Customer support: Love it or hate it?

Started by -Jared- May 12th, 2014 1:51 PM
  • 750 views
  • 11 replies

-Jared-

Certified Responsible Adult

Age 31
Male
Northern California
Seen June 16th, 2022
Posted June 14th, 2014
1,817 posts
14.2 Years
Inspired by my recent call to AT&T. :P

So at some point in our lives most of us will have to call technical or customer support at some time to try and resolve a problem we are having. Be it with internet or phone service, or an object you bought broke as soon as you tightened that last screw, it is almost never an exciting prospect to try and call them up. Sometimes it goes relatively smoothly, and sometimes you want to reach through the phone and strangle them.

How do you guys usually handle these kinds of calls? Do you have any particular horror stories, or on the other hand, any particular happy endings?

Oryx

CoquettishCat

Age 30
Female
Seen January 30th, 2015
Posted December 27th, 2014
13,184 posts
12.2 Years
I have a terrible story of in-person bad CS that makes me a little bristly when people scold those who get angry at CS representatives.

I was in Philadelphia, heading to San Diego, when my flight got delayed enough that I was going to miss my connection. This meant that I could either fly to Las Vegas and sleep in the terminal there overnight, or stay in Philadelphia, go home and sleep in my bed overnight and take a flight in the morning. I opted to go home and asked for my checked bags back; I was told there was nothing they could do and all my things would be sent ahead of me, held in San Diego, and I couldn't have them back. I started crying because I needed some of those things but believed them when they told me there was nothing they could do and left, calling my mom to let her know what happened. She insisted I get back in line and give the phone to the attendant, and proceeded to scream. A few minutes later, they suddenly gained the ability to get my bags off of the plane! And then they dropped one in the terminal and had to search for it, validating the mistrust my mother had in letting them hold the bags in San Diego to begin with.

So, while I am by default nice to representatives, I can see the need for nastiness in some limited situations. Normally my family has pretty good CS though; for example, AT&T often discounts our bill because we've been a customer for over a decade now and we point that out when they try to add some extra fee and they agree that we're loyal customers and take the fee off.


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Age 29
Seen November 5th, 2017
Posted November 5th, 2017
3,499 posts
14.9 Years
I work in customer support, and I try my best. Thankfully it's only for Nike, and nothing important, like an airline as mentioned above.

There are many policies which are not helpful at all to the customer. I have taken quite a few calls where I had to give an answer that I knew was completely unfair, but I have no other choice. You are speaking to another human being that is just doing their job, and probably have no love for the company they are working for. I understand when you're frustrated and most of the time agree with you. I have barely ever seen a colleague in the wrong, and we definitely get far more abuse then deserved.


Personally I avoid calling customer service just because I'd rather not chat with a stranger for no good reason; fortunately haven't been in a situation where it was necessary, only ever making the rare call to the bank.

Raine

Age 29
Female
Ontario, Canada
Seen December 16th, 2017
Posted October 5th, 2017
3,722 posts
9.3 Years
Does it have to be technology related? Either way, I've always tried to avoid having to contact customer support through email or the phone; especially the latter because I've grown to hate talking on the phone ;; I'd rather be talking to a automated machine than an actual person XD Most of the time though, I try to find solutions to my problems on my own since I'm sure other people have encountered the same problems so I normally search online.
Seen January 1st, 2023
Posted March 23rd, 2022
3,316 posts
9.2 Years
I've never had that much of a problem and tbh I kind of love it. One of my least favorite things is trying to figure something out and I'm sent to an automated machine. I WANT A LIVE HUMAN. Lol I always end up laughing with my customer support person because I'm just a silly person when I can't figure something out. I'm always pretty nice to people at jobs like that because I can imagine how much it sucks dealing with angry people and I feel like a lot of people don't respond well to anger anyway and I just want my problem fixed and over with. This has only been probably a handful of times though. I usually search when I can't figure something out.

Nick

Seen 4 Weeks Ago
Posted July 28th, 2021
17,572 posts
18.6 Years
I haven't had much problems with customer support. There are those employees who give me that "♥♥♥♥ing ♥♥♥♥♥. What's up her ass?" feeling every now and then, but I just dismiss it as a hard day of work and wanting to go home. I know what that's like, so I don't really hold it against them.

Shining Raichu

Expect me like you expect Jesus.

Age 32
Male
Australia
Seen October 17th, 2020
Posted December 21st, 2017
8,958 posts
12.3 Years
I've had one customer support experience and it was good. I called Foxtel (Australian cable company) and used their help to set up my box and it took like 10 minutes.
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Kotone

someone needed a doctor?

Female
somewhere ;]
Seen June 29th, 2018
Posted June 14th, 2018
2,787 posts
14.1 Years
i haven't had any bad experiences because i usually get my parents to call if something is wrong with something. yesterday my dad had to call apple because my phone completely wiped. they weren't very helpful :(

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Raine

Age 29
Female
Ontario, Canada
Seen December 16th, 2017
Posted October 5th, 2017
3,722 posts
9.3 Years
i haven't had any bad experiences because i usually get my parents to call if something is wrong with something. yesterday my dad had to call apple because my phone completely wiped. they weren't very helpful :(
Hm, Apple has always been pretty good in the customer service department \: I've never experienced their technical support through the phone, but going into the actual store actually helps. I've always had issues with my cords for some reason so I've returned numerous times to get replacements, and each of them have been generally positive.

Oryx

CoquettishCat

Age 30
Female
Seen January 30th, 2015
Posted December 27th, 2014
13,184 posts
12.2 Years
Hm, Apple has always been pretty good in the customer service department \: I've never experienced their technical support through the phone, but going into the actual store actually helps. I've always had issues with my cords for some reason so I've returned numerous times to get replacements, and each of them have been generally positive.
I definitely think in all instances, to get the best help, being in store is better than calling and calling is better than emailing. Today I was trying to get a loan so I called my bank's hotline, and they put me on hold for 20 minutes waiting for a loan officer. Eventually they said "we can't find one, we'll call you back when one is available!" No call back, ever. I went directly to a bank branch today and they put in the loan request right before my eyes and I was able to explain exactly why my request was special and needed extenuating circumstances to someone who was sympathetic.


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Varies
Seen October 3rd, 2014
Posted October 2nd, 2014
41 posts
9.2 Years
I used to work in a corporate computer repair shop where I was more or less the last line of defense before calling the manufacturer for warranty support. In particular, I ended up calling Lenovo multiple times a week for replacement parts. It eventually got to the point where they stopped asking me their scripted troubleshooting questions and just sent me the parts I asked for as I asked for them, only stopping to confirm my address and contact info were still the same. I suspect someone put a note in their system "if this guy calls from this company, just do what he says; he knows his stuff".