Everyone makes mistakes. Even huge international stores. But, as customers who are human beings, too, we’re usually understanding and polite as long as the mistake is rectified asap and with good customer care. Am I right?
So you know I hinted here about poor No-Longer-Teenager-No#1′s bad week with a bunch of totally incompetent customer services reps? Well it turned into nearly two bad weeks, and here’s the story.
No-Longer-Teenager-No#1 saved up over a thousand dollars so that she could buy a laptop that would get up on the table and sing and dance to her. No, not literally get up on the table and sing and dance. It’s just that she plays a lot of games online with her friends so she wanted a good spec. And after doing all the research, she decided to order one from a huge, well-known, international office supplies company. Let’s call the company Huge Company. This was Tuesday nearly two weeks ago. She used her debit card.
When No-Longer-Teenager-No#1 checked her bank account, and called Huge Company to check when her new, long-anticipated laptop would be delivered, she discovered that Huge Company had earmarked TWO lots of just over a thousand dollars from her account. This was not a good situation because it would clear her out and put her into overdraft. Plus, she now had access to exactly zero money on account of the earmark for the second amount. She called Huge Company immediately, and this is where the silliness began.
Totally Incompetent Rep (TIR) No#1 had this to say: “Oh, don’t worry. It’s company policy when the billing address is different to the delivery address. I notice you want it delivered to your work address instead of your home address. It will all be sorted out in the next few days.”
No-Longer-Teenager-No#1: “But why? I wanted it delivered to my work address (a university department) so that I’d, you know, BE there to receive it. Why are you earmarking the money twice? Is that even legal? It doesn’t sound legal. I have no access to my own money! What am I supposed to do?
Anyway, not a woman to take stupidity and laziness on the chin, No-Longer-Teenager-No#1 spoke to several TIR reps at Huge Company, and some very helpful reps at her bank, and several times that second charge was un-earmarked, then re-earmarked again.
You can imagine that No-Longer-Teenager-No#1 was not very happy when Huge Company tried to deliver a SECOND laptop to her on the Friday of the first week. She refused delivery and on Saturday morning the second charge was deducted from her bank account. Not re-earmarked. It was gone. She had no money.
First thing she did was call her bank, who were great. Having kept a log of her calls, they understood immediately that the problem was with Huge Company. They organized an immediate overdraft for her and told her she wouldn’t incur any bank charges for Huge Company’s Totally Incompetent Reps.
So I’d just like to say, A HUGE THANK YOU to the customer service staff of the Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) for your kind and senstive handling of the situation. You guys are great.
No-Longer-Teenager-No#1′s next call was to Huge Company to try to sort out the mess. Again.
TIR No #5000 (Okay, mebbe I’m exaggerating there a bit): “Sorry, we can’t do anything until Monday. And hey, it’s not the end of the world. I’m having a bad week, too. My mother-in-law died.”
Now, we are very sorry for TIR No#5000, we understand losing a loved one. But is this professional behaviour from a customer services rep?
On Monday, No-Longer-Teenager-No#1 finally spoke with a customer services rep manager. Who basically patronized her, kept calling her sweetheart, lyingly said she’d been calling No-Longer-Teenager-No#1′s cell phone all morning (she hadn’t) and told her it would be sorted out by Tuesday. And then told her that the delivery service had LOST the second laptop. Why is that anything to do with No-Longer-Teenager-No#1?
Anyway, after much more to-ing and fro-ing, and many more phone calls later, No-Longer-Teenager-No#1 finally got her money back on Friday. No apology, no explanation. Just two weeks of hassle and inconvenience and stress.
Needless to say, No-Longer-Teenager-No#1 has kept records of the mess, and is writing to some bigwigs at the Huge Company. She wants blood. Or at least an apology and some gift certificates for leading her such a merry dance.
Go No-Longer-Teenager-No#1!
That’s terrible! I’m sorry that your daughter had to go through all that. What a headache! Huge Company really handled things poorly and should totally apologize to your daughter. So ridiculous!
Thanks for your support, Diana! Once she’s sent them her letter of complaint, I am going to complain, too!
The ironic thing is that amidst this recession she has avoided getting a credit card and was trying to be fiscally responsible by paying for the laptop directly from her bank account. If she’d had a credit card the credit card company would have got involved in the whole mess. Ah, well. You live and learn. . .