Senseless Sunday Sarcasm: Customer service, with a side order of “I don’t know.”
Today, after 6 months of deliberation, I finally updated my telephone/internet service.
FIrst time I tried getting through, the automatic annoying system said, “this call can’t be completed,” and hung up on me.
Then, I went to the website, which I almost gave up on when the first page took 10 minutes to load.
Then I was led to another page that — yes — loaded as if someone had poured superglue into the hard drive.
So…I tried calling the phone number again. This time, it went through, possibly due to the AI tiring of that particular game.
Customer service (heretofore known as Cuss): How may I help you?
Me: I want to upgrade my internet service.
Cuss: You can double your speed for the same price. We’ll send the technician out.
Me: I don’t want technicians trying to navigate my junkyard brambles.
Cuss: He’ll be adding more pins to the hub, which isn’t on your property.
Me: Will the internet be down when he’s doing it?
Cuss: I don’t think so.
Me: Are there additional fees and taxes for this new service?
Cuss: It’s the same price as your present service.
Me: Last time someone told me that, my bill was $15 higher. Can you tell me how much I’ll have to pay with added fees and taxes?
Cuss: I won’t know until the bill comes out. Do you have any other questions?
Me: None that you can answer.
Instead of giving customer service the access needed to actually do their job, I have to wonder if “I don’t know” and “I can’t access that information” have been replaced by “I won’t know until the bill comes out.”
As the “Church Lady” used to say,
Is it possible that the next time I have to access customer service I’ll be speaking to the AI?
If so, I already know the kind of service I’ll be getting:
My cat would be proud.
I hope the upgrade gives you better service. I have stopped expecting anything good to come out of a call too the CS!
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I received an email from them after writing this. It said there will be a one-time $10.00 charge which will show up on the next bill, along with the associated fees and taxes. That, I wasn’t told about at the time: It just underscored what customer service people don’t know.
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I don’t think that they know anything. They are just there to receive the calls and give false reassurances.
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I can’t imagine having to endure a job like that without having the satisfaction of solving problems and answer simple questions that people need to know.
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Customer service could drive you mad, I don’t know what is worse AI or someone who just doesn’t know.
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There is no question in my mind that I would last about two hours in a customer service job. I’ve had excellent customer service from other companies in the past, so I have the ability to make a comparison.
In the end, if a company doesn’t give access to information that customer service needs, the employees become more like front-line soldiers that take the bullets to save the (presumably) “more important” soldiers.
I find that egregious — and I mean that in the most recent use of the word.
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It’s a complicated system AI or human all are trained to say the same answer, They have a team who kicks out the people when they talk like human. Isn’t that we want in real🤷. They will answer like it has a solution, which in real it never exist😜😂😂 Wonderful post Joelle 😉😜 Enjoyed it.✨👌
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Thanks. 🙂
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I think it’s part of the business plan for every ISP provider out there. Make customer service as difficult and vague as possible. I detest calling! I hope things turn out okay for you.
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Thanks. 🙂
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Aunt Bertie always says Isn’t that interesting and Ah that’s interesting. You may want to learn these phrases SIL, it always has seemed to get her what she wanted.
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and…yes…we live in interesting times. 🙂
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I remember trying to explain Math to some of the customer service people (because my bill was not adding up and I just wanted someone to explain to me which number they were adding and why were they different from mine). They did not have any of it, until I got to some sort of a manager, who got quickly exasperated, too. They could not point out what was wrong with my logic, but they did explain how their logic was correct (see minor things I was not informed of before)
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I look at my phone/internet bill and find that over $30 of it is nothing but fees and taxes. Trying to add that stuff is dizzying.
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The question always is: If you can have better system for the same price, why didn’t they just upgrade you and give it to you? I have an old internet plan and I see for the same price I can be faster and get all kinds of free bells and whistles too! I am afraid if I change it, it will never work again, or at the least, I won’t understand how to use it, so I stick by my mantra: Don’t change anything–ever! PS Love that cat on the phone meme. Going to steal it now! 😺
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I stole the cat meme and you’re welcome to it. 🙂
I was burned once before with “Move speed, same price.” A year later, they jumped the price by $20. I complained, it went down for a year, then it jumped $20 again.
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I think they are taught to say ‘I haven to got a clue mate’ in as many ways as possible without actually saying it; to the point where (as you did) you end up asking very simple, pointed questions as if talking to a child or a drunk person.
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Yes — you see what I was relegated to doing.
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My favorites are when they say “Thank you for calling internet service/electric company/phone company/bank.” Like – who the H else would I call about the intternet/electric/phone/$$ ?
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All of these phrases are scientifically created for the best outcome. Unfortunately, after you’ve heard them for 100 time, those phrases only tend to annoy you.
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This is exactly the same problems we had with the customer service of our phones two years ago. After a lot of stupid back and forth they even cut our line with warning and we already paid! The worse this was I ended up with a cold because I accidentally fell in a cold water and couldn’t call my husband to get me. Therefore I have to walk home soaking wet in the middle of autumn.
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That is terrible! What a miserable thing to happen.
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Yeah… needless to say my husband was pissed! He refused to pay for the next month 😂
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My internet and phone service went out for four days last summer. The only time in fifteen years. Technician came out, reported problem due to a disconnected wire in their switching office. As a former communications technician, I wondered why it took that long to figure out the problem. My modem was “toast.” I needed a newer, faster one, to replace my museum piece modem. They failed to mention the $29.50 charge for the new whiz bang modem. Complained, and got the charges removed.
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You were probably one out of a hundred who complained, and it was because you know how to talk tech.
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