Once upon a time companies had customer service reps to handle problems. You had a direct telephone number and a human answered the phone. Back in those fairy tale days you didn’t have as many problems as you dealt with companies that you could actually visit, in person. And phone trees didn’t exist – press 1 for English, press 1 if this concerns a new order, press 2 if…I live in the friggin’ U.S.A., why do I need to specify the language?
What happened? When did customer service become an additional sales force? Have you noticed when you call a company the time will be spent trying to get you to upgrade, or enroll in a new cost saving service for which they will charge you more, and no matter what you say they will revert to script.
Call AT & T, call New York Times, call Frontier Communications, call any of them. You have to cal NYT to cancel a subscription and after being on hold they will ask irrelevant questions, tempt you with new service rates do everything but cancel your subscription! AT&T made me so crazy with more than 10 minutes on the phone, constantly being asked to wait just a moment, then each time have her go back to the beginning of her script that I filed a complaint with the FCC. You can tell them you have a new plan with a different provider but they go on and on trying to get you not to cancel. What, I want 2 mobile providers? It is insane!
It is simple. I have a problem. I want service and the problem resolved. Don’t try to sell me anything because you have already made me angry.
And then too many reps with accents! Even the Indians who now give you an anglicized name. You’re not fooling me; I can sniff out the distant land to which the 800 number magically took me. Although it is truly a possibility, remote though, that due to the labor shortage in the U.S. companies can’t attract nice Midwesterners with no accent.
Marketing writes up the creative ad pieces about high quality service, restate how important customers are. Well we know they clearly don’t live in the real world but think if they create it, it will be true. Those same marketing people clearly have never held an honest job in their lives and don’t know how how things really function at companies. They’re so busy with branding they have forgotten to deliver a product.
It has to be a dreadful job to have a person with a problem and your job is to sell them more. Lie, exaggerate, obfuscate, whatever to reach your sales goals. The call will be monitored. You will be called in to meet with your supervisor to go over your numbers and your techique, or be fired. Glad I’m out of the workforce.
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