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April 21, 2003
One-Time Courtesy
My ISP at home is Roadrunner (cable). I've been a Roadrunner subscriber since 1998 in two different states, so I'm a pretty loyal customer (I spend about $80 a month on my cable bill). Last night, lightning struck down the block from us and it fried our cable modem -- no matter what I tried, it wouldn't recognize any PC or router I attached to it. So I called Roadrunner tech support.
After humoring the Level 1 tech support girl and trying several things (all of which I had either already tried or knew wouldn't work), she referred me to Level 3 tech support. I usually enjoy talking with L3 support folks quite a bit more than the lower level minions, for at least at L3, they realize I'm not some schmuck with a loose LAN cable. They were out for evening, so I called back again this morning.
The guy doesn't even bother asking me to check stuff -- he just asks whether I want to go pick up a replacement cable modem at the local store or have a tech come to the house. I first asked for a tech to come, and scheduled it for Wednesday morning (2 days from now). Thinking about having to be without net service at home for 2 more nights caused me to ask where the nearest store was -- it turned out to be only 2 miles from my house.
So, I asked the guy to cancel the call, as it was easier for me to go to the store. He replied, "No, just try the swapped out modem they give you and call us back to cancel the visit if it works. If it doesn't, we'll be out Wednesday morning to check things out." He then gave me a job code to give to the person at the store when I swapped out the modem.
I get to the store and walk up to the first (of 4) reps behind the desk to acknowledge me. I give her my phone number and name and she looks my case up on her computer. At this point, here's our conversation:
Rep: "Well, because it appears that you are scheduled to have a tech come out on Wednesday, I can't give you a cable modem here."
Me: "Well, I'm just doing what the level 3 tech told me to do...I have a job number if that would help."
Rep: "Hmm...we're not supposed to give out modems..."
Me: "Let's call the tech I spoke to so we can clear this up."
Rep: "You didn't let me finish. While we're not supposed to give out hardware if there's a visit scheduled, I'll make an exception this once as a one-time courtesy."
OK, let me get this straight. I'm the customer. This rep owes her job to the fact that I pay for her company's services. And she's doing ME a favor?
Moreover, I'm taking time out of my day and saving her company about $150 by not having to send out a tech on Wednesday morning to my house. And she's doing ME the courtesy?
Finally, why is this a "one-time" thing? Does she think I enjoy taking out my Internet connection for a few hours while I shuttle Roadrunner's equipment to its lame little strip-mall store and dealing with surly customer service reps? Am I going to make a habit of this if she doesn't emphasize that this is a "one-time" favor?
Come on, get real. That's just sad. Roadrunner, I hope you're listening. Train your customer service reps these three simple things:
1) They have jobs *only* because customers need help, so if they're not happy about helping customers, they don't need their jobs.
2) Customer time is more valuable than service rep time.
3) Nothing a service rep can do for a customer is a "favor" or a "courtesy" -- if it can be done, it *should* be done, simply in the name of keeping loyal customers happy.
Posted by Craig in Society / Politics