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  1. - Top - End - #91
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by darkrose50 View Post
    I wasted two weeks do the following:

    [1] Cold calling individuals aged 65+ asking them for their SSN.
    To be fair, I never give out my SSN to anybody that calls me, ever. Like if somebody claims to be from some place I owe money to, I tell them that I will call them back. Then I call them at the number listed on their website or on the paper bill. There are too many leaks for that kind of stuff.

    Quote Originally Posted by darkrose50 View Post
    [2] Cold calling individuals aged 65+ asking them for their credit card information.
    Same as the above. And even more here since a lot of times I pay for things like medical bills with debit cards, which are difficult to prove fraud on. I really don't like to use those over the phone.
    My Avatar is Glimtwizzle, a Gnomish Fighter/Illusionist by Cuthalion.

  2. - Top - End - #92
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by 2D8HP View Post

    Once a creditor called me a different middle name, and with a couple hours on the web (this was when we had dial up so it often took many minutes for a page to load) I found the guy who I suspect the creditors were looking for, he was a decade older thsn me, and lived one city over.
    There are 2 other people in my general area with my same name(the entire thing, which is weird, because neither of them are even related to me, oddly enough), and back about 14 years ago I got a call on Christmas day from a debt collection agency that started out asking for *my name* and I was like "This is him" and they started getting really rude, demanding that I pay them X amount of money that I owed them or they were going to call the police and have me arrested. I had to repeat that I owed nobody any money, that I didn't even have a credit card or a car payment(at the time) like 4 or 5 times before they stopped demanding that I pay them. Finally they were like "Do you live in X area", and I was like "Well, I'm about 2 hours away from there" "Oh, so you are the one who owes us expletive money" "No sir I'm not, and I don't appreciate you yelling at me and cussing me out on Christmas expletive day" "Is the last 2 digits of your SSN XX" "Nope, not at all, they are XX". "Oh, so you aren't the *my name* we're looking for. But you must be related to, I demand you give me their phone # right now" "Sorry, I don't know who the hell they are, and I certainly don't have their phone #, now if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to celebrating Christmas with my family, and if you call me again, I'll be the one calling the police for harassment". They hung up without even apologizing for screaming and cussing at me on my Christmas day ><. I was so furious it took me like an hour to calm down, nearly ruined Christmas day for me, and it was the first Christmas with my first-born daughter.

    They really need to do their research a little better when they attempt to collect money instead of cold-calling the first person they find with the name they are looking for. Surely they had this guys address and could see that my address didn't match it and was in fact 2 hours away from my area.

    Oh, and if anyone is wondering, apparently this guy owed several thousand dollars for gym equipment, which made the situation even more surreal for me, as I am disabled(broken back) and couldn't use gym equipment no matter how much I'd want to.
    Last edited by Starwulf; 2018-04-08 at 06:17 AM.

  3. - Top - End - #93
    Eldritch Horror in the Playground Moderator
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Since it doesn't appear to have been mentioned, there are several websites I'm fond of reading that would likely be of interest to people here.

    https://notalwaysright.com/ - primarily a site with reader-submitted stories of dumb customers and co-workers, with a whole bunch of related sites with the same theme in different venues like school, family, relationships, etc.

    http://www.retailhellunderground.com/ - a blog with retail-related stories and content; dumb customers, funny stories, and pictures of odd things.

    https://clientsfromhell.net/ - like notalwaysright, but oriented towards freelance professionals.

  4. - Top - End - #94
    Dragon in the Playground Moderator
     
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by The Glyphstone View Post
    Since it doesn't appear to have been mentioned, there are several websites I'm fond of reading that would likely be of interest to people here.

    https://notalwaysright.com/ - primarily a site with reader-submitted stories of dumb customers and co-workers, with a whole bunch of related sites with the same theme in different venues like school, family, relationships, etc.

    http://www.retailhellunderground.com/ - a blog with retail-related stories and content; dumb customers, funny stories, and pictures of odd things.

    https://clientsfromhell.net/ - like notalwaysright, but oriented towards freelance professionals.
    Or, for the reddit-inclined peoples,

    https://www.reddit.com/r/talesfromretail/ Same as NAR, but better IMO.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/talesfromtechsupport/ Similar, but from a tech support POV.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/IDontWorkHereLady/ Flip side. People who do not work at a place, but are assumed to by other people.
    Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.

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  5. - Top - End - #95
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlueKnightGuy

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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Some of those stories are rather unpleasant. I'll be honest one of my biggest fears going to work every day is dealing with an angry customer. I dont' really handle conflict and confrontation very well and it's something that I somewhat dread.

    Fortunately, as a lowly Sales Associate, I can pretty much always defer to my Manager and he can handle the problem. Also as I mentioned in a previous post, the store I work in is quite the backwater. Most of the angry people go to Wal'mart right up the street from us. Most of the drunks go to the store from the same chain in-town.

    We did have a girl come in the last time I worked who was high as a kite. She came in wearing thick sunglasses that she wore the entire time as she just kind of drifted throughout the store for awhile looking at everything. Finally she gathered up a handful of small items and brought them up to the register and asked what the price was for every single one of them. I didn't mind though, the activity was beginning to die down and there wasn't anyone else in the store and she actually found a couple of things that were mislabeled.

    That pretty much leaves our most obnoxious customers being the coupon junkies. Coupons are quickly becoming my least liked object. A few saturdays back, we had a customer at the register with an absolutely massive order. Once I had rang out her entire cart, bagged everything and she had put her things back into her cart to take them to her car; she pulls roughly 80 coupons out of her purse. I started ringing them up and roughly half of them didn't work. So I called my manager up and explained the situation and we had to go through everything on the register one by one, verify that she bought it, then my manager had to manually drop the price. Because our system doesn't like a large number of coupons being put in all at once. It's probably took about half an hour to pair everything up and it was very frustrating for all the parties involved. Words weren't said, but I could tell it was getting on all of our nerves.

    That wasn't the first time that something like that happened, but that was definitely the worst time so far. So please, If you have a lot of coupons...Keep in mind that you're already inconveniencing us at closing by giving them yet another thing to keep track up and count and please put your coupons with their corresponding product. It makes life so much easier when we can do the coupons as we go instead of all at the end and helps with mechanical failsafes. If you don't, then just remember that not only are you doubly inconveniencing us, but you're also inconveniencing yourself as well if something goes wrong.
    Quote Originally Posted by BRC View Post
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  6. - Top - End - #96
    Surgebinder in the Playground Moderator
     
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by Leecros View Post
    Because our system doesn't like a large number of coupons being put in all at once.
    Then whoever designed your system is an idiot, because that's something that people legitimately do, with correct coupons, on an infrequent but far from unheard of basis. If the coupon is valid and the item it's for has been rung up in the current purchase, then the system should accept it. How many coupons you've scanned in a row should be completely irrelevant.

    I worked as a grocery store cashier in high school, and I remember ringing up someone who had 2 or 3 full carts of stuff and a big pile of coupons. As I recall, I did all the coupons at the end and most of them just worked, and for each of the ones that didn't I ended up finding some detail that made the coupon not apply - it was for a different size, or slightly different product, or the coupon was expired, or there was some other condition not satisfied. I still had to find some things in the carts to verify details, but the customer helped with that and it was only for a few of the coupons.
    Last edited by Douglas; 2018-04-08 at 02:12 AM.
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  7. - Top - End - #97
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    In the U.S., WIC is way more annoying than coupons. Which of course is not at all the fault of the people using it. (Usually if someone was complaining, I made a point of somewhat loudly making comments about bureaucrats designing things.)
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  8. - Top - End - #98
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by WarKitty View Post
    In the U.S., WIC is way more annoying than coupons. Which of course is not at all the fault of the people using it. (Usually if someone was complaining, I made a point of somewhat loudly making comments about bureaucrats designing things.)
    Oh yeah, that's for damn sure. Especially with the ever changing list of what you can and can not get with the checks. One month you could get this type of cereal and bread and cheese, and the next month none of what you previously could get is on the list and it's something entirely different. My local supermarket got so sick and tired of it that they(technically defrauded, but meh) started ringing up peoples purchases as something approved on the list, as long as the price was comparable and the item was comparable. I mean, I can remember a time when literally, back to back to back months the bread we could get changed every time. The cashier was like "Technically this isn't on the list anymore, but my manager told me to ring it up as an item on the list because it's the same price".

    I mean, they wouldn't even send out new lists with the updated stuff to the WIC users, you wouldn't get that until you went in to get your next set of 3 months worth of checks. Instead they just sent the updated stuff to all the stores in the area.

    I think the only thing that never changed was the milk, and the eggs. And actually, iirc, at one point you were allowed any brand of milk, but they eventually changed it to store-brand only, lol. That whole system was just a massive cluster cluck that needed a complete and total reorganization top to bottom.

  9. - Top - End - #99
    Colossus in the Playground
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Going back a bit, yeah, the people who yell and holler at the cashier over policies they dont like are the worst. Its just so STUPID to yell at these guys. Its abusive nonsense at people who dont deserve it and applies to customer service reps just as much. Look lady, YOU are the one who didnt pay your cable bill. Its not the CSR's fault that your power got shut off, and its not their fault that its company policy to do so when you get two months behind. Shut up, pay the bill, get your cable back.

    That said, let me rant a bit. Cable internet can be turned on in 10 seconds from the computer of the guy who I just paid. There is absolutely no excuse to tell me that i can either pay an extra hundred now to reactivate it, or wait several days first. That is flat out extortion and totally unjustifiable and may your company and every executive that agreed to that policy burn in jail, then hell. And may your next job not involve working for pure scum.
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    Traab is yelling everything that I'm thinking already.
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  10. - Top - End - #100
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    The Fury's Avatar

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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Being involved in customer service as long as I have has taught me quite a lot. One of the first things I learned is that anyone in customer service should not call themselves "service industry." Apparently that term's for kitchen staff, servers, bartenders and other food and drink service workers. Some of them take that very seriously and get way offended if you use the "service industry" label incorrectly.

    One facet of the customer service jobs I've had over the years was making sure that public restrooms were clean. Since then I got to learn colorful new terms like "hovering" and "distance challenges." Too bad I can't unlearn them.

  11. - Top - End - #101
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlueKnightGuy

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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by Douglas View Post
    Then whoever designed your system is an idiot, because that's something that people legitimately do, with correct coupons, on an infrequent but far from unheard of basis. If the coupon is valid and the item it's for has been rung up in the current purchase, then the system should accept it. How many coupons you've scanned in a row should be completely irrelevant.
    Based on everything that i've learned about my company and it's practices over the last couple of weeks. This really wouldn't surprise me in the least.
    Last edited by Leecros; 2018-04-08 at 10:00 PM.
    Quote Originally Posted by BRC View Post
    teleporting Hyper Nixon solves problems with Patriotism.

  12. - Top - End - #102
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    WolfInSheepsClothing

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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by AMFV View Post
    To be fair, I never give out my SSN to anybody that calls me, ever. Like if somebody claims to be from some place I owe money to, I tell them that I will call them back. Then I call them at the number listed on their website or on the paper bill. There are too many leaks for that kind of stuff.

    Same as the above. And even more here since a lot of times I pay for things like medical bills with debit cards, which are difficult to prove fraud on. I really don't like to use those over the phone.
    Yeah it was a nightmare! TWO WEEKS . . . I wanted to rock myself to sleep with my tears as my only comfort . . ..

  13. - Top - End - #103
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    WolfInSheepsClothing

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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    I just had to tell a man that he filled out the paperwork to remove his dead wife from his insurance incorrectly.

    I am going to need all the chocolate.
    Last edited by darkrose50; 2018-04-12 at 02:37 PM.

  14. - Top - End - #104
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    A lot of people at my job seem to struggle with specificity.

    Look, your driver is at the airport. I'm going to need something more specific than "outside at the door" to get him to you. And it's always like Laguardia or Logan or Hartsfield that people pull that at.
    Hail to the Lord of Death and Destruction!
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  15. - Top - End - #105
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    WolfInSheepsClothing

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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by WarKitty View Post
    A lot of people at my job seem to struggle with specificity.

    Look, your driver is at the airport. I'm going to need something more specific than "outside at the door" to get him to you. And it's always like Laguardia or Logan or Hartsfield that people pull that at.
    My wife does this to me.

    Me: Where is the <insert item always in the fridge>.

    Wife (whom I love and adore): In the kitchen.

    Me: But where is it?

    Wife (whom I love and adore): In the fridge.

    Me: But where in the fridge?

    Wife (whom I love and adore): I don't know.

  16. - Top - End - #106
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by darkrose50 View Post
    My wife does this to me.

    Me: Where is the <insert item always in the fridge>.

    Wife (whom I love and adore): In the kitchen.

    Me: But where is it?

    Wife (whom I love and adore): In the fridge.

    Me: But where in the fridge?

    Wife (whom I love and adore): I don't know.
    Presumably, however, she is not simultaneously complaining about how you're useless because you can't even find one item in the fridgge.
    Hail to the Lord of Death and Destruction!
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  17. - Top - End - #107
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    WolfInSheepsClothing

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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by WarKitty View Post
    Presumably, however, she is not simultaneously complaining about how you're useless because you can't even find one item in the fridgge.
    I am a lucky man and I love my wife. I certainly got the better end of the deal, hands down.

    Dilemma: I am oblivious when finding things. Combined with the fact that my wife never puts things back where I left them, and we get a fun little problem. The things I put anywhere move. I never know where my things are, much less our things. Basically she puts things down when she is done with them, wherever she is. For example, we have four house phones, and most of the time they are not where the phones charge. I no longer answer the phone figuring the answering machine will get it, and/or I will wader around the house doing idiot circles looking for a phone and then the answering machine will get it.

    Failed Solution: Buy my own sets of things. I cannot buy my own remotes, phones, keys . . . anything . . . to ensure that I know where they are. It is my lot in life.

    New Dilemma: My father-in-law is staying with us after a heart surgery. I had a steak in a zip-lock bag, and could not find it. It was underneath a bunch of other things courtesy of my father-in-law (who stacks food on top of food so that you cannot see it?). My father-in-law also does laundry, and that is nice, but now I cannot find my cloths. He figures garbage bags are more efficient than laundry hampers. I hope that I do not throw out my cloths.
    Last edited by darkrose50; 2018-04-13 at 09:41 AM.

  18. - Top - End - #108
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    BlueKnightGuy

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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    So fun story. Turns out I'm probably going to be promoted to be one of the keyholders at the store I work at. Not only do I have zero management experience, but I only have less than two months of experience working there. I'm still learning the job that i'm doing and they expect me to fill a position in lower management overseeing people doing the job that i'm currently learning to do?(Amongst other things)

    That doesn't sound fun...That doesn't sound fun at all...
    Quote Originally Posted by BRC View Post
    teleporting Hyper Nixon solves problems with Patriotism.

  19. - Top - End - #109
    Dragon in the Playground Moderator
     
    Peelee's Avatar

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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by Leecros View Post
    So fun story. Turns out I'm probably going to be promoted to be one of the keyholders at the store I work at. Not only do I have zero management experience, but I only have less than two months of experience working there. I'm still learning the job that i'm doing and they expect me to fill a position in lower management overseeing people doing the job that i'm currently learning to do?(Amongst other things)

    That doesn't sound fun...That doesn't sound fun at all...
    Does it come with a raise?
    Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.

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  20. - Top - End - #110
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    One of our new guys was trying to joke by saying "the customer is scared and won't come out" (it was a standard can't find the client call). I pointed out I have seen all of the following:

    - A customer who got impatient because there was a crash on the bridge on the interstate and the car got stuck, so he got out of the car, after dark, and started to walk down the shoulder.
    - A customer who insisted that his flight was delayed, despite our dispatch and driver repeatedly informing him it was not, finally came out, screamed and cursed at our driver for making him late, stumbled in one door of our car and out the other, and then got in a cab. No idea if he made his flight on time, but given how drunk he was he wasn't making it on anyway.
    - A customer who was angry that his driver was in a different terminal than he was and as such decided to punch the driver.
    - Someone who was angry that our GPS kept sending cars to his location when we wanted his neighbor around the corner, and threatened our driver with a gun.
    - A client who refused to stop smoking marijuana while in the vehicle.

    These are all calls I have taken. People are crazy.
    Hail to the Lord of Death and Destruction!
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  21. - Top - End - #111
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlueKnightGuy

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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by Peelee View Post
    Does it come with a raise?
    Define "Raise". I would be going from $7.25/hour to $7.75/hour. A raise which isn't all that significant for the extra responsibility i'll have.
    Quote Originally Posted by BRC View Post
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  22. - Top - End - #112
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    Griffon

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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Having been made redundant from my job in a supermarket, I have quite recently found new employment in the Contact Centre for a school - it's about as far away from my old job as it is possible to be, so I'm very happy with it even if it's just a stepping stone onto a more fulfilling career later on.

    Even so, with barely a month under my belt, I would like to offer the following advice to people who ever need to make a telephone call to an office or institution.

    + If the stranger on the other end asks for your name, please tell them. Answering by describing your requirement or giving a vague label like "Brian's Dad" is kind of you, but it in no way helps me introduce you to the person that you want to talk to. Similarly, if you insist on introducing yourself to me only as "John Smith's Mum" then please don't be upset if I'm left with no choice but to refer to you as "Mrs Smith" - I know that inclusivity and alternative lifestyle are important to respect, but sometimes if I can't get a straight answer from you then I have to play the odds and hope for the best and that's not my fault.

    + If the person answering the call asks "How can I help you?" the correct answer is never just "I don't know". I appreciate that academia is big and intimidating and that many people have anxieties about talking to strangers, but you called me. There was probably a reason and I don't know what it is yet, so I can't help you.
    Calm down, take a deep breath, and tell me what your problem is so that I can point you in the right direction. After telling me your name. I promise I won't yell at you if you're not entirely sure.

    + The College that I work for has over 10,000 students supported by 3,000 teachers and members of support staff spread out over 4 campuses in a 15-mile diameter over a major metropolitan area. Asking for "Sam" with no other details probably isn't going to get you anywhere without at least adding a subject area or a surname.

    + If I ask why you are trying to call, I'm not doing so because I'm trying to violate your privacy and subsequently insist that it's "none of (my) business". For every subject that the College teaches, there's at least 9 departments - teaching staff, personal tutors, special needs assistance, student support, finance, attendance, over-and-under 19's and disciplinary - that could be relevant, not to mention peripherally-related ones like security, IT and HR, and I'm just trying to get you to the right person.

    + A "switchboard" is an old-fashioned term for a big wall of switches that someone would turn by hand in order to connect two wires together and thus transfer your call to another person. Asking the contact centre for the switchboard, and then the call centre, and then the switchboard again? All of those things are still just me with my fingers hovering over skype, no matter how angry you get when I try to tell you that. Sorry.

    Quote Originally Posted by The Glyphstone View Post
    (T)here are several websites I'm fond of reading that would likely be of interest to people here.
    Quote Originally Posted by Peelee View Post
    Or, for the reddit-inclined peoples;
    It would be remiss of me not to add the classic Acts of Gord to your lists. Somewhat dated nowadays, given that it's regarding a turn-of-the-millennium video games rental store, but the quality of the writing and ignorance of the customers stands the test of time.
    Last edited by Wraith; 2018-04-17 at 06:59 AM.
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  23. - Top - End - #113
    Dragon in the Playground Moderator
     
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by Leecros View Post
    Define "Raise". I would be going from $7.25/hour to $7.75/hour. A raise which isn't all that significant for the extra responsibility i'll have.
    Can you decline the promotion? It's very likely you can.
    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    It would be remiss of me not to add the classic Acts of Gord to your lists. Somewhat dated nowadays, given that it's regarding a turn-of-the-millennium video games rental store, but the quality of the writing and ignorance of the customers stands the test of time.
    Oh man, I haven't seen that in forever.
    Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.

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  24. - Top - End - #114
    Colossus in the Playground
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by Peelee View Post
    Can you decline the promotion? It's very likely you can.

    Oh man, I haven't seen that in forever.
    I was binging those just now and I have to say, not bad overall, but I lost interest once he started waxing lyrical on how many teenage butts he pimp slapped in his day. Its like, look, im willing to suspend disbelief and accept you said and did these awesome things instead of only thinking them, but once you admit to assaulting a couple dozen 13 year olds, I have to wonder if this is your prison memoirs or something.
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    Dragon in the Playground Moderator
     
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by Traab View Post
    I was binging those just now and I have to say, not bad overall, but I lost interest once he started waxing lyrical on how many teenage butts he pimp slapped in his day. Its like, look, im willing to suspend disbelief and accept you said and did these awesome things instead of only thinking them, but once you admit to assaulting a couple dozen 13 year olds, I have to wonder if this is your prison memoirs or something.
    It was really cool back in my teenage years. In my defense, most kids that age are stupid or like stupid things at some point.
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    The longer I've worked with health insurance, the more I've hated every health insurance company. But lo, among them one must be king. The most hated, the absolute worst to deal with, the one that has jackasses at every level of the company. All names are (very obviously) changed, of course. Also, keeping any sort of politics strictly out of this, and only dealing in objective facts.

    So, we get some medical records faxed over to us to give Patient Al a CPAP machine (a device that lets people sleep better). Patient Al really wants it, because he feels terrible. His wife also has one and she loves it and feels great on it, so unlike most people we deal with, he's actually pretty excited about it. Ideal conditions, really. Now, with most in-state insurance companies, this would be a simple "we got everything we need, just come in and we'll figure out what feels best" deal. In and out.

    However, the patient has insurance out of a different state. And that insurance company contracts out to a third party, who shall be known as Jerks, Incorporated. Jerks, Inc. is ridiculous to deal with; their policies amount to stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime, and much of what I believe about cannot be repeated here while staying within forum rules. Anyway. Jerks, Inc. was somehow even more colossally inept than normal.

    Doctor Betty requested pre-authorization for a sleep study for Al. For the record, literally every insurance requires a sleep study to be done in order to get a CPAP. It's the only thing that can officially diagnose someone with sleep apnea, and insurance companies aren't keen on paying for stuff they don't need to. If you get CPAP, you better be able to prove you need it. Which, to be fair, makes a fair amount of sense.

    Not so for Jerks, Inc.! They denied the pre-auth for the sleet study (which, bytheway, I've never heard of an insurance denying a sleep study. Hell, I know at least one insurance that will never pay for any CPAP supplies if you're over 18, but will still pay for the sleep study. It's never been an issue before with any insurance I've ever dealt with, including Jerks, Inc.! Instead of doing a pre-auth for the sleep study - which, incidentally, would also let Dr. Betty know what settings to put Al at, or if Al needed to be put on a different type of machine altogether - they instead went ahead and authorized the equipment. Which was.... odd, to say the least, especially since in order to bill the equipment to the insurance, we would need a copy of a sleep study on hand. Of course, this mattered a bit less, since Jerks, Inc. gave the pre-auth for the CPAP to Dr. Carl.

    Dr. Carl does not sell CPAP supplies. He is a pulmonologist; he deals with respiratory diseases, and does a lot of sleep studies, but he doesn't sell anything. He's also, pointedly, not Dr. Betty; Al had never seen Dr. Carl. And, of course, as a privately owned business, we're not affiliated with Dr. Carl. Which means we can't get a pre-auth to give Al the stuff he wants, since there's an existing pre-auth on file.

    Jerks, Inc. also decided to not tell Dr. Carl about any of this. His office was understandably confused, since has no knowledge about any of this, and had no clue about why they would have a pre-auth to sell stuff they didn't sell to a patient they didn't have. And since only the pre-auth holder or the patient could release the authorization, and they didn't have any authorization number, they couldn't do jack about it.

    The patient, however, could. After explaining (or attempting to explain; logic had clearly flown out the window at this point) to Al what was going on, he called Jerks, Inc. for us to try to release it so we could get it. He did, and called us back later, saying that he was told we had to call them back with an authorization number he was given. It's important to note here that the authorization number they gave Al, to give to us, to give back to them, was not the pre-authorization we needed. Such a thing would be too reasonable for Jerks, Inc. Instead, that would let them know that we were really able to get a pre-auth, because Al wanted to get his stuff from us.

    Of course, when I call Jerks, Inc., I'm told there is already a pre-auth on file for Dr. Carl. I explain the situation, including that Al had never seen Dr. Carl, and even if he had, Dr. Carl does not sell medical supplies, so it wouldn't even matter if Al had seen him. Several times I tried to give this lady the authorization number I'd gotten from Al, but she had no interest whatsoever in actually taking it, instead telling me constantly that I needed to get Dr. Carl's office to release the pre-auth. So, once again, I explained the situation to her, very slowly and condescendingly, highlighting every way that her company was making this entire thing a massive cluster****. After putting me on hold at the end, and presumably not willing to attempt to fight against logic and reason, she eventually relented and gave us the pre-auth. A pre-auth which, bytheway, required information that could only be gotten from a sleep study before they would issue to us.

    Best part - it's a ~$1,000 machine, and the insurance will only help pay for ten bucks and change on it.
    Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.

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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    What springs to mind on reading all of that is the old quote "never ascribe to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity." Most of that story sounds a lot more like incompetence than jerkish behavior to me.

    Still doesn't say anything good about the company, of course.
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by Traab View Post
    I was binging those just now and I have to say, not bad overall, but I lost interest once he started waxing lyrical on how many teenage butts he pimp slapped in his day. Its like, look, im willing to suspend disbelief and accept you said and did these awesome things instead of only thinking them, but once you admit to assaulting a couple dozen 13 year olds, I have to wonder if this is your prison memoirs or something.
    Yeah, some of the stuff in the middle does become somewhat cringeworthy in that regard, and it's stuff that is genuinely left ~20 years ago because it doesn't fly so well nowadays.
    Some of the stories that come afterwards though - like when Gord successfully challenged City By-laws over the definition of a pawn shop, some of the court cases he attended and finally the story of the death of the store - are very interesting and a lot more like tales of customer stupidity, rather than the "look at me I'm so great" stuff.
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    Quote Originally Posted by Douglas View Post
    What springs to mind on reading all of that is the old quote "never ascribe to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity." Most of that story sounds a lot more like incompetence than jerkish behavior to me.

    Still doesn't say anything good about the company, of course.
    Normally, I would agree with you. However, I skipped over the bit about needing to re-up the pre-auth every 90 days, where at any point if the patient failed to use the machine enough for whatever reason (including being hospitals and unable to use it), they would reject the whole thing. For ten months, so 4 pre-auths total. And under their policy, it can only be billed as a rental every month for a fraction of the cost and purchased at the end, which means unless you get it in Jan or Feb, the deductible resets and they wouldn't even cover the ten dollars.

    There's more I'm skipping as well, mostly because it's either speculation, political-ish enough, or things that don't apply to everyone with the condition and it's common enough that I don't want to needlessly scare someone who may have it. But I absolutely attribute malice to the people who came up with the ridiculous policies they use, because they are clearly intended to make short-term profit rather than address the care of the patient.

    And, truth be told, they're not even the worst ones in that regard. Just the most infuriating to deal with.
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    Default Re: Customer Service: Rants, Raves, Back Pats, and Appreciation

    [Analogy] You are going to a birthday party at a burger place. You pre-paid and your burger was chosen by the party planner. The burger the birthday party guests are required to have does not come with fries. You want to eat fries. They have copious mounds of fries, but not for the people in your birthday party. You cannot upgrade to another burger that comes with fries. You cannot upgrade to a different burger that would allow you buy a side of fries. The burger place flat out refuses to sell you fries, because you have that birthday party burger reservation. You cannot order fries this trip to the burger place. Forget about eating fries, go eat your burger, and like it. [/Analogy]

    -----

    The Walt Disney World Resort really confused me . . .

    My daughter competed at the Summit cheer leading event. As a result we did not have the option for add-ons. We stayed at the All Star Movies location, because that is where the cheerleaders from her gym were placed. I brought my 70-year-old mother (who uses a walker). We had two rooms, they were far apart, I could not buy my family a meal plan (I especially wanted this for my mother), and we were denied access to booking Fast Passes far enough in advance to mitigate her needing a walker.

    [1/3] Lack of access to adjoining/adjacent rooms
    I brought my 70-year-old mother who uses a walker. My wife requested adjoining rooms 60-days prior to our stay as directed. We had a cheer leader staying next door (likely on all sides). My mother stayed on the opposite side of our building. Not having the option for adjoining rooms available to my family is insulting. Not having the option to upgrade or relocate in order to obtain adjacent rooms is mind-boggling. This is just mean. If I knew that we would not have adjoining/adjacent rooms, then I would have brought my mother another time.

    [2/3] Lack of access to meal plans
    I would have liked the opportunity for a meal plan for my family, especially for my mother. I did not want to discuss who is paying for food at every meal or snack . . . I wanted to pay for everything, have the cost of things blend into the background, and not even have my mother think about it. Not having the option for a meal plan is insulting and bewildering. I want to bring my mother on vacation and have her not worry about whom is paying for food (I did not want paying for food to cross her mind). Not foreseeing this common behavior trigger and not appropriately planning for it makes me question the competence of Disney's project managers. I could have bought a thick stack of meal vouchers, but then we would have to carry them around, we could forget bringing them, they could get lost, and why in Sam hell do I have that bracelet if I need to carry paper vouchers around?

    [3/3] Lack of access to Fast Passes
    My wife over-plans everything. Having my 70-year-old mother, who uses a walker, stand in line for a good portion of attractions is spiteful. The answer to this issue that comes to mind would be planning for this with Fast Passes 60-days before . . . also refused. Not having the option for my family to avail ourselves of this time-saving marvel, frankly is a malicious combination.

    I find that the refusal of options for the above add-ons to be confusing and crewel. These options would have added comfort and ease to my vacation. I was essentially forced to stay in a room (or tell my daughter that she could not compete), without the options available to others. I am truly and completely perplexed as to why I was not given the opportunity to PAY MORE in order to provide my mother and my family the most enjoyable stay possible.

    I guess my money does not spend at Disney.

    Essentially I was treated as if I were not the customer . . . even though I paid with my money. I find this fact to be infuriating, and how this could ever be a thing to be mindboggling.
    Last edited by darkrose50; 2018-05-14 at 11:22 AM.

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