Corporate Dumb

I know the argument from the bean counters: less-qualified, under-trained, fewer customer service workers makes for better profit at the end of the quarter. After all, workers are an expense that corporate daddy has to reduce, right?

Well, they have their belief and I have mine. I believe that customer service has the power to distinguish a company from the rest. I do spend my money where this appears to be a thought in the marketing and sales strategy.

Sometime ago, I broke up with my phone company. Things changed, I moved and the old company wasn't an option. The break-up wasn't pleasant but it wasn't horrible and by the end, the customer service gal asked that if the situation changes to just consider them again.

Enter Time Warner company: clearly the offshore customer service didn't care much about fulfilling their end of the bargain: the phone numbers weren't transferred, I had to start over with all new numbers. One of the numbers I received was getting collection calls day and night for the last person who had the number. So I had to change the number again, that was a fiasco. They told me one number but assigned another. I had a friend ask me why the number on her caller ID wasn't what I had given her.

When the 'deal' was up, I received the notice letter that they were going to nearly double the bill. I called to talk about it with customer service. The 'for a lifetime' deal lasted less than 2 years. The company rep launched into a sales pitch for more services, which I declined. He hung up.

So I changed providers.

I called once again to discontinue my service. When Time Warner discovered that I was taking my number with me and no, I really did take the hang up personally, they transferred me with hold times for over 85 minutes.

Guess what Time Warner, if the situation comes up that I need a different provider, you won't be on the short list. You've been cut.