CS truism proved right yesterday

[CancelMyService]

It's a famous saying around here "give a SC an inch and they'll take a mile" and I had proof of that yesterday.

Lady called in because she's having her cable restarted (was shut off from being nearly 90 days past due, this is important later) and she is upset about being told someone would have to be home for this.

Now see, we have a new policy where we don't do pole only work anymore except for emergency situations because there were too many cases of their still being problems which required another tech to be sent out. This way we can (hopefully) get everything done in one stop.

This of course was no good, she had situations with her family, she kept trying to entwine this situation with another issue that was unrelated to her restart, basically 15 minutes of BUT I CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN'T BE HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME, I WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT IT ON TOMORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOW"

I happen to see a supervisor walk by so I run the story past him, and he said it was ok to do a pole only, just note the work order. So I inform the caller of this, and without missing a beat she said "ok, and I also want this reconnect fee waived too, it's not fair because your web site was down when I tried to make my payment".




Now, yes our site was down, but remember her bill was nearly 90 DAYS LATE. I politely reminded her that there were other methods of payment available (some even quicker than the web site, like say..........calling in your payment ). When she realized that she hit the wall with that attempt, she said "well I don't have time to waste on the phone arguing about it".

After 15 minutes of giving me her life story to get someone to turn her cable on without someone being at home.





I love it when they basically say "you aren't worth my time if you won't give me what I want".

[Ill_Used_Heroine]

I love it when they basically say "you aren't worth my time if you won't give me what I want".

That's usually the time I get called a bitch ... because I won't give them what they want (though this is usually not in reference to a CS). That's why I smile to myself when someone calls me a bitch, cause I know they're not getting their way when they expect to.

[earl colby pottinger]

Why?

This of course was no good, she had situations with her family, she kept trying to entwine this situation with another issue that was unrelated to her restart, basically 15 minutes of BUT I CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN'T BE HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME, I WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT IT ON TOMORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOW"

Why does she want it on? If she can't be there for the tech, then she can't be there to watch it.

Plus, bet there is another problem and she be calling back, you will need to send out another tech and the company loses more money.

You should have stuck to the original policy.

[CancelMyService]

She wanted it on because she paid for the restart already, which meant the past due bill was paid plus first month of new service and restart fee. And yes, you're most likely right that there will be problems and we'll need to come back.

Basically once someone pays for a restart (and it's usually several hundred dollars) they want it done right there on the spot, tech schedules be damned. If they don't get it NOW NOW NOW then hissyfits will be thrown and managers will be demanded for. As I hear all the time "Ya'll didn't need anyone to be there when you turned it off, why ya'll need someone to be there to turn it on"..........of course you try to explain that you don't need someone to come in and verify all the channels are coming in properly when you turn the service *off*, but that only momentarily stuns them on their way to Tantrum Town.

I don't know where this started, because I always thought the stereotype was that cable techs were slow and gave you large appointment windows, but people think techs can be summoned to their house instantly. I know you saw a truck in your neighborhood an hour ago. No I can't call that guy and get him to come over, he has a full day's schedule already booked. No I can't put you on his schedule in place of someone else. Yes we have techs who come out at night for emergencies, and no, some fuzz on your channels is not an emergency. I know you're missing COPS and as such missing the chance to see family members on TV, but it still doesn't rate as an emergency.