They Call This Customer Service?

I invited two salesmen into my home one night last month. They spent three hours selling me on their company. My wife and I had already decided to utilize a home security outfit, but we were taking our time picking the right company. We decided to go with this national outfit (I won’t name them here because I refuse to give them any recognition). The one point I was most adamant about during the three hour presentation was how poorly we were treated by the satellite TV people when we moved into our new home.

A loyal customer for several years, we had arranged to move the satellite TV with us. After canceling the first appointment, the installer showed up late, then asked to return later in the day. My wife agreed, even though she had already waited half the day for him to even show. When he returned, he had his wife and children with him (a strict no-no), and he used the first excuse to pack up the truck and leave. I rushed home after a call from my wife and tried to reason with his wife as he sat in my driveway with the engine running, talking to the office on his phone. He hung up, told me it was between me and the office, and tore out of there.

While they were packing, they kept telling us that we should consider moving to the competitor. Seems they also installed for them, and I figure they get paid more by the competition. Either way, it was a wasted day, and needless to say, we are now back to cable.

I made this point abundantly clear to the home security people. He assured me that they would never do this.

When the following Monday came, and the hours dragged on with no sight of an installer, I finally called the salesman, who informed me he was busy and would call me back later. I called the main office. When I asked where my installer was, they informed me I had no appointment that day.

I was not happy.

After several calls and a few moves up the chain of command, I spoke with a very apologetic general manager who promised me that this was merely an oversight and would be corrected quickly.

I informed him that his installer had until 3 pm that day to get to my house (the original appointment was between 8 and Noon). He assured me this would not be a problem.

At 2:50, I received a call back from the salesman who was now not too busy to speak with me. He told me it was all a misunderstanding, that some paperwork was shuffled and lost, and it was being rectified. I told him the installer had ten minutes to hit my driveway or it was over. He swore to me the driver was already on his way to my house, due to arrive any moment.

Five minutes later, the driver called and told me he was at the main office, a mere 45 minutes away from my house, and he was about to gas up before heading out. I politely told him to save the gas, that the trip was going to be a waste of his time, because unless he was planning on driving at over 400 MPH, he was not going to be installing anything at my house.

The general manager was beside himself calling me and apologizing. I informed him that I understood, and I appreciated all his good feelings, but that my wife and I were not going to be entering into a long term relationship with any company who disregards our feelings in this manner before they even begin. No manner of offered free gifts or discounts changed our minds.

We put a stop payment on the check, as we were not going to wait months for this company of idiots to decide they had held our money long enough. It was worth the money the bank charged us to know this company would never see a dime from us.

All of this happened over a month ago. Friday night, I get a phone call from some bozo in the company who tells me he has in his hand a check from me with a stop payment on it, and he is demanding to know why I did that.

Although he kept trying to interrupt me, I get out the full story as to why I am not paying him over $400. The fact that his company never set foot in my house, other than the slick salesman (who bragged about how long he had been with this company, but who the caller now informed me was “no longer with the company”), the fact that I had never had any of the equipment delivered nor was it ever installed, the fact that the contract was broken on their part, the fact that in order for payment to be earned, services need be rendered…all of this was laid at his feet, along with my feelings on a company that could care less about its customers.

After listening/interrupting for about ten minutes, this employee tells me that he does not have my paperwork in front of him and I need to fax him my copy so that he can clear this up, so I won’t be charged for canceling the check. I politely inform him that he is gravely mistaken if he thinks I am going to lift a finger because of the incompetence of his company, and he is invited to try and get a penny from me. I tell him my lawyer should get a good laugh out of that.

Lo and behold, ten minutes later, he calls back and announces that he has found the paperwork and I need do nothing else, that he is going to handle it from there. Wow, I am relieved, I tell him. I hope he gets the sarcasm in my voice.

More and more, I see that our country has lost any sense of Customer Service. Companies that used to believe the customer was right have now gotten accustomed to treating us all like sheep, secure in the knowledge that there are more out there should we take our business elsewhere. It only gets worse when a company is allowed to be a monopoly. This applies to utilities, cable companies, even schools. I walk into the local school to check out my child and I wait at the counter for five minutes waiting to even be acknowledged, while they shuffle paperwork right in front of me.

It’s not just me, either. I hear these same stories from almost everyone I know.

Customer service has become a dying art.