Posted on 06/05/2007 12:29:06 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
It should have taken five minutes. OK, maybe 10. I got my latest bill from Chase Credit Cards, and it included two things I'd never noticed before. One was a fee for $39, which was labeled my "Rewards Program Fee." I never knew Chase had a rewards program, much less one I paid a fee to participate in. I certainly don't remember signing up, or agreeing to another fee to encourage me to use their card.
There was also a "Flexible Rewards Summary," telling me that in addition to the 39 points I would get for paying the fee, I have thousands of old points that I never knew I had and must have accumulated over the 20-something years I've had a card from Chase.
Does that mean we get a new TV, my son asked hopefully.
Does that mean I get a vacation to somewhere, I thought hopefully.
I didn't have a clue, but in very little letters, the bill listed an 800 number to call to redeem my flexible rewards, plus a website where I could log on for 24-hour access to my rewards program.
Now, granted, I only have 17 years of education, and I've only been teaching law for 26 years. Oh, yes, and I live on my computer, aided by a 14-year-old prodigy who happens to be my son. So I actually thought I could handle this, at least with my son's assistance. How wrong can you be?
First, I tried the website. In order to get any information, I needed an access code. I have no access code. I'm one of those old-fashioned types who still write checks. My bad. I asked online for an access code. Sorry, they couldn't give me one because they didn't have my e-mail address. And I couldn't submit my e-mail address. In fact, I couldn't do anything.
Time to talk to a person. So I dialed the 800 number. After entering my account number and my zip code twice, and sitting on hold because of the huge volume of calls that must be coming in at 11 p.m. eastern time, I actually got a person on the phone. Unfortunately for me, it was not an American person. WE could barely understand each other. I tried speaking my clearest, the way I was taught to do when I used to read radio ads. No go. My request, which seemed simple to me (as in what's this rewards program, and how do I figure out which reward I'm eligible for), was beyond either his knowledge or understanding.
Where are you, I asked him, before he transferred me to his colleague. There was a long pause. Chicago, he said. He didn't have a Midwestern drawl.
The next person was more honest. She needed my help spelling such tricky words as "law" in my e-mail address. That's a stumper. But at least she didn't lie. Where are you, I asked. India, she said. Where was the last man I talked to, the one who transferred me to you? India, she said. So why did he say he was in Chicago, I asked. Why did he lie?
Would you like to speak to a supervisor, she asked me. By now, half an hour had passed, my kids were getting ready for bed, and I was loaded for bear.
She transferred me to a supervisor, a Ms. Garcia in Texas. I explained the situation. WE don't have a service center in Chicago, she told me. Obviously not, I said, you have one in India, with people who are not quite up to the job. But what really got to me was the guy lying about where he was, covering up a practice of outsourcing that was turning a simple request into a ridiculous nightlong activity.
I would like to speak to someone about your employees lying about their whereabouts to cover up outsourcing, I said, in my firmest lawyer/syndicated columnist voice. Polite, but firm.
Her response was simple: NO.
No, I asked incredulously. Isn't there someone with whom I may discuss this endless waste of time abbreviated by a bold lie that might very well suggest a company policy to hide its outsourcing behind dishonest employees?
No, she said. There is no one you can talk to, no one you can write to, no one you can get in touch with. I'll make note of your complaint, and you may (not will) receive a letter from someone in three to five business days. Who will write that letter, I asked. Perhaps I could write to them first.
No, she said, you can't.
Now, I hate to do this, particularly when all I'm trying to do is figure out whether to pay the $39 and whether I get anything worth $39 if I do, but I was not happy. Listen, ma'am, I said, getting firmer by the moment, I'm a syndicated columnist. I'm sure I'm not alone in facing these problems, or in worrying about the losses and costs of outsourcing, and I plan to write about this tomorrow. Now, is there anyone I could speak to?
You know what she said? No.
And then we hung up. I tried entering the access code the second woman had given me, but that only got me to the page with my bill on it. I didn't even ask the next person where he was. Where is the list of rewards, I asked, for the fourth time. He told me. It took 30 seconds.
The rewards program, by the way, stinks. My toaster oven works just fine. You have to spend a fortune to get anything good. And believe me, that's one thing I have no plans of doing. Let them push their lies in India. I'm done.
One of the failures involved a call center making sales solicitations for a data service. I moved into the office of someone who left, and was getting these calls from one regularly.
"Hello! Smith John?"
"No, over here as say it the other way..You know, like 'Ravinda Gupta'- Look, the person is gone. Stop calling me."
This went on for a few months, and my patience began eroding. My replies became shorter and angrier.
The one that finally stopped it all was
"He is GONE! it was HORRIBLE!!!"
"What do you mean?"
"He got his dog pregnant, and then ran away with a truck driver!!!"
Over the phone there was stunned silence, with the unspoken icon "This program has performed an illegal function and will now close."
CC&E
This happened to me with Ameriprise Financial(formerly American Express) regarding a sale of a mutual fund I was going to sell. I was speaking to a call center in Manilla , Phillipines.
I promptly asked to be transferred to a representative at their corporate office in Minneapolis. I then read this person the riot act about speaking to anyone regarding an acct. with over $100K in it with a person in a foreign country that could barely speak English. I then threaten to move my assets to Fidelity.
I am not sure it did any good , but I felt better.
Also, try a CITI Platinum Select Master Card. I get 5% back on all purchases for gasoline, grocery stores and drug stores. I get 1% on all other purchases up to $300 anually. All I do is call up their 800 # and they send me a CHECK.
Exactly. In the early 90’s, we were “focused” on customer satisfaction and quality. We modeled the Japanese who were “obsessed” with quality. Then came Walmart. American business discovered that American consumers didn’t care about qualty. They cared about cheap goods. So, kiss quality and customer service goodbye.
My wife worked for a textile company. The Japanese worked them to death on quality in product development but in the end, they bought the cheapest fabric they could get, quality be damned. All they wanted was Mexican cloth even if it was inferior.
We had an Indian professor in the 70’s and we couldn’t understand him at all. Now I talk withg Indian college students and they have almost no accent.
Cricket match on Saturday here. That’s a benefit of having a lot of Indian students.
Well, that sure described my 3 hour nightmare with Verizon yesterday. I didn’t get rude; I got all manner of I’m sorry’s but no joy in fixing the real problem.
Don’t you think they hear that every day? A real journalist wouldn’t be using it to threaten people on a help line, it sounds more like blackmail than journalism.
If you call the COMPANY number, and immediately say “I’m a columnist working on a story about your help desk lying about where they are located”, then they will believe you and will probably take the time to answer your questions.
When you started on the help line, they assume you are just trying to get better help.
Hello, my name is ;lkjrdsguerouty, but you can call me George! Blackbird.
I recently flipped my car loan to a no transaaction fee, 3.9 card. Spoke to india, and the man didnt do it. I had misgivings and called back a couple of days later and the transaction was never posted...I almost lost the deal...it was time sensitive.
He kept on saying that he understood, when I didnt have any confidence that he really did.
Interesting point. I'd be almost willing to bet that had you pressed 'two', you would have been transferred back to the states and would probably have found someone who speaks better engrish than the Indian.
Sigh... it was nice, wasn’t it? Alas, we normal folks got old and went out of fashion.
LOL! You have a way with words.
THat’s the most coherent thing I’ve ever read or seen out of Susan Estrich, she must be slipping.
They normally give them Anglo sounding names (Buffy, Jody, Biff, George, Chad, etc..)to try and fool us. I have been able to get them to admit they are in Bangalore, New Delhi, etc..
When I lived in the sticks, I had a phone line just for my computer. Periodically I got static so bad I couldn’t get on line. It was always “your equipment”. A repairman told me early on the lines were 75 years old. I called for repair and the guy told me to unplug the computer from the line and it would reset itself and the problem would be cured. Like an idiot I believed him. It didn’t work so when I called back I got someone else and after some argument she finally told me “OK I am going to put in an order for repair, but if the repairman can find no line problem, it will cost you $85 an hour. Needless to say the guy found the problem and fixed it.
The next time, I called on the bad computer line and static was so bad she could hardly understand me. After looking at my account, she said you have another line, why didnt you call on that line. I told her because she wouldn’t believe me that I had a bad line. She got pi@@ed, poor broad.
OB
The anglo sounding names are probably to make it easier for you to communicate with them. Not to fool you.
I am an Indian and I live in Canada and noone can pronounce my name, so I picked a nickname. It doesnt mean I am trying to fool people.
As much as I dislike Verizon, I have yet to find a better alternative. They are all plagued with customer service people who just don’t care if they solve a problem or not.
Some years ago (about 20 to be more precise) I was having an ISDN line installed. 9 months later it was still not working. I happened to have the phone number, given to my predecessor some years prior, of the desk actually at the switch at the local CO. I called it and got an “old guy”, who within 2 hours sent his assistant down to the office with test equipment and they had the problem fixed by noon. That would never happen today - all the “old guys” who really knew their stuff were laid off or retired.
Now even their repair technicians call the same numbers we do to get repair. Unbelievable.
The only service of ANY phone provider I have no problem with is my cell phone.
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