I work in a completely different area but I'm usually the one at the end of the phone who sounds like an idiot and it sounds a similar situation... usually when you make a request to cancel it's a brainless sales guy who hits the wrong tab and makes a note instead of a cancellation request. So basically it sits on the system til you notice and draw their attention to it. There's usually the sales bit, the customer service bit, the refunds bit and the cancellations bit. Each department does something different that the other can't access, each department uses a different bit of software that is rarely running on the same information as the other. During that 20 minutes, the customer service guy is trying to figure out what kind of a mess the sales guy has caused, get around it and speak to the other 42 departments.Aston wrote:I have had a similar Broadband issue.
We moved house in July and I cancelled the Tiscali Broadband account as we decided to go with cable. Then I noticed recently that Tiscali were still taking my direct debit off me and had been for the interveaning months since July.
I called them today, was on hold for over 10 minutes when I evnentually got through to someone and explained the situation. She said "oh yeah, there's a note on your account from July saying to close it", so I asked why it hadn't been closed as requested. All she could muster up was "I don't know". So in order to get a refund I have to be put through to someone else in another department (more hold time), who I then find out can't issue a refund of over £20!
How rediculous! They make a cock-up and I have to fork out on a 20 minute phone call on my mobile during daytime hours (costs a fortune) AND I have to print off all my ONLINE bills from them (can they not access it on their computer system?) and then write a letter and post it. I mean come on, it's their mistake, why should I have to give up my time and effort to receive a refund.
In my view, that's poor customer service.
/rant
Tip: always ask them to give you a call you back, they usually will if you are pushy but polite; always ask for more compensation than you should get, because the company will usually save the hassle and pay it anyway; and if you have to call again, use the classic line, "I don't want to get stroppy with you, so could I speak to a supervisor please". It's like a secret password, trust me.