Why is customer support so important?

[80watts]

When companies (big and small time companies) claim to have customer support. Most in my opinion have very bad customer support. These include phone companies and cable companies. And the big box stores. (yup serious time on phone or computer, just to get something they already should have thought of to improve customer relationship). Instead to save money they put you on automatic systems which don't give you a category of what you need, therefore you have to jump through the cache to get a human operator on the phone.... Fucking frustrating..... isn't it...
At one time in home depot you could put in the dimensions of the cabinet you wanted and you would get the choice of cabinets that you could chose from. Unfortunately it is not so anymore. The search gives you the deals of the week instead, then a list of cabinets that is their mainstay push sellers. Not the cabinet size you want. Part of the problem is when the initial shit head who inputs the data into their website is a fucken moron. If I'm looking for X (height), Y (width) and Z (depth), then I should get something in that ball park for a wall cabinet. Maybe the problem is the format that is needed for Instagram, Facebook, and other social media have to shift the programing a bit so that the companies website could use the social media; which really fucks up the companies website search engine.
And the thing about these companies it is hard to tell them that their website search engine is shit, because they use social media to connect them to customer support, or want you to text or email them. Giving them your personal info.
You see the problem here.... I don't want the company to have access to my information; the catch 22 is that without that information the company won't take you complaint seriously, even though it would help them with customer service.
The sad part is because the home depot search sucks, it forces me to go elsewhere.

 

[westwoody]

Have you tried turning it off and back on?

Seriously though I have a great relationship with the Pro/Commercial people at Home Depot. They do a lot more than Lowe/Rona.

 

[sensualsixty]

I just bought a Canon printer, and I am having an issue with it. Once upon a time they offered live customer support, but it appears that service is no longer available. Now I wonder if I should have purchased a different make.

 

[burntcard]

I will have a biased view, customer service jobs are the f***ing worst jobs in the world. I worked as one in my early years.
For the most part they are just doing their jobs, enforcing policies set out by the company. Of course their are always the thick as a brick ones that don’t know what they are talking about, but are convinced they are right.
(I have had the displeasure of having to train many and pleasure of firing them too)

Adults are by far the worst kind of people I have to deal with. Especially the ones that are clearly lying…. You can’t honestly tell me in the x amount of years you have shopped in any retail environment and tell me that you got a refund way out of policy or that you got a refund with out a receipt.

The ones that want to play the system. Don’t tell me that you will do x to circumvent warranty period or return. Then honestly get pissed off when your request is denied… seriously wtf.

I get and understand the annoyance with customer service, I have had to be on the receiving end of it as well.

honestly just train the customer service reps better but that costs actual money that corporations don’t want to have to spend.
I have had to sit through major corporations doing training for their cooperate workers vs their retail side. Let me tell you it’s night and day. Retail training is so unorganized and haphazardly done it’s no wonder customer have very bad view of customer service.
Glad I’m not in that world anymore…..just dealing with corporate bs now.

****Edit
Get back on track to the topic.
1. Explain something in a different way so people of various cognitive abilities can understand the written instructions/policy.
(Am I calling some people dumb…. You absolutely are correct)
2. Blame someone else for their own screw ups.

 

[sybian]

I will have a biased view, customer service jobs are the f***ing worst jobs in the world. I worked as one in my early years.
For the most part they are just doing their jobs, enforcing policies set out by the company. Of course their are always the thick as a brick ones that don’t know what they are talking about, but are convinced they are right.
(I have had the displeasure of having to train many and pleasure of firing them too)

Adults are by far the worst kind of people I have to deal with. Especially the ones that are clearly lying…. You can’t honestly tell me in the x amount of years you have shopped in any retail environment and tell me that you got a refund way out of policy or that you got a refund with out a receipt.

The ones that want to play the system. Don’t tell me that you will do x to circumvent warranty period or return. Then honestly get pissed off when your request is denied… seriously wtf.

I get and understand the annoyance with customer service, I have had to be on the receiving end of it as well.

honestly just train the customer service reps better but that costs actual money that corporations don’t want to have to spend.
I have had to sit through major corporations doing training for their cooperate workers vs their retail side. Let me tell you it’s night and day. Retail training is so unorganized and haphazardly done it’s no wonder customer have very bad view of customer service.
Glad I’m not in that world anymore…..just dealing with corporate bs now.

****Edit
Get back on track to the topic.
1. Explain something in a different way so people of various cognitive abilities can understand the written instructions/policy.
(Am I calling some people dumb…. You absolutely are correct)
2. Blame someone else for their own screw ups.

Part of the problem is, they are in a customer service field, and are getting minimum wage.
I paid 600.00 for a kitchen tap at Home Depot , with a lifetime warranty…..12 years later it explodes, wrecking my hardwood cabinets and hardwood floor….piss me off.
I go to get a new one, and talk to the manger, she informs me the most expensive tap they sell is 350.00 And they’ve never sold anything for more than that amount.
I argued with her for an hour, till she looks up the fact they now custom order that tap with that brand name.
She then says she will give me their most expensive model, but it’s worth half of my original purchase……and follows it up with. “ they don’t pay me enough to deal with this nonsense “

my response to her was…” I didn’t spend a small fortune on a kitchen tap, with lifetime warranty, for this problem to be considered nonsense, with a 300 kilometre round trip to just talk to her….minimum wage or not”
I took the cheaper tap in trade, and it’s working fine, but the entire thing rubbed me the wrong way.

 

[PuntMeister]

I live by a simple rule: warranties are worthless unless it’s dead out of the box, then a credit or swap-a-roonie is all
should expect.

I do not expect “Customer Service” to be helpful to me with any User Issues, nor do I want to experience their phone-mail-jail endless serpent infinity don’t expect a human autobot bullshit.

Interestingly, I have found Chat functions to work ok cuz at least I get a human with back-room intel on the hook way before a voice call ever wood. Shit.after the Shaw guy in Quebec-somewhere had me re-boot my modem twice, he did find out they had a “micro service outage” on my block,reported it, and got me back on line in a coupla hours.

oh shit, a freaky indigo unicorn just invaded my post. Guess I shouldn’t hit ctrl IU. Lol.

 

[burntcard]

Part of the problem is, they are in a customer service field, and are getting minimum wage.
I paid 600.00 for a kitchen tap at Home Depot , with a lifetime warranty…..12 years later it explodes, wrecking my hardwood cabinets and hardwood floor….piss me off.
I go to get a new one, and talk to the manger, she informs me the most expensive tap they sell is 350.00 And they’ve never sold anything for more than that amount.
I argued with her for an hour, till she looks up the fact they now custom order that tap with that brand name.
She then says she will give me their most expensive model, but it’s worth half of my original purchase……and follows it up with. “ they don’t pay me enough to deal with this nonsense “

my response to her was…” I didn’t spend a small fortune on a kitchen tap, with lifetime warranty, for this problem to be considered nonsense, with a 300 kilometre round trip to just talk to her….minimum wage or not”
I took the cheaper tap in trade, and it’s working fine, but the entire thing rubbed me the wrong way.

Ohhhh, dammmm I feel for you especially having to travel so far.

 

[burntcard]

I live by a simple rule: warranties are worthless unless it’s dead out of the box, then a credit or swap-a-roonie is all
should expect.

I do not expect “Customer Service” to be helpful to me with any User Issues, nor do I want to experience their phone-mail-jail endless serpent infinity don’t expect a human autobot bullshit.

Interestingly, I have found Chat functions to work ok cuz at least I get a human with back-room intel on the hook way before a voice call ever wood. Shit.after the Shaw guy in Quebec-somewhere had me re-boot my modem twice, he did find out they had a “micro service outage” on my block,reported it, and got me back on line in a coupla hours.

oh shit, a freaky indigo unicorn just invaded my post. Guess I shouldn’t hit ctrl IU. Lol.
View attachment 30500

I always found warranties to be useful if it’s not a critical product (ie. Don’t use it on daily basis). The waiting game just sucks. when they replace yours with a refurbished… that’s when it’s definitely gonna break within a few months.

I remember a guy arguing with me that the manufacturer’s warranty entitled them to bring the defective product back to the seller. Here is the kicker……the person not only decided to read the part that supported their argument but also failed to read the rest of the sentence and paragraph (kinda important). Which then states depending on the retailers/sellers returns/exchange policy. That shut them down hard. Gave them the contact info of the manufacturer and sent them on their way.

 

[Uncled]

I am ashamed to admit that I have fantasized about taking a defective product back to the store, smashing it on the floor in front of the Customer Service counter, and then turning around and walking out without a word.

(I know, I need help).

 

[masterpoonhunter]

I am ashamed to admit that I have fantasized about taking a defective product back to the store, smashing it on the floor in front of the Customer Service counter, and then turning around and walking out without a word.

(I know, I need help).

Don't be ashamed uncled. I'm 100% with you on doing the same thing.

 

[masterpoonhunter]

Then there's the Costco warranty. I think I had it down as Exhibit D in my last divorce. The X would buy shit at Costco, use it for a year or two then take it back. I mean really use stuff. Like a portable BBQ. The third time she did this there was no way I was going into the store with her. I could not handle the sheer embarrassment. I mean it wasn't like we didn't have money, it was some fucked up bad wiring in her programming.

But back to poor customer service, in general, it's been going downhill for years. The start was the outsourcing of phone service to the point where for the most part it's unusable. If it is part of the product "support" I try to use the Chat. At least there I can make a hard copy of what was said, agreed to, promised etc. Has helped me deal with many a Shaw faux pas over the years.

 

[uncleg]

I am ashamed to admit that I have fantasized about taking a defective product back to the store, smashing it on the floor in front of the Customer Service counter, and then turning around and walking out without a word.

(I know, I need help).

Don't be ashamed...it's an uncle thing. On that vein....a different but same experience. A few years back I find a big ass pile of Sears flyers dumped in my backyard in Burnaby. I call Sears to complain and tell them to come pick up their garbage.....they tell me they will arrange to have it cleaned up within 48 hours. Doesn't happen... I take all the flyers, two garbage bags full and head over to Sears Metrotown....go downstairs to the Customer Service counter...tell them to "watch this" and I dump flyers all over the store downstairs...just scatter them. Then I loudly announce to all and sundry that the next time they dump their garbage in my yard I will return it....plus a truckload of my own. With that I left. Felt good.

 

[sybian]

I am ashamed to admit that I have fantasized about taking a defective product back to the store, smashing it on the floor in front of the Customer Service counter, and then turning around and walking out without a word.

(I know, I need help).

Proof there’s a little cowboy in us all.

 

[westwoody]

I was at Costco today, a Karen was having a tantrum over returning half a jar of pickles.

People shouldn't shit on the frontline staff, they don’t make policy. And people are getting worse and worse. Look at the video of a woman throwing hot coffee on a server at Starbucks in Vancouver, wtf 🤬