Our Techs Aren't at Your Beck and Call, a Love Story...

[CancelMyService]

The one thing that constantly irritates me working for the cable company are the people who's schedules are completely incompatible with our tech's schedules but refuse to modify their schedule in any way to even attempt to work with us.

I understand the 2 or 4 hour windows are a pain in the ass, but don't complain about being without TV/Internet for a week when you refused the first 3 appointment times given to you. I don't want to hear you huff and puff about my company not being willing to work with you when everything we suggest conflicts with your schedule somehow.

I work Monday thru Friday 12:30-9, which means when I need to have a tech come to my place, I have to schedule it on the weekend. Or I take a day off (I know not everyone has that luxury, but how essential is it for you to get your TV back?).

Our techs work from 8am-8pm seven days a week in most areas. Screaming at me, my supervisor, or the tech himself doesn't change that Not even the most spineless manager can add more time to the day or make a tech stay late for you. May I suggest if you work seven days a week and aren't in the medical profession that perhaps you should think about another line of work?

Speaking of that, no we won't reimburse you if you call off of work for our appointment. I assume with your hectic schedule you must have a car (public transportation sucks around here so it's a safe assumption), do you ask the garage to reimburse you for your precious time when you bring it in for maintenance or do you just run it to the wheels fall off? If you chose the latter, may I suggest our wire maintenance program? If you let things fall into disrepair, you're going to need it.

What I'm saying, Mr/Ms. Impatient Cable Customer, is you have to be willing to play ball a little. We have 84 hours a week available to be scheduled, all we're asking from you is 4.

[SCSlave]

WELL SAID!

I hated it when people complained about the scheduled times for cable repair/installation. I had/have to do the same thing. After my stint at the cable company, I went to work for an Insurance Company Call Center (yeah..I didn't learn my lesson on the whole call center thing...) and my schedule was 11 am til 8 pm....that meant I HAD to take at least a half day off work to meet with the cable guy. Not a big deal really.

Oo! OO!! How about the ones that call in and complain the tech "never showed"...when in actuality, they DID..and the SC just wasn't home or didn't answer. I loved those. The ones that said "All they did was hang a "sorry we missed you' tag on my door and left!" I always had visions of the cable tech singing the "Mission Impossible" theme song while ducking behind bushes, under stairs and leaping onto the porch to hang the tag and then leaping back off in a flourish.

[myswtghst]

I work second shift at a call center that does tech support and technical dispatch. This means, as part of my job, I call techs and send them out to site. I cannot stand the techs who whine to me at night/on the weekends about having to go to site. I'm at work, aren't I? They're paying you to go out there, aren't they? Then shut up and do your job.

[CancelMyService]

WELL SAID!

Oo! OO!! How about the ones that call in and complain the tech "never showed"...when in actuality, they DID..and the SC just wasn't home or didn't answer. I loved those. The ones that said "All they did was hang a "sorry we missed you' tag on my door and left!" I always had visions of the cable tech singing the "Mission Impossible" theme song while ducking behind bushes, under stairs and leaping onto the porch to hang the tag and then leaping back off in a flourish.

OMGWTFBBQ~! My all time World Champion sucky customers are ALL that kind.

Here's a little insider secret for you all: Techs are required to call 3 times before arrival. You need to answer one of those calls so the techs know someone is home since they LEGALLY CANNOT ENTER YOUR HOUSE IF NO ONE IS HOME! Also, and this doesn't happen every time (and I wish it did but logistics prevent it), the third and final call is made by the dispatch to verify that no one answered. It gets noted on your work order and the account that 3 attempts were made.

Now we all know shit happens. Maybe the tag blew off the door, maybe you were taking a crap and couldn't reach the phone in time, maybe you were carrying the cordless and somehow wondered into the Phantom Zone and had no reception. But we called you. YOU missed US. Not the other way around.

99 times out of 100 they're the ones who call in completely batshit insane screaming, demanding a tech returns RIGHT NOOOOOOOOOOOW! How dare we not show up after calling multiple times! The tech should know you're home because an appointment was made (yes, I've been told that), or no one told you the tech would call first (not likely, because that's all we can do to prevent this lovely dance from happening).


I would say maybe 5% of missed appointments come from unavoidable delays (traffic, previous jobs lasting longer than expected), another 5% come from honest foulups on our part (usually jobs get rescheduled and no one called the customer), but the VAST majority are because Jim-Bob and Betty-Sue had to go on a run for Beer Nuts and Skoal which made them miss the call.

[SCSlave]

HAHA I HATED the ones that the tech rescheduled the appointment without telling the customer. Because that gave the customer the right to be an SC---and I got to be the lucky soul to answer his/her call.

[CancelMyService]

HAHA I HATED the ones that the tech rescheduled the appointment without telling the customer. Because that gave the customer the right to be an SC---and I got to be the lucky soul to answer his/her call.

I've had discussions with area VPs (as close to corporate I can get without needing airfare) about how phone orders will get rescheduled and the customer gets no notification, which creates the worst monster: the completely justified SC. There's no worse feeling than the realization one of your wonderful co workers just left you swinging in the breeze like a nudist in a hurricane.

[powerboy]

HAHA I HATED the ones that the tech rescheduled the appointment without telling the customer. Because that gave the customer the right to be an SC---and I got to be the lucky soul to answer his/her call.

We had that happen to us once. We were getting new carpeting put in. Well the guys that was to put it in, didn't show up. We called because we had everything moved from the room. We got told that the person rescheduled it without telling us. And they had the nerve to say that we were lying to them.

Another time, it they put down a different date, even tho, they called us 2 times to make sure it was still on for that date.

[Jewels]

At my work our installs run in two hour time frames starting at 9am and running thru 5pm. Monday thru Friday.


Yeah, I get a lot of bitching about how inconvienent that is.

[Banrion]

I love that the cable company does the call ahead now. When we were having trouble with our internet, my fiance was working less than 2 minutes from home. Cable Co. had his cell number and called and said he would be at our place in 10, as it turned out fiance and cable guy pulled in the drive at the same time. We are VERY lucky though, the sub-contractor that handles our area is wonderful, the techs I have met are polite, don't try to rush things, and won't leave if they haven't gotten things fixed.

[draftermatt]

But to play devil's advocate... If you tell me the tech will be there from 12-4PM, don't get mad when he shows up at 8 AM and I'm not there. (It happened, they blamed me despite the fact I called twice to confirm 12-4)

If he doesn't show up at all, and I took off of work, you should have to reimburse me for lost wages. Unless something major came up.
If the shop I took my car to promised me a time, and didn't make it, I want to know why. Depending on the reason, depends on if I complain.

Also, if you say from 12-4, don't call me at 4:45 saying "I'm 90 minutes away, would you like me to still come?" I had a wedding to go to at 6:00, so no.

[digilight]

Also, if you say from 12-4, don't call me at 4:45 saying "I'm 90 minutes away, would you like me to still come?" I had a wedding to go to at 6:00, so no.

This one I gotta disagree with. If he got held up, mugged, visited that before mentioned twilight zone for a while or whatever, I would appreciate the call saying that hey, I can be there at 6:30 or so do you still want me to come over. This is where I can say, no I've got a wedding at 6:00 I have to be at. Or sure, I'm just laying here watching snow and eating cheeto's out of a gold fish bowl.

[Imogene]

My Dad, when he moved down here, had some reason to get a tech out here to do something (I forget what). The day of the installation, Dad was out in the backyard, now, at the time, our fence was short, and you could see the front yard from the back, easily. Dad watched a repair truck park out front, and he wandered inside, just in time to see the tech hang a card on the door and turn around. A total of a minute to get inside and miss the tech. He called up the dispatch, angry as could be (with good reason, I would think. No knock or anything.) Dad talked to the dispatch, and asked why he had done that. And the dispatcher gave absolutely the wrong reason. "Oh, there's a party here in a few minutes, so, he was just getting his work done quickly." Or something to that effect.
Dad usually has a slow fuse, but that set him right off. "You get him to get his ass right back here, and do his damn job! I took the day off work to be here for HIM! He didn't do any WORK here, he just crossed me off his list!" and so on.

[Andara Bledin]

Oo! OO!! How about the ones that call in and complain the tech "never showed"...when in actuality, they DID..and the SC just wasn't home or didn't answer. I loved those. The ones that said "All they did was hang a "sorry we missed you' tag on my door and left!"

I've never had a service tech try that with me. But I have had the USPS, UPS, and FedEx all have people come up, stick a "sorry we missed you tag" to the door and leave. All the while, the front door is standing open! And the USPS did it more than once, lazy ass substitutes. The USPS subs (it was a substitute both times) just was too lazy to carry the packages in question. I don't know what the UPS guys excuse was. The FedEx guy didn't knock because he didn't want to have to explain why the hell the package that was supposed to be on his truck was still sitting in the processing warehouse.

Because that gave the customer the right to be an SC---and I got to be the lucky soul to answer his/her call.

No. Nothing gives anyone the right to be an SC. It gives them a right to be pissed off and upset, but that is never something they should take out on someone except possibly the person that caused the problem.

^-.-^

[ShockQueen]

If he doesn't show up at all, and I took off of work, you should have to reimburse me for lost wages. Unless something major came up.

*snip*

Also, if you say from 12-4, don't call me at 4:45 saying "I'm 90 minutes away, would you like me to still come?" I had a wedding to go to at 6:00, so no.

I doubt any company will reimburse you for lost wages. The most you would get is credit for time down. I mean......if you make $20/hour, do you think anyone is going to kick you back $80-160? Not saying it's right or wrong - but probably just the way it is.

I've had people want a month credit for less than a day of downtime, and just about every other "request" out there. The techs calling ahead nowadays is a really good idea, as it alleviates a lot of issues. Now if we can just get all the UPS/USPS guys to make sure they knock or ring the bell when they show up..............

[myswtghst]

This one I gotta disagree with. If he got held up, mugged, visited that before mentioned twilight zone for a while or whatever, I would appreciate the call saying that hey, I can be there at 6:30 or so do you still want me to come over.

I agree. Even if it turns out that I can't wait for them to get there, at least they had the courtesy to call and let me know that no, they weren't going to make. I call if I'm running late for an appointment, kind of the same thing, in my mind. And I would completely understand if they were scheduled for two in a row, and the customer before me held them up WAY too long, or something like that. I just want to know.

And I hate that there are techs out there who pull $hit like leaving a tag without knocking, etc, because they ruin it for everyone else. While most techs probably are responsible and wouldn't do that, the few that do sour it for everyone else, as people are now (justifiably) suspiscious.