Customer service in the new world

[rwsaunders]

So I’m in the market for a dryer, after repairing our current unit to the point where the serviceman said…”it’s time”. He made some suggestions on models and I thought that I’d go the local route this time and try to beat the supply chain woes as well. Boy, are they making it hard to do business and in my world, my doors would have been shuttered long ago.

[j44ke]

Order it from Costco and send it to the local place so they can drive it over to your house and install it.

[Markco]

Tried to cancel some trash service with a publicly traded trash company. Sent 2 letters 2 months before my service expired. They finally picked up the containers. Kept getting bills with finance and service charges. Spent 45 minutes on the phone tree with a couple hang ups and starting again. Told you can't cancel by mail.... not paying that bill

[thollandpe]

I think the best place to find a dryer is on Craigslist or the local trader paper, someone who has bought a new matched washer/dryer set because a dryer will long outlive the washer they were purchased with. Yeah you gotta read between the lines to figure that out. It's like finding the perfectly good dishwasher or range that was replaced as part of a total kitchen reno, or because it wasn't stainless.

Next best is going to the appliance store that's owned by the kid you went to high school with, that's still in the same place with the same name as when it was owned by their father, your basketball coach. I'm reminded of this because my mother did not go to that store for her fridge, and has spent tens of hours on the phone with her customer service reps trying to get a brand-new POS repaired or replaced, after waiting eight months for delivery.

[bigbill]

My almost 82 year old father was a salesman almost all of his life. About ten years ago, a consulting company hired him to teach customer service to salespeople under 40. It's a dying art.

[rec head]

UPS delivered a king size bed to my house which is approximately 1 mile from where it should have been delivered. I called and got hung up on by the robot.

[Sascha Roszak]

Tried to cancel some trash service with a publicly traded trash company. Sent 2 letters 2 months before my service expired. They finally picked up the containers. Kept getting bills with finance and service charges. Spent 45 minutes on the phone tree with a couple hang ups and starting again. Told you can't cancel by mail.... not paying that bill

Reminds me of trying to deal with PayPal recently...

They double dipped my account. They took funds from my personal bank account and my PayPal account balance. Trying to get to talk to someone after work hours is impossible, no response to emails and the Bots are useless, sent me to a forum for my answer. I eventually got my money back.

PayPal can go f..k themselves, account closed forever.

[j44ke]

On the other hand -

I ordered a derailleur cage from BikeInn. Turned out they were in Spain. I swear I tried to figure out where they were located first. So I almost cancelled. Then I got a tracking email that told me where my package was. Then another. Each step of the way. Customs etc. Until it was in my mailbox. Item is fine. Exactly what I wanted. But I sort of ruined the “greenness” of repairing a part with the carbon load involved in transporting something that weighed a few ounces from Spain to Netherlands to NYC to my house. Still good, largely automated, service.

[bigbill]

I use the VA for medical care.

[Too Tall]

I use the VA for medical care.

Taking a knee.

[bironi]

This captures it quite well.

https://www.gocomics.com/reallifeadventures/2021/11/30

[bigbill]

Taking a knee.

The earliest that VA could get me in for a booster was 12/16. I went to a locally-owned pharmacy to get my booster today using my Tricare. The pharmacy could not give me the shot without permission from the VA, so I drove across town to speak with a rep at the local VA clinic. I could have called and left a message, but it would have been Friday afternoon before I got a callback. I asked the rep to call the pharmacy and tell them it was okay, but she had to ask someone first, and that someone had to call the hospital in Prescott. Finally, I got an okay and went back to the pharmacy where a pleasant woman gave me my booster. I did all of that for some added protection and the promise of feeling pretty meh all day tomorrow.