Customer Service is a Dead Art

[JimBowie1958]

I am calling the UPS freight line and cannot get through to a human being. I get an automated voice menu, but when it asks for my 'class' I have no idea what the class is,but I have no option to speak with a person. I go through a dozen different pages on their website and cant find anything, but finally manage to reach a human being in a completely different branch of their business and they transfer me using a secret number they wont let me know, lol.

Of course call centers are better if they have actual people, but usually they are in Hyderabad, or Manilla or some place I cant pronounce in Indonesia.


Have businesses forgotten how to do customer service? Have they all managed to talk themselves into thinking that customers dont really need or want customer support? Or have they decided that if they all shift to TOTAL Suck customer service at the same time that we will just accept it asa our fate in the Brave New World we live in?

I would happily pay twice the price for a product if it had dedicated USA customer service with live human beings to help. Especially any kind of computer software.


I remember when businesses actually competed for our hard earned money, but now it seems like they think we have no other choice.

Really we do. We just keep our fucking money and live without the newest bullshit.

 

[Iceweasel]

Big business only cares about money. The bean counters tell them a pissed off customer is small potatoes compared to money saved. But I think I'd rather talk to an auto-bot than the people in India.

 

[Unkotare]

Call centers are a matter of cost-saving and convenience. In-person customer service has been terrible in the US for many decades now.

 

[Pogo]

I am calling the UPS freight line and cannot get through to a human being. I get an automated voice menu, but when it asks for my 'class' I have no idea what the class is,but I have no option to speak with a person. I go through a dozen different pages on their website and cant find anything, but finally manage to reach a human being in a completely different branch of their business and they transfer me using a secret number they wont let me know, lol.

Of course call centers are better if they have actual people, but usually they are in Hyderabad, or Manilla or some place I cant pronounce in Indonesia.


Have businesses forgotten how to do customer service? Have they all managed to talk themselves into thinking that customers dont really need or want customer support? Or have they decided that if they all shift to TOTAL Suck customer service at the same time that we will just accept it asa our fate in the Brave New World we live in?

I would happily pay twice the price for a product if it had dedicated USA customer service with live human beings to help. Especially any kind of computer software.


I remember when businesses actually competed for our hard earned money, but now it seems like they think we have no other choice.

Really we do. We just keep our fucking money and live without the newest bullshit.

UPS. Rotsa ruck.

I'm just saying, three weeks to get a package from Kansas City. Three weeks. And then they charge my shipper twice to finally deliver it. Meanwhile I get another package from China in six days.

In the midst of that after a full week of waiting for deliveries that never came I told 'em "fuck it, just hold it there in Asheville (50 miles) and I'll go get it". So I went there, it's 11 in the morning --- and they're closed. And they want me to stand around and wait four hours for them to open in mid-afternoon, while I have 700 miles to drive. Crucial info -- they open for a couple of hours in the morning and then take a four-and-a-half hour lunch. And they don't bother to tell you that.

And yes, the local center always has a secret number. That might have helped avoid the above fiasco, but nooooo...

When I finally got a human at the local store I asked nicely what's up with all the delays, they get all snippy and start whining "we had a blizzard, we had to load trucks, waaah" --- meanwhile the postal service and DHL had no issues at all, including from China.

Rant complete.

 

[Pogo]

Big business only cares about money. The bean counters tell them a pissed off customer is small potatoes compared to money saved. But I think I'd rather talk to an auto-bot than the people in India.

Oh not me. I detest robots. I'll do anything to get around them. Dehumanizing bullshit.

 

[Iceweasel]

Big business only cares about money. The bean counters tell them a pissed off customer is small potatoes compared to money saved. But I think I'd rather talk to an auto-bot than the people in India.

Oh not me. I detest robots. I'll do anything to get around them. Dehumanizing bullshit.

For me it's worse when the human is merely a conduit for the bullshit.

 

[Pogo]

Big business only cares about money. The bean counters tell them a pissed off customer is small potatoes compared to money saved. But I think I'd rather talk to an auto-bot than the people in India.

Oh not me. I detest robots. I'll do anything to get around them. Dehumanizing bullshit.

For me it's worse when the human is merely a conduit for the bullshit.

But at least with a human you have a chance. There's nothing more condescending than hearing "your call is very important to us" --- yeah, so important that we couldn't be bothered to hire a live human but went to the trouble to make this robot recording.

Judy Tenuta used to exit the stage with the words "You people mean nothing to me!" --- but in her case she was joking.

 

[Unkotare]

Soon we will have robots to be snippy and rude in person too!

 

[Unkotare]

DMVbot2000: "*bzz*I said take a number sir! *bzz* I'm on my break ma'am! *bzz*You'll have to ask my manager who's not here now *bzz* I'm going to talk on my cell phone while pretending not to notice you"

 

[Pogo]

Just yesterday there was another customer service critical thread about another corporate dick. When I illustrated that company's long legacy of self-admitted dickishness, the Randbots immediately swooped in to defend the dickish company to defend the honor of --- well, the honor of dickishness I guess.

 

[Manonthestreet]

I am calling the UPS freight line and cannot get through to a human being. I get an automated voice menu, but when it asks for my 'class' I have no idea what the class is,but I have no option to speak with a person. I go through a dozen different pages on their website and cant find anything, but finally manage to reach a human being in a completely different branch of their business and they transfer me using a secret number they wont let me know, lol.

Of course call centers are better if they have actual people, but usually they are in Hyderabad, or Manilla or some place I cant pronounce in Indonesia.


Have businesses forgotten how to do customer service? Have they all managed to talk themselves into thinking that customers dont really need or want customer support? Or have they decided that if they all shift to TOTAL Suck customer service at the same time that we will just accept it asa our fate in the Brave New World we live in?

I would happily pay twice the price for a product if it had dedicated USA customer service with live human beings to help. Especially any kind of computer software.


I remember when businesses actually competed for our hard earned money, but now it seems like they think we have no other choice.

Really we do. We just keep our fucking money and live without the newest bullshit.

Ups freight...or package? If it's freight call Old Dominion, let me know if ya do and have any trouble

 

[Unkotare]

Companies will always attempt to increase efficiency and reduce cost. There is nothing sinister about it. The failure of customer service comes at the primary level of contact where some entry-level or unhappy low-wage earner takes work for granted and exercises the only control they may ever imagine in their lives by being a douche to as many people as possible rather than taking pride in their work. This, of course, is why they remain at that rung on the ladder.

 

[Pogo]

Companies will always attempt to increase efficiency and reduce cost. There is nothing sinister about it. The failure of customer service comes at the primary level of contact where some entry-level or unhappy low-wage earner takes work for granted and exercises the only control they may ever imagine in their lives by being a douche to as many people as possible rather than taking pride in their work. This, of course, is why they remain at that rung on the ladder.

Ah yes the Peter Principle. Certainly explains your status as a poster here.

 

[Unkotare]

Companies will always attempt to increase efficiency and reduce cost. There is nothing sinister about it. The failure of customer service comes at the primary level of contact where some entry-level or unhappy low-wage earner takes work for granted and exercises the only control they may ever imagine in their lives by being a douche to as many people as possible rather than taking pride in their work. This, of course, is why they remain at that rung on the ladder.

Ah yes [sic] the Peter Principle. Certainly explains your status as a poster here.

How's your remedial English class going?