return of circuit sh*tty

Well, wouldn't you know that only a day or so after my telephone call to Circuit City, they finally decide to send me an automated email response that they received my request and will be mailing me a copy of the requested receipt within 5 to 7 business days. LOL. So now I guess I will be receiving two copies.

This is what is funny about crappy customer service from big corporations. They try to save money by having crappy customer service, but in the end they cost themselves twice as much. Because they waited so long to respond (or to have their website running properly in the first place), they have to pay two separate employees to process my request (once online and one over the phone), and then they are going to pay for postage and shipping for two copies of my receipt instead of one.

Sure, "what's an extra first class stamp and an envelope to a mega-company like Circuit City?" you may be asking yourself. However, you need to consider that I am only one customer out of millions who may have experienced this same problem. It is common sense that customers will call for telephone support when their email request isn't answered in a timely manner.

On the bright side, companies without the common sense to operate their customer support in a professional and timely manner are inevitably shooting themselves in the foot. They won't last forever.

circuit sh*tty

I'm on hold, again. I had to telephone Circuit City to try and get a copy of an old online purchase receipt. Of course, there's an option to do this via their website, but it doesn't work. You click on the "reprint receipt" button and it throws back an error at you. I used their "email us" link about a week ago, and never received a response. So, I had to call them for it. Now I get to wait 7-10 business days to receive a copy in the mail. Or, possibly receive a copy quicker by fax. Either way, they won't give an ETA over the phone.

Why am I asking for a copy of a receipt? Because I have a crappy Olympus SP-320 digital camera that has been giving me all kinds of memory card problems. It started off by occasionally trying to force me to reformat the card when I had pictures on it. Then at some point, it rendered a 1Gb XD card useless. Regardless of what I do, or what kind of card reader I put it in, the card no longer works. So, I'm trying to send it back in to Olympus and of course they need a copy of the receipt. Apparently, it is not enough that I registered the product when I bought it about a year ago. (Why bother registering at all?) Normally, we keep all of our receipts, but somehow this one has disappeared.

My experience with the Circuit City customer service specialist was typical. Monotone , talking a bit too fast, perhaps on an IP phone with a slight touch of an Indian accent, fumbling for the word "receipt" for about five seconds; Placing me on hold to verify my "request" a couple of times. Apologizing that the website didn't work for me, and informing me that they are aware of the problem. (So fix it! Why would a huge chain like Circuit City allow a function like this to go broken for over a week? Aahhh...because it is a post-sale function.)

A good friend of mine used to work at Circuit City. I had to hide my electronics purchases from him, because he would have preferred that I go through him. I never had the heart to tell him that I felt like Circuit City's service was sub-par when compared to stores like Best Buy. My friend may have been the exception, but he didn't work there forever, so even if I had purchased more items from him, I wouldn't be dealing with him if I had any post-sale problems, like warranty or repair work.

So now I have my request submitted, and I have a call reference number (as if that is going to help). Let's just hope that I can get the copy of my receipt and send in the faulty camera before the one year warranty runs out.

"limited" lifetime warranty

So what exactly does this statement mean, when attached to a consumer good or appliance? In some cases, they go into details in super-fine text beneath this statement, but in other cases they leave it vague. Isn't this a little like making blanketed statements like, "voted best in our class by consumers". Which of your consumers would those be exactly? The ones getting employee discounts, or their relatives?

The event that triggered this little mental anecdote was when my bedroom ceiling fan quit working. Realizing that it was a Hunter fan, and that all Hunter fans come with a "limited" lifetime warranty, I have contacted Hunter via their website to find out if it is covered by their warranty or not. Unfortunately, it has been a week now and still no response. I'm a little disappointed, but I am guessing that Hunter may be one of those companies that has yet to step up to internet customer service standards. In fact, I didn't even receive an auto-response to indicate that they received my support request. I was impressed, however, with the fact that they have downloadable PDF files for the installation manuals and parts lists for their different fan models online. Now if they would just respond to me. It is shame because we have bought numerous Hunter fans over the years, but had never had a problem with any of them until now.

phone company billing

Why is it that the phone company is incapable of billing people correctly? Was there some ancient memo sent out back in the "Bell" days that stated that no baby bell could bill their customer properly? It doesn't matter which phone company you are referring to - every Baby Bell that we've had service with manages to screw up our phone bill - EVEN when I worked for one of them.

Some are worse than others. Some only mess things up when you go to make a change. With others, the only thing you can rely on is your bill unexplainedly changing each month. Calling them seems to be hit or miss. Sometimes you get a customer service person that is knowledgeable and helpful - at other times you get a moron. Why is it that companies that are so large refuse to hire decent help at respectable pay rates? I suspect that many of them are subcontracting their customer service to companies paying minimum wage and no benefits. What else could explain the fact that so many of their customer service people just don't seem to care?

captcha scrapped

Not too long ago, I posted a quick rant about why I don't like captcha technology. It's one of those necessary evils that, although often necessary to protect the interests (and privacy) of web users and websites, can sometimes be a bit bludgeoning. In fact, I recently ranted a bit about it on the PayPerPost forums, as I didn't like the fact that I had to enter a captcha image every single time I went to log in to their system. I can understand needing one for brand new accounts, but at every login seemed like overkill to me.

Much to my surprise, I went to login today and found the captcha image requirement gone. Could it be that my suggestion (or my blog rant) was actually taken to heart? I commend PayPerPost if this is the case. It's not everyday that a web company listens so closely to its customers, but PayPerPost has been pretty quick to respond to its devoted "Posties", which probably explains why we have devotion to them in the first place.

Thanks, PayPerPost!

PS - This is *not* a paid post.

public land trust?

I'm getting a little frustrated, as I contacted the Trust for Public Land organization several weeks ago, trying to find a contact for my area, and have yet to receive a response. I am starting to believe that some of these supposed "green-friendly" not for profit organizations are not all that their websites describe them to be. Here I am, a concerned citizen asking for some advice, or in this case, a mere contact name and number for someone who can answer some questions, and I get zero response. Maybe it's the non-profit nature of the beast. Maybe they didn't get enough "donations" this year to have any sort of concentrated customer support.

In the meantime, I have a number of fellow citizens who are looking to discuss the means to which we could start identifying lands in town that need to be preserved for green space, parklands, and natural areas. And I don't kow what to say or where to begin! Maybe I need to find some other not for profit organization to send my request to. It's a shame, though, because the literature available at their website seemed so promising. They advertised their service as a way to walk people through the necessary steps involved for "greenprinting" and following up with a solid strategy.

Maybe I should try contacting them again...send it to another email address or something. Or maybe I should try another organization, or both!

Oh, maybe it's just the holidays and nobody has any time.

customer service is dead

I am often tempted to ask Wal-Mart employees if they really support the "we can help" philosophy that Mr. Walton tries to portray. Is their icon really a smiley face? Or perhaps I should just ask if somebody died. I can't say how many times I have actually had a Wal-Mart cashier say "hello" to me when checking out my groceries, but I would imagine that I could count these rare occasions on my fingers, of my right hand, the fingers with rings on them.

I've worked retail before, and I know that being "chipper" for every customer is something that only the brainwashed can handle day in and day out, but I never had a problem with being courteous. When I worked at a grocery store as a teenager, we always addressed customers with the basics:

1) Hello. How are you doing today?
2) Did you find everything you were looking for?
3) Paper or plastic?
4) Thank you. Have a nice day.

Granted, the third one is pretty much dead in our plastic-soaked universe, but the others are common courtesy. At the least, it would be nice to be acknowledged with a simple "hi" or "hello" when I get my turn to pay. Most times, all I get from the cashier is the grand total, and even that is being nixed, what with the automated credit card option. I'm sure that Wal-Mart employees get pretty disgusted with their jobs, and at times don't feel like putting on a smile, but it could be worse - they could be unemployed.

Now it may seem as though I am picking on Wal-Mart employees, but I am more than happy to share the love. Even the cashiers of the "family owned" grocery store near our home are rude. They are usually young, chatty teenagers - the type who shoot each other silent glances as you walk up to their checkout stand as if they have something nasty to say about you once you're out the door. Sometimes, they carry on a conversation with their coworkers at the same time they are checking us out. Multitasking at its finest (but saying "hello" to the customer was one task too many). Ironically, the store advertises itself as "more than just a grocery store, but a social center" for the town. I guess it is a good place to run into neighbors, but don't plan on getting more than two snotty words out of the employees - "anything else?"

I know I'm not the first person to have said this, but customer service really sucks nowadays. Some may blame it on the fact that employees are under so much stress, or that we live in tumultuous times, but I'm leaning more towards placing blame on the employers. When all the owners care about is money, and their managers are jerks, those reporting to them are certain to be lacking in morale. And you know what they say - it all rolls downhill.