Daily Remarks » phone service

I have no control over your shipping

daily — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 18:50:27 +0000

A client orders an item on December 14th and it ships on the 15th of December. The client is located on the east coast and we are shipping from the west coast. We upgraded their shipping from standard shipping to priority shipping for free. The client calls me on the 23rd of December and says they didn’t receive it yet so I check the tracking on it. The tracking says it is on route from the sorting facility which is located on the west coast. There have been no updates to the tracking since the 15th. It would be nice if USPS would update a little more often. This would help them to have fewer phone calls and complaints. I called USPS and went through their phone system. I tried to get a live person and hit 00, but the recorded message basically said they don’t take customer service calls this time of year. 1-800-ASK-USPS is their number if anyone needs it. The client is upset because they needed it by Christmas and they want to know what I will do about it. I was extremely nice about it, but I don’t have any control over the shipping process. Sometimes shipping takes longer than expected this time of year. This happens almost every year. I requested that the customer be patient and I haven’t hard from him again. So we will see what happens. I will check tracking over the next few days and hopefully he will receive it. Has this ever happened to you?

Phone Service and Good Phone Skills

daily — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:17:58 +0000

I just received a call from Nissan service for my car which is great. They were reminding me that my next service on my car is coming up and they wanted to schedule that for me. They asked about my email and address to make sure that it was correct. I then asked what the mileage should be for my next service. The lady on the phone didn’t speak very good English and I had to ask her twice what the mileage needed to be. At no time did she slow down and try to enunciate the correct mileage. After the 2nd time I just let it go and I figured I would just look in the manual for the correct mileage. I believe that if you are a phone operator trying to get someone’s business then you should speak the native language fluently and have good diction.

Getting a Price from HP is almost impossible

daily — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:21:43 +0000

I called HP yesterday to get a price on a Netbook with Windows XP Pro. I had to call because they don’t have Netbooks on their website with Windows XP Pro installed.

The conversation went like this,
HP: How can I help you?
Me: I would like to get a price on a netbook with Windows XP Pro.
HP: What is your first and last name.
Me: I gave them my name.
HP: What is your address?
Me: I gave them my address.
Me: Can I get a price on a netbook with Windows XP Pro?
HP: Is this for personal use or resale?
Me: It is for resale.
HP: I am sorry sir you will have to dial this number for our resales division.
Me: Can’t I just get a retail price for a netbook with Windows XP Pro?
HP: Sir, you will have to contact them for pricing.

So then I proceed to call the other number they provided and I basically go through the same thing again, only to find out that I would need to be signed up to be a reseller to get pricing. I couldn’t even get retail pricing. They gave me some sku numbers and I tried using them on the website to look up pricing, but the person on the phone said those skus would only work through the phone call to get pricing. I then proceeded to tell him that I had just been on the phone with 2 divisions and that I couldn’t even get a retail price for a Netbook with Windows XP Pro and that I would be going elsewhere to buy a Netbook and I would put Windows XP Pro on it myself. He apologized, paused and hung up.

I can’t believe that they won’t even give you a price without your life history. If it was on the website I wouldn’t have bothered with them. They could have saved a phone call. Has this ever happened to you?