Good company/Bad company

[editor]

Most days of the week I run into examples of bad customer service. People just don't seem to know what they're doing anymore. Or they just don't care.

So in this thread, people can vent about bad customer service experiences. BUT there's a catch -- you have to also post about a GOOD experience, in order to balance out the karma. Got it?

I'll start...

The BAD:

I finally got internet service today. It's been over a month since I moved, and it was only just hooked up. The folks over at SBC/AT&T/BigHugeTelCo just don't have their act together. Ever try to order internet service without already having an internet connection? It's virutally impossible. There's no listing for a "general" phone number for AT&T. Nor is there one for AT&T Internet. I was able to Google AT&T on my phone's internet connection, but all the responses are for clicking to order internet online. If I was online, I wouldn't need AT&T internet in the first place! I ended up waiting a couple of days until I was at work and I went to the AT&T web site to find a phone number. Even on AT&T's own web site there are no phone numbers. After 15 minutes of searching I finally found one that is supposed to be used to disconnect your phone service. Since it's the only number I could find, I called it. Naturally, it wanted to know what number I'm calling about. Well, I don't have a number since I just moved, so I just pretended I had a rotary phone and didn't answer. After another 20 minutes I ended up with a human being who promised to connect me to the right department. He didn't. Instead, he hung up on me. I tried twice more. Same result. By now it's been an hour of this nonsense, so I decide to go with cable internet. That's a whole other story.

Eventually I got to the internet department at AT&T. The woman sounded American enough, but I could barely understand her through her Ebonic speech patterns. Whenever I asked questions she would have to put me on hold. She said AT&T can deliver "six bites speed" to my home. She also said that I had to have a Windows computer and I have to install AT&T's software on my machine. She really had no idea what she was talking about. She wanted to know if I was running Vista or XP. When I told her Tiger, she thought I was messing with her. What is some old lady running 95 or 98 supposed to do when they call and get this woman? She asked if I'm using a laptop. I told her it was none of her business, all I want is an internet line. She said that if I have a laptop I have to pay $179 for AT&T's special wireless router. I told her I have my own router and she said I couldn't possibly because only phone companies have routers. I guess the two Apple Airports I have in the cabinet don't exist. Maybe I can put something else on that shelf. I ended up telling her that I was going to go with cable instead, and got off the phone.

Again, I didn't go with cable because when I called Comcast it was even worse.

At this point it's painfully obvious that the only way to get internet is to order online. So I do. From previous bad experiences with AT&T in Houston I don't want them for my phone service, so I selected the option that gets me a 3 megabit connection with no contract and no phone service. The online credit check went smoothly and in a couple of days a box arrived at my house with the DSL modem and 90 pages of advertisements for things I don't want. I hooked up the modem as instructed and watched as the DSL light blinked red for the next two weeks.

So... my internet is scheduled to be hooked up on the 29th. I took the day off of work so I could enjoy a day of high-speed surfing and catch up on close to a month's worth of backlogged e-mail. It was supposed to be hooked up by noon. That didn't happen. Just the blinking red light. I called the 800 number that came in the box and it kept saying that my service would be activated by 8pm. So, there's an entire day wasted. By 8pm the internet STILL wasn't working, so I got through to tech support person. He ran a bunch of tests that showed that it wasn't hooked up. So another date was scheduled. Same story. No internet that day, either. Finally, Friday (June 1) comes around -- the third occasion when my internet's supposed to be hooked up. Again -- nothing happens.

This time, I get a better tech on the phone. He says that according to the notes, someone came to my "house" on Friday and "rang the doorbell" but nobody answered. I explain to him that I live in a 100-story building and that there is no doorbell, but there are six doormen any of whom would have been happy to point the AT&T guy in the right direction. There's nothing I love more than being lied to.

I don't take it out on this poor guy in Virginia because I can tell he's having a hard day. It takes HIM over an hour to schedule an appointment to have someone come out and hook me up. He spend 40 minutes on hold with his own internal AT&T people. That's how screwed up that organization is. We spent an additional 20 minutes waiting for his screen to display something other than "Processing." Good to see AT&T understands computers, too. Finally, he's able to scheduled a tech visit. Amazingly, they have techs who come out on Sundays, but I have to work. He puts me down for Monday (this) morning.

8am, I get a call on my cell phone from a guy from AT&T. He looks like Dante from the movie Clerks, and really knows his stuff. He went to the phone closet on the 44th floor and discoveres that there are four phone lines running to my apartment AND NONE OF THEM ARE HOOKED UP. The lines aren't even connected. I ask him what all the other guys they sent out did and he tells me: apparently nothing at all.

In five minutes, Dante has me hooked up. He bypasses the installation of AT&T's spyware and shows me how to do some other things I probably shouldn't know. 15 minutes after he called, I'm back online and ready to plow through my 308 unread e-mail messages.

Dante rocks. AT&T sucks. Because they can't hook up a simple phone line, I won't be getting phone service from AT&T. I'll go with Comcast or Vonage or just keep using my T-Mobile which gets five bars even in the bathroom.

The GOOD:

My old internet service at my old place. A-Net. It's a small ISP but counts among its clients companies like Boeing and McDonald's. But it still cares about individual customers like me (when I was one). My old place was in a rapidly growing area and lots and lots of people kept jumping on their service. They knew it, and were constantly upgrading their equipment rather than letting it max out. Of course, upgrades cause problems. But it didn't matter what time of day I'd call tech support, a human being would answer the phone on the first ring. And they didn't talk to me like I was a dummy. I'd just give them my address and tell them they had a router outage again. The guy would type a few commands to remotely reboot their router and before I could hang up with the A-Net guy my lights would be blinking green again. Great company. Great service. If I could get them again, I would. They're even one of the few ISPs left that maintains a full Usenet feed, though the techs would sometimes comment that I was probably the only one using it. I will miss both Usenet and A-Net.

[Vertigo58]

The bad: This is an actual letter I just to Sears corporate not heard back yet. There was more evil this man did but I had to delete.

I had a very unpleasant experience at a Sears store here in Houston. This store is located on Main street. I went to the Automotive area to have a new tire placed on my mothers cars. The Manager working the shift that Friday 6/1/07 around 6PM needs to be let go. He has given Sears a really negative image. When I pulled up I had him come out to see the tire I wanted replaced. He instantly told me I needed a front end alignment. Why in the world did he tell me that? I know exactly what he was doing. That was the 1st MAJOR error he made. He then told me to tell him what the mileage was. This is HIS JOB not mine. I have been to this local numerous times for over 30 years and I have never had the attendants to make me tell them what the mileage is. He eventually got in an jotted it down. Once inside I told him I wanted to see what tires were on sale for this type of car. He said there were only about 3 other brands that were NOT on sale at all. The bottom line is his ETHICS are corrupt. This is bad business. People like this are a real liability to your company. He gave me no timeframe whatsover on how long it would take. I always have been told up front how long it would be. I have bought tires here many times and it never took more than 30 minutes. I always look in the window to see the progress of my car being serviced. We were waiting way to long and I was so mad about how he handled the whole thing I told him to cancel and we left. He offered no type of apology at all. This location needs to have a more professional staff period. Starting with a manager that has better ethics. He was trying to pull a quick one on me not thinking I would get wise to him. Its pretty bad when an employee tries to make a customer buy a more expensive item just to boost his quota or percentages. I will pursue this if not hearing back from corporate. Please investigate. That manager should have the original ticket he wrote unless he has destroyed by now to hide evidence. There has to be some kind of documentation. Please contact me.Thank you,

The Good: Another place by the way not Sears.

I was at a Ryan's Restuarant the other day and I was greeted in a very pleasant and polite manner by the cashier.

I complimented her on her professionalism and let her know that it is rare to hear such good PR. I told her she will go a long way as that type of etiquette is really noticed. Big time. She was totally sincere and it made her real happy to know that it was recognized. She was about 19-20 yrs of age and I can tell you these days that age group needs real brushing up on manners. Not all but some , ok I'm done.

[houstonmacbro]

Since I love food and good service I tend to notice how I am treated at restaurants. I can always have great service at ChickFilA (they must train their employees) ... at Chipotle, and I am not sure if it is a comfort with the language by the servers, they tend to basically grunt as you request items for your burrito.

I can add more, but will do so later.