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Resolving customer service issues is designed by corporations to be convoluted and abhorrently difficult in order to make customers give up resulting in the loss of the customer’s money and/or the product or service.
Each Monday morning I select a blog topic for the following Sunday. I happened to notice the Toyota hearings were going to be televised so I pulled out the “customer service” blog I had started a few months ago.
First, this topic can turn one into a pile of mush in just a few moments. I read my notes about all of my horrendous customer service issues and wanted to just throw it away and write about flowers. Then I started listening to the hearing and actually felt like crying.
Second, not only do I have a long list of customer service and defective product problems but so many of my family members and friends have them that it’s a way of life for all of us. I worry about people who do not have what it takes to fight these battles. I have a friend who shares her tales with me and I with her and we have both been in customer service ourselves, which makes it worse for us when we encounter bad customer service. She recently fought a multi-month medical insurance coverage issue—she won.
Lastly, I don’t think a week goes by that I don’t have a problem or someone I know doesn’t have a problem. My daughter recently bought a Toyota PRIOR to the news of the issues now blasted in the news all over the world. She feels her heart race each time she heads down the freeway to work in her beautiful new car (so far it isn’t on “The List”. I have a Pontiac Vibe but it was made by Toyota in their Freemont plant. I was thrilled to learn it was made by Toyota initially. I love this car but now my heart has been going pitter pat too. So because products are frequently defective and customer service is horrible, not only do we suffer in the battles, but also the anticipation of what’s around the corner is a daily concern.
Resolving customer service issues is designed by corporations to be convoluted and abhorrently difficult in order to make customers give up resulting in the loss of the customer’s money and/or the product or service.
Not all problems are of the magnitude of death and destruction. I recently bought a bottle of mouthwash at Wal-Mart. It's Crest’s Pro-Health and it’s wonderful. I no longer have dental insurance so I’ve become a dental care fanatic. I brush and floss and rinse many times a day and it seems to be working. My gums seem to be in fantastic shape and my teeth are nice and shiny and cavity free. When I watch movies and people quickly pack a suitcase with all their possessions and run off to Timbuktu I’m always amazed. My dental care products alone would fill a small suitcase. What would I wear?
The bottle in question had a defective cap and every time I opened the cap it EXPLODED all over the place no matter how careful I was. So after a few days I stopped fighting it and found my receipt and when I next went to Wal-Mart I took it in. There was no problem exchanging it at all—except for the following conversation. (After standing in a very long line.)
CUSTOMER SERVICE: "Well, it looks like you have been using it."
ME: "No, but I’ve tried to. I've struggled with it each day and can't do that anymore."
CUSTOMER SERVICE: "But you were able to use it? There's almost half missing."
ME: "That's because every time I tried to open it it spilled all over myself and my bathroom. In fact, you probably notice that I smell minty fresh." (Mild chuckling from the long line.)
(During this conversation she was processing my request so I knew there wasn’t going to be an issue about an exchange but for some reason she thought I was trying to snag a new bottle and perhaps it’s policy to publically humiliate and scold customers if hanky-panky is suspected.)
Before handing me my money she took the bottle and told me I needed to learn how to open it because it would happen with the new bottle unless I opened it according to the instructions on the lid. She quickly added, “because you don’t want to make another trip here I’m sure.” I think I may have been getting a “senior moment” admonishment which I notice has been happening more and more lately when I try to work with customer service reps. So not only are we fighting the battle of bad products and services but we are being told it’s our fault because we’re old?
She explained how the cap worked and as she did it spilled all over her and her workspace and I think the computer and a small amount splashed on me. This cap was defective and more or less exploded when anyone tried to open it. I started laughing AS DID THE ENTIRE ROW OF PEOPLE BEHIND ME. Did she think I was lying about a stupid bottle of mouthwash? Would she have checked the battery acid levels if I had returned a defective battery? (Do they sell batteries?) She stopped conversing almost immediately and gave me cash back and the incident was over.
Most people would have thrown it away but I have decided to be an advocate for consumers and I refuse to be taken advantage of on any level. How many defective caps were made resulting in additional purchases of the mouthwash? [Note: I know if I wrote to Crest and explained this problem I would be given coupons for replacements. I’m just so tired of it I’m not going to. I have other battles pending.]
In the past three years I have purchased two printers and a third was given to me for Christmas. The first printer had months’ worth of problems and the company finally sent me a new one. I spent hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours on the phone and online with customer service. The replacement worked great, but then I had to buy a new computer because my Dell died and it wasn’t compatible with my new Mac so I gave the printer to my daughter. I then bought a compatible printer (all-in-one) and it stopped working after six months. I hardly used it but I did use all the features from time to time before it stopped working at all. It was still under warranty but the company would never respond to my emails or phone calls.
Finally, I went to the store where I bought it and they couldn’t help me because-----I didn’t purchase the STORE warranty. I told them that wasn’t necessary because it came with a one-year manufacturer’s warranty and that it wasn’t up yet. They said I had to go to the manufacturer. I explained I wasn’t getting any help from the manufacturer and could they contact the manufacturer for me, their customer. The answer was: No. Instead they suggested I buy a NEW printer and a store warranty. I told them what I felt they should do with their new printer, their store warranty, and their store, and left. It’s another store I’ll never be able to shop in. I have a long list of stores where I’m not welcome. This is the short version of what was roughly a multi-month daily effort on my part for resolution.
I could not spend more time on this issue and I had to have a printer so for the interim I went to a copy shop and had my printing done. This was fine but inconvenient. For Christmas my daughter bought me a much nicer printer with all the features I love. It stopped working after about a month. By this time I was desperate for a printer because we were in the middle of horrific rain storms and I didn’t fancy going to a copy store and I had a certain amount of work related projects I had put off that I had started when I got my gift.
I contacted customer service and broke into a sweat just waiting for the automated voice to finish the long line of choices I had available to me, the valued customer. After a few attempts I actually got to a customer service rep and she was very helpful but like most of them they presume we haven’t done a thing to try to get our item to work so I had to go through elaborate “tests” at her direction (which I had already done on my own via the instructions in the “help” menu). At the conclusion of the tests she told me they would replace the printer free of charge. I was stunned. Another replacement printer.
She then told me what I needed to do which was somewhat laborious but free so of course what could I do? They sent the new printer in a box that was then to be used for the return of the old printer. The return label was included and a multi-page document with instructions and places for me to write on and sign were included. I only had 7 days to get the old computer back to them. The new computer arrived on a Thursday evening so I spent two hours removing the old printer, installing the new printer, filling out the forms, and getting the package ready for FedEx. I HAD TO TAKE THE BOX TO FEDEX (a LARGE box) and because of the 7 days I had to go the next morning. They did not arrange for it to be picked up. I took the tracking receipt and did a daily check to make sure it got there in 7 days. Why?
BECAUSE THEY WOULD NOT GIVE ME A NEW PRINTER UNLESS I PUT A $200 DEPOSIT ON THE OLD PRINTER AND IF IT WASN’T IN THEIR HANDS BY THE 7TH DAY I WOULD FORFEIT MY DEPOSIT. It did make it on the 7th day but when I checked my bank my $200 was still gone. I called and guess what? I had to wait three days for the hold to be removed. When the original customer service rep asked for the deposit I happened to be online with my bank to see if I had enough money to cover it and I did. Good thing because she must have pushed a powerful button and I saw it disappear before my eyes. Yet, they could not put it back that easily. Three days. So far the new printer is working great but it’s only been a month.
During the conversations while the testing procedures were taking place there were long periods of lag time and we engaged in small talk. She asked about my weather and I asked where she was from. India. As we continued talking I explained this was the third printer that had a problem, not the same company as hers, but with a different computer (didn’t want them to blame the computer even though it had problems of its own). I asked, ever so sneakily, “Do you make these printers in India?” Her immediate response: “Oh, no, they are manufactured in China.” Then I had the distinct feeling someone hit her over the head with a hammer because from that point on her voice was weak and there was no more small talk.
I wish I could report that this was the end of it but of course I had considerable trouble getting my money back and it involved a conversation with a bank rep who insisted this incident did not occur the way I explained it. Also, the entire transaction after I received my money back disappeared from my online bank records. It’s as though it never took place. I have an email in to the bank telling them that they have no business removing ANY transactions from my account. I have not received a response.
Come back next week for Part 2 of 2. I’m not done with China. I have a big finish planned but my head hurts now.
Resolving customer service issues is designed by corporations to be convoluted and abhorrently difficult in order to make customers give up resulting in the loss of the customer’s money and/or the product or service.
http://www.sharonstrawhandgarner.com
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