This has not been my week for attempting to deal with customer service. Last week was just as bad.
The saga started when my daughter's phone broke the first day of her freshman year at college. Because I needed to get her a phone overnight, I went to the AT&T store to get a phone I was sure would work with her SIM card. It worked, more or less, but kept losing service and it had someone else's email account on it. So, it obviously wasn't the new phone the salesman said it was.
I decided to return it and get her an iPhone. I tripled checked the delivery address three times to be sure it was right. Then something made me call AT&T to check because the address didn't show on the confirmation. It was a good thing I called, because the delivery information had my name listed and only part of the mailing address.
The first customer service, I am starting to think I need a better term, person told me it couldn't be changed. Huh? I ordered it 10 minutes before and it said 5/10 days to ship. How could it not be changed? I asked for a supervisor who was able to change it. Hopefully, it will get there.
Then there is GMAC. I called to request a letter stating the lien was paid off. I couldn't order it online because the account was paid off months ago. The first person I spoke to said it would be faxed within 24-48 hours. When I called after the time was up, they said they had sent it. They hadn't. I asked them to refax and mail. They didn't.
I called again yesterday and gave my I need to speak to a supervisor spiel. He assured me that this time it would come. There's no fax yet.
The last straw, so to speak, was my insurance company. I've been with the same agency 25 years. It's too bad they don't know my name isn't Alice and that they couldn't answer a simple question without being snotty. They aren't my insurance agency anymore. We switched to another company who could answer questions nicely and seems to actual have the "service" that seems to be missing from the job description in a whole of companies.
And I don't blame the customer service reps in most cases (exclude the calling me Alice lady) they follow a script, they can't deviate, even if they knew how to, but the bottom line is that if you have customers you should provide service to them.
For what it's worth, according to my AT&T account, I've been a customer since 1995. I've bought GM cars for 20 years. Would it be any better anywhere else? I don't know, but I do know that I don't have enough hours in the day to spend on hold, calling back, and trying to get situations resolved without any assurances that the person I'm taking to can get it done.
