Customer service needs some refactoring



  • In order to log on to my employer's website today to sign up for benefits, I had to use a PIN, which had supposedly been mailed to me at some point. (I may have round-filed it without realizing, as they like to mail out all sorts of useless crap. Yes, actual physical mail.) Lacking said PIN, I had to call in to the dedicated support line. (Yes, to talk to an actual live service rep.) It took me a couple days to actually get through. It probably could have been sooner, but I get bored and/or impatient with war-dialing.

    Total time spent on the phone: 27 minutes, 55 seconds.
    Total time spent actually speaking to a rep: about 45 seconds, non-consecutively, with three or four minutes on hold in between.

    After providing some information to identify and authenticate myself to the rep, I retrieved my PIN, with which I was finally able to log on to the website. The website asks me to confirm various information, including all of what I had to provide to the rep to get my PIN. WhyTF was this not simply an automated web form in the first place?

    Bonus: it's a one-time PIN; I will never need it again.



  • @Kittemon said:

     

    Total time spent on the phone: 27 minutes, 55 seconds.
    Total time spent actually speaking to a rep: about 45 seconds, non-consecutively, with three or four minutes on hold in between.

    If you know how M/M/c queuing systems work, this isn't surprising. Your employer probably didn't want to spend a decent amount of money on support since it generally isn't profitable. Therefore the utilization of the support system is probably very close to or above 1. The average waiting time increases exponentially the closer utilization gets to 1 (it diverges for utilization >= 1). When utilization is greater than 0.9, the average waiting time is usually much greater than the average service time. Doesn't change the WTFery of your situation, but now you know why.



  • Whenever I have to call my telephone or electricity providers, I first have to go through an automated menu. After making a few choices it asks me to enter my account number or some such info. After doing that, it transfers me to an actual person - who immediately asks for the same info. WTF? So what was the point of asking the first time? Bonus, sometimes that person will then transfer me to another person who will ask for it again!



  • They want to prevent session hijacking.



  • In two troubleshooting sessions with Asus for the trackpad on my laptop/notebook/netbook computer, we went through many steps to try to solve my problem. In the end, they decided to allow me to RMA it to either get it fixed or replaced. Both times, the rep entered a shiteload of information into their computers regarding a detailed description of my problem and the troubleshooting we went through to try to solve it.

    The instructions for the RMA have me print out a PDF form and fill it out with detailed description of the problem and any troubleshooting done to try to resolve it.

    Further, they ask for me to include a letter with the laptop/noteboook/netbook with detailed description of the problem and any troubleshooting done to try to resolve it and include it with the RMA form.

     



  • @lolwtf said:

    Whenever I have to call my telephone or electricity providers, I first have to go through an automated menu. After making a few choices it asks me to enter my account number or some such info. After doing that, it transfers me to an actual person - who immediately asks for the same info. WTF? So what was the point of asking the first time? Bonus, sometimes that person will then transfer me to another person who will ask for it again!
     

    Yup.  My personal favorite is when I'm on the phone with Verizon Frontier and they ask for my phone number.  That evokes a special tone of sarcasm and contempt from me that I usually reserve only for politicians and iDiots.  "You mean to tell me that you're the phone company and you do not have Caller ID?"



  • @Mason Wheeler said:

    Yup.  My personal favorite is when I'm on the phone with Verizon Frontier and they ask for my phone number.  That evokes a special tone of sarcasm and contempt from me that I usually reserve only for politicians and iDiots.  "You mean to tell me that you're the phone company and you do not have Caller ID?"
     

    Because people ONLY ever call customer support from their home phone. Dingbat.

     



  • @Mason Wheeler said:

    My personal favorite is when I'm on the phone with Verizon Frontier and they ask for my phone number.  That evokes a special tone of sarcasm and contempt from me that I usually reserve only for politicians and iDiots.  "You mean to tell me that you're the phone company and you do not have Caller ID?"
     

    That goes back to the days when you'd have to use the neighbor's phone to call the phone company because yours was out of order.  Not a WTF at all.



  • Mason: Yes, phone company? My phone isn't working.

    Company: Can you tell me what your phone number is?

    Mason: It's this one, you idiot!

    Company: You're calling me from a phone number that doesn't work?

    Mason: ... Nevermind I figured it out.



  • @Sutherlands said:

    Mason: Yes, phone company? My phone isn't working.

    Company: Can you tell me what your phone number is?

    Mason: It's this one, you idiot!

    Company: You're calling me from a phone number that doesn't work?

    Mason: ... Nevermind I figured it out.

     

    OK, a bit of context would help:  These phone calls are usually about problems on my DSL, which shares the phone line but tends to fail independently of standard phone service.

     



  • @Mason Wheeler said:

    Yup.  My personal favorite is when I'm on the phone with Verizon Frontier and they ask for my phone number.  That evokes a special tone of sarcasm and contempt from me that I usually reserve only for politicians and iDiots.  "You mean to tell me that you're the phone company and you do not have Caller ID?"

     

    When I was an EMS dispatcher, every single telephone call requesting service meant asking for address and telephone number, and they needed to be able to give it.  Even if it was a nursing home we spoke to every day, we always requested the address and telephone number.  Eliminates confusion and assumptions that lead to further problems, especially when nursing homes or clinics had names that were similar to other locations.

    No Verizon/Frontier is not on the same level as emergency services, but it only adds a few seconds to a call, so why not?  And yes, we had caller ID too, but fairly often the number was a trunk line that was not the primary number into the location.

     


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