entitlement max

[Jester]

Okay, I am going to take the other side here. Don't get me wrong, the guest was an ass. But I don't think it would be a bad idea for the bike shop to give the hotel clerk (in this case Dave) an ETA for the bike deliveries, and for the clerk to pass the ETA along to the guest. "Ma'am, I just got off the phone with the bike shop, and they said that they will have your bikes out to you within the next two hours." Or some such. Sure, she might have bitched about that. ("Whhhaaaaat? I have to wait here two hours? Who's going to compensate me for the time I am wasting here?") But it would be a step towards more positive customer service. And I realize that the bike shop might have only told Dave "today." I am just saying it might have been worth the effort for Dave to give a followup call to the guest.

Just my thought on the subject.

[South Texan]

I don't think it would be a bad idea for the bike shop to give the hotel clerk (in this case Dave) an ETA for the bike deliveries, and for the clerk to pass the ETA along to the guest.

I agree with you, Jester, that such would have been a good idea. If, however, neither the the bike shop nor Dave gave the guest an ETA, the guest should not have assumed a time as this woman did. I am not knowledgeable of resorts such as Dave's employer, but I have a feeling there is not a standard time for delivery of bikes that would support such an assumption.

All the guest needed to do if she did not get her ETA is ASK for one. Then she could have griped and canceled if the bike shop would not give a firm delivery time - and "today" is not even close to one.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Methinks this was just someone trying to scam a free night.

[vacation_rentals_suck]

I know that it sounds like a good idea to give the customer an ETA but suppose I told her two hours and the driver got a flat tire or was in an accident. Now she has to wait longer and she is pissed. You give them an ETA, they hold you to it. If the bikes got there two hours and one minute after I said two hours, they are raising hell and wanting compensation

[Dips]

But, as you stated yourself, most of your customers are reasonable and understand that an "estimated" time of arrival is just that: an estimate. It's a shame that your company will refuse to provide ETA for everyone just to keep a few EWs from going off the deep end.

The policy certainly hasn't helped you avoid any suck considering how the badly the EWs are handling your refusal to provide an ETA.

But you don't make the policies so what can you do?

I am glad to see that you're working days again and there's a manager available to foist these idiots off onto.

[Talon]

She called you a ding-dong?

What is she eight years old? She going to throw herself on the floor and hold her breath until her face turns blue?

[Hyndis]

But, as you stated yourself, most of your customers are reasonable and understand that an "estimated" time of arrival is just that: an estimate. It's a shame that your company will refuse to provide ETA for everyone just to keep a few EWs from going off the deep end.

The policy certainly hasn't helped you avoid any suck considering how the badly the EWs are handling your refusal to provide an ETA.

But you don't make the policies so what can you do?

I am glad to see that you're working days again and there's a manager available to foist these idiots off onto.

We don't provide ETA's, because to a customer, its not an estimate. Its ETCHED IN STONE FOR ALL ETERNITY.

As such, when an ETA isn't met, the customer goes absolutely apeshit on us. They throw tantrums that would make a 3 year old die of embarrassment.

So, no ETA's. We just say we "do not have access to that information" and leave it at that, regardless of how much the customer insists, or even if we have an actual ETA available to us, but we will not pass it on to the customer.

Yes, doing this will enrage customers because we don't provide them any extra information, but it enrages fewer of them than providing them information. So yes, on average, they are actually happier the less they're told. Too much information is a bad thing.

[Dips]

Having some vague idea when my bikes would arrive would be helpful to me in planning out my day. That policy punishes those of us who know what an estimate is. Dave has mentioned many times that most of his customers are very pleasant people (he just doesn't post about those ones) and it seems a shame that they all have to suffer because a few EWs can't handle themselves properly.

At our company we don't guarantee a delivery date for standard shipping. [We do if you pay twice or three times as much for expedited shipping and people who insist on a guarantee get a quote for that option ]

But if someone asks when to expect the package we tell them what usually happens based on our experience with deliveries to that area. That's after making sure they acknowledge it isn't a guarantee. We also welcome them to call us back if things don't go as they expect and, our fault or not, we'll look into it for them. Even though some of our customers are VERY entitled, that policy avoids way more trouble than it causes us.

But everyone's mileage may vary. I understand that.

[vacation_rentals_suck]

Even a customer who is normally nice can go from zero to asshole in two seconds if an ETA is not met. When they want something, they want it ASAP. Most of them are ok if it's off by a few minutes but when something unforseen happens and the minutes turn to hours, they are pissed. even if it wasnt anybody's fault. I honestly can't say I would blame them because I know when I order a pizza and they tell me 45 minutes and I dont get it until an hour and a half later, I am agitated. I think it's best to tell them sometime that day and if they insist on an ETA and promise they wont hold us to it, I still say I dont know. Like the other person said, it is better to have them pissed because you wont give them a time than to have them pissed because you gave them a time and it didnt come through. In the former, I didnt make a promise but in the latter, the customer feels lied to.

[exterminator]

I usually just tell people morning or afternoon. Makes my work day less stessfull.

But hey, you should've given her the bikes, but without seats on the posts.

[OfficeSlug]

So sitting around, relaxing, with no pressures, sipping tea, chilling, and simply waiting on a bike DOESN'T constitute "vacation"???



I don't get it.

[Dips]

I honestly can't say I would blame them because I know when I order a pizza and they tell me 45 minutes and I dont get it until an hour and a half later, I am agitated.

Maybe pizza places should take a leaf from your customer service book and tell customers their pizza will arrive "sometime tonight" instead of giving an ETA.

[chainedbarista]

these people have entirely too much cash and not enough brain to go with it.

while an estimate for time would be nice, i'm sure that anything less than 'RIGHT NOW' wouldn't be acceptable.

[trailerparkmedic]

I completely understand why Dave doesn't give ETAs. At the appliance repair company I worked for, you would get scheduled for 8-12 or 1-5. If someone was scheduled 8-12 and the tech wasn't there by 1201, they would call in, irate. I had a lot of circular conversations that pretty much went:

Me: The tech's truck broke down/The tech is running late because another repair took much longer than expected/The tech felt sick and left early so you were assigned to another tech who will be there shortly.
Customer: But it's after 12!!! The tech is supposed to be here now!!!11111eleventy!!!
Me: I apologize for that. We are doing our best to honor our commitment to you, however there was an unexpected delay because..... <insert above, repeat, repeat, repeat>

Not that I would be pleased in that situation, but by the time the customer called in, there was very little we could do to calm them down and get them to understand that sometimes, real life happened to get in the way of their repair. It would have been much easier to not give any ETA.

[Broomjockey]

I completely understand why Dave doesn't give ETAs. At the appliance repair company I worked for, you would get scheduled for 8-12 or 1-5. If someone was scheduled 8-12 and the tech wasn't there by 1201, they would call in, irate.

No offense, but that's a completely different situation. That's a scheduled appointment. Not an ETA. People were right to be annoyed (but not sucky) if they didn't get a call saying "Look, your appointment's being shifted due to X reason."