The Sucko State of On-line "Customer Service"

 


Good Thing I Like My...



pastedGraphic_1.pdf

TiVo DVRs changed the way we watch TV.  I don't think I could bear to watch commercial-saturated television without a DVR.  We've been a TiVo customer for over ten years.


That said, when we had a billing problem, I ran into the impenetrable wall they call "customer service." 


After exhausting every other thing on their website, I finally opted for "chat."  HAR!  I might as well have asked for Devine Intervention.  Take a look:

(TiVo's chatbot -- and an alleged live agent.  My responses are in YELLOW.)



12:15 PM


Thanks for connecting to the TiVo Support Experience. I’m TiVo's automated virtual assistant, here to help.

What are you looking for help with?

Unexpected bill for $161.61. Scam? We are current on monthly payments.

It sounds like you're inquiring about account billing. Is that right?

Yes

You can click 'My Account' below to view your Billing and Order History. You can also perform other transactions like Update Credit Card, and Activate a device.
My Account

Did this solve your issue?

No

Would you like to speak with a live agent?

Yes

Before we connect you to a live agent, what is your name?

will duff

Please type your email address below.

duffworx@earthlink.net

Please enter your phone number to verify your account.

505-281-XXXX (my edit)

I'm getting a live agent for you

Please hold on while we find an available live agent.

Entering chat with a live agent...

Thank you for contacting TiVo Chat Support, my name is Jerson and I am happy to assist you.

("Jerson again) Hi, Good morning! I hope your doing great! [sic. And it was afternoon.]

We were billed an unexpected $161.61 on 7/12/2022.

Pre-chat Form states that you have an issue about your account. Is this correct?

We were billed last month for $161.61 which we do not owe.
the bill was on7/12/2022. We are current on monthly payments.


Sorry for the late response. Allow me to check that charge first. Please bear with me oka

ok


okay?***

Thank you.


THAT WAS AT 12:19


Are you still there?  12:30


Why is it taking so long to check a charge? Extraordinarily inconvenient for a customer. 12:40

(The animated icon indicating "typing" by Jerson, continued to throb.)


Are you still there? 12:45


Why is it taking so long to check a charge? Extraordinarily inconvenient for a customer.

I have now been waiting 30 minutes. This is outrageous.


Jerson, I will write no complaint about you. I'm sure it's not your fault. What is going on?
I mean NO complaint about you. 12:51 (Me trying to get the TiVo rep to come back.)


One hour! TiVo apparently wants me to "end chat" and just go away? 1:15


I WENT AWAY ONE HOUR AND 12 MINUTES AFTER STARTING. NO RESOLUTION TO THE BILLING PROBLEM.   1:27


@#$%&! (not a direct quote)


TiVo, of course, is not alone in providing yukky "virtual" online customer service. For instance:


Just this week, a thunderstorm knocked out landline phone service for about a hundred people in our woodsy neighborhood where cell service is spotty. Century Link's website was just as bad as TiVo's. In the face of dozens of calls reporting the outage, the Century Link website kept insisting, "There is no outage in your area."  The outage lasted over 24 hours. 


 Much teeth grinding was reported on our local Nextdoor.com.


I'm all for the efficiency of automated customer service IF IT WORKS. Most don't yet, at least that's my consumer impression. If I didn't love my TiVo, today's experience would have caused my departure from their service. Century Link is on the edge.




Comments

Gary Soucie said…
Good for you, Scooter! What a mensch.
3:22 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teddy and Bernie

Image
By Gosh, I Think I've Got It! Bernie caught some gaff for having a narrow focus campaign. Here's how he's going to broaden it out. IMHO. And that doesn't mean he's running for anything,  just being Bernie. * Teddy as the model for... ...The New Bernie campaign? * I was zapping through the pile of political pitches I get everyday on my old fashioned e-mail (wduffer@aol.com), zap, zap, zap... Congressmen from Colorado, Florida, Ohio... on and on, Democrats I never heard of, but I'm on "The List." I don't get irritated, I just get rid of the ads; I mean after all, they're Democrats. After I finished my zapping, I had a snack and set to recording another audiobook chapter. Then it hit me, based on one of the ads I zapped.  Here 'tis: It was when I dragged it up again that I noticed it was a Bernie ad, and I said, "That's it!" Do you how many great quotes flowed from Teddy R? About half of them ar...
Read more

Scooter Duff's Theory of Cosmology [UPDATED 5.4.24]

Image
 [Olde Duff Gets Seriouser] SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES  ARE MOSTLY PRIMORDIAL  DARK MATTER [Draft 8/19/2023] [UPDATED 5.4.24] & [9.25.24] THE BIG NEWS.. ..Is from the James Webb Space Telescope. There were furiously active galaxies very soon after the Big Bang, not that long after the first generation stars happened. This implies supermassive black holes at the centers of the new galaxies.  The question, "how did these giant black holes get there so early?" seems not quite answered by the two main contenders, "Giant dust collapse," and "Many stellar black holes consolidating." Thus I decided to toss this hat into the ring: At the big bang, and dark matter was the first matter of any kind to form (perhaps during the mysterious “inflation” event -- my personal theory).  It’s mutual gravitational attraction and lack of interaction to any electromagnetic force allowed it to exist and start to coalesce, even in the heat of the BB, long before baryonic matter ...
Read more

Bot Spotting - Seriously

Image
If you have opinions, and you have "proof," better check your sources! TWITTER IS THE BOT SWAMP Here is a detailed method of spotting bot tweets; twelve techniques: The trick in some cases is finding the non-human  number of tweets. @BlackManTrump, a hyperactive account, posted 89,944 tweets between August 28, 2016 and December 19, 2016 (see archive   here ), an average of 789 posts per day. The account  @sunneversets100 , an amplifier of pro-Kremlin messaging, was created on November 14, 2016. On August 28, 2017, it was 288 days old. In that period, it posted 203,197 tweets (again, the exact figure can be found by hovering the mouse over the “Tweets” entry). Watch for " Amplification " When a fake news story gets re-tweeted a bunch, you might think "Gee, it must be true. I see it everywhere." You are the victim of classic BIG LIE propaganda technique in the social media world. Remember, the Russians are the world leaders in weaponiz...
Read more