Held Hostage by your Service Provider: You can't win with the 'can't' model

I recently got off the phone with my favorite (insert sarcasm) local telephone service provider. Since I was moving to a new apartment I had called ahead to do a transfer of service and was reassured repeatedly that my service would be activated at my new apartment on the day of my move.

I got to my new place and plugged in my phone (yes, I still have a land-line) and my modem.  Picked up the phone but there was no dialtone. All lights flashed on the modem but there was no internet! Ahh!

Don’t panic, don’t panic. This can be fixed! It was Sunday but I knew technical support would still be available. Spent 25 minutes on the phone with tech support only to be told that they would send a technician sometime between 8AM and 9:PM on Monday.  Now maybe in the pre-Internet era this would be ok but nowadays? Not to mention, 13 hours is an extremely large service window.  Also, I work from 9-5 and the hubby works from home and absolutely needs the Internet/phone for his work.

Somehow I managed to convince the tech to add a note to our file to come after 5pm since we could arrange to be home at that time. Alternative Internet arrangements were made for the hubs and we planned to be home around 5pm. Phew!

3:30 pm on Monday I get a call “Hello, we we’re here to fix the phone/internet problem”. Me-“I’m at work”.  FAIL!

I then proceeded to call the provider and explain what I had told them last night. I also mentioned (again) that no one would be home during the day and taking a day off was not an option especially if they could not specify a time. I was told repeatedly:

• We can’t schedule appointments because our technicians do repair and installations  [SO? That’s my problem because? And it still doesn’t make sense to me]
• We can’t treat each customer individually
• We can’t enter your request for a time preference, it’s not an option in the system [And that’s my problem because??]

The Customer Service Rep also told me that they are not the only provider that operates this way. No kidding!  Ever try to have a package delivered? It can make it around the world overnight yet when it’s in your neighborhood it may arrive anytime between 9-5pm. It also doesn’t help when there is such little choice and the competition is more or less the same. What bothered me was the “Everybody else is doing it” attitude.

Opportunity! This is an opportunity to do something different and actually provide a service that leaves people smiling and content after hanging up the phone (when it works) knowing that they are taken care of.

All I could hear was “Can’t, Can’t, Can’t”

I then asked the technician, what can you do?

Send a technician.

Thanks.  So I’m still in the same predicament and nowhere closer to getting re-connected.   Perhaps in certain industries you can win with the ‘can’t’ model but I’d be surprised to see how many companies could survive with this type of attitude.

Have a similar experience? Do share!

Update: The techinician called at 8:55pm and showed up and fixed the problem. Yes, they made a second trip. I guess efficiency is not something they can do either!  Needless to say, I did call another vendor to find out my alternatives. Sigh, breaking up is so hard to do!