This article, 7 ways to win the customer-service game, offers some great advice on getting customer service. I highly recommend following these steps when having difficulty getting service from a company.
Through that article, I also found this database of human oriented contact information. The way to reach a human being with 500 companies.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
Verizon Wireless / Palm - Waste of 30 Minutes
My phone does something different now after performing a mandated software update.
I phone Verizon and ask about it, and the person has no idea, so he transfers me to the Data Team. They also have no idea, so they say they will call Palm and ask them with me.
The rep says she has already called Palm and explained the situation, and will now transfer me to them, and that I will have a hold of some silence before they pick up the phone.
She then puts me on a musical hold for about ten seconds, and then hangs up on me. I receive no call back.
I call Verizon again and explain the situation. The rep there just blind-transfers me to Palm. When they answer, I explain the situation in what I thought were very clear terms.
"Hi, I recently did a software update on my phone, and it now acts different than it did before. I'd like to know how to get the old behavior back. Before the update, when I would use Outlook, and do a Send and Receive, it would immediately hang up when it was done with the Internet. Now, after the software update, it stays connected when it's done with the Internet. I'd like it to just disconnect when it's done with the Internet. Can you help me figure out how to do that?"
The person asked a couple of probing questions, then put me on hold for a while. When he came back, he said that he doesn't think that there used to be an option in the past, before the upgrade, to allow you to specify that you want your phone to disconnect from the Internet when it's done. I told him that it wasn't a setting I had set before, this was just the behavior. I said it only did this in Outlook, and that it would immediately disconnect when it was done doing the send/receive.
He asked me to hold again, and came back and stated that he doesn't know why it used to do that. He and his colleagues aren't aware of an issue that would make it do that. He then asked if what I use is Wireless Sync, or Outlook. I said I only used Wireless Sync once to download my contacts, and then went into Add/Remove Programs and removed it, so it's no loner installed. I use Outlook, only, now.
He said, that's why it was disconnecting - it is Wireless Sync. I said, no, I never installed Wireless Sync until just before I did the software upgrade, and after I did the software upgrade (to upload, and then download contacts). It had not been installed before that. He continued to try to blame the Wireless Sync for it, and I told him that it was doing that way, way before I installed Wireless Sync (like, for 11 months).
He then told me he is going to look something up, and this time I heard silence for 6-7 minutes (I even spoke into the phone several times and received no response), and when he came back he said there's no way to make it hang up after it's done doing a send/receive.
I said, OK, thanks, and then asked him to please tell their developers that there is at least one customer who would like it if the phone would automatically disconnect when it is done with a send/receive. I told him that it used to do this, and the software update undid it, and it is a great feature I would like back. I explained how this feature helps me out.
The entire time, he give the, "Uh huh, uh huh" response that clearly broadcasts that he's not listening. He was done with the call when he came back from his 6-7 minute mute, the rest of it is him just trying to get me to hang up. If that means making affirming noises while I yammer in to the phone, that's what he'll do.
Once I realized he was on this track, I stopped talking mid-sentence, and said, "Well, thank you." He proved he hadn't been listening by saying, "Thank you for calling Palm," and hanging up.
I phone Verizon and ask about it, and the person has no idea, so he transfers me to the Data Team. They also have no idea, so they say they will call Palm and ask them with me.
The rep says she has already called Palm and explained the situation, and will now transfer me to them, and that I will have a hold of some silence before they pick up the phone.
She then puts me on a musical hold for about ten seconds, and then hangs up on me. I receive no call back.
I call Verizon again and explain the situation. The rep there just blind-transfers me to Palm. When they answer, I explain the situation in what I thought were very clear terms.
"Hi, I recently did a software update on my phone, and it now acts different than it did before. I'd like to know how to get the old behavior back. Before the update, when I would use Outlook, and do a Send and Receive, it would immediately hang up when it was done with the Internet. Now, after the software update, it stays connected when it's done with the Internet. I'd like it to just disconnect when it's done with the Internet. Can you help me figure out how to do that?"
The person asked a couple of probing questions, then put me on hold for a while. When he came back, he said that he doesn't think that there used to be an option in the past, before the upgrade, to allow you to specify that you want your phone to disconnect from the Internet when it's done. I told him that it wasn't a setting I had set before, this was just the behavior. I said it only did this in Outlook, and that it would immediately disconnect when it was done doing the send/receive.
He asked me to hold again, and came back and stated that he doesn't know why it used to do that. He and his colleagues aren't aware of an issue that would make it do that. He then asked if what I use is Wireless Sync, or Outlook. I said I only used Wireless Sync once to download my contacts, and then went into Add/Remove Programs and removed it, so it's no loner installed. I use Outlook, only, now.
He said, that's why it was disconnecting - it is Wireless Sync. I said, no, I never installed Wireless Sync until just before I did the software upgrade, and after I did the software upgrade (to upload, and then download contacts). It had not been installed before that. He continued to try to blame the Wireless Sync for it, and I told him that it was doing that way, way before I installed Wireless Sync (like, for 11 months).
He then told me he is going to look something up, and this time I heard silence for 6-7 minutes (I even spoke into the phone several times and received no response), and when he came back he said there's no way to make it hang up after it's done doing a send/receive.
I said, OK, thanks, and then asked him to please tell their developers that there is at least one customer who would like it if the phone would automatically disconnect when it is done with a send/receive. I told him that it used to do this, and the software update undid it, and it is a great feature I would like back. I explained how this feature helps me out.
The entire time, he give the, "Uh huh, uh huh" response that clearly broadcasts that he's not listening. He was done with the call when he came back from his 6-7 minute mute, the rest of it is him just trying to get me to hang up. If that means making affirming noises while I yammer in to the phone, that's what he'll do.
Once I realized he was on this track, I stopped talking mid-sentence, and said, "Well, thank you." He proved he hadn't been listening by saying, "Thank you for calling Palm," and hanging up.
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