Customer Service

Over the last week, I have gotten about 4 calls from someone of Unknown ID. Typically I do not answer these calls. However, when I get three or four in a short period, I tend to think it might be important. I answered it tonight, and it was important.

It was a collection agency, calling to tell me that my Utah Power bill was delinquent. Ahhh Utah. It couldn't be Training Table calling to tell me that they overcharged me one day and would I like them to send me a check or a free Double Extreme burger.

This is a mistake I thought and set out to take care of business. First off, I know I paid on the phone in Novemeber when I scheduled the power to be turned off. I checked my bank statement online, only to find out that no payment had been posted. Ok, I guess I do owe them money. But I'm upset that no one ever bothered to tell me. So I called.

Here is what I got:

The Lady I talked to first told me that if I didn't get a statement in the mail, then something must be wrong with the post office. Then she told me that if my payment didn't get posted its because there was something wrong with my debit card. She followed all that by saying that since their company uses and outside company to handle phone payments, then it is "Not our problem."

I was pretty upset by this. No, I was really upset. I didn't appreciate being treated like a liar or an idiot. I asked to speak to her supervisor. He was a delightful fellow who also seemed to think that I was either lying, stupid or just trying to get out of paying my bill.

These people made several mistakes. Starting in November when the guy told me that if I made the payment then, then I would have no further business with them. Followed by not sending me any kind of notice either by email or actual mail and then claiming that they had done both. Then having a third party payment company that did not actually make my payment. The second time that happened by the way.

At this point, what I wanted was for him to say, that he was sorry for what happened and for the way I was treted. I told him this, and his response was "I'm sorry you didn't get the mail" Wow thanks. I feel better now.

I was mad. Very mad. And here is the important part of this story. I didn't want to call back. I just wanted to move on and not think about it anymore. But Stephanie pushed me to call back. I did, on faith. Stephanie is always right about this stuff. And she was right tonight. If I hadn't called back, I would have been grumbling all night long.

but....

I called back and talked to another supervisor. Steph said to make sure that I start by saying I WILL pay the bill. Which I did. I explained what happened in November and what happened tonight. I told him that I did not appreciate how I was treated and that I wanted to know that they appreciated this fact. He said that they did. He apologized to me. He explained that it is unlikely that they would have sent out any mail statements and apologized for that mix up. He stayed on the line through my payment process, made sure it went through and then promised to call the collection agency as soon as I got off the phone. Generally speaking, he handled the situation with a lot of class.

Stephanie was right. She said, just get it done now. No sense in feeling bad the rest of the night. Especially if you have to call again the next night to take care of it. Just take care of it right now. I am glad I did.

In the end, I can't believe those two people talked to me that way. I'm not an idiot, do your damned job. Its not my fault you hate it. Furthermore, believe what I say and take a look at your system and ask yourself "Is this working?" Its not that hard to just do what you are supposed to do. And what you are supposed to do is to be friendly and help people figure out what they need to do.

-T