Comments on: Another customer service day

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:01:16 +0000

First, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. You gave a great example of why I never plan to have all those services from one provider.
Second, have some sympathy for the Customer service gal. She is most likely forced by her Quality control department to ask that question at the end of every call.
If she doesn’t ask she is penalized and probably was penalized for answering you honestly. I would suggest asking to speak to a supervisor and let them take the hit for the bad service. That gal was just following her scripted Quality demanded process.

And Third, Yeah they are on autopilot because they aren’t really encouraged to do good customer service they are encouraged to do what their QA dept tells them should be done on every call regardless of the issue.

Customer service would make an interesting topic for some research though.

By: Howard

Howard — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:15:47 +0000

Sarah,

Not to be too flippant, but my guess is that both Jeff Zimmerman (Time Warner Cable Senior Vice President and Chief Ethics Officer) and Jeff Simmermon (Director of Digital Communications for Time Warner Cable) can spell their names correctly….

By: Sarah V

Sarah V — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:41:54 +0000

LOL. I’d think the “Time Warner Cable Senior Vice President and Chief Ethics Officer Jeff Zimmerman” would spell his name correctly.

OK – The Pizza Hut stories are too strange – pick-up is at your cost, so they should accept it.
Wonder if this is part of a franchise=area idea – you belong to one franchisee, not the other? Restraining operational area is one thing but limiting customer choice is not good.

By: Susan R.

Susan R. — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:01:06 +0000

Below is a link to an article from the London Times on students’ expectations for increasing fees. Interesting to me that they are demanding such conveniences as single rooms with attached private baths, tv’s in their rooms, and a cleaning service. Princeton and several other US universities were listed. Is this really what our institutions of higher learning are dealing with? Does this represent a shift in the mentality of students from a “social marketplace” to a “financial marketplace”?
Should I go back to college so I can get an LCD tv and a maid? (And what kind of culture shock are these students going to face when they hit the “real world” where cleaning services and housing are not part of an employment package? or is that where this is ultimately going?!)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article5168385.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=crickler

By: Julie

Julie — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:38:40 +0000

I wanted to pick up pizza at a Pizza Hut west of my house, one I actually drive by on my way home. Pizza Hut said I could only pick up from the store east of my house because that one was closer (though out of my way). I stopped in and talked to the manager of the westside one, explaining I order pizza every Friday night and wanted to pick it up from her store. She said there was nothing I could do about it, I had to pick it uo closest to my home address! Pizza Hut actually refused to let my choose where to pick up my order! Needless to say we have never called them again.

By: Liz

Liz — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:57:43 +0000

Reminds me of my sister’s experience at Pizza Hut a few years back. She used her cell phone to call for a delivery (her dinner). The person taking the order told my sister they couldn’t deliver unless she had a landline phone — because they needed the landline number to look up her address. She told them she didn’t in fact have a landline phone, but she could give them her address verbally. They refused. A second Pizza Hut did the same thing. She got pizza elsewhere.

By: T. Warner

T. Warner — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:29:21 +0000

I am T. Warner. I am going to fire Jeff Simmermon because all of our customers should be treated equally. Mr Ariely, please call our 800 number, wait for 37 minutes, and then talk to one of our agents. You should be able to watch the progress on your TV.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:34:30 +0000

I love the first story haha.. I have spent about 4 hours of my life on the phone with Time warner customer service and your story pretty much sums up every conversation I have had with them haha.. and i only had their service for 9 months.

By: Buck

Buck — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:31:56 +0000

It’s refreshing to see that an officer of Time Warner Cable responded so quickly to your entry, Dan. Refreshing and heartening. Hats off to Jeff Simmermon for taking the time to apologize and offer highly useful alternatives when normal customer service is more problem than solution. Thanks to Dan for this blog entry, more humorous than venomous. And thanks especially to Jeff for stepping up to give a voice and a ‘face’ to what most see as a faceless corporate entity.

That’s my two cents.

By: Jeff Simmermon

Jeff Simmermon — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:34:06 +0000

I’m the Director of Digital Communications at Time Warner Cable — and I’m really sorry to hear that you’re having a service problem with us. Try calling 203-328-0600 and using option 2, or e-mailing twc.otp@twcable.com to reach our Office of the President. They should be able to help you get squared away …