Rant about the lack of customer service

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PWMDMD

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Why does it seem like no one knows how to do their job anymore? Why is customer service so bad?

Backstory: Last Thursday, I get an email from Charter Internet, who we have Internet, phones, and TV through at work, that they are "upgrading services" for the office. This was to happen over night and there was no need for me to do anything. Friday morning we had internet and TV but no phones. Out go the Facebook/Instagram/text message blasts informing patients of what's going on and how to contact us if they have an emergency. I called Charter and the first time they could come out was today, 4 days later.

So we finished up Friday and we were off for "Patriot's Day" yesterday which was a huge PITA because not everyone takes this day so many businesses are open and I had every call going to the practice being forwarded to my cell phone incase someone had an emergency (I had zero calls Saturday and Sunday) and I had to sift through 162 calls yesterday. It was an awesome way to spend a day off. Tech comes out today and says we need a new modem. Cool, do what you need to do, and he installs it. The entire time calls are getting forwarded to staff cell phones which means were missing calls. The guy leaves before I can talk to him or test anything. Five minutes later staff member comes in and says the phone rings but you can't hear anyone when you pick up, now internet is down and TV still works. We call dispatch who can't promise anyone will be back today and they schedule an appt tomorrow.

Without notice, the original guy shows back up with a supervisor and three hours later we have 3 of 4 phone lines working, no internet but TV works, and now he said they need to run a new wire from the basement to the suite because the main phone number line that doesn't work is fine in basement but the signal is really weak in the office. They has no idea why internet isn't working because he "Didn't even touch that" and there's supposedly some other guy coming tomorrow to run a new line and figure out the Internet and single down line issue. I think they're just passing the buck.

I have a business where I provide 24/7/365 emergency coverage and not being able to get in touch with me isn't an option. We're now missing calls which likely included quite a few new patients over the past few days so it's costing me money. The best they could do was FOUR days later and they do calls on Saturday. They send a guy out who not only can't figure it out but can't figure out that he didn't figure it out the first time? They don't seem to think it has anything to do with the "service upgrade" but that awfully suspicious that this started just after the upgrade.

Just frustrated with the lack of service and expertise I've been experiencing lately. Not hopeful the guy tomorrow will have any clue either.
 
Call the local TV news station. They’ll blow it up like folks are dying etc. That will get their butts in gear.
 
Lol, your post lost me when you mentioned Charter...

I will agree no such thing as Customer Service with a few exceptions, one your local Chick-fil-a as those folks got it! Its a culture thing that flows from the top down.

I can share my experience that changed every thing for me. I moved into a home / business with Spectrum and had nothing but trouble for years. Nothing worked right tech after tech and then this one guy came out and I told him my story. He disappeared under my house and came back out with a old Radio Shack active ( powered ) coax amplifier that I or any of the other techs even knew that thing was under the house causing issues.

This guy made a point to say he was going to find all of my issues and said he would not stop until my situation was 100%. He runs new lines every place he can, installs new end at every connection, new end on the pole and gets me running great! I said dude thanks I want to buy you lunch and handed him $25. Was I think the first tipe he had ever got, he wanted to do more and started checking signal again and said he was going to call his construction crew and have my street transformer at the corner tapped at a higher level, added a 2 way Spectrum amplifier on the outside of my house and I have never had a problem again.

A year later I run into this same guy having lunch, he remembered me and said let me pull your stuff up and he sitting at a BBQ joint for lunch had my modem online and was sharing the S/N ratios and signal db as said to me it all looks good you are still with-in Spec!

Same thing with my US mail carrier, $25 in a Christmas card and I now have a best friend and my deliveries are on point 100%.

Moral to the story, Customer service went away just about the same time Commission based sales did. In the 80 and 90's we once had Sears and Circuit City with sales people standing at the door ready to help now we have Walmart and Costco, you need help in electronics? LOL, I had one Walmart girl look at me and said its time for my break and left me standing at the electronics counter...

The sad thing is just recent I offered to return a friends old modem to the Spectrum store. I thought I would simply hand it over but nope, its a process and the same as Walmart, I got to the counter and the employee said time for my break and walked off...
I lost it, I thought the law was going to be called on me it was so bad...

People are People and need motivation be that from a good Boss ( Chick -fil-a ) or a Commission Spiff he / she could earn if one goes above and beyond or a tip of $25.

That $25 makes someones day, makes me a friend in the business and my situation is fixed!

Motivation is the key IMO. Works well for me.
 
I have Comcast home internet. My internet works fine during the winter, when Spring comes and the temp rises, my internet became spotty. For two years in a row Comcast sent a contractor out to see what the problem was. They always tell me the signal is strong and they would replace a splitter in the garage where the Comcast box is. As soon as they left, the internet would continue to drop all the time. The third year, I call them and they send another guy out. This guy right away sees the problem. The coax from the garage box into the house is really old, and there is a bunch of slack in the corner of the garage. He said it’s not good to have extra coax looped in one spot, and not have metal material near the coax line. He replaced the coax and rerouted it and I have not had a problem for two years now. I agree, people are just working for a paycheck, and don’t really care if they do a good job or not these days. I tell my parents all the time, that they cursed me ingraining their work ethic into me. I just can’t bury my head in the sand and let other people do something that I know I can do myself.
 
I spent 35 years working with and troubleshooting complex networks. There is no excuse that the tech left without making sure everything works correctly. It's even worse that he didn't check that everything was working correctly before he started the upgrade. The nail in the coffin is when someone who is sent out to troubleshoot the problem(s), doesn't understand how to troubleshoot the entire system. If you can't look at all the details that will help you understand the big picture, then you can't troubleshoot.

Part of the problem is with the vast complexity of systems today, it's very hard to find people who understand the entire end-to-end picture, that includes applications. There are lots of people who are very good at their little corner of technology, but very few who understand all of it end-to-end.
 
wwillson said:
Part of the problem is with the vast complexity of systems today, it's very hard to find people who understand the entire end-to-end picture
Click to expand...
Companies don't want to pay what it costs to hire people who understand how stuff works. They will send out the lowest paid illegal who will claim to not understand English when you try to explain the issue.
 
Do you actually have any option beyond Comcast? Many only have no options, meaning customer service is simply a wasted expense for them.

Was the technician an actual employee, or a contractor. Most I see now are contractors. They have zero benefit from providing anything beyond the minimum they can do and stay employed.

Anything critical to your business needs to be brought in house or have someone in house that can at least supervise / project manage.
 
Yes lot of people are simply incompetent. My wife had to have a scan of her right foot. She went in and the paperwork said left foot. An understandable mistake, but a wasted appointment day. A new appointment is booked, but they want $600 from us for sending new paperwork, are you kidding me? And they can’t seem to grasp the mistake was on their side. My wife had to literally talk like she was talking to a five year old.

Idiocracy was a documentary, not a sci-fi movie.
 
SC Maintenance said:
Do you actually have any option beyond Comcast? Many only have no options, meaning customer service is simply a wasted expense for them.

Was the technician an actual employee, or a contractor. Most I see now are contractors. They have zero benefit from providing anything beyond the minimum they can do and stay employed.

Anything critical to your business needs to be brought in house or have someone in house that can at least supervise / project manage.
Click to expand...
I have had my experience with Spectrum Contractors, the ones that pull up in a rusted out old truck and a magnet Spectrum Contractor stuck on his door.

NOPE, Im not going to ever let on in my home again, come to think of it its been a few years that I have had one come to the house when called as now its true Spectrum folks that are great!

I'm not knocking ALL Spectrum Contractors but what I have seen in my area that came to my door, those folks could NOT Pass a drug test and or have mental issue, the true bottom of the bucket kinda people.

I had one come to the house and the problem required him to go under my house and he refused and bucked up like he was going to take a swing. All he was looking for was his next fix!

Nope, NO more contractors for me... I found IF you get a call into the right person and know what to say a local construction divison manager will call me IF things get that bad...

I have been with Time Warner then Spectrum 22+ years and could write a book on the early years but once things went Digital and the bugs got worked out of that the last few (5+) years Spectrum internet has been 99.999% , I dropped TV about 5 years ago so can't say about that.
 
SC Maintenance said:
Do you actually have any option beyond Comcast? Many only have no options, meaning customer service is simply a wasted expense for them.

Was the technician an actual employee, or a contractor. Most I see now are contractors. They have zero benefit from providing anything beyond the minimum they can do and stay employed.

Anything critical to your business needs to be brought in house or have someone in house that can at least supervise / project manage.
Click to expand...
He was an actual employee and we currently do not have another option.
 
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