It is 8:20 in the morning. I forwarded my home phone to my cell while I took our son to camp. Unsurprisingly, Sears did not call as promised first thing this morning.
"Lloyd" takes my information again. I am intrigued that their process requires me to give my name, phone and address every time I speak with them. He asks me for my zip code and informs me helpfully that I live in Castle Rock, Colorado.
He sends a message to the technician telling him I have called six times and asking him to contact me. We shall see what transpires today. I did, against my better judgment, cancel all my appointments today, because I have to get this clothes dryer fixed.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Sears bad customer support, part three
The manager did not call, so it is now 8:10 and I am calling customer support again. The automated customer service system told me I was asking about the appointment scheduled from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. tomorrow. Uh, I guess so.
I spoke with Ellie and asked for customer relations.
8:10...Please wait...
8:11...Please wait...
8:12...Please wait...
8:13...Please wait...
8:14...Angelina answers. She says she cannot see the routing to see when the technician will be here. She asked if I could stay home tomorrow from 8:00 until 5:00. I told her I could not cancel my business appointments at 8:00 at night, and that I did not have a lot of faith that the repairman was going to show up. I added that I had asked Kia to find out if the technician could be here between 2:00 and 5:00 when I would be here. She asked if I could wait until someone called me first thing in the morning to tell me when the repairman would arrive (sound familiar?). I told her that was the fourth time someone promised to call me from Sears and I had little faith I would receive a call.
She said that all they could do was email the service person. (I am sure the support center is not located in Denver) So I cannot contact the local technician directly, and customer service cannot contact the local technician directly.
So, at 8:26, the sagae for today is at an end. The support guy is probably finished with dinner at his house, ignoring his email, and enjoying a cold one. Tomorrow, I suspect I will begin the battle to get my worthless Sears warranty refunded and find a competent, responsive local repair person who communicates with his customers. In the meantime, there are wet clothes strewn all over my house ,and my opinion of Sears, a company where I used to really love to shop, is severely diminished.
I spoke with Ellie and asked for customer relations.
8:10...Please wait...
8:11...Please wait...
8:12...Please wait...
8:13...Please wait...
8:14...Angelina answers. She says she cannot see the routing to see when the technician will be here. She asked if I could stay home tomorrow from 8:00 until 5:00. I told her I could not cancel my business appointments at 8:00 at night, and that I did not have a lot of faith that the repairman was going to show up. I added that I had asked Kia to find out if the technician could be here between 2:00 and 5:00 when I would be here. She asked if I could wait until someone called me first thing in the morning to tell me when the repairman would arrive (sound familiar?). I told her that was the fourth time someone promised to call me from Sears and I had little faith I would receive a call.
She said that all they could do was email the service person. (I am sure the support center is not located in Denver) So I cannot contact the local technician directly, and customer service cannot contact the local technician directly.
So, at 8:26, the sagae for today is at an end. The support guy is probably finished with dinner at his house, ignoring his email, and enjoying a cold one. Tomorrow, I suspect I will begin the battle to get my worthless Sears warranty refunded and find a competent, responsive local repair person who communicates with his customers. In the meantime, there are wet clothes strewn all over my house ,and my opinion of Sears, a company where I used to really love to shop, is severely diminished.
Sears update: technician cancelled appointment, no one called
So, I called Sears at 4:30 to see when the repair person was coming. The customer support person said. "He is running late so he canceled your appointment." I asked, calmly enough, "How would I have found that out if I did not call you?" he responded, "Uhhh...I don't know."
I asked for management and explained how poor this experience has been. She said we were scheduled for tomorrow, but she could not tell me what time we were schedule for until after 6:00 this evening. She promised to call.
I asked for management and explained how poor this experience has been. She said we were scheduled for tomorrow, but she could not tell me what time we were schedule for until after 6:00 this evening. She promised to call.
Sears: Bad Customer Service, Status Quo, or Both?
Sears is a revered brand. It stands for reliability, solid products, longevity and responsiveness to customers. We buy almost all of our appliances from them, and we have always thought they were the gold standard for customer support and service.
Until now. While trying to get our clothes dryer fixed, I've experienced a series of miss-set expectations, which is the single greatest cause of a bad customer experience, regardless of the eventual expertise of the repair or technical person.
Background: our clothes dryer broke Friday. When I turned it on, something smelled like it was burning and it made an awful racket as the drum rotated. So, since we have an extended warranty, I called Sears.
They said they could come on Wednesday (today) between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Foolishly, I asked if they could narrow the time frame down. The customer service person blithely said the technician would call the day before the service and provide a more specific time.
Yesterday, about 7:30 p.m., I received an automated message from Sears. They narrowed the time down by a half hour. The repairman would be here between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
My husband immediately called Sears to ask if they could provide a little more precision, since we both work and our son had a class and then camp in the morning. They assured him the repairman would call "first thing in the morning" to narrow down the time frame.
Next, my husband called his office to arrange to be late for a meeting this morning. He stayed home while I took our son to his class and camp. I came home and waited. And waited. And waited.
It is 3:00 p.m. and no repairman has appeared or called. I've gotten no work done, skipped my workout, not walked my dogs, and my dryer is still not fixed. Plus, I have no reliable source of information to call to see if the repair person will show up today.
I just called Sears and they told me I am the last repair on the technician's route. I asked why I was not told this before and they said they did not know. I explained that each time we spoke, we asked for a more specific time frame, and no one could provide one. They are going to call the technician and call me back to tell me when he will be here.
If they don't call me back and no one arrives before 4:30, I will have to go pick up my son, secure in the knowledge the repair person will arrive while I am gone. It is a needlessly bad experience.
I suspect anyone reading this has been through the same wasted day I just spent. It's the way home-related business is done, whether repairs, cable installation, appliance delivery or installation, landscaping services, or anything else requiring someone to come to your house. It should not be so time-consuming and uncommunicative.
In a world as connected as ours is, customers should be able to go online, see a reliable window of time in which the repair person is likely to arrive, contact the company if necessary, and not spend eight or nine hours waiting. Most of all, if you tell a customer that something is going to happen - someone will call, someone will be at a certain place, whatever - make sure it happens the way you set the expectation it will. Sears did not follow through today.
Until now. While trying to get our clothes dryer fixed, I've experienced a series of miss-set expectations, which is the single greatest cause of a bad customer experience, regardless of the eventual expertise of the repair or technical person.
Background: our clothes dryer broke Friday. When I turned it on, something smelled like it was burning and it made an awful racket as the drum rotated. So, since we have an extended warranty, I called Sears.
They said they could come on Wednesday (today) between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Foolishly, I asked if they could narrow the time frame down. The customer service person blithely said the technician would call the day before the service and provide a more specific time.
Yesterday, about 7:30 p.m., I received an automated message from Sears. They narrowed the time down by a half hour. The repairman would be here between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
My husband immediately called Sears to ask if they could provide a little more precision, since we both work and our son had a class and then camp in the morning. They assured him the repairman would call "first thing in the morning" to narrow down the time frame.
Next, my husband called his office to arrange to be late for a meeting this morning. He stayed home while I took our son to his class and camp. I came home and waited. And waited. And waited.
It is 3:00 p.m. and no repairman has appeared or called. I've gotten no work done, skipped my workout, not walked my dogs, and my dryer is still not fixed. Plus, I have no reliable source of information to call to see if the repair person will show up today.
I just called Sears and they told me I am the last repair on the technician's route. I asked why I was not told this before and they said they did not know. I explained that each time we spoke, we asked for a more specific time frame, and no one could provide one. They are going to call the technician and call me back to tell me when he will be here.
If they don't call me back and no one arrives before 4:30, I will have to go pick up my son, secure in the knowledge the repair person will arrive while I am gone. It is a needlessly bad experience.
I suspect anyone reading this has been through the same wasted day I just spent. It's the way home-related business is done, whether repairs, cable installation, appliance delivery or installation, landscaping services, or anything else requiring someone to come to your house. It should not be so time-consuming and uncommunicative.
In a world as connected as ours is, customers should be able to go online, see a reliable window of time in which the repair person is likely to arrive, contact the company if necessary, and not spend eight or nine hours waiting. Most of all, if you tell a customer that something is going to happen - someone will call, someone will be at a certain place, whatever - make sure it happens the way you set the expectation it will. Sears did not follow through today.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Wisdom from a friend
One of my favorite people shared this with me today, and I loved it. Lucky in my relationships, I've experienced more than my share of kindness throughout my life. So, tonight I am particularly thankful for the miles I have yet to travel, the family and friends I've shared the journey with so far, and the ones I've yet to meet.
Never forget to show kindness, to share what you have with others. Give us courage and cheerfulness to go the second mile, and all the miles ahead.
From the New Zealand
Prayer Book
Never forget to show kindness, to share what you have with others. Give us courage and cheerfulness to go the second mile, and all the miles ahead.
From the New Zealand
Prayer Book
Friday, May 30, 2008
Trapster lets you report speed traps, people slow down, everybody wins
I just signed up for Trapster, a free application for your cell phone or PDA that lets you report speed traps - and alerts you to speed traps that others report. I am going to download it to my iPhone and see how well it works. You call an 800 number to report any speed traps. Your alert is relayed to the PDAs and phones of people in the vicinity. They can rate the reliability of the reports. You can add it to Google Maps using Loki. It is an intriguing use of presence awareness.
Maximize your web copy's message: the F-shape and eye scans
Want to write powerful copy for your website? Learn about Jakob Nielsen's studies. The usability guru once categorized the typical way someone reads hypertext as an F.
He found that most of us read text from left to right
==========>===================>==========>
then return ||
<====================<=================<==
then read down the left side
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
\/
then go to the right and back again
==============>=========>
| | | |
| | | |
| |==<=========<=======<==
| |
| |
\/
and then down the left some more, forming a visual "F"
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
\/
He also found that people, unsurprisingly, do not intensively read text (although they do scrutinize small text.) They scan the words.
How is this useful? Well, if you
1. emphasize the first two sentences of your text
2. use clear and powerful language at the beginning of sentences, the beginnings and ends of paragraphs. and
3. use bullets, subheads, and small graphics to highlight your main points
you will increase the likelihood your reader will get the idaes you want to convey.
Interesting expansion on the related usability concepts of eye tracking and heat maps here. I cannot vouch for the company's work, but their video example is very useful to better understand these concepts.
He found that most of us read text from left to right
==========>===================>==========>
then return ||
<====================<=================<==
then read down the left side
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
\/
then go to the right and back again
==============>=========>
| | | |
| | | |
| |==<=========<=======<==
| |
| |
\/
and then down the left some more, forming a visual "F"
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
\/
He also found that people, unsurprisingly, do not intensively read text (although they do scrutinize small text.) They scan the words.
How is this useful? Well, if you
1. emphasize the first two sentences of your text
2. use clear and powerful language at the beginning of sentences, the beginnings and ends of paragraphs. and
3. use bullets, subheads, and small graphics to highlight your main points
you will increase the likelihood your reader will get the idaes you want to convey.
Interesting expansion on the related usability concepts of eye tracking and heat maps here. I cannot vouch for the company's work, but their video example is very useful to better understand these concepts.
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