Customer Service in Other Languages
It's situations like these that make me decide to cut off contact. This morning we went down to the local Kolbi office because starting about two weeks ago our internet and television decided to start cutting in and out, off and on all day long. I didn't call because I could not find any information on their customer service among my contract paperwork.
So we drove down to the nearest office. We get there and find that the same guy we've been dealing with in the past is there, one of three regular customer service agents. He happens to be the only asshole of the bunch, so of course he is the only one working. It is always the assholes that are consistantly on the job. Like a Tico Patty and Selma from 'The Simpsons' being as difficult as possible every time we're there.
Today was no different. This time he refused to help us because we had not brought our copy of our service contract with us. So he refused to look up the account number, which I know he can do because he's done it before. We've only been in there five times over the last year, so I know he could have looked it up. We just wanted to put in a service request, he wrote down the service number and sent us on our way.
I kept trying to explain to him as long as our internet was spotty making the phone call from the house would be nigh on impossible since we get very crappy cell phone reception at the house and must run it through the internet to get any reception. He didn't care.
So home we went. I called, got through quickly, but immediately hit a snag when the person I was talking to insisted I provide a certain number off the contract that was different than what the guy at the shop was demanding. The problem with providing this number is that our original contract is one of the documents that got waterlogged when I was in the hospital, the ink is faint and hard to read. I ended up having to get a magnifying glass to read it, and go back and forth between the only spot in the yard I can get cell phone service and the router.
Transferred four times in total. Each time asked for that certain number which kept changing, the account name, our incorporation name and other info with nothing done, no appointment made and no help before being transferred. Started getting majorly annoyed when on transfer number three I asked the man if he spoke English instead of trying to negociate this in Spanish. He made a huge loud dramatic sigh before answering in English.
I didn't appreciate the attitude for a couple of reasons. First, I had pressed the number for help in English when joining the queue, and secondly I do not try to negociate important things in Spanish. Ordering fried chicken down at the Pollolandia, or buying groceries? Spanish all the way. Chatting to locals? My horrible pigeon Spanish. Dealing with peddlers? Spanish. Talking to the lawyer? English. Dealing with buying a CD at the bank? English. Trying to set up a repair from a big company? English. If it's relatively important and the company offers the English option I'll use it. If not Jim translates.
Fortunately I finally got someone on transfer four that didn't act like I was annoying them in some way by merely calling. The man was helpful, polite, in an old fashioned courtly way. He even had patience with me while I kept trudging back and forth between the router and the one functioning spot for the cell. He was able to determine that the router is failing. It's equipment failure. I have a spare router and replaced it myself this evening, but he scheduled a service call. I am not holding my breath. The last time I had to wait for them to come out it was several weeks.
And I thought Comcast was awful in the States. Makes me miss being a Cable Tica customer. They were quick and never did this run around when you called or stopped by the office.
I've got to admit I do not get why some folks seem to get their jollies tormenting others like this, playing the transfer around game, not dealing with problems or taking any responsibility. I just know that I have no liking for that. Do your job, do it right the first time and stop trying to pass the buck. There's no reason the first guy shouldn't have been able to put in a service request.
The last guy I spoke with gave me the online addy for service requests so that I don't have to deal with the indifferent queue or the guy at the local office. If I had that before I could have taken the cell out to the road, accessed the internet there and put in the request.
Difficult people suck and are just not worth the energy.
After we went to a new Tico soda and I had real Chop Suey. I didn't hold out much hope it would be decent, but damn, it was one of the best meals I have had all month. We picked up a go menu and found out from the smiling helpful ladies working there that they deliver all the way to our house. Good to have some other options for those sick days when cooking is beyond you that do not involve having to leave the house.
So we drove down to the nearest office. We get there and find that the same guy we've been dealing with in the past is there, one of three regular customer service agents. He happens to be the only asshole of the bunch, so of course he is the only one working. It is always the assholes that are consistantly on the job. Like a Tico Patty and Selma from 'The Simpsons' being as difficult as possible every time we're there.
Today was no different. This time he refused to help us because we had not brought our copy of our service contract with us. So he refused to look up the account number, which I know he can do because he's done it before. We've only been in there five times over the last year, so I know he could have looked it up. We just wanted to put in a service request, he wrote down the service number and sent us on our way.
I kept trying to explain to him as long as our internet was spotty making the phone call from the house would be nigh on impossible since we get very crappy cell phone reception at the house and must run it through the internet to get any reception. He didn't care.
So home we went. I called, got through quickly, but immediately hit a snag when the person I was talking to insisted I provide a certain number off the contract that was different than what the guy at the shop was demanding. The problem with providing this number is that our original contract is one of the documents that got waterlogged when I was in the hospital, the ink is faint and hard to read. I ended up having to get a magnifying glass to read it, and go back and forth between the only spot in the yard I can get cell phone service and the router.
Transferred four times in total. Each time asked for that certain number which kept changing, the account name, our incorporation name and other info with nothing done, no appointment made and no help before being transferred. Started getting majorly annoyed when on transfer number three I asked the man if he spoke English instead of trying to negociate this in Spanish. He made a huge loud dramatic sigh before answering in English.
I didn't appreciate the attitude for a couple of reasons. First, I had pressed the number for help in English when joining the queue, and secondly I do not try to negociate important things in Spanish. Ordering fried chicken down at the Pollolandia, or buying groceries? Spanish all the way. Chatting to locals? My horrible pigeon Spanish. Dealing with peddlers? Spanish. Talking to the lawyer? English. Dealing with buying a CD at the bank? English. Trying to set up a repair from a big company? English. If it's relatively important and the company offers the English option I'll use it. If not Jim translates.
Fortunately I finally got someone on transfer four that didn't act like I was annoying them in some way by merely calling. The man was helpful, polite, in an old fashioned courtly way. He even had patience with me while I kept trudging back and forth between the router and the one functioning spot for the cell. He was able to determine that the router is failing. It's equipment failure. I have a spare router and replaced it myself this evening, but he scheduled a service call. I am not holding my breath. The last time I had to wait for them to come out it was several weeks.
And I thought Comcast was awful in the States. Makes me miss being a Cable Tica customer. They were quick and never did this run around when you called or stopped by the office.
I've got to admit I do not get why some folks seem to get their jollies tormenting others like this, playing the transfer around game, not dealing with problems or taking any responsibility. I just know that I have no liking for that. Do your job, do it right the first time and stop trying to pass the buck. There's no reason the first guy shouldn't have been able to put in a service request.
The last guy I spoke with gave me the online addy for service requests so that I don't have to deal with the indifferent queue or the guy at the local office. If I had that before I could have taken the cell out to the road, accessed the internet there and put in the request.
Difficult people suck and are just not worth the energy.
After we went to a new Tico soda and I had real Chop Suey. I didn't hold out much hope it would be decent, but damn, it was one of the best meals I have had all month. We picked up a go menu and found out from the smiling helpful ladies working there that they deliver all the way to our house. Good to have some other options for those sick days when cooking is beyond you that do not involve having to leave the house.
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