Dealing with telephone representatives is supposed to be a convenient communication tool linking consumers to the companies they do business with, however, these communications often turn into frustrating exercises that leave consumers angry and dissatisfied.
I recently had just such an encounter while dealing with AT&T. It was one of those hair pulling experiences where words like “Bait and Switch”, “Better Business Bureau” and “Where’s my rubber hose? ” fly through your head as you sit on the telephone for eternity waiting for a representative.
To help prevent such shenanigans from happening to you, here are some tips for surviving Corporate America’s telephone help line purgatory.
Always ask for a Representative
Most big businesses have an automated help line to aid customers with frequently asked questions and easily dispatched problems. There is a desire among most people in today’s modern society to disassociate from actual living and breathing humans, so these automated services are very seductive. This desire should be quelled if possible, most of these services only cover a miniature number of tasks and if you have ever gotten into a screaming match with one of these reasonably toned recordings you will agree that they can be more of a nuisance than a convenience:
Automated voice: Please state what you would like to discuss; say billing, tech support, or main menu
Customer: Billing
Automated voice: I’m sorry…but I didn’t get that…please say billing, tech support, or main menu
Customer: Billing!
Automated voice: I’m sorry…
Customer: Billing! Billing you bitch!!! BILLING!!!!
My issue with AT&T seemed lovely straight forward; the representative who had signed my family up for high run internet service had plainly told us that we would receive $19.95 off of our first three bills in return for signing up for a one year contract. Two pay periods in and the discount had not appeared on our statements. My wife and I called AT&T on three separate occasions, this is no dinky feat, the wait on AT&T’s telephone help line is outrageous. You can actually feel the life leaking out of you as you listen to their cheerful ad pitchmen pimp their various products to you (which is the new Muzak hold music).
It is essential to wait for however long it takes. Hanging up in frustration only means you have to call back later and wait, yet again, to disclose to a representative. Stick it out and speak to a real live person.
Ask MANY questions and make representatives reveal answers
As cynical as most Americans have become, or are becoming, we still tend to believe what people tell us when we are dealing with routine business transactions, this tendency can lead to unexpected grief. When you speak to a telephone representative, catch notes, jot down date, time, representative’s name, and any trouble shooting designate numbers (in the event that you call is with regards to some kind of tech issue) or confirmation numbers that the representative might offer. When the representative quotes a price, or some condition of your agreement, WRITE IT DOWN. If an issue arises later, you will be overjoyed you have your ducks in a row when dealing with more telephone representatives.
My wife had taken good notes when she got our deal with AT&T, but she had not written down the representatives name. Initially this did not seem like a great deal. We spoke to AT&T representatives and told them our issue, they informed us that we were not eligible for the promotion we had been offered because we did not bundle the high speed service with a house telephone line. This was baffling to us; how could the representative who enrolled us have given us that deal and signed us up for a one year contract, if we were not eligible? AT&T’s representatives informed us that we could not have received the promotion, their thinly veiled tone hinted that my wife and I could stop trying to scam them now. We asked to explain to a supervisor, we were told that the supervisor had left for the evening., which was puzzling, you mean nobody is in charge at AT&T after a certain hour? Fascinating.
If you ask to speak to a supervisor and are told that one is not in, ask to be transferred to their voice mail and leave a message. My wife and I were told that a message would be “passed to the supervisor and she would contact us within 24 hours”. Two days later I was making my final call to AT&T after the supervisor never contacted us.
Closely read follow-up documentation and save EVERYTHING
Eventually, you will speak to enough telephone representatives that your problem will be solved to some level of (dis)satisfaction. There may be paperwork, email correspondence, or future billing statements that will confirm this resolution. Read this documentation carefully and Preserve IT. It is a pain in the tedious storing documentation, but it is a bigger pain not having that documentation if something ELSE goes awry.
With AT&T, my wife’s diligence when it came to keeping track of what was supposed to be a good promotion, revealed that something was unfavorable. Sadly, that diligence did not change AT&T’s answer, they simply told us that we were not eligible and would not receive the special promotional price. I told them I would like to know how a trained sales representative could have misled or misinformed us without it being intentional. The supervisor glibly told me that AT&T had call centers in nine states and if I did not know the representative’s name who enrolled me, well they could try to find out who it was, but….
Furious, reach to cursing, I called it off and told AT&T not to bother. I would just score another internet service provider, even if it cost more (which it will), and even if the service was less reliable (which it will be). Since I was not receiving a special promotion, that must mean that I was not under a one year contract, the telephone representative supervisor was silent a moment, then agreed with false cheer. Her parting words:
“And thank you for choosing AT&T!”
Me: “Not any more.”
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Filed under Customer Support Software Freeware by on Jan 25th, 2012. Comment. 
Maybe all the problems entitled to customer service such as; horrible storiesare created from the beginning and approach from the top. Most organizations don’t take the time to properly train their people. They seek training as an extra cost and time arresting. These companies usually don’t realize the damage this could cause. When hiring somebody, it is ok to gawk for experience, personality, motivation, etc but in my opinion training should also be part of this process. I worked in customer service myself and I understand how painful it could be sometimes – there are people who cross the line and are extremely mean- but at the waste ones aptitude can change many things. Maybe a smile and acknowledgment could help and be a huge start. Employers need to make their employees or prospect employees aware of these issues and properly train them to respond to them with the right approach.
After training people and put them on the field it is distinguished to keep track of the results. I understand that nowadays people don’t like to be bothered with long phone surveys but there are other ways to work around it. For instance; I often receive emails asking for feedback on my purchase or service experience. The secret is to keep it short and to the point. I always ignore the long ones. Another view is to have a manager or designated person to just walk around and ask the customers directly simple questions such as; are you being helped alright? In other words, customers’ feedback is really important. Some managers believe that their job is just to stutter people what to do and seat at their desk but that belief is so wrong and need to be improved; more than managers they should be leaders. Complaints are a great starting point for improving terrible customer service. But if you want to provide good customer service, you have to go beyond just listening to complaints and responding to them. Finding out what your customers and/or clients are truly thinking is the key to providing the kind of customer service that will bring them back.
Salubrious customer service is one of the most important parts of any business. You can offer promotions and discounts to bring in as many unusual customers as you want, but unless you can get some of those customers to return and give you more business, your establishment won’t be profitable for a long time. Good customer service is all about bringing customers back. And about sending them away happy – delighted enough to pass positive feedback about your business along to others, who may then try the product or service you offer and become new customers.
Increasing competition is one of the reasons why we should care about what type of service our company is offering. People are turning their backs to companies who don’t deliver value. What happened to courtesy, caring and willingness to help? In my experience I have found that CSRs don’t want to be bother at all. They usually have an annoying face and when you finally dare to ask them something, bad aptitude flows. It is true that the job of a customer service representative is not easy. We all know that every person has a different personality and way to respond. They usually deal with many different problems and aptitudes. And all these facts should be considered before taking a position like this. Customer service representatives must know that at the extinguish, the service they deliver will determine if a customer comes back with more business or not.
Good customer relationship management entails thoughtful customer care and customer experience design. Customer satisfaction and loyalty are directly tied to the quality of your customer relationship management. The services your employees offer are tied to the prosperity of the business. The customer has to feel good about doing business with you. Companies looking to thrive in the 21st century are investing in customer service training programs, customer relationship management and call center training programs that sharpen their customer focus and create customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention with every experience.
Dale Carnegie wrote a great book where he stated that almost everybody is in love with their names – It makes them feel special; it is the most important sound in any language. It is what differentiates them from other people. I am usually not good remembering names but this comment made me want to try. Why not apply this belief with customers that always approach back to give us their business? This will clear retain them.
Employees’ contentment at work is also tight to customer service. As I wrote in one of my articles; Wal-Mart understands this concept. Wal-Mart reported an increase on their sales compared to last years. The article mentions how this retail store realized that treating his employees better will improve customer service. By improving the service they offer, customers will come back with more business. This tactic is helping them survive this economic crisis.
In conclusion, statistics shows that when a customer receives a great customer service, he or she will tell at least three people. But that number might double or triple if the service offered was awful. Companies that don’t get customers to come back should analyze what type of service is provided by their employees. Great sales and discounts will get people to buy once. Mammoth customer service will make them loyal to your business. They would not want to go somewhere else where they are not even acknowledged.
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Filed under Customer Support Software Freeware by on Jan 19th, 2012. Comment.
There’s a very simple reason Microsoft (MSFT) is a bargain at its current price: only geeks speak Latin.
Say what you want about the superiority of Unix. The awesome server capability of Linux. The ease of a Macintosh. To the average user these operating systems might as well be coded in a dead language. Your every day John Smith wants to learn only enough to be able to jump on the succor of a giant hay truck trundling down the information highway, not ratchet a street legal Ferrari through a ten gear stick on the Autobahn.
Let’s forget all of Microsoft’s peripheral interests such as the Xbox and acquire down to the core issue that represents long-term value—software.
For our purposes think of Windows as a central idea system with the power to adapt itself to any approved tongue. I’ll explain.
In the 1500s the Catholic Church lost its stranglehold on the Christian faith because wouldn’t give up on Latin. There was a major problem with their software: only the intellectual elite could understand the code. Parishioners didn’t understand a single word and had no way to read their holy book, the early day equivalent of the internet. Unrest brewed.
When the Protestant Reformation hit Europe like a fat kid cannonballing into a swimming pool Christianity experienced resurgence in popularity. Suddenly people could jump into the details of their religion, the giant hay truck of its day, because it adapted itself easily to their native language, the personal computer.
This is the same kind of power drives the former, original, and future success of Windows as an operating system and Microsoft as a company. Yes, you can format your hardrive to suppose difficult languages, but do you really want to go through all the trouble to learn it?
The numbers say you don’t. According to online analysts OneStat.com, 97% of the world’s computers still run on Windows despite the fact that Microsoft has not released a new version in 5 years. Apple only has a 2.5% lock on the world market, never mind recent hubbub about the increasing popularity of the Mac. (Every ten years or so Apple stages a ‘big comeback’ and Appleheads like to pretend that the human hasten has ushered itself into a radiant incandescent Age of Mac. Invariably their hopes are dashed.)
So why is this important now?
If you think the world’s going back to Latin any time soon, it’s not.
If you figure as I do however, then right now Microsoft is a criminally good buy.
Naturally the upcoming release of Windows Vista is a factor. What’s bad for box makers like Dell (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) in the perform of market saturation is good news for Microsoft. It has a large built in customer base with high lustrous switching costs. Forget the negative press about setbacks. When Windows Vista is released there will be 556 million computers – 97% of the current worldwide total – waiting for an upgrade. And that’s nothing. According to Forrest Research, by 2010 there will be an additional 744 million personal computers in the world, at a total of 1.3 billion.
As a worst case scenario let’s say Microsoft manages to sell Vista to only half the current machines running Windows XP at an extremely conservative price of $100. Just Vista. No support software, no extras, none of the more pricey business suites. That’s a $27.8 billion gross profit. Hey, I’ll take $27.8 billion on a terrible day.
Then there’s the Google swear. I could do it point by point but look: you’re completely missing the point. Microsoft is an operating system. Google is a…web site. Undoubtedly a big part of the continued success of the Windows operating system is the Microsoft Office suite of applications. Determined, if Google comes up with web applications that do a better job than MS Office, Windows might start showing some stress cracks. But Google hasn’t done that yet.
Don’t count Microsoft out of the search race either. Technologically speaking search is a toddler. It is far from perfect. With Microsoft sitting on a giant pile of cash – $43 billion—and throwing money at ways to come up with the next hot ticket in search there’s no lock on who’s got the next market shaking innovation. Sure, Google’s winning battles now, but Microsoft has a long history of successful wars.
Disclosure: I do not own shares in any company mentioned in this article, however I’m seriously considering buying Microsoft.
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Filed under Customer Support Software Freeware by on Jan 16th, 2012. Comment.
If you wish to download Xbox 360 games for free, raise your hand. I know your hand was up. Every gamer is becoming tired of overpaying for Xbox games. For the fifty or so dollars that it costs to buy one Xbox 360 game at retail, a smart gamer can get unlimited downloads for any of the Xbox games. It’s OK to set aside your hand down now, and learn how to reap the benefits of downloading Xbox games.
Websites where you can download Xbox games are of two basic types: those that charge you a fee for each download, and those that have a one-time fee for unlimited downloads. You’ll rep good game copies from either type, but the smart money would go with the unlimited download sites. Downloading games from most of these Internet sources has the additional benefit of offering music and videos as well as games.
Internet sites that allow you to download Xbox 360 games want to retain you as a customer, and offer friendly customer support to ensure that you stay with them. New members especially befriend from the simple step-by-step instructions that they provide to walk you through your first downloads. Downloadable Xbox games from these sites are guaranteed to be proper copies, and free from any viruses or malware. It is in best interests of these websites to protect their customers by ensuring that all games are operable and safe to use.
One downloading website that has found particular favor with gamers is everything4360.com. This site specializes in serving the needs of Xbox 360 gamers by providing downloadable Xbox games. Offering downloads of the full range of Xbox 360 games, firmware, and utilities.
As a member you will be eligible for access to every Xbox game ever released from the earliest ones to the most current. Imagine; unlimited downloads of games like Halo 3, COD4, Call of Duty 2, Perfect Dark Zero, Gears of War, Need for Bustle, and Dane and Lynch, to name a few. This station will allow you unlimited downloads of Xbox 360 games for a one-time fee of around $40.00. That’s not a bad deal when you remember that one new Xbox game can cost nearly twice that amount.
One cautionary note is in order; make sure that your Xbox firmware version is compatible with the software that you are downloading. If not, get an upgrade, otherwise you new Xbox games that you download will not work. You’ll also need to understand how to flash the firmware for your Xbox. The download site can support you with that. They offer the updated firmware, as well as generous tutorials of how to flash your Xbox 360 firmware.
This website offers a big selection of tutorials that you can watch to teach you to how to download Xbox 360 games fast. They even have one on how to fix the infamous Xbox 360 “red light” problem. Using this tutorial to fix the problem obvious beats sending your Xbox 360 away for repairs. There are also tutorials explaining how to backup Xbox 360 games, and access to Xbox 360 cheat codes.
If you’ve had your Xbox machine for a while, you already understand that it does much more than play Xbox 360 games. You can use it as a home entertainment center. The Everything4360 website has a tutorial explaining how to stream DIVX and XVID videos from your Xbox 360 to your television set without the need for a media center PC. Talk about cost savings!
Hopefully, after reading this article, you’re now convinced as to how easy it is to download Xbox 360 games. If you have a computer with enough hard drive storage space, you can be downloading games before the day is out, build up an impressive library of Xbox 360 games, and become the envy of all your gamer friends.
What is the best website to download xbox 360 games? Our favorite site is Everything 4 360. Click the Everything 4 360 Review for more…
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Filed under Customer Support Software Freeware by on Dec 28th, 2011. Comment.
We’ve all had a day when the computer didn’t want to inaugurate up or you couldn’t access your files in Windows XP. When this happens it’s like being held hostage because the NTFS file partitions cannot be accessed using a floppy. So now what? Well, unless it’s your hard drive (and its probably not), a bootable CD-ROM backup of Windows XP will work just fine. Fortunately the PE-Builder V3.1.X has come to the rescue. The PE-Builder has a Pre Installed Environment that does most of the work for you. You can even add extra features like plug-ins and customer support, as well as graphics that are anything but bland.
The following list is compiled downloads you will need. You may already have some of these if you are an administrator, but most people will need to download the master software. Be aware that you will also need your Windows XP Installation CD if you are using the Home or Professional Edition.
• PE-Builder V.3.1.X – http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder Download the 3.1.3 version
• Windows XP Service Pack 2 – http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/default.mspx
• Disc mastering software (Nero, Norton Ghost, or Acronis True Image)
After you download the PE-Builder and the Service Pack 2 make certain they are both installed and working before proceeding with the following steps.
1. Launch the C: drive in My Computer and create a folder called SP2.
2. Put your Windows XP CD in the drive and copy the contents to the SP2 folder.
3. Open the folder where you stored the SP2 Installer (if you can’t find it go to the Start Menu>Run and type the command CMD to commence the DOS communication box.
4. Type the SP2 Installer Destination name followed by -S: (There is no space after the S:) Copy the installer to the SP2 file folder.
5. Integrate the files by typing XPSP2.exe-S:C:/(name of your XP file destination)
Next, you want to launch the PE-Builder V.3.1.X software.
1. Go to Source and enter the path to your Windows XP Installation files.
2. Under Output select a destination directory for your completed disc. (You have the choice of either saving the files as ISO, which can be altered later or you can burn the information directly to the disc. ISO is the best choice if you want to add other files and plug-ins.)
3. Add any other backup files that you may need like program drivers, data recovery tools, and disk utilities. The PE-Builder will properly format all the data so there is no reason to manually convert any files.
Now you can add any plug-ins, ASPI layers, and Adware that you might want to add to the write compilation. There is a ton of free downloadable Adware at http://www.nu2.nu/prbuilder/#plugins The final step is to burn the disc to a CD. If you already have a disc mastering program click burn in the top legal corner of the PE-Builder window. If you do not yet have a builder you can download one online. I like Acronis because it includes its own plug in. You can download the program at http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/support/bartpe
If you are given the option, end the disc so that the information cannot be changed or written over. Now you have a master copy of the Windows XP Installer, Service Pack 2, and any other data features you backed up. If Windows starts acting up just pop in the bootable CD (in safe mode) and then reboot the computer after you finish the installations.
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Filed under Customer Support Software Freeware by on Dec 3rd, 2011. Comment.