Thursday, August 30, 2012

Customer Service

One of my pet peeves is bad service. We all pay exorbitant fees every month yet when the service provided is not up to par, we suffer the consequences.
First you have to deal with their customer service hotline. Most of the time, you are on hold for several minutes before a call agent will process your repair request. When you ask them when the technician would show up, they give you the standard line of within 24 hours. Now that could mean anytime from 8 am to 5pm even on weekends. So you are left with the notion of staying at home waiting waiting and waiting some more for them to show up. Of course, I'm always at home but it doesn't mean I can just put everything on hold. Last month, I was taking a shower when the darn technician showed up. He was about to leave when he thought there was nobody home. I had to rush out to unlock the gate in my semi-washed state with wet hair.

Sometimes, they DON'T show up within 24 hours. There was an instance when they didn't come after 3 days of constant waiting. I got so frustrated I tweeted them at their official site. I thought I could rattle them to act by bombarding them with tweets. But I learned the hard way that I wasn't important enough for them to notice my plea. Unlike some celebrities who merely tweet their complaints and before you can say TWEET their requests are attended to within hours. That's not fair! How about the ordinary clientele who have to endure bad service?

In times like these, I wish I lived in a place where one phone call can fix your concerns. For several years, my sister was based in the Lion City. She told me that every service provider company is computerized with a centralized hotline, so you simply call them and your problems are solved within the hour. No need for a technician to come over. How efficient is that? So convenient, and very hassle free. They value your time so they make things very easy.

I wonder when that sort of service will be readily available in our beloved nation. Probably never, sadly.

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