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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Here's the story of a girl who moved and the company who didn't cancel the gal's cable service when directed to.

Remember how I was in the midst of a massive work project right up until the move.  Well, during my very few minutes of downtime, I made all the move arrangements - canceling Electric, Telephone AND Satellite TV.  I also arranged new service of electric, gas, telephone and cable to the Philly apartment.  Now I'm a smart gal and I will toot my own horn thankyouverymuch.  However, guess what I find out when reconciling my bank accounts - DirecTV took it upon themselves to charge out $141.65 to my bank account for service up until NOVEMBER!  What the @*@*!*!*!  They "disconnected service"   Well - DOH - that should have been done in SEPTEMBER WHEN I ORDERED IT, specifically SEPTEMBER 15th! 

I call today and speak with two very competent CSRS who seem to have the right info and immediately get me over to the proper manager after holding for 23 minutes.  I'm routed to a Marie/Mae or whatever she wants to call herself and this gal has the NERVE to tell me "Well I need to see what's disputed".  HELLO - the whole effin' amount. I should have only paid a prorated amount for 11 days since my last payment on September 4th.  

So - smartazz Mae tells me "You work in law - you can send us a formal dispute correspondence to our PO Box and they can handle it from there."  First of all, yes, I do work in Law - so that means I want a signature and someone to hold liable for receiving the correspondence or a fax number.  See, when you inevitably will drop the ball again, I want someone's head.  I'm not stupid.  And then, compounding the drama, Mae snottily remarks, "Well there IS an early termination fee"  Early termination my butt!  I MOVED and I had been a DirecTV customer for over 4 years.  Hell, now that I think about it - I think it was close to 5 or 6 years.

Manager Mae turns out to SUPERVISOR Mae and clearly has a chip on her shoulder.  That chip got worse when she was told to find someone higher than her - even after angrily remarking "There's no manager available!"  Well, FIND ONE because I don't believe that Mae was the highest in the food chain on that call center floor.  Turns out I was right and, on the line comes April - a manager.  April is just as frustrated as me because DirecTV won't give them an address or fax number of the dispute idiots.  Plus their website is down so finding a legal contact is impossible.  So, after much apologizing, she and I were calmly trying to find an adequate resolution and after she put me on hold for another 7 minutes to see what she could do, I hear her come back on the line with "Ms. Lys" and then the dreaded DISCONNECT. 

ARG!!!!!!!  ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?

So I have to call back - and start to tell my story for the 4th time and, CSRs - take note - NEVER tell a customer "I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL!" because that is when I lost it - throat was ripped out at the unfortunate CSR who uttered that phrase and I told him - "FIND APRIL or a MANAGER.  Do not, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD put me back in touch with MAE!"

And, after 17 minutes, KEVIN a SUPERVISOR gets on the phone and - yet again - DISCONNECT as he's speaking. 

I finally had a come to Jesus chat with Joanne, a very sweet CSR and told her that if a manager doesn't get on the line soon, I'm about to go to the executives with this drama because DirecTV should have NEVER pulled this crap in the first place.  I know they are all about customer retention but c'mon already - I MOVED and into a COMCAST footprint.  I CANCELLED MY SERVICE.  

Again, I was put on hold and subsequently routed to a ROSE in some call center in the Philippines.  SO I had to go through the arguing AGAIN.  Even better was Rose telling me "Well, you get routed to managers all over the world".  So, the bell in my head goes off - we're dealing with outsourcing (you know how I detest companies that doe that).  And as she remarks "Well we mailed you a hard copy bill on Sept. 17th and Oct. 17th.  You know how the mail system is"  Well "ROSE", the mail system in my country - while not perfect - knows a FORWARDING ADDRESS plus I gave it to DIRECTV's girl on Sept. 4th when she tried to get me to stay with the company.  However Rose tells me that the note was only about payment and not the disconnect.  Now irate and boiling, I insisted on transferring to a manager in the states.  And, again during the transfer - you guessed it - a disconnect.  And their website is down and their office is closed now until the morning. 

However, know that in the AM, I will have a nice chat with USAA who will be made aware of this drama and a request for reversal of the charge will be put in if need be because I did NOT authorize DirecTV to use my debit card on November 16th, nor was authorization implied for ANY future use when I made a payment with said card on Sept. 4th.  And I will have a chat with the people in the DirecTV US offices when they open for the correct info as well as a hard copy of the bills.  And the legal dispute will begin because, as I was only supposed to be billed for 11 days of service, by their error and oversight, I was charged for 2 MONTHS of service.  Somehow 11 days does not equal $141.65.

Also, DirecTV - EPIC fail because for someone who always touted how great you were even during the hurricanes, your customer service - horrid.  For something so simple as a disconnect, your people couldn't even do that right. 

This fight is FAR from over...

Labels: Guilty of Idiocy, Inquiring Minds, Moving In Stilettos, Outsourcing, Wha Da Hell

Posted by Lys :: 1:29 AM :: 1 comments

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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Stamps.com: I'll Get You And Your Little Dog Too...

One thing that gets my goat is Outsourcing. I seriously get incensed by it to where I think it is far from funny.

One of my discussions on as to why there is a recession - hmmm.. maybe because companies are outsourcing and there are no jobs here at home. Want to know why there is a homeless problem here - because corporate businesses want to increase their profits (and CEO's wallets/bonuses/pay increases/etc.). Want to know why there is drama here in the States and crime is risen - because many people can't get a decent job. Where are the jobs - not in the United States, that's for sure and definitely not here in Orlando/Central Florida.

I've decided that as I encounter companies that I have done business with that outsource, I'm going to add them to the "GUILTY OF IDIOCY" list. Most of the time, I throw a fit and ask for a manager in the states and I will either cancel my account or refuse to do business with them. I had that problem once with Verizon. I'm a Cingular AT&T Wireless wench now and one of my reasons was dealing with the Outsourcing.

Time to expose Culprit No. 1 - STAMPS.com. Today I had a lovely conversation with "MIKE JOHNSON" of STAMPS.com. I had to cancel my account which necessitated a call to a call center, because, of course, they don't let you do that online. Even their message is pretty much lackluster while you are holding. Also, don't let the implication that their corporate office in Los Angeles is the call center, even if they tell you "our office is in California". The Call Centers are, most assuredly, located in India. Of course, it took forever for him to admit it and, of course, he screwed up everything and it got disconnected prompting me to be on hold again. Should you need to call, that's where you go - not to the States - but to a call center where they are given names like "Mike Johnson" and read from scripts. Then I got ahold of "HURI" (which I think was the real name) and guess what - there is no supervisor, wait - there is one "MARK JONES" but there is no number and there is no guarantee I would get them. She finally did admit that they are a office of Stamps.com and the corporate office was in LA, but they don't handle customer inquiries, etc. And, even better - after much argument, a refund will be processed in 7-10 business days.

Now - one thing I'm confused about - aren't they supposed to be endorsed or affiliated with the United States Post Office. Wouldn't one think that they might actually have a call center in the STATES? I mean it is US Stamps and all.

Bottom line, people - bottom line. Oh - and to the CEO of Stamps.com, you might want to get to know your people over in India - they had no clue who the heck you were. Then again, if I don't get my refund, you will, most assuredly, know who I am.

Labels: Blog 365, Guilty of Idiocy, Outsourcing, Soapbox

Posted by Lys :: 8:01 PM :: 1 comments

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