Customer Service

Customer Service

I'm waiting for a UPS delivery attempt, the sixth time. I'm at home, yet the delivery person consistently marks me "absent" on their sheet. It makes me wonder how things have deteriorated. Delivery companies pass on deliveries to subcontractors who hire freelancers focused solely on daily quotas.

If you contemplate lodging a complaint, prepare to navigate a robotic phone system with endless menus to categorize your issue before reaching a human. Then, get ready to explain everything again because apparently, information transfer is alien.

If you think you'll receive meaningful assistance, you're in for disappointment. You'll connect to a distant call center where agents follow scripts and slides, and your specific case seems nonexistent. You'll be bombarded with empty promises and endure the same ordeal repeatedly.

To escalate the matter and speak to someone with authority? No luck; those individuals seem to have vanished. There's no accountability anymore; as long as they meet average numbers, your case might be stuck in an eternal loop of neglect.

For years, companies have touted "customer satisfaction" and "client happiness" while investing less in customer service. Some have closed phone lines, leaving malfunctioning chatbots. If you can't express your problem, there's no negative impact on key performance indicators (KPIs).

This reminds me of a two-year battle with our building's optical fiber provider, Free. We repeatedly requested a connection, in vain. A cable was severed in the basement by an operator, and we sent evidence and spent hours with customer service, to no avail. Free sent technicians who were prohibited from accessing the basement box. Equipment gathers dust on a shelf, with the hope that someday we'll muster the energy for a competent technician.

Services have deteriorated, and we're asked to complete "short satisfaction surveys on a scale of 1 to 10," where it's challenging to provide negative feedback because the only one affected is the unfortunate human operator who lacks the authority to truly assist.

Managers celebrate KPIs and promote a smooth user experience, while the rest of us, feeling like zombies, become increasingly frustrated in a seemingly mad world.