An open letter to all large corporations:
A customer's experience with your company should be your top priority! We do NOT have to spend our money at your establishment. We should not have to work to purchase a product from you. I, as a consumer, am highly disappointed in the experiences I have received at different places of "business" this last week. I have had horrible customer service! Quite frankly I am just down right disgusted with what you let your employees get away with.
I am spending my money. YES! MY.MONEY. If I have chosen to spend it at your establishment you should be treating me with a little more respect. I am sickened by all of these large corporations that provide me with a crappy experience. There is not enough mouth wash in the world to get this bad taste out of my mouth.
What happened to the days when business fought for your business? What happened to them wanting you to shop there and love it so much you CHOOSE to return? I am at a loss. No sale in the world would make me want to go back and buy from a company who has no standards whatsoever in their hiring practices, and customer service guidelines.
I no longer work in customer service, well, unless you count raising children, BUT I spent my whole working career outside the home working in business where I dealt with consumers all the time. One thing I can tell you is, we were trained to be respectful and make the company look good. We were to give off every impression possibly that we cared, even if we didn't give a flying monkey's ass about that customer. If the customer said, "well good morning, did you see the beautiful purple and black sky with the flying pigs this morning?" we smiled and said "Oh my yes! It was breath taking!"
If you want to make money you MUST make the people giving you the money happy. It seems people just don't care anymore. It seems our great nation is on a downward spiral of carelessness and entitlement. There is some odd thought process out there now days that makes people think that they are owed something even if they don't work for it. If you are one of those people, YOU DISGUST ME!
Let me give you an example of what I have dealt with today. YES THIS IS ALL JUST TODAY.
Suddenlink is a cable, internet and home phone provider in our area. We moved in October. I wanted to transfer my services. They said no problem, asked me for my address and scheduled my appointment. It was going to be between 10 am and 2 pm. These "appointments" already piss me off. Like I have time to give up 4 hours of my day waiting while I'm trying to pack and move but I try to be understanding because I know other appointments can run late. I get it. Anyway, they get here and inform me that there are no jacks for them to use and they can't install any without written permission because we are renting. I said "well can my boyfriend run to the rental office, get the paper and bring it over? It will only take a few minutes" They respond with "No, we have to schedule a different kind of appt to install jacks." Ummmm okay...why didn't anyone tell me this on the phone or ask if there were any in the house already? The guys response? "I don't know, that's not my problem. Take it up with them." I told him I was cancelling my service with them and going elsewhere. I called the company and told them while he was still here. They said okay, he took my equipment and left. Today I get a call from a collection agency telling me I owe Suddenlink $480!!! I call Suddenlink. They told me I never cancelled. I argued with them. They realized that I had and then informed me that it was $480 for equipment that I never turned in. So I ask, "First it was 3 months of bills, then you tell me it's not, and you're accusing me of stealing equipment that I BOUGHT from you. Not rented, BOUGHT? " I went on to add that the man took all of the equipment with him. Equipment I paid for but he threw a big fit about taking because he said they would send me a bill for it if he didn't turn it in.
This "customer service" reps response? Not my problem, it's yours. You should not have let him take it.
DOUBLE U, TEEEEEEEE, EFFFFFFF???
That is shady business practices folks! It is now up in the review department.
This evening I took the boys to Books-a-Million because they got gift cards for Christmas. We walked in, I grabbed a cup of coffee, we browsed the books and the boys found the books they wanted. They were super excited. I got to the register, hand the guy the gift cards and he informs me they are only accepting cash because their machines were broken and they hadn't been able to get a hold of their IT guy. They had been trying for 2 hours. I asked "why didn't you post any signs on the door?" He said "Well, we just figured we would tell people at the register. You are welcome to pay cash though ma'am" I said "ummmm I spent the last hour of my life shopping in your establishment with 2 very excited kids, now I have to make them put their things back and listen to them cry and complain the whole way home because you were too irresponsible to put signs up in the window!" His response "I guarantee it will be fixed by tomorrow. You can come back then" DUDE!!! GAS IS $3.15 A GALLON!! I.DON'T.WANT.TO.DRIVE.BACK.AND.FORTH.YOU.EFFING.ASS.MONKEY
Put a sign on the door. Warn your customers. Don't upset them further by making them waste their valuable time shopping in your store only to be turned away at the register.
Since the boys were so disappointed by the BAM trip, I thought I would take them to Golden Chick for dinner. Hunter was wanting a salad with chicken anyway and Shane LOVES their spicy chicken strips. I ordered our food and paid. Went over and got our drinks. They were out of lids for the large cups. I asked for large lids and he goes to get them and comes back with small lids. I always give people the benefit of the doubt and assume I said the wrong thing by mistake. I looked at him when he handed them to me and said "Oh I'm sorry, I must have made a mistake. I meant lids for the large size cups." He looked at me funny and kept trying to hand them to me. I said, "no, you see, these are too little. They are out there already. There are 2 sizes out there one is too big and one is too small. I need the one in the middle." Still a blank stare.....
AWKWARD
So, I said "okay, maybe it's a medium." His response? "we don't have medium ma'am." I said "okay, well you mus have some sort of lid to fit on the cup you gave me right?????" Then I showed him the cup. He said "Oh yeah. We have large lids, I'll get one from the drive thru"
OH EM GEEEEEEEEE, DUDE!!!!
Wait, it gets better....
Remember the salad that Hunter wanted? I realized when they called my number that I forgot to tell them what kind of dressing he wanted. So when I go to get the food I ask the guy what kind of dressings they have for the salad. He says "Ranch, Italian, and Thousand Island" I said "Okay, can I have ranch please?"
He says,
wait for it....
"I'm sorry ma'am, we are out of salad dressing."
WHAT?????????????
I said, "ummm...okay then why on Earth didn't you let me know before I ordered and paid for a salad?"
He said "well I didn't know if you would need dressing or not"
REALLY?? Is that REALLY what you thought? Is that REALLY how you are going to answer me?
Then he starts running around asking everyone if there is any salad dressing left anywhere. He goes to the back and returns with a case of Italian. "Oh, I guess I overlooked it. Here ya go."
People, we are paying companies to treat us like this. Why? why do we accept this kind of behavior? When it comes to spending our hard earned cash we should not have to go through this kind of ignorance! It is despicable, disgusting, detestable and degrading.
I am tired of being made to feel like less of a human when I shop at chains! You people who own these companies need to get your acts together and start treating the people who provide you with a paycheck with a little more respect!
We as consumers need to stop taking this crap and start standing up for ourselves!! We are paying for crap! We have become so accustomed to this kind of treatment that we don't even recognize it anymore and just put up with it!
Get your shit together America! Start demanding better treatment, better business practices, and more respect! People's shitty attitudes are disgraceful! They should be embarrassed by their behavior but sadly most are proud to be asses!
