Bad Customer Service

This week has been full of horrible customer service experiences. To me, reasonable customer service is being able to access the information I need in a timely manner (whether automated or live), being able to speak with a live person if that is my wish, and receiving either a resolution to my problem or honest effort in doing so. Here are two negative experiences that solidified already poor feelings about each company:

Home Improvement
One step in a major home improvement store's kitchen remodel process is having new cabinets inspected by Installation Services shortly after delivery. This process helps ensure that before the installers get underway, all parts arrived in pristine condition. I scheduled a cabinet delivery date with the shipping company and decided to schedule the inspection now. I like to have appointments scheduled as soon as possible so I always know my availability.

At 3:10pm on a weekday, I called my local store and asked customer service for “Alicia” - note: this is not her actual name. The girl responded, “I'm not sure who that is.” It's a big store, so I figured all that was needed was some clarification and explained, “She's in Installation Services.” This rings a bell and the girl remembers who Alicia is. Unfortunately, this is where I remember that it's after 3pm and Alicia doesn't work late afternoons. The girl on the phone wasn't sure anyone else can handle Alicia's duties but offered to check with another department. I was transferred but the person on the other end picked up and promptly hung up.

I called back the next morning, figuring it best to reach Alicia directly. I learned from the last experience and asked specifically for Alicia in Installation Services. The phone is answered, “Installation Services” so I thought I was doing great and I'd reached my destination. However, when I asked for Alicia, the response I got was, “I don't know who that is, ma'am. Can I help you with an installation?” I explained I wanted to set up my cabinet inspection and needed to speak with a woman named Alicia. The rep insisted there was no Alicia and informed me that I may need to call the local store. When I explained that I called the local store and they must have accidentally transferred me, she told me I didn't call the store. I don't like being called a liar.

I decided to try the store one more time. This time, I asked for the kitchen cabinet department. The woman who answered was friendly and understood who Alicia was and how to reach her. Alicia didn't seem to want to talk to me though and fed information through the woman who was on the phone with me.

Anti-Resolution: They'll call me when my cabinets are delivered. They will not schedule an inspection ahead of time.

How I Feel: I don't care that they can't schedule my inspection. I only care that I spent so much time trying to reach Alicia.

Student Loans
My experience with a student loan lender was a little more serious than the home improvement store situtation. I use auto-debit to pay my student loans but still check that payments go through... just in case. After two years of perfect auto-debiting, I noticed that auto-debit no longer was applied to my account. I tried reaching someone by phone but the wait time was unreal so I simply signed back up for auto-debit and waited for confirmation. A month later with no confirmation, I made my payment manually and tried to contact the lender.

The lender phone system is set up so that no one waits on hold. If there is any wait time, they ask to call you back later. If their later offering doesn't work for you, you may select a future time, but that future time must be between the hours of 10am and 4pm. The don't specify which time zone. The day I called, the return call time was too late in the evening, so I waited another day to call back.

Calling again the next day I was thrilled when I was transferred to a live person without a wait. Then I was severely disappointed when the person told me he couldn't help me after just getting my name. I was put back into a queue and then shuffled into the call-back system. This time, I accepted the call-back and waited about 15 minutes. When the phone rang, I was thrilled to get a chance to resolve my issue. The automated system let me know I was next in line and shortly after, a rep answered the phone. I could hear voices and tapping of keys. I said hello several times and was greeted by a click... and a dial tone.

Resolution: I decided it wasn't worth my time to keep calling. I'd just send a check each month and be done with it. Ironically, auto-debit mysteriously appeared back on my account the next day, and along with it, an extra payment was made.

How I Feel: If I could pay off that loan in one lump sum to be done with that lender, I would.

So what am I trying to say here?
I've talked a lot about how lengthy and frustrating these situation were but what matters is not that I didn't receive the expected resolution, it's that no one cared to try to help me. In each of these cases, I could have been told, “I'm sorry but there's nothing I can do for you,” and if that person had made an effort to try to fix the problem, I would have left feeling a heck of lot more satisfied and my image of these companies would have remained positive.

Perhaps there is little incentive to be nice to me. The home improvement store has been a problem in the past so I'm fairly sure I'll use another store next time, and the lender has plagued me in the past so this experience leaves me wanting to never do business with them again. But they know I have no choice. I can't take my student loan elsewhere because it's “private”.