I am a Customer Service advocate. I love great Customer Service and when the service is mediocre, I usually shrug it off to a bad day. However, I have three for you that I have experienced.
Known issues with no solution
I bought a Pixel phone from Google in October 2016. Two months later, my beautiful phone arrived. I mean I love this phone! It has made life easier for me – fingerprint recognition, voice recognition, better camera, etc. Google knows me and I love Google products.
Fast forward to a year later. My phone started rebooting on its own. I figured it was a slight glitch, but after a while the rebooting would continue until it would get into a cycle of constant rebooting. I did all the things suggested online, and yes, I did a factory reboot. Yes, I had the latest OS. So a couple of weeks ago, I contacted Google via chat. Alexander, my chat buddy, was very polite and worked with me as long as he could. When he ran out of answers, he had me call Google.
So I did.
The customer service representative (CSR) on the line was obviously reading off a script as he kept losing his place. It got to the point where one of the troubleshooting options wasn’t even an option I had on my phone. Of course, the phone is out of warranty now. And I thought I had insurance, but didn’t. However I politely demanded a new phone. Why? Because this rebooting cycle is a known issue. A quick search will lead you to forums with people posting about the issue with no resolution. I explained this to the CSR and he offered to let me speak to a supervisor. However all the supervisors were busy and one will call me back.
Crickets.
At this point, my phone would randomly reboot and continue to do so in safe mode. I was really getting angry because I was expecting important phone calls from a doctor (this is a story later in the post) regarding my child. I called again. Same script. No resolution. At this point, I was willing to pay to get the phone fixed. There are two places to do so according to Google. The first place has a location 95 miles from me. The other location? They do not service Pixel phones in my location. So now I have to drive to another state to get this phone fixed, unless, of course, I want to upgrade to the new Pixel 2 for $650.
So there are a couple of issues with this whole transaction:
If your product has known issues, state this. Make a case for it. Apologize. Offer a discount on a newer phone or on repair. Yes, it was out of warranty, but nothing I did to the phone caused the issue.
If someone wants to speak to a supervisor – make it a priority. Get off your script and help.
Scripts? Seriously?
You want it when?
Back in October 2017 or so, I was contacted by a medical supply company that had taken over the accounts of my current company. They would leave messages on my phone because they would call at times where I just could not respond. Not to mention, I had no idea who these people were because I had no idea they had taken over the other company’s accounts.
In November, I called back. I ordered what I needed and waited. And waited. And forgot. And then remembered in December. I called back and asked what the status was of my supplies. They looked up my account and said they had emailed my insurance and were waiting for approval. Ah, OK. December came and went. I called again. Was told the same thing. This time I asked when I should call back if I didn’t receive the supplies. A couple of weeks, I was told. OK. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Finally in February, a CSR told me they had the wrong email address for the insurance company and that she would send it to the correct address. Great! Progress. And then no supplies. I called again. Was told to call back if I didn’t receive anything. You see a pattern here?
I called again. Every five minutes while on hold, a recording would come on stating that because of the attention they are giving clients that the wait times are longer than usual. There would be corny hold music, the five minute waiting spiel, then a long bit of silence before the music would start up again. When I did get a CSR, 15 minutes later, I immediately asked to speak with a supervisor. I was transferred. Five minutes later, I get the voicemail of a person with a full mailbox. To get help, I was told to press zero. I did and got another full mailbox.
I did some Googling and found the company’s name, (the company doesn’t use its name when I call, just the division). They list a customer service team. I called. Got put on hold. And every 30 seconds this time, was apologized to for being placed on hold. Once in a while, a voice would cut in that sounded like someone answering the phone. Nope, another apology. I can go on and on, but I have had to waste over an hour at work trying to get this taken care of because they only work Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
After about 15 minutes on hold, I did get a CSR who sounded a bit miffed at what happened, but was very polite and did not speak ill of his coworkers. He sent my supplies overnight.
I could give advice, but I think it is obvious. But let me add that if you are a department of a major company, please say so. I shouldn’t have to do all the work to find the right person to speak with.
Leave a message – We may or may not return it
A family member has had some health issues for over a year. Nothing serious, but we are frustrated looking for an answer. We went to a local doctor for a final “Well, let’s see what you think” diagnosis. Now, the doctor took his time with us and spoke to the family member specifically. It was wonderful. We tried some medication for a few days and it worked pretty well. We also had to keep a diary for two weeks.
We were told that if the medication worked to call and let him know. So I did. Through the automated phone call tree, I found I had to leave a message with the nurses and it may be up to three days before they got back to me. I thought that was excessive, but OK. I left the message leaving all the information I was told to leave, and even repeated it. That was on a Thursday. Tuesday, I called again. This time the mailbox was what – you guessed it – FULL! I pushed a number to get to the front desk and left a message. One week after the initial call, I called again. Left a message with the information. Nothing. Today I dropped off the diary and voiced my concern about the lack of follow up. I was polite as I knew the person at the front desk had no control over the actions of the doctor or the nurse.
I get that doctors’ offices are busy places. But please, if you are going to say you are going to do something, then do it. Especially in the medical field.
What customer service horror stories do you have?
Lisa Sedlak 