Fake Customer Service

[Arab Nights (imported)]

I am going thru one of those exercises where I am begining to wonder about fake customer service and I am wondering if anyone else has ever had that feeling?

On the second trip to a midwestern state to sort out things after my bachelor brother's unexpected death. He was a hoarder. Trip 1 was mostly sorting thru stuff and taking loads ofo stuff to the dump. There were rooms where it was piled 1 - 1/2 feet deep and you could hear mice running around underneath you. I got most of that sorted into a managerable pile of documents that could fit into a suitcase for further checking.

This trip out was bringing a few for accounts like mortgage, utilities etc to check on., I put them in a carry aboard because there is no way I wanted them lost. Then of course the airline announced that overhead spaces were full and everyone would have to check their carry aboard. We got to our destination about midnight but my carryaboard with those documents, medications, etc,. did not. Had to hang around and file a report. I was told it had been scanned going thru Midway and might be on the 11 am flight. I adjusted my to do list so I could be close to the airport just in case. About 11:40 am I called, went thru the whole thing with the rep, was told it was not on the 11 am flight and he put me on a short hold to find out the details. After a short time the call was dropped and the guy never called despite getting my phone number. We went by the airport and nobody was at their lost luggage and mine was not among the four sitting on the floor. We headed out to begin going thru the things I could remember. My wife accused me of being a wus-assed gringo and not insisting that they solve the problem. She went the Spanish route and went thru everything and was told it was at our destination airport. We turned around and were almost at the airport when the Spanish speaker called and said that it was not at the airport, but he would call when he figured things out. Wife tried the Spanish route again about 5 pm and was told luggage was in Oslo, not Grand Rapids, and there was no record of any of the earlier calls.

Has anyone else gone thru something like this where multiple times you go thru the whole thing beginning with name, call back number, email and work your way thru the details and in the end it is like customer service does not click on save?

[fhunter]

I am going thru one of those exercises where I am begining to wonder about fake customer service and I am wondering if anyone else has ever had that feeling?

On the second trip to a midwestern state to sort out things after my bachelor brother's unexpected death. He was a hoarder. Trip 1 was mostly sorting thru stuff and taking loads ofo stuff to the dump. There were rooms where it was piled 1 - 1/2 feet deep and you could hear mice running around underneath you. I got most of that sorted into a managerable pile of documents that could fit into a suitcase for further checking.

This trip out was bringing a few for accounts like mortgage, utilities etc to check on., I put them in a carry aboard because there is no way I wanted them lost. Then of course the airline announced that overhead spaces were full and everyone would have to check their carry aboard. We got to our destination about midnight but my carryaboard with those documents, medications, etc,. did not. Had to hang around and file a report. I was told it had been scanned going thru Midway and might be on the 11 am flight. I adjusted my to do list so I could be close to the airport just in case. About 11:40 am I called, went thru the whole thing with the rep, was told it was not on the 11 am flight and he put me on a short hold to find out the details. After a short time the call was dropped and the guy never called despite getting my phone number. We went by the airport and nobody was at their lost luggage and mine was not among the four sitting on the floor. We headed out to begin going thru the things I could remember. My wife accused me of being a wus-assed gringo and not insisting that they solve the problem. She went the Spanish route and went thru everything and was told it was at our destination airport. We turned around and were almost at the airport when the Spanish speaker called and said that it was not at the airport, but he would call when he figured things out. Wife tried the Spanish route again about 5 pm and was told luggage was in Oslo, not Grand Rapids, and there was no record of any of the earlier calls.

Has anyone else gone thru something like this where multiple times you go thru the whole thing beginning with name, call back number, email and work your way thru the details and in the end it is like customer service does not click on save?

I had similar with cell phone operator, regarding some billing issues. Unless you force them to give you the ticket/issue number - they may not do anything and work as a virtual psychotherapist only.

Some of those 'support' drones even managed to fail Turing test (I wasn't able to distinguish the moment I stopped talking in chat with a bot and started talking to human).

Back in Russia, solving something like that usually involved escalating it to social media. If you are willing and know how to do it. After that - it moves out of 'support' department and into a PR management department territory and has higher chances of being solved.

[Losethem (imported)]

I'm going through a personal one right now. I have a medication I take, once a month, which I have co-pay assistance for. The insurance people can never seem to get that applied properly and I'm sitting on the phone now as I type this for the third time trying to get this sorted. My favorite with them, is no matter what time of day I call them, I get the message, "We are experiencing high call volume... Your call is important to us but you may wish to call back later." The last two times I've called, I've gotten right through to someone, so the high call volume thing is bullshit.

Lather-Rinse-Repeat.

I'm sorry to hear about your brother. I also lost my brother about 3 years ago, and had similar situations. His house was a hoard, and we had to get it all emptied out in a week so we could start minor renovations so we could rent it out. My mom needs the income. We got the stuff out of it, then I had to RAKE the carpet. I've never in my life thought to finish cleaning the inside of a house, that I'd need a friggin' rake.

I'm imagining your brother also passed away intestate (without a will or other documents). So I'm sure you understand the pain in the neck getting car titles, and clearing up bank accounts and other things are when you don't have all that spelled out by the deceased ahead of time.

My heart goes out to you. I can imagine this airline snafu is another level in the many circles of hell surrounding this whole process. I wish you the best in sorting it out.

[WheelyCurious]

On April 12 of 2022 I called the company that services my manual wheelchair and shower chair and put in a repair request for some non-critical maintenance stuff (bald caster and rear wheel tires and new seat cushion on the manual, new seat and arm-rest pads on the shower chair) I then produced a lengthy log of calls on a regular basis to check on the status... Got lots of excuses about 'supply chains' and so on, but on Feb 7th 2023 the tech finally showed up and fixed the shower chair...

After more calls, they finally showed up on April 27th 2023 with the WRONG PARTS - I'm still waiting to hear about when they are going to show up with the correct parts...

In a couple of weeks there is a hearing on a bill dealing w/ wheelchair repair in front of the MA legislature - I'm sure the legislators at the hearing will be interested in hearing about the speedy service... (aka paybacks are a B...h)

WheelyCurious

[Arab Nights (imported)]

I'm sorry to hear about your brother. I also lost my brother about 3 years ago, and had similar situations. His house was a hoard, and we had to get it all emptied out in a week so we could start minor renovations so we could rent it out. My mom needs the income. We got the stuff out of it, then I had to RAKE the carpet. I've never in my life thought to finish cleaning the inside of a house, that I'd need a friggin' rake.

I'm imagining your brother also passed away intestate (without a will or other documents). So I'm sure you understand the pain in the neck getting car titles, and clearing up bank accounts and other things are when you don't have all that spelled out by the deceased ahead of time.

My heart goes out to you. I can imagine this airline snafu is another level in the many circles of hell surrounding this whole process. I wish you the best in sorting it out.

Thanks LT. You know how brothers are. We reclpm he's up there gloating over everything right now. It has taken a new twist that I never imagined. What a mess!

[Arab Nights (imported)]

Back in Russia, solving something like that usually involved escalating it to social media. If you are willing and know how to do it. After that - it moves out of 'support' department and into a PR management department territory and has higher chances of being solved.

You bring up a really intereesting point. How do you get a company OR government agency to do something when it has a lot of people who do not want to do anything. Could you be a bit specific on how to use social media to hold their footsies to the fire? I am old enough (pre-internet) that I write a snail mail to the Office of the President (for a company), open with Dear Sir or Madam and, avoiding histrionics, lay it out from the viewpoint of structural or procedural failures which, if they do not change, will repeat again and again the same results. Your Senator can be handy when dealing with the Feds (unfortunatelyi we usualliy do not have the straight forward third world solution of finding out how much bribe will instantly solve the problem).

[fhunter]

You bring up a really intereesting point. How do you get a company OR government agency to do something when it has a lot of people who do not want to do anything. Could you be a bit specific on how to use social media to hold their footsies to the fire? I am old enough (pre-internet) that I write a snail mail to the Office of the President (for a company), open with Dear Sir or Madam and, avoiding histrionics, lay it out from the viewpoint of structural or procedural failures which, if they do not change, will repeat again and again the same results. Your Senator can be handy when dealing with the Feds (unfortunatelyi we usualliy do not have the straight forward third world solution of finding out how much bribe will instantly solve the problem).

Basically - pester them on any available social media (where the company has presence), write the story, link it to the company name. Ideally - spread it somehow (so it will be read). Just do not do it where the company can censor it. After that - well... you wait and hope for the best. I have seen it done, but haven't done it personally. Basically - sorta same thing as snail mail, but a bit faster and way more public. I am not sure about USA, but bigger companies in Russia definitely monitored social media for their name mentions. Ask for answers publicly, that sure stays in search engine, and they'll want it resolved.

Back in Russia - as another way - there were some review sites, like banki.ru (literally 'banks.ru', which had section of "people's rating of banks". Along with reviews (and complaints) and those were verified by administrators of the site. That was sorta working. (again, as another possibility to kickstart the process).

For Russia - that was pre-war, the current situation is unknown to me. For USA - not sure where to start properly.

PS. For government agency.... "Leave all your hope those who enter there" (seriously - I do not know).

[Arab Nights (imported)]

I just got an email response to my snail mail letter to the 'Office of the President' thanking me for my honest feedback and with a certificate for a couple of hundred dollars off a future flight.

[Paolo]

I've come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as customer service anymore. No one understands it.

Even when I try to offer it, I can't things through peoples' heads.

Never mind talking to someone in a call center who is only there to collect their paycheck!

[Arab Nights (imported)]

Blessed be the cynics, for they shall not be disappointed.