Split: Unfortunate ExpressVu Customer of the Week - My Little Rant

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nimiq 1
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Perhaps agents at BEV should handle it the way it is handle at Dell (yes, I currently work at a call center for Dell XPS Computers). Here is a typical manager escalation scenario I would receive.

Ring Ring...

Me - "Thank you for choosing Dell, welcome to the XPS Experience, my name is .... how may I help you?"

Customer "I would like to speak to a manager"

Me - "That is not a problem, but before I transfer you to one, may I get your Name and Service Tag to bring to the managers attention"

Customer "John Doe... service Tag is 2B858C1 .. I would just like to speak to a manager..."

Me - "Of course.... I can see here you have called in numerous times regarding your issue..(looking at Case topic... and summarizing previoius agents notes)...I believe I have the experience/knowledge in resolving this issue..."

Now if the customer asked a 3rd time to speak to a manager, I would at get a manager to speak to the customer. 80% of these types of calls, I am able to continue without having to transfer to a manager. Policy's regarding Manager Escalations are different at each Call Center site for Dell, but I believe ours would be the best approach for all call centers.

Never would we deny the customer wish to speak to a manager, but most customers will co-operate once they can feel that an agent appears to want to take ownership of an issue. Just like in most call centers, managers may not have the ability to do more for a customer than the Front line agent can. The customer is just looking for someone who will care and if the Front line agent can provide this assurance then most customer will not need to go further.

djino
"Hope this makes sense"
 
"With the cost of living going down (gas prices, insurance, materials, etc...) "

You are kidding I assume...
 
To clarify a little further here:

1. I did confirm both my October and November bills following my August 2006 suspension request showed Balance Owing=$0.00 and that I had a Credit Balance. Having confirmed (at least in my mind) that my instructions and the assurances I received from EV appeared proper, and having no interest in information or promotional literature in the interim, nor having had any prior 'issues', I really felt it unnecessary to peruse future mailings until my reinstatement date.

2. My unit was never un-plugged from the feed or the power outlet; I simply disconnected the RF to the TV to connect my OTA. The "unauthorized receiver" message was displayed very shortly after requesting my temporary suspension so seeing it when I reconnected the receiver to my TV, I simply concluded I was in error as to the correct reinstatement date and thus there was no reason to call EV - oops, I got it wrong, it's next month that it restarts was my assumption. It was only when I received my bill three weeks into that month that I discovered I was indeed correct as to the restart date but, because EV had incorrectly been billing me for the entire suspension period and I had not paid their improper charges, they failed to reactivate my service. EV clearly admitted that they billed me for services they had not actually provided over that 3 week period by not reactivating my receiver, and also clearly advised I was still liable for those services even though they were not actually rendered.

3. By virtue of 2 above, EV's errors resulted in me losing a little over 3 weeks of service that their billing system said I received though the CS side confirms I did not. My loss due to their errors and a credit for this period was refused - not kosher in the circumstances in my view. I WAS provided credit for the incorrect monthly suspension fees and administrative fees billed in error by EV, but given my frustration with that situation, in addition to the refusal to provide credit for the 3+ week no-service period as a result of their error, I cancelled my account (or so I thought) and ate my prepaid month in advance. (yes, $51.00 is a relatively small amount, but I do expect value for any of the hard earned money I put out for services of any nature and I will not pay for any service I have not received - remember, this is a fee for service and the service was NOT provided.)

4. My situation now and the reason for my rant is that EV DID NOT CANCEL MY ACCOUNT per my instructions or the CSR's confirmation to that effect during that conversation. The current amount in dispute is for service SINCE my order to cancel service, as apparently my account is STILL active and therefore billable, even though it is not authorized for nor can receive the said service.

Bottom line is that I followed their rules to the letter, believed I had confirmed requested actions had been complied with as agreed, and am more than a little incensed that their ineptitude HAS blemished my credit history. Add in their haughtiness in insisting the issue lies squarely with me and not their incompetence because it was my failure to practice 'due diligence' that is the cause of this issue just doesn't sit well at all. I'm an old fart, been around the block more than once, but I've never ever had to deal with such horrors with any other service provider I have EVER dealt with. To add insult to injury, I had to buy back my 3200 as it cannot be activated due to an 'outstanding account balance owing' .

For the record, AEV is somewhat correct in her statement re: Administrative fees. Actually it is a cumulative amount consisting of an additional $25.00 administrative fee PLUS a $50.00 deactivation fee. Her other assertions just confirm my opinion that there is a serious lack of ability in the department as a whole in having an ability to put two and two together to form four. Given the historical information that should be available to them through management's penchant for recording of every incoming customer call, I submit the tool is improperly utilized by management to coerce corporate compliance from their employees rather than its rightful place as a tool in support of good customer service.
 
Couple "Free" with "easy" and you've got yourself a hot item (in more ways than one :))
 
Agent V is forgetting that most applications have authorization based on roles. CC managers almost always have more authorization on the system than CSR do, such as ability to "reverse" charges that CSR put on by mistakes and higher credit granting limits. Beside, even if a customer wants to file claim against a company, his case is weakened if he hasn't followed the dispute escalation process and talking to a manager/supervisor is always part of that process.
 
It makes perfect sense.

That is almost how it works in our office, although we have no set script.
 
I'm not forgetting anything...SUPERVISOR ARE USING THE SAME APPLICATIONS as a CSR do to request a credit, book a tech, or fill an installer complaint
 
This info helps me giving you an answer...

You put your service on vacation around August, the same time at which we change the price for the TPS (Temporary Programming Suspension). I assume that all account on TPS at the time automatically got charged the new price. With a call back and verifing the note of the TPS request, which was different from the new one, they were able to correct the charge.

If you had to pay 50$ reconnection charge that means the account was closed already. If you wanted to have it closed you had nothing to do the day you found out that service haven't restarted, which is not what you did, you reconnected. At that point if you ask for disconnection you have to follow our 30 days policy rule. During that period the service was certainly on, if you were not getting the channels you might have had a technical issue (red guide, signal issue) preventing you from seeing them
 
Well here is my EV rant.

I started with EV in 99', so I have been a customer for a long time. I have only had the basics with EV, because I don't watch alot of TV. I worked 2 jobs and was out on my free time. I usually rent movies cheaper than PPV so I don't need that.
Well my g/f decided we needed more programming. I have 3 recievers. 2-3100's and a 5200. So she calls EV and ups our programming and gets a bunch of stuff. Included I want wildtv. I watched this channel at my brothers 3 weeks ago and liked it. So I get home and she informs me that she has talked to EV and made the changes. Then she tells me we have no channels.
So, for 2 hours I follow the website and selfserve on the tv, to try and solve why all my channels are red and all my basics are completely gone. This is 5-6 hours after she has talked to them. Finally the 3100 start to work, but not all channels work. The 5200 would not show hardly any channels in guide and all red, execpt for the info channels.
So I call EV. What a suck ass phone system. If you answer incorrectly to any question, thanks have a nice day click. I was disconnected like 5 times before I finally talked to someone. I had to say my recevier was dead to get tech support. So with the tech guy on the phone and a resync my 3100's are working correctly. On to the 5200, I have to go through the process of telling him my s/w version etc. Spend 1/2 on troubleshooting etc. He finally says he has sent another resync to this reciever and everything should work within a couple of hours. By this time it's midnight and I go to bed.
So the first thing I do when I get home the next day I check the 5200. No worky. Still the same as before. So I get on the phone. Start talking to the next CSR, and they start the process all over again. And I tell them i'm not interested in going through the process. So I state tha they can fix it from their end or cancel my service. Wow that worked cause the CSR found the problem quickly. They had deactivated my reciever. One little box on the screen. Were it said the number of recievers they put 2 instead of 3. When they up the programming, they deactivated my reciever. So now it works, but at least 4 hours of my time wasted, because people can't read.
I wish I could charge them my charge rate for work. That would be $250 they owed me.
 
I hear you MPEG4. My family is after me to get HD but I don't think I'm up to the billing and customer service challenge to get it.
 
Unfortunatly they won't refund you time...

This is a mistake that could happen when you change your programming from the old "locals" to the current Digital Standard.

We have to put a code for the second receiver, then click on the + to add the third

The first agent you talked to did what he had to do, went to the troubleshooting he had to, with no result because, as the other agent mentionned, the receiver was no activated. It disn't matter how many resets you do on the receiver, whithout activating it first it would have never worked. The first agent should hve seen that, when you reset a programming you have to click on the page that displays all the equipement WITH their status (active-disabled)
 
I guess I don't fall into the "most" category.

If I'm calling in to speak to a manager, honestly, I don't want to waste my time as I'm already pissed off or I wouldn't be asking for a manager.

The 3 or so times I've done this with ExpressVu always been asked if the CSR could help me and I simply state "no thanks". I've usually gone through the issue, whatever it is, 3, 4 or 5 times already.
 
MPEG4,

This a "simple" matter of Expressvu screwing up. But now you're caught in a I said to do this but you didn't do it. I feel for you. Following instructions to the tee has left you with a huge headache.

Brace yourself, resolution will not be quick. With persistence you will prevail, but it will take time.
 
But like I said, managers in "most" companies cannot do any more for the customer than the front line agent can. So basically by asking for a manager, you are getting nowhere near to a resolution. The only place the manager will get you, is to calm down and listen to your issue, and then get you back in touch with the front line agent.

So by the agent attempting to focus the customer on the path to the resolution instead of going towards a manager is only helping the customer.

djino
"who can understand a customer's frustrations and knows the system well"
 
Well apparently not because he DIDN'T FIX THE DAMN PROBLEM! I bet his average call length stat is great though so that means he's an excellent CSR right?

Who gives a flying **** why you people keep making mistakes? It took three CSRs before this guy got the simple upgrade in programming he asked for, and only after he INSISTED that one of them get off the damn scripted call and actually do his job to PROPERLY troubleshoot the problem and threaten to quit. Can't you see there's something MAJORLY wrong with this?

A mistake every once in a while anybody can live with. We're all human. The problem is when those simple mistakes turn into hours of wasted time for the customer because incompetent twits keep making mistakes over mistakes instead of actually thinking about what could be causing the problem.

Something like checking that a receiver is actually activated before crossing your fingers and hoping a resync will fix the problem seems like a no-brainer to me. I understand that it would lengthen your average call duration and affect your precious bonus though, which is really all you care about. Some customer service that is...
 
I personnally don't care about the average handle time, I never had a good AHT and don't think I will ever (espacially considering the fact that I'm thinking of quitting)

The first step should have been to ask the receiver number
Then he sould have gone in the equipement section
See that he was deactivated and reactivate it

I'm referring here to Hussan's case:The agent did the troubleshooting required for that type of problem according to the post. Ask the software version and revision. Verify the signal. Reset the programming and in 15 min-2 hours it would work. His mistake, and that should have been the first step, should have been to ask that receiver's number and look in the equipement section

The second was just doing his job... He wasfolowing the procedure and was gonna do the troubleshooting required for that type of problem. It is probably not the fact that you threathen to deactivate that solved the problem, but probably the fact that the agent opened the equipement section and saw that indeed the receiver was not reactivated.


 
Well when I was talking with the second agent. I'm assuming when we talked about software revisions etc he would know it wasn't a 3100. I'm sure my 5900 has a different software revsion than my 3100.

Anyway, everything is working fine now, so I happy for the time being. We'll see what happens when I finally upgrade to HD in the spring.
 
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