Customer service

[Tank]

So here we are in florida on a singing tour for nine days. Trouble at the rental car window at the airport because of some agent with a crappy attitude. She neglected to tell any of us that some of our cars are equipped with a Sun Pass, florida's electronic toll road pass so you don't have to pay. A few of us had to pay $15-20 cash in tolls before finding out we could have skipped that part. Thanks to the kind toll collector who pointed this out to me I was finally able to save some cash.

Budget also equipped my Chevy impala with XM radio. The radio signal for it suddenly quit. Couldn't reset it either so I called Budget to ask for their help. After being transferred/handed off to someone else, I finally found a terrific lady who told me their initial contract had expired and there was nothing they could do about it. However, if I wanted to come in they would give me a small handheld unit . . . for a small fee. God job, Budget.

At downtown Disney yesterday, we're at Portobello's Yacht club for lunch. My daughter has to go bak to the car for something but gets something in her eye and is in a lot of pain. We can't find it or wash it out. The restaurant manager tells us about a walk-in urgent care place and gives us directions to get there. We're clearing out and paying our bill and she asks how our food was. Told her we'd really been looking forward to the creme brûlée for dessert. She tells us she'll be there all day and f we come back, she'll take care of us.

Things work out okay and my daughter is ine (very small corneal abrasion) so we return to the restaurant. Manager honored her word and she comped us almost $30 of dessert.

Sorry for this being so long, but it sure got me to again wonder why some companies are so good at customer service and others are so crappy about it. Why would I ever want to rent another car from Budget again? Yet, I can't wait o return o Portabellos and tell all of you about it.

What gives?

[AngelsLongBall]

We have a saying here at work, "What you allow, you encourage"  It all starts at the top, and attitude and culture flow downhill

[nate]

I recently had a great CS experience with Panasonic Direct.  I put a 2013 TV on pre-order through them and my order got cancelled with a note saying that the pre authorization window with my bank expired.  Not thinking much of it I ordered it again.  Six days later I got the same notice.

 

I called them on the phone and explained what happened fully expecting a "take it up with your bank" response but instead they got me on the phone with a "resolutions supervisor" who was unsure why the problem was happening but would not stop until she figured it out.  After looking after it a bit she found that both times I was charged the $200 for the extended warranty and it was not refunded.  She immediately issued refunds for those two charges and gave me the warranty for free.  After doing some research she found that the issue was they pre-authorize the charge and then cancel it and send out a new charge for the TV once it is ready to ship.  Problem was my bank was not cancelling the pre-auth correctly and was rejecting the second one.  Instead of her telling me to call the bank, she called and took care of it.  She also set aside a TV for me to be overnighted when they get their next shipment Thursday.

 

It was a long process but they called me each day to give me an update while they were fixing the issue.  Everyone was very helpful and never combative of dismissive.  On my last call with them I got their manager on the phone and made sure to let them know how much I appreciated all the help.  It is a rare to find good customer service these days.

[Blarg]

I have been dealing with a Bank of America computer generated home loan error since January. No level of customer service so far has corrected it even though every level I reach out to promises the problem is resolved. I think my only recourse is refinace with another lender.

[gotbeer]

While Disney gets a bad rep sometimes, I have found that their customer service is usually top knotch.  I went to Blue Bayou for dinner once.  And they lost my reservations and two other couples under a bunch of menus.  We kept asking when we would be seated, since we saw people come after us getting seated.  Finally, they found the reservations, and appologized and got us seated.  Once seated, a manager came up to us, and said he heard what happened, and comped us whatever we wanted for dinner.  

[nate]

I have been dealing with a Bank of America computer generated home loan error since January. No level of customer service so far has corrected it even though every level I reach out to promises the problem is resolved. I think my only recourse is refinace with another lender.

 

Bank customer service is the worst.  I left BoA a few years ago for Chase who is only marginally better.  We are going to switch to a credit union soon.

[Blarg]

I had no choice in this, Countrywide went bankrupt and BOFA took over the loan. Within a year they sent out a letter that upon completion of the loan there will be an additionl $545 charge for their services. I get to fight with that as well, the contract I signed for the loan did not allow for any additional costs at payout.

[nate]

Wow, that is really f'd up.

 

When BOA bought Countrywide, they took over all the loans and laid off all of the Countrywide staff.  Good guy, BOA.

[gotbeer]

I still don't understand how BofA isn't bankrupt.  

[Pbonetheman]

Bank customer service is the worst.  I left BoA a few years ago for Chase who is only marginally better.  We are going to switch to a credit union soon.

You're right. I hate BoA. But I hate Chase a little less.

[Blarg]

I liked Washington Mutual. They remodeled our local branch so you walked right up to a teller face to face at small kiosks. When Chase took over they tore all that out and put tellers back behind 4" plexiglass. It really encourages people to use the ATM.

 

BTW Countrywide were no better or worse in terms of customer service runaround than BOFA. Not missing them.

[nate]

Yeah, seems to be a staple of banks, terrible customer service.  I had to call my bank recently and got someone offshore who I could barely understand, got a supervisor who I could barely understand and so on.  When it comes to my money, I don't want to call someone offshore to have them ignore me.  It is the worst.

[Pbonetheman]

Yeah, seems to be a staple of banks, terrible customer service.  I had to call my bank recently and got someone offshore who I could barely understand, got a supervisor who I could barely understand and so on.  When it comes to my money, I don't want to call someone offshore to have them ignore me.  It is the worst.

 

 

I had the same experience with the call center in the Philippines. The rep gave me bogus information and I got charged a $20 dollar fee or something like that. I called the manager at the call center and had the guys name and everything, she just said that it was my fault (which it probably was) and that she will send me a copy of the contract. My entire issue was the mis-information being given to me by the rep and his multiple assurances that I would be okay.  

[Adam]

So here we are in florida on a singing tour for nine days. Trouble at the rental car window at the airport because of some agent with a crappy attitude. She neglected to tell any of us that some of our cars are equipped with a Sun Pass, florida's electronic toll road pass so you don't have to pay. A few of us had to pay $15-20 cash in tolls before finding out we could have skipped that part. Thanks to the kind toll collector who pointed this out to me I was finally able to save some cash.

Budget also equipped my Chevy impala with XM radio. The radio signal for it suddenly quit. Couldn't reset it either so I called Budget to ask for their help. After being transferred/handed off to someone else, I finally found a terrific lady who told me their initial contract had expired and there was nothing they could do about it. However, if I wanted to come in they would give me a small handheld unit . . . for a small fee. God job, Budget.

At downtown Disney yesterday, we're at Portobello's Yacht club for lunch. My daughter has to go bak to the car for something but gets something in her eye and is in a lot of pain. We can't find it or wash it out. The restaurant manager tells us about a walk-in urgent care place and gives us directions to get there. We're clearing out and paying our bill and she asks how our food was. Told her we'd really been looking forward to the creme brûlée for dessert. She tells us she'll be there all day and f we come back, she'll take care of us.

Things work out okay and my daughter is ine (very small corneal abrasion) so we return to the restaurant. Manager honored her word and she comped us almost $30 of dessert.

Sorry for this being so long, but it sure got me to again wonder why some companies are so good at customer service and others are so crappy about it. Why would I ever want to rent another car from Budget again? Yet, I can't wait o return o Portabellos and tell all of you about it.

What gives?

 

Dude! I got a car from Hertz In Orlando and did the exact same thing. Paid probably $20 in tolls scooting around Orlando. Later saw the toll pass on the windshield. Whores!!

[Vegas Halo Fan]

While Disney gets a bad rep sometimes, I have found that their customer service is usually top notch. 

 

The first time we went to Disneyland we had a less than ideal experience. About a third of the attractions were closed for maintenance, about the same percentage of the restaurants were closed and the ones that were open had mediocre food at high prices. We had been to Sea World San Diego the day before and we paid less for much better food. I wrote to Disney about all this, and they comped the whole family for a full day at the park. I was impressed with the response.

[Ordos]

When I used to manage a CS department, I gave my team a blanket rule: If a customer is unhappy about something and it costs less than $250 to fix it, just make them happy. I wanted my team to be empowered to solve issues, not come to me with every little issue or question.

 

I wish others would do this with their own friggin CS teams.

[nate]

Update on my CS experience with Panasonic.  They gave me bad information, sent me the wrong TV and in the end didn't solve the problem at all.  Never called me back the last two times they said they would and today I cancelled everything with them.  I will order from Amazon once the TV is available.

[Blarg]

What you are saying is you are going to start the same cycle of disappointment instead of going to Best Buy.

[nate]

Never had an issue with Amazon.  I refuse to purchase anything from Best Buy.  They are crooks.

 

Wouldn't matter anyway because the box for the TV wouldn't fit in my Accord.

[2002_halos_II]

Best Buy has some deals right now w/free shipping...

 

Pretty slow in delivery though. Is this your Plasma?

[nate]

Yes

[2002_halos_II]

I bought a cell phone from Amazon. Suppose to be brand spankin' new. Apparently it was used because some guys email addy was stored on it as well as his forwarding phone number. I could have returned it but I had already put my own info on it (which is how I found his). CS gave me a discount (refunded) to my card.  But still someone returned it and they didn't check it before selling it as NEW.

[nate]

Was it sold by Amazon or a vendor?  I only order items sold by Amazon.  Don't trust vendors even though Amazon will take care of vendor issues.

[2002_halos_II]

By Amazon.

[Blarg]

Never had an issue with Amazon.  I refuse to purchase anything from Best Buy.  They are crooks.

 

Wouldn't matter anyway because the box for the TV wouldn't fit in my Accord.

I have a solution for you. Buy a bigger car and go to Frys.