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Sites and Tips For Better Customer Service

GeekSugar — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:05:12 -0700

There is nothing fun about sitting on the phone waiting for customer service. Nothing. Unfortunately, it's a fact of consumer life. Whether you are waiting to find out if you can adjust your cable bill, send your laptop in to be repaired, or talk to a human being about that car warranty, the suspense can trigger stress in a matter of seconds. If you like to pay your bills online, you'll love these sites and suggestions for getting customer service faster online. Life is too precious to sit on hold anyway.

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Website of the Day: Customer Service Scoreboard

GeekSugar — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:24:14 -0700

This one is pretty self-explanatory, but oh-so helpful: Customer Service Scoreboard gives you the overall score of some of the most used customer service lines around to see how they stack up. For example, if I would have checked this site before I called AT&T to complain about service interruptions last week, I would have been prepared for their less-than-stellar customer service - they have 29 negative comments and only 7 positive, leaving them with a total score of 48.31 out of 200. Come on AT&T - you can do better!

Since this is a crowd-powered site, you gotta put in your positive and negative comments just like you would if you were Yelping a restaurant. So don't just sit back and read the site, let's get to work!

Geek Tip: Email Comcast Corporate For Cable and Internet Help

GeekSugar — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:30:24 -0700

Last month I suffered the ultimate geek distress - an Internet and cable outage for over a week.

It inspired me to air my frustrations here, and the silver lining of the whole situation is that someone at Comcast saw my post and responded with a tip: if you're ever feeling like you're getting nowhere with the customer service on the phone, you can email the corporate team for assistance.

The corporate email address is We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com. After my first problem was resolved, I used the corporate email address to get help with something else, and received a prompt reply, as well as a fix to a problem I'd had for a while.

Also, just writing an email definitely beats going through an automated menu for 15 minutes, only to repeat the same information to the customer service rep that you just punched in to four previous menus. Ugh.

How to Complain About Those Factory Warranty Spam Calls

GeekSugar — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:28:18 -0700

I turn into an angry she-Hulk every time my cell phone rings and I dive for it, only to hear "This is the second notice that the factory warranty on your vehicle is about to expire." I all but explode to the recording "But I don't even have a car!"

These spammy calls seem to affect everyone I know - and we're all sick of it. What's the deal? Even if you're on the Do Not Call Registry, these extended warranty companies can still get to you. So what can you do to stop the madness?

You can wait to be connected to someone after the recording, and tell them you'd like to be taken off their list. If you're guffawing right now, that's because you, like me, have already done that and continue to get calls.

To see a solution to end the calls posted on the sharing site Reddit, just read more.

Reddit's suggestions for how to put an end to these spam calls is simple: complaints. No, it's not an immediate end to the calls, but it does feel satisfying to officially put in your protest. Here are some of the places Reddit suggests you express your anger.

File a complaint on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)'s website.
File an online complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
Call your own cell phone carrier and complain.

Have you been getting these calls? Are you complaining, or just hanging up?

Source

Website of the Day: DialAHuman

GeekSugar — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:40:10 -0700

I can't always be cool, calm, and collected. It inevitably follows that on those stressful days, I have to call my cable or phone company or something equally as undesirable.

And, of course, all I need to push me over the edge is to be "communicating" with a robot, telling me to push a button for this, a button for that, but no button to talk to a living, breathing human being.

But DialAHuman is like my Prozac now because it's a website with an extensive database of phone numbers and button combos that give you, yes, living breathing humans, so you can bypass that creepy fake voice telling you to press numbers for lord knows what.

No need to put your handset through the window!

Source

Do You Appreciate When Services Apologize for Being Down?

GeekSugar — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:00:13 -0700

I was throwing a hissy fit yesterday when I saw that Netflix had still not sent me my Mad Men DVD, and then an hour later I got this in an email, explaining their outage. It wasn't the only outage this week: Gmail went down for a while on Monday, and then the next day, the Gmail Blog posted an explanation.

I gotta be honest: I'm not used to this kind of customer service. The transparency and honest "we screwed up" apology is not something I'm used to from a service provider; if my cable goes out, Comcast will hardly call me up to say, "Hi, we're so sorry your cable is out. Hope you didn't miss Project Runway!" All in all, I appreciate this straightforward behavior - these emails and blog posts were unexpected and a breath of fresh air, and make me happy to be a customer of Netflix and Gmail. What about you; do you care when you get apology emails like this, or does it not make a difference?

Do You Pay Attention to Your Cell Phone Contract?

GeekSugar — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:00:13 -0700

Cell phone contracts have been a bone of contention with customers ever since the invention of the cell phone, but news that some cell companies are going to loosen their policies on contracts means a little more freedom and a few less bones.

This past weekend the Washington Post reported that AT&T and Verizon Wireless are going to let customers make changes to their calling plans without automatically extending their contracts. In addition, AT&T is going to reduce the fees consumers pay for breaking their long-term contracts. While the changes may seem minor, the change could prevent the wild cancellation fees of $200 and up that some people end up paying to get out of their two-year cell contract.

To be honest, I only pay attention to my cell phone contact when I'm ready and looking for a new phone. Do you pay attention to contract dates?

Source

How Much Will the iPhone Really Cost You?

GeekSugar — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:00:00 -0700

In a recent geeksugar poll 28 percent of readers said the iPhone's steep price tag was holding them back from buying the device. At $499 for a 4 GB model and and $599 for an 8GB model, coupled with the fact that many people will have to break their contract with their current phone service in order to sign up with Cingular, there's no denying that it's an expensive cell phone replacement. The high initial fee had many hopeful owners worried about monthly costs.

Well, AT&T and Apple finally released the official monthly service plan rates.

They are based on a new two-year service agreement with AT&T and are priced at $59.99 for 450 minutes, $79.99 for 900 minutes and $99.99 for 1,350 minutes.

All plans include unlimited data (email and web), Visual Voicemail, 200 SMS text messages, roll over minutes and unlimited mobile-to-mobile and a one-time activation fee of $36. Apparently, family plans are also available and iPhone customers can choose from any of AT&T’s standard service plans.

The rates are comparable to the standard rates for other smartphones, which utilize both phone services and web browsing.

Would You Pick Good Service Over A Valentine's Date?

GeekSugar — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 03:07:23 -0800

Apparently romance is giving way to the promise of good customer service. According to research by wireless service Voce, four out of five Americans would rather have 24-hour customer service assistance from fully informed "live" people than a date on Valentine's Day.

The study "Digging Deeper on Customer Service" highlighted consumers' growing frustration with the continuing downward trend in customer service. As a person that is constantly on the phone with Apple, Sony, TiVo, my bank and UPS, I totally sympathize. So many technological advances meant to make customer service more efficient or easier to use actually make dealing with companies more of a hassle for customers.
The survey also says nearly two out of three Americans would
rather take out the trash than speak to someone from customer service.

Wal-Mart Builds Their Own Geek Squad

GeekSugar — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:33:46 -0700

Need some tech support? Normally I like to troubleshoot my computer and technology woes myself (there's nothing like reading the instruction manual to learn how to operate something while in distress), but on rare occasions, I do have to call a company's tech support hotline to get some help with an issue. However, out of all of the gadgets I've purchased from Best Buy, I've never called upon the Geek Squad's services when I'm in need. Why? Well mostly it's the fee that it costs to utilize their 24-hour support. But that's not to say they aren't used - how many of those little Geek VW Beetles have you seen driving around your town? Exactly.

Someone else has been taking notice of the fleet, and is preparing to take on the blue and yellow big box. Find out about Wal-Mart's plans to compete when you read more.

Wal-Mart is enlisting the help of a third-party company called N.E.W. Customer Service to provide similar 24-hour tech support for their electronics customers. Instead of requiring a subscription fee to utilize tech support expertise like Best Buy, Wal-Mart will be offering up a prepaid card for purchase for any over the phone or in-home installation service. Buy one for yourself, or give one as a gift to your less-than-tech-savvy friends or family to use year round. The service should be ready to go nationwide by the upcoming holiday shopping season.