(My boyfriend and I return from an out-of-town funeral to find that our Internet isn’t working. He calls to try and get it sorted out. Over the course of a week, they have him run through the over-the-phone diagnostics three separate times, and they fail to show up to two different appointments to come look at it after those diagnostics don’t work. Finally, it’s my turn to call. I am in the middle of the busiest time of year at work, working twelve-hour days and weekends. I call and explain the situation to the customer service representative.)
Me: “I just want to schedule another appointment.”
Customer Service Rep: *pulls up our account* “I see that there was one no-show service appointment, but the other one isn’t showing up at all.”
Me: “I assure you that the last representative that my boyfriend spoke to had confirmed that the appointment was in their system, and that their tech guy did not show up.”
(I’ve already had a rough day, but I’m trying to remain polite while going through all this, but she doesn’t seem to be listening.)
Customer Service Rep: “I’ll need to run through the over-the-phone diagnostics with you.”
Me: “We have been dealing with this for several days now, we’ve already run through the diagnostics multiple times, and it’s been established that we do, in fact, need someone to come out and look at it in person.”
(This does not deter her at all; for the next five or so minutes we go back and forth, her insisting on the diagnostics, me explaining that we already know that we are past that point, that it should reflect that in our account, and that I just want to make a service appointment. I am exhausted and drained physically and emotionally, and eventually, I reach a breaking point while she’s trying to get me to run the diagnostics:)
Customer Service Rep: “Okay, ma’am, but if you’ll just run through these diagnostics first so that we can rule out any of these problems—“
Me: “Please, I’m begging you. We have already done them. We know we need someone to come out. I just want to schedule another appointment.”
Customer Service Rep: “I understand. So, let’s first run through these—“
Me: *bursts into tears, attempting to talk while obviously crying* “You know what? Never mind. I’ll try calling later.” *hangs up*
(A minute later my phone rings:)
Customer Service Rep: “Hello, [My Name]? This is [Customer Service Rep] with [Company], and I believe we were just speaking on the phone?”
Me: *somewhat recovered from crying* “Yes, hi. Sorry about hanging up; I just wanted to call another time.”
Customer Service Rep: “Right. Well, I just wanted to make sure that you were okay.”
Me: “Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you for asking. I just got a little upset. I’ll try calling a different time when I’m not as stressed.”
Customer Service Rep: “I understand, ma’am. But let’s just get that appointment scheduled for you while you’re here…”
(My boyfriend teased me for months about crying on the phone with a customer service rep, but we got our Internet fixed! I still make him call most of the time, though.)
