Oh dear Lord. That’s awful! Just horrid. Please drink a lovely Martini for me. I have come to despise technicians. I plan to personally write to Michael Dell, (seriously) to tell him about my experience, given that I bought the Dell service for 1 year which expires in December and the service was useless! Had I followed their directions, I would be out of pocket the cost of an “extra hard drive.”
Who knows, my son might even get a job out of it.
Oh! Oh! Oh! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooes!
Onyx I honestly believe that you were told to do what was the most cost effective for Dell and NOT what would be best for you. They don’t want their tech’s tied up for more than a few minutes on one job.
He was so annoyed that he sent the president of FTD a letter.
Dear ________,
I just experienced a most unpleasant encounter with your customer service department, and I feel compelled to share it with you. While I was at lunch with a business client my cell rang.... "caller unknown". I never answer calls from unknown sources so that represents strike one on FTD. If you are going to call customers have the courtesy to display who is calling.
Your rep left a message. When I returned to my office I retrieved the message (difficult to understand) and immediately returned the call, even though the caller did not clearly identify herself or your company. I reached your automated service and discovered who had called me. I then punched in to speak with a customer service rep. I gave her my name and the order number and asked why she called.
She advised me that before she could speak with me she had to "ask me some questions". I said fine. She asked me the recipient... I answered "Mary ___". She asked where the flowers were sent I responded "a funeral home in __________Massachusetts" (100 miles from where I am), she asked for the street address and I responded "it was a funeral home on _________in__________, I don't recall the exact street number" as it is quite a distance away and this is the only contact I have ever had with them, she asked me for the phone number of the funeral home (I am now beginning to get exasperated), I again advised her I had no idea what the number was as the order was placed two weeks ago, I have never been to the funeral parlor, and I wasn't going to look it up.
She then asked me "What was the Occasion?" To which I responded "A Death, I sent flowers to Mary _____________,s funeral upon the occasion of her death. That's why they were sent to a funeral home" I again asked her what she called me about and she advised me I had to answer more questions before she could speak with me.
At that point I reminded her that I was returning a call from your company about an order that was delivered and paid for nearly two weeks ago. FTD was looking for something from me, I was not looking for something from FTD. At that point she again refused to disclose the nature of the call. By now my frustration and blood pressure were boiling. "YOUR COMPANY CALLED ME ABOUT A RECENT ORDER, THAT I ASSUIMED WAS COMPLETED, AND NOW YOU'RE REFUSING TO TALK TO ME!"
I asked for her supervisor and she refused to transfer the call. I advised her to get me her supervisor or I would hang up, call my credit card company and have them charge back the transaction (over $350.00) as there was obviously something wrong with the order and since FTD was unwilling to tell me what the problem with the order was I would have no choice but to terminate the transaction on my end until FTD settled the issue to my satisfaction.
I reminded her that I was returning your company's phone call, and that I was outraged at being treated so poorly. After being on hold for several minutes I was "allowed" to speak with her supervisor who attempted to defend the employee because it was "for your safety". I reminded her that FTD called me, on my cell phone, and that I had promptly returned the call, and answered several questions that clearly identified me as the one who placed the order. I also advised the Supervisor that I am ______________and that no one knows personal privacy and authentication standards better than I do. We use 2 levels of authentication that are unique and prearranged with our customers, not 4 or more levels of authentication that are not personally unique identifying standards as your CSR used. I advised the supervisor of the questions I had been asked, as well as my answers and eventually she disclosed that the reason for the call was to advise me that the family of the deceased wanted my address to send me a thank you card.
Your people took what should have been at most a pleasant 5 minute contact and turned it into a 25 minute ordeal. My blood pressure became dangerously elevated and the contact has ruined my mood for the afternoon. Had they merely asked me for the name of the recipient and my billing address they would have accomplished an entirely appropriate level of authentication to ask my permission to disclose my address to the bereaved family so they could send me a thank you note for the $350.00+ in flowers I sent through your company. I have used your company several times in the past to send gifts, but you may rest assured that you will not be used again in the future by either myself or my organization.
I will also use FTD as a case study of atrocious customer service and misguided personal authentication standards for the many industry panels and seminars I speak at. I am still shocked at the experience, but do wish to thank you for providing me the perfect examples of "How not to provide service to a good customer." By the way, my time bills out at _______and your company has wasted well over an hour of it. Have a REALLY NICE DAY!
Mr. T
He was just a wee bit annoyed, as you may have discerned. :)