Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Customer Service Fail

I recently needed to set up some additional email accounts with my ISP.  I can do this online, so I went to take care of it.  After having some issues, I decided to chat with support.  I’m a big fan of web chat because I can multi-task while I work on the issue.  Here is the text of my chat with some specific company and personal information removed:

Thank you for choosing ******* Chat Live! A Customer Care representative from My Account will be with you shortly.
You have been connected to TTD Pia .

TTD Pia : Thank you for contacting *******. My name is Pia. How may I help you today?

Owen Robinson: Hi Pia. My Account appears to be behaving improperly. When I login, I can only login with my old zip code and it takes me to an account called “Owen Cleanup.”... I’m trying to get into “My Account” to manage my email addresses, but it keeps going to the “Owen Cleanup” account and I don’t have access.

TTD Pia : I apologize for the inconvenience you are experiencing with your account access. Are you using Internet Explorer?

Owen Robinson: yes. IE8

TTD Pia : I see.

TTD Pia : Before I could assist you further, may I please have the account holder’s name, phone number, and service address?

Owen Robinson: Owen Robinson. ********************************

TTD Pia : Thank you for verifying the account. May I know who I am chatting with?

Owen Robinson: Owen Robinson

TTD Pia : Thank you. Please try to delete your cookies, then access the site again.

TTD Pia : To delete the cookies and clear the contents of your browser’s temporary Internet files folder, please do the following:

1. On the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, click Internet Options, and then click the General tab.
2. Click Delete Cookies, and then click OK.
3. Click Delete Files, and then click OK.
4. Click Clear History, and then click Yes.
5. Click OK.

Owen Robinson: OK, hold on

TTD Pia : Alright.

Owen Robinson: done

Owen Robinson: working on accessing the site again

TTD Pia : Alright.

TTD Pia : Is it working now?

Owen Robinson: I went to the main page and clicked Log In. I logged in with my email address and password. It worked and welcomed me as “Owen.” I then clicked on “My Account and Help” and then “Manage Email Accounts.” At this point it prompted me to login again with a login page that asks for a username, password, and zip code. It does not accept my email address as the username, but does accept my username “*********” and my old zip code.

TTD Pia : Your login information is incorrect.

Owen Robinson: It accepts that login, but then takes me to the “Owen Cleanup” account and won’t do anything from there.

TTD Pia : I can certainly assist you with your login information.

TTD Pia : For security and identity verification purposes, may I please have the account holder’s name, phone number, and service address?

AAARRRGGGGHHHHH!  At this point, I disconnected the chat.  If your company is going to offer a customer service web chat option, please have people on the other end that know what they are doing.

(11) Comments
Posted by Owen at 0752 hrs
Technology

  1. Perhaps someone who is from the US and not Italy?  Or maybe someone that actually can think without prompts from a manual?  This is so annoying, not to mention a waste of one’s time.

    Posted by GAMazy on March 03, 2010 at 1106 hrs


  2. Argh. I hate talking to online tech support for exactly this reason!

    I remember the time I was using web chat to talk with tech support for [an anti-virus program]. They kept insisting that I do the same thing OVER AND OVER AND OVER. As far as I could tell, they thought “That didn’t work” meant “I don’t know how to do that”, because each time they would go into even more excessive detail explaining how to do it. rolleyes

    I totally understand your frustration, and hope you got the problem fixed eventually!

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 03, 2010 at 1118 hrs


  3. Right Ginny, because Americans have a monopoly on brains.  No way could an Italian get anything right.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 03, 2010 at 1135 hrs


  4. Ahhh, level 1 tech support.  Gotta love it.

    Posted by The Chad on March 03, 2010 at 1209 hrs


  5. Pope, honey, have you had your ration of Vitamin D this week?  kiss

    Posted by GAMazy on March 03, 2010 at 1211 hrs


  6. Owen,

    Might I suggest that perhaps Pia needed the information again to re-enter it into account information on a page that does not have it readily available? Yes, you gave it to her earlier, but to verify that it matched the main account page. She would not have written this information down, because at the time she didn’t need it any more, and I would be glad that the support team does not leave identifying information lying around. Is it frustrating to have to give the same information more than once? Yes. But more frustrating would be trying to un-gefarg your life if that info was not disposed of properly on the other end.

    Just my $.02.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 03, 2010 at 1246 hrs


  7. I’ve worked tech support before.  Given that it was a chat, she could have scrolled up grin

    Posted by Owen on March 03, 2010 at 1252 hrs


  8. I honestly doubt you were talking to a real person.  Hal 9000 has arrived.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 03, 2010 at 1254 hrs


  9. I always wondered what happened to Pia Zadora.

    Posted by Steve on March 03, 2010 at 1853 hrs


  10. I wish they would stop apologizing in every other sentence.  Yes I’m sorry I’m having problems too.  You want to be sincere?  apologize after you found the problem and be specific.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 03, 2010 at 2048 hrs


  11. That was definitely AI chatbot action.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 03, 2010 at 2243 hrs


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