Hey DirecTV, SUCK IT!
I am fed up with bad customer service, and DirecTV is just the tip of the iceberg. I am completely and TOTALLY disheartened with my backseat, bastard-step-child (no offense to bastard step children all over the world) status I've been given by companies who advertise one thing and deliver another.
From impossible rebates to customer service phone systems who route you through endless menus and "enter your account number" prompts, only to land you with someone who STILL doesn't have a clue who you are or why you are here - or better yet, you hear a CLICK and realize that, after twenty minutes of holding, you have been dumped... I've freakin' HAD IT.
And that whole thing was one sentence. I must REALLY be mad!
I just want ONE customer service rep who cares about my plight. ONE! I want someone to remember that the customer is, within reason, always right. When you charge 3,600 EXTRA DOLLARS to my American Express card within 3 months because your right hand doesn't know your left hand is picking my pocket, (Direc-freakin'-TV) I want something free, something reduced, or for my ass to be kissed. AT LEAST A LITTLE. Don't tell me it's NOT YOUR F__KING PROBLEM.
And hey, (insert big electronics box store here), don't be so bold as to CHARGE me for an EXTENDED WARRANTY on something that should work flawlessly for YEARS. Either sell a decent product or GET OUT OF THE BUSINESS! Don't insult me by saying "for an extra 100 dollars, you can have the peace of mind that your equipment will work for 24 months." THAT, my friends, is BULLSHIT. And if you buy those extended warranties, you will only enable them to continue pillaging the customer base, which I probably don't need to remind you... is YOU.
Give me service, like Mr. Polly at the shoe store in the town where I grew up. I want a bank that doesn't have a policy of "checks clear at noon, but deposits clear at 2." Give me the small drug store again. The small movie theater. The little cafe on the corner with the platter-sized chicken fried steak.
Or, at least, make me feel like you WANT my business. Is that too much to ask???
end rant
11 comments:
Yes, it is too much to ask. For a massive corporation, the customer as an individual is irrelevant. Most of them have tapped into the large swath of Americans who have a particularly weak grasp on the value of their money and will accept almost anything they are given if it means they can still feel good about themselves. You, as someone who expects your money to hold a certain value, are nothing but troublesome.
I always find it depressing to read about those corporate barons in the turn of the 20th century. History pretty much acknowledges that they were inherently dumb, if not evil -- paying their workers as little as possible and subjecting them to cruel and deadly conditions -- yet, often you'll find that those people had a greater sense of social responsibility than anyone at Wal-Mart.
I am a fanatic about customer service. I will bitch and rant until I get what I want and when I want it for the price I want it. On the flip side, I make it a point to personally say something to a manager if an employee did an exemplory job.
However, screw with me and you're dead meat. I give companies 1 chance to fix what they've done and then I go over their head. I think one of my favorite lines is...
"is your last name Direct TV? If not, I don't want to talk to you"
Each state has a government site that you can find the CEO, COO, and CFO of any business... I look it up and call them. If they don't return my phone call I leave a message saying I'm going to call the BBB with their 'personal' name as well as their company and file a discrimination complaint. They call back in a heartbeat... anything to avoid a discrimination complaint. When he asks what the discrimination is tell him that's not the point and you aren't going to deal with petty issues like that unless you have to, you just want someone to FIX this issue for you. They'll bend over freakin backwards...
sorry so long winded.
::smooches::
Mara
.... yeah... I'm hell on wheels.
ABSOLUTELY! I hear you and I completely agree!
I have had my fair share of trying to get rebates with them returning postcards saying I am not eligible, only to prove them wrong. But, what a hassle.
I never buy those extended warranties, they are a scam!
You CRACK that whip, boy. I love it. Give 'em hell. This is why I made a promise to support small businesses. Which, except for Starbucks, I do.
Wow. Great post and great comment by Chris. We definitely need a Progressive movement like the turn of the century to get our country and our corporations back in order. I wonder....
Excellent point made, Dave. It's just so disheartening to have to deal with not only uncaring individuals at customer service, but also incompetency! I feel like saying sometimes, "Look, you can either be dumber than a box of nails or you can be a nasty bitch (bastard), but you can't have both. Pick one so I know which direction to pull you across the desk."
I just said to Ed yesterday as we were out shopping - I'm so tired of malls and department stores. I just want to go out of my way to patronize the smaller specialty shops like it used to be in the old days. Back then, if you wanted music, you went to the music store (i.e. Ray's Record World, etc) If you wanted a dress, you went to the dress shop; you needed a hammer you went to a hardware store. And you were treated kindly ... sometimes, by people you actually knew!
Excellent. I'm glad you ranted about these things. I absolutely loathe the way these companies these days act as if they are doing you a favor by providing follow up services. I belonged to a bank and one day deposited money via the Mac machine into my account. Well, somehow the Mac machine deposited my money into someone else's account. I phoned the bank's customer service and they (this still burns me up) told me that there was nothing they could do until they found out which account it had been deposited to. Meanwhile I had checks out all over that were bouncing. When I told the customer service rep I wanted my money "NOW" he said that legally they had three weeks to give me my money! No apologies at all. I told him that legally he may have had the right to do that but it was very poor custmor relations. I also added a few choice swear words. When I closed my accounts at that bank they had the nerve to ask me why.
Mara (water pixie) has excellent idea: "discrimination complaint." Hoo boy, am I ever going to use that one when next I am screwed over by an out-sourcer.
I've worked in customer service in one function or another every year since the day I started working. The most I got paid for a customer service job was $13/hr and the least was $2/hr. Companies don't value service it shows in how much they pay their reps. I managed customer service people for 12yrs. I always paid them as much as I could and was always as nice as possible and they always after being crapped on, or taken advantage of by some arrogant customer one too many times, quit to do something that generated some respect. Being a servant has never equaled respect. It takes more humility, self discipline, and self respect than most people have to be successful at it. I, for one, recognize great service wherever I find it. I often make the employee go and get their manager so that I can talk about their great service in front of them. For the most part, if the service is bad, I don't do business there unless I have to. Best Buy has long been on the list of businesses to be avoided.
RCS
Dave...thanks for the compliment, but I must tell you that the only reason I gave you such great service is because I knew you had a huge crush on my Daughter, and wanted her to hook up with a famous Warsaw radio guy.
By the way--your feet REALLY stunk!
Ken Polly
Ever seen Evil Dead? Perhaps the not so nice folks at DirectTV need to meet your Boom Stick (tm)?
"Shop Smart. Shop S-mart."
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