Why confirmation is good

[mousme]

So the little guy I spoke to at Sympatico, hereafter known as The Blithering Idiot, did not in fact put in an order for a new power cord for my modem. I called last night when I decided that the "minimum three business days" had stretched long enough. The new little man, who spoke with a pronounced East Indian accent (Sympatico? Outsourcing to a different continent? Never!) but who was otherwise far more competent, promised me that he would send me one right then. It ought to be here tomorrow, or Monday at latest.

If it's not here on Monday, there will be a complaint. A formal complaint.

The rest of my life proceeds apace. No reason whatsoever to complain. :)

Comments

[owldaughter.livejournal.com]

This is why I now take everyone's name down, and make sure I also note down the time I called. Yeesh.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

I asked for his name three times. I couldn't understand him when he spoke, nore even when he spelled his name for me. After a while I gave up. I thought I knew every trick in the book for customer service, but they keep coming up with new ways to screw up my planning. ;)

Argh.

[owldaughter.livejournal.com]

Argh indeed. I feel your pain.

I wonder if part of it is badly positioned phone headsets.

(Your icon is perfect, btw.)

[mousme.livejournal.com]

The one on the post, or the Two Lumps one? I am fond of both, mind you, though I wish the text on the Firefly one was crisper. My poor photo editing software is inadequate for my iconing needs. ;)

With any luck, by tomorrow I shall be reconnected. :)

[owldaughter.livejournal.com]

The one that ill-wishes the subject to be run over by sanitation engineers. It's just so appropriate.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

I'm fond of that one, myself. It's been among my icons for about three years now. I don't use it as much as I used to, but I do like it. :)

Not very zen of me to wish someone to be squashed by a sanitation truck, but then I've never been especially zen. ;)

[silly-imp.livejournal.com]

I also ask for the ticket number in case I need to follow up.

[gmarc.livejournal.com]

The ticket number is more important than the tech's name.

MLG

[silly-imp.livejournal.com]

oh. And if you do need to call again. Skip the customer service guy and ask to speak to the supervisor right away. In my dealings with sympatico it seems to actually work, and perhaps be the only way to get movememnt...

having worked at bell...

[ulvain.livejournal.com]

... i can tell you that chances are you need on average 4 calls, 8 or 9 people (1 to 4 transfers per call), a lot of fuss and a good amount of luck for your problem to be fixed. And the formal complaints have absolutely no effects whatsoever, unfortunately...

You might have more luck in an Espace Bell store, bringing your modem in person. But "might" is the key-word, here...

[blackbuffet.livejournal.com]

Ask for a supervisor the minute you make your next call. As he most likely must avoid this eventuality at all costs, this will get him more alert quickly. You might want to try name and employee number for future reference. Last but not least, you should demand a credit for not having been able to use your service because of The Blithering Idiot... I don't promise it will work, but they will most likely get your order in correctly if you have to call back on Monday.

[owldaughter.livejournal.com]

This is good to know.

[owldaughter.livejournal.com]

Bah. This was supposed to be a reply to gmarc's statement about the ticket number being more important than the name of the tech.

Stupid LJ.

[toughlovemuse.livejournal.com]

In any case, since it's Bell, I've been told by an insider that they should have a record in her file of when she called and which technician handled the call.

[terheyt.livejournal.com]

Only if the agent isn't in a rush, and feels like leaving one. It's "procedure" to leave one, but we don't actually lose any marks on our quality score, or any bonus for not leaving one.

[toughlovemuse.livejournal.com]

Yeesh. No wonder they have terrible customer service. There's no incentive to leave a record of the call then. Quite the opposite.

[terheyt.livejournal.com]

My "favorite" part of the job? The fact that our quality score, out of 100, only has 5 points for actually helping the client, and 15 points for saying, in sequence "Is there anything else I can do for you? Are you satisfied with the service I've been able to offer you? If you need any more help, please log on to Bell.ca." There are NO points for getting a yes to the second question, or even waiting for an answer at all. If the call has gone long, we are ENCOURAGED to interrupt and talk over the client. Just as long as we say the right sentences.

I hate my job.

[terheyt.livejournal.com]

As someone working in a Bell call center currently (for ExpressVu, but same procedures apply), I can promise that the call center IS in Canada. It's just that the working conditions are so shitty that the majority of people who stay in the job are immigrants with thick accents who ar generally afraid of their chances to get something better, or that pays as well. (Broad generalisations here, with all the faults commonly associated with such, YMMV)

The second thing is that asking for a supervisor doesn't do shit. The supervisors don't have any extra powers that the agents don't have, you won't get any agent in trouble for asking (in fact, it gives the agent a chance to loaf while the supervisor is on their phone), and it means that you will have to explain the case again, just to be told "okay, I understand. I'm going to give you back to the agent now." Even if they don't say that, the supervisor will put you on hold, tell the agent to handle it so that they get you off the phone the fastest, and walk away.

The second best thing to do is to keep calling back until you have and agent on the phone who wants to help you. Then keep asking "What can you do for me?" In our shipping departments, after something has been sent out, we keep the tracking number on file. It's not in YOUR file, but if you can convince an agent to call "tech 3" (aka shipping) up, they should be able to get you a tracking number for the courier service (and doublecheck that it was sent in the first place).

The best, of course, is to leave Bell for a company that actually understands that customer service should involve HELPING the clients. Good luck.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

I worked for Bell Mobility for nearly two years, so I know this. But thanks for the input. :)