Surprise, Surprise, Surprise (Being a foray into shitty customer service)

Where to begin….

Okay. The technician from my previous rant was supposed to call me on Monday morning. A lovely, holiday Monday morning. I would have loved almost nothing more than to sleep in, but I wanted my computer fixed more. I was up, when the technician called at 8:00.

“I’m going to come and fix your computer at 1:00” he said. Fine, no problems there. I wait around, on said holiday day, until 1:00. No tech. I wait until 2. No tech. I wait until 2:30. no tech, no explanation. By checking automated Dell services and emails, I get a shipping number for the part that he was supposed to go pick up. and bring to me. By 1pm. It’s still waiting at the DHL warehouse. The tech left no phone number (because obviously, he doesn’t want me to call him), but since he was calling my cell phone, I have it on caller ID. I call him back. He tells me that he had a car accident this morning. “I’m sorry to hear that, I say.” Of course, he could have called me to let me know that. Was the tech planning to call me, and tell me? Obviously not. Because he would have called me. even if he did have a backlog of 20 jobs (a highly dubious number), it only takes a minute or two to call all of them and say “I can’t make our appointment today. don’t bother waiting for me.” But, since they don’t give a fuck about customers or customer service, or the fact that I am spending my glorious holiday vacation day waiting for them, the tech does not. This apathy/sloth/anything-but-a-legitimate-oversight costs me money, as I was going to go in and do work on the holiday, thus earning me much-needed overtime. (Yes, I could have actually enjoyed my day off, but I had planned to do work. And even if I hadn’t, I was stuck in the house waiting for them). But I can’t, because they promised me something, and I waited for them. When the tech became unable to deliver (I am willing to believe that the accident was no fault of their own), they simply chose not to follow up with me. And, I assume, chose not to tell the rest of his pissed-off customers. Why would they do such a thing?

He’s afraid that I’ll yell at him. He’s afraid that I’ll bitch and moan to his boss, and get him in trouble, which, eventually, I probably will. But for now, I just want the part. The tech tells me that he’s backed up, that the ice storm knocked all the technicians out of commission, that no one worked at all last week. (Bullshit. I was dug out in one day, and I could even move my car around on Wednesday night, the day of the storm. This tech’s office is in Upper Marlboro, less than twenty miles from me. Mailman came every day, garbage was only off by one day, other services, even government services, ran on time.) He hopes that I’ll sympathize. Well, I did. The first time you used the excuse, last week. Now, sorry, but my give-a-damn’s busted. Today, he tells me that he’ll find out about the car by noon tomorrow, at which point you will call me, and let me know when you’ll be coming over. he promises that he will call me after he finds out about the car. He promises that he will come on Tuesday, at the end of the work day, to fix the computer. Fine.

Tuesday: I work from home, using a jury-rigged combination of an old hard drive, and the new computer that I mentioned previously. I feel okay about this, because two other people are coming in. A guy from Sears, fixing the dryer, and a roofer, because we had some dampness in the house. So, one more won’t matter. (As an aside, the Sears guy, from a company known for lousy service, was a consummate professional. In and out within about an hour and change, despite the fact that he had to fucking take our dryer apart to install a new motor. The roofer was a little late, but called to say he’d be late, and when he came, diagnosed the problem in less than 10 minutes. No complaints.) So, noon rolls around, and the tech still hasn’t called. Surprise, surprise. I call him back, and, obviously surprised to hear from me, I ask him how his car is doing. he said that the mechanic hasn’t called him back yet, but that he will call me as soon as he hears. Only now do I appreciate the fucking irony of that particular conversation. so, I wait for another couple of minutes, working from home, and waiting for this clown to tell me when he’ll be coming. Out of patience after about another 45 minutes, I call him. I ask him “[Name removed], you won’t be coming around today, will you?” He tells me no. he tells me that he’s upset, that he can hear it in my voice. Of course I’m fucking upset. Wouldn’t anyone else be in this case? He tells me that he tried to assign me to another technician, but that no one was able to take the case. Again, I call bullshit. See above arguments re: garbage and mail. Also, streets have been plowed since Thursday. He says that he’ll call me back to schedule an appointment. that was yesterday. What happened next will come in a second article, full of so much frustration that I nearly had an aneurysm. This would have, of course, saved them the trouble of actually coming to the house and fixing the computer.