You know, you try to be the best person that you can be...and then you encounter on-the-phone Customer Service. On the one hand, I really admire anyone who takes a Customer Service job. It must be pretty terrible to deal with people calling you and complaining on a daily basis. On the other hand...why do they always seem to have such pat responses? "I'm sorry this is such an inconvenience for you", "I understand where you are coming from", etc, etc. Why, when you finally feel like you've reached a real person, and they understand your dilemma, do they transfer to someone else where you have to start all over again? Why on earth do they make you repeat your birthdate twenty times? Why, for the love of God, is it so frequently so hard to understand what the Customer Service Representative is even saying? Sometimes, and I hate to admit this, but I become a completely different person with Customer Service. I'm surly and rude. I snap things like, "Well, I don't have much of a choice, do I?" I whine, "That's not what the last person told me!" I beg, "Will you please just not hang up on me?" I plead, "Please, just listen to me!" Today, I may or may not have done all of the above.
Did anyone else deal with a frustrating Customer Service experience today? Any amazing Customer Service stories in general?
Did anyone else deal with a frustrating Customer Service experience today? Any amazing Customer Service stories in general?
Jules, I can definitely relate. Although I somehow manage to hold it together well enough for Eric to maintain that I "handle" customer service people better than he does because I am "nicer," so, between the two of us, I usually get to make these lovely phone calls. One recent call to Pottery Barn, a week before Christmas, concerning a screwed up order of a gift for Eric's brother went something like this:
ReplyDeleteMe: I would like to exchange a glass bowl that was sent to us with the wrong team's logo engraved on it.
Customer Service Guy (CSG): Well, unfortunately, there is a major back-order for this item, and there will not be another one available until February.
Me: February is too late, this is a Christmas gift. Oh, and I do not have a Jets fan to whom I can gift this bowl. I ordered a Patriots bowl. Are there any Jets fans you know of who had the reverse situation happen to them and we can just trade bowls?
CSG: Um...no, I don't think so. I am very sorry, m'am. We will refund your Visa and send you a $10 gift card.
Me: I don't have a Visa. I used American Express.
CSG: Aren't you Monica Palmer?
Me: What? Who is Monica Palmer? I haven't even told you my name yet, or my credit card info.
CSG: I'm sorry, it has been a very long day.
Me: Apparently.
You get the gist. It was not pretty.
Emily - that is an amazing story! I can't believe they actually forgot to ask your name, birthdate, and the last 4 digits of your social security number up front!
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