match guarantee, why is it so hard to follow or honour? At a grocery something was being price matched, but they had to check with head office first. It got approved, but then some senior employee came and started making their own rules,acting like head office was mistaken and what that person said is really the truth.
You're saying people higher up than you are wrong and you have the authority to overrule their decisions?
Maybe this is related to my first point after all lol. There's things in person I just hate about shopping. It's why I prefer online shopping, though it's not always an option. What the site says goes. And if they have live chat, you can find out answer immediately from someone you're allowed to directly rate afterwards.Last edited by Majingir; 03-31-2019, 11:06 PM.Comment
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Re: The Death of Customer Service...
If I can Live Chat I'm always doing that now. I almost always have better results that way. If I have to call someone it takes a lot of work to actually get to talk to a real person.Comment
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Re: The Death of Customer Service...
Not to mention you have to respond right away on a phone. Live chat, you can take a minute or so to reply back (to double check what's being said on phone is accurate, or to prevent you from impulsively responding).
Also, you have to wait on the line for phone calls. Live chat usually tells you where you are in the queue, approximate time it could take, and you can just do whatever until the time someone comes on. Isn't it easier/cheaper for companies to have live chat people? One person can do live chat with multiple people at once. And if you do employ people from other countries, it allows free/easy access to customer support beyond something like a 9-5 window.Comment
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Re: The Death of Customer Service...
I've never worked in customer service (at least not in a call center/live chat situation), but I would be really surprised if they handled more than one case at a time.
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