Support/service call....

My manager came in to the office this morning complaining about her Internet services at home, for some strange reason they disconnected her completely. Anyways, she tried calling Bell's technical support hot line, the automated self serve system ask for user input "Please use the touch tone pad on your phone to key in your phone number so that we can pull up your file". She did that, waited 10 minutes because "We are experiencing higher than normal call volume" go figure. Forced to listen to those nasty off tuned music while she wait, someone finally pickup the phone after 10 minutes of ear torture by the static radio station, the operator asked her "Can I have you phone number and area code so that I can pull up your file?" She snapped! I mean wouldn't you snap?

This remind me of a recent incident at work. It was just last Wednesday I believe. I came back from lunch to attend a not so important meeting, but it kills time, especially after lunch. Discovered that I could no longer open up my mail client, it died as soon as I launch it because of a connectivity issue. I called the corporate help desk. The support personnel said "We are experiencing some problems with a server, so everyone on that server will experience this. Can you tell me which server you are on?" So I open up the mail account profile and gave him the information. He said "Oh, yes, you are in fact on that particular server. This is a known issue, it is being investigated. We will send you a email as soon as this issue is fixed". Well well well... Let see, you will send me a email to tell me that my email is fixed, because right now I cannot check my email. Hmm...

Its incredible isn't it? Did you even listen to me? Stop making me repeat myself, I look like an idiot. Wait, or was I an idiot because I decided to CALL?

I am in the field of quality management in the hardware/software side of the IT world. One way to gauge quality is to think more like the client/customer/user. I keep telling my staff that "If you are the one to use this system on a daily basis, will you accept the system's behavior as is? If not, that will mean we have a quality issue". Well, not quite, there are other metrics and quantification, but this is a simple basis of "Quality". Service quality should also be gauge in the same manner, after all, its the user experience that matter most. And with service calls, these are people you are dealing with, not machines. Has anyone, any of these so call "Call Center Experts" ever gauge to look at the incovenience that was brought upon us?

And talking of services, I am sure everyone had this experience before. You ordered something to be shipped to you via courier. You missed the parcel on the day of delivery, simply because they love to drop by while you are out, somehow I have a feeling that the delivery guy camp down the street to make sure you are out when he rings on the bell. They will leave a note saying "I was here but you were out, I will come again tomorrow between 9:00am and 4:00pm". This is incredible! I am hiring your service, so that you can make me sit home and wait. That explain why I won't hire you anymore, I can't afford it if I keep missing work like this! Ok, anyways, next day come around. You are in the washroom when the delivery boy is here, he rings the bell. You jump out of the washroom, run downstairs, took down 4 stairway pillar when you trip and fell. Open the door. GONE. Another note - I was here for the second time, you were not here again, so you come by to pick up the parcel at 8 tonight. So, its perfectly fine if you make me wait 7 hours, and you can't even wait for me for 5 bloody minutes. You call that service? So your time is valid, while my time is meaningless?