Customer Service Scorecard

I've made a bunch of customer service calls in the recent past and thought it would be good to report on them. I had read in a tweet not too long ago from @comcastcares that he thought our current economic troubles would result in improved customer service (I'm paraphrasing), and wondered how my experiences measured up.

HP - I called them because the computer I got from them was cheaper at a local store. It took three people (two calls and one chat), but I got someone who was helpful and offered me $100 credit (close enough to the $130 price difference to call it a wash). A- (it did take three attempts after all, though the final guy I talk to gets an A+ of his own)

American Express - This is a bit embarassing. I inadvertently paid the wrong Amex bill (yeah, I have two cards). One phone call was all it took - the guy who answered the phone understood what had happened and happily moved the money from one account to the other, and assured me there won't be any finance charges. A+

Cisco Small Business Support - Yes, I'm a small business. Or, rather, I buy the same networking hardware that a small business owner would buy. In this case, I had a Linksys SD2008 Gigabit switch that died (computers connected at 10Mb/s rather than 1Gb/s). I called the small business support number, and in less than 5 minutes, the RMA process was kicked off and I had received the emailed instructions. A+ -- but I'm going to have to knock you down a grade just because you sold me this switch which one out of every two reviewers on Amazon has had problems with. B+

Cisco Consumer Support (aka Linksys) - I buy consumer hardware too. In this case, it was an EG008W Gigabit switch. This one died a few months ago, but I didn't think to call to get it replaced. The Small Business Support guy couldn't help me, but he transfered me to a guy who should have been able to. I say "should have" because the conversation didn't go so well. There were communication issues, I said something about my computer connecting at 10Mb/s instead of 1Gb/s, he asked how I knew my computer was connecting at 11Mb/s (yes, he said "11"). The call ended when he put me on hold to "look something up" and then came back and started saying "can you here me? I can't hear you. Are you still there?" and so on until he hung up. I'm sure he heard me fine and was just covering his ass - "yes boss, something happened to the connection." F -- this isn't a surprise, is it?

Frys - everyone's favorite consumer electronics store. I stopped by this evening to get a Netgear switch (GS608) to replace one of the Linksys switches. I happened to see the Norton Internet 2009/Ghost package that I bought for $99 a few weeks ago on sale for $69. With no receipt, I walked up to the return counter, explained things, and was given a store credit of $30 (which I proceeded to spend on the Netgear switch :) A+ -- that's a first for Frys, huh?

Sadly, that only averages out to a C, but that's Linksys bringing the score down. Without them, the average is an A, so I'd say things are looking up. I'm looking to you, Linksys, to get your act together - quality products, competent support. Work on it. It's really not that hard to do.

Shirt Happens

My new Obama-Biden shirt arrived, finally!! Yes, the one that I complained about and eventually called American Express to dispute the charge. It arrived the other day, no explanation, no apology, in an undated envelope. As t-shirts go, it's nice, but I'm pretty sure it's below Sarah Palin's standards. Pity it's not really t-shirt weather here anymore. Anyone at the Obama Store want to send me a fleece or a sweatshirt instead?

Thanks Barack, and good luck on Tuesday.. And thanks Amex, for lighting a fire under their asses to get the shirt sent.

Where the heck is my gosh darn t-shirt!

Way back at the end of August, the Obama Campaign sent me an e-mail - I could be one of the first to receive an Obama-Biden t-shirt if I made a contribution to their campaign. I bit. It was stupid, but I did. I sent them money. And I got an email confirmation. And nothing more. Seriously, it's now been more than five weeks, and I still haven't received my damned t-shirt.

I tried to be patient - I made it three weeks before I decided to call to see what was going on. I got the nicest woman who said something like "yes, they were delayed because there were so many orders; but we sent an e-mail to tell everyone they were delayed; the last of the orders went out on Monday." I pointed out that I hadn't received this e-mail; but she assured me I would receive my shirt, and then offered to transfer me to someone else who could help me further.

And maybe this other woman could have helped me, if she ever answered her damned phone or returned my voicemail messages. I left a couple of messages last week and heard nothing back. Nice, real nice. I hope when Barack wins, that he finds more responsive people for his cabinet than he has running his gosh darn Internet store.

I made lots more calls - once or twice a day. Sometimes I would call the number for the "store" that I found online, other times I would call the number of the non-responsive woman. I never actually talked to a real person.

Finally on Sunday someone actually called me back. After a brief explanation of the problem, she said "sorry, we're the Obama store, we don't actually handle those orders, those are handled by another group; you need to talk to this other woman, her number is ..." The funniest thing - this other woman's phone number is only a digit or two different from the first woman who didn't return my calls.

Nice, real nice. Unfortunately, I couldn't leave her a message, as her voicemail was full - maybe I'm not the only one who hasn't received my shirt yet?

And then, surprise surprise, another call, on Monday morning. From another very nice woman, but unfortunately, one who is challenged by simple logic. The dialog went like this:

Me: I was calling to see why I hadn't received my t-shirt yet.
Her: They were sent out last Monday, you should receive it by the end of next week
Me: [wondering where they were sent from that they take two weeks to arrive]
Me: Can you check on it?
Her: No
Me: What if I don't receive it by next Friday?
Her: If you don't receive it by next Friday, we will know and we will get in touch with you
Me: How do you think you will know if I don't receive it?
Her: We will

Ok, let's just stop there. You can't track it, but you will know I didn't receive it? How - through some sort of telepathy? Perhaps you will telepathically sense my frustration? Or will it be from the phone call you get from American Express when I call them to dispute the charge?

The Demise of Lufthansa

As hard to believe as it is, what with all of the crappy service I've endured on United Airlines, Lufthansa just became my least favorite airline.

Ethel and I booked a trip to go to Europe for summer vacation. We booked several months ago so that we could get decent fares. I noticed last month that somehow my last name was spelled wrong on the ticket (it's still not clear to me why American Express allowed Milton Dorkemhoff to use my credit card to pay for the tickets), so I called the ticket office.

I was told that there is normally a $50 fee to change a name, but it would be waived because it was obviously the agent's mistake. Cool beans. Scored points with me too, they admitted their mistake.

We're supposed to be leaving tomorrow, so I went online to print out our eTicket receipt (the beauty of flying paperless) and wouldn't you know it, my name is STILL spelled wrong. So I called Lufthansa again.

This time I was told "there will be a $50 fee to change a name" - I pointed out that I was told that before and was told it would be waived. And also that I had already called to get it changed four weeks ago (which was noted in the record).

After a lengthy pause, a feigned "I'll need to check with my supervisor" the agent came back on and said that the fee would be waived. Cool, ok, you pissed me off by making me wait, but at least this is settled.

Bzzz, wrong answer. It's not settled. The office that needs to reticket me (funny, I thought "eTicket" was electronic) is closed on weekends, so I actually have to go to a Lufthansa ticket counter to get reticked. Ok, fine. Alas, the only one around is actually at San Francisco airport, and they're only open between 10:30am and 2pm.

Yeah, that's primo - I need to drive 100 miles to the airport ($10.00 in gasoline) to fix your mistakes, after giving you a crapload of money for the ticket. Nice.. Tell me again why you're better than any other airline..