Again today, inaccessibility of a giant company ruined the first half of my day. Do any of you manage to cope peacefully with cyber and phone abuse? I realize this is a "small" issue, but it badly riles me all up!!!! I compare my life to people are living with wars, genocides, serious diseases.....I feel so inadequate that this cyber and phone abuse p.o.'s me so bad. I live like a queen in my small apartment, with cats, a good woman friend, and a boyfriend who treats me very well. But I get mad because these "behaviors" of company-run machines, is so stupid and unjust. They have no "right" to treat people this way but YES they do have the "right" because then CAN. As one older friend told me, "In my day, if a company treated you badly, you just stopped buying there, and they went out of business." "Not anymore!" I said, and he repeated, "Not anymore!" Today it was the phone company. Their customer service is CLOSED ON WEEKENDS. "Everbody else," i.e. businesses, are open on weekends!!!!! I decided immediately to change phone companies, so I called the other 3 other giant telecoms. They were even worse! I could not call or email them because they wanted to know the telephone number I had WITH THEIR COMPANY. Since I only want ed to inquire about opening an account with their company -- they were INACCESSIBLE. I -- and everyone else -- do not like to be treated badly by another person. With a person, one can negotiate, solve the miscommunication, change jobs, drop the person or divorce them. I can't divorce the telephone company!!! If I yell at "them" it's some dear and underpaid employee, not the smug CEO with his astronomical salary. So I don't even have the release of yelling at a person who responsible for their ugly and abusive policies.

Sorry you were given the run around. I think everyone in this era is familiar with this problem or will experience it at least once. Automated phone stuff is just annoying! It's much nicer to speak with a real person. And you are right, when you do finally get someone on the line to complain to, it's not their fault really, so it's not fair to rip into them.

[Wild Coyote]

The run around is so infuriating, especially when we need to reach someone.

If/when we do reach someone, it can be helpful to constructively express frustration. We can also ask to be transferred to a supervisor.

There are often avenues to express ourselves online, too, as feedback other potential customers may review. The Better Business Bureau is just one such service, There are others as well.


WC

Originally Posted by ElsaMars

Sorry you were given the run around. I think everyone in this era is familiar with this problem or will experience it at least once. Automated phone stuff is just annoying! It's much nicer to speak with a real person. And you are right, when you do finally get someone on the line to complain to, it's not their fault really, so it's not fair to rip into them.

Thank you ElsaMars, and it is nice to meet you. You are so funny..."freak show" where you are from. Hilarious! Despite your signature that your advice might be so good just now, it sounds to me like you are not freaking out about cyber abuse. "heart" smiley -- it didn't get here....

Originally Posted by Wild Coyote

The run around is so infuriating, especially when we need to reach someone.

If/when we do reach someone, it can be helpful to constructively express frustration. We can also ask to be transferred to a supervisor.

There are often avenues to express ourselves online, too, as feedback other potential customers may review. The Better Business Bureau is just one such service, There are others as well.


WC

Dear Wild Coyote, it's nice to meet you. Thanks for your ideas. I love what you wrote: "Wild Coyote is enjoying the awesome beauty of a gorgeous sunrise over the mountains, listening to the birds sing! " I love Nature. I'm fortunate to live in a place where there are wonderful nature parks. Back to the issue, though....I have not had good results with Better Business Bureau, at least not in my community. They seem to be a very ineffective, weak organization. I'll see if there is any place to give opinion of my experiences with my phone company.

I have taken steps to overcome my rage at this stuff. Anyone familiar witih Dr. David Burns' workbook "Ten Days to Self Esteem"? It is not just about self esteem, it's a real problem solving tool. I'm using the Daily Mood Chart to calm down. One of the most important steps I need to take in these situations is to just let go, STOP the "activity perseveration" as I call it, and do something else. Even postpone the attempts for a day or so. I need to remember that it does not have to be solved "RIGHT THIS MINUTE."

[Ripose]

I need some forms from Revenue Canada so I went online and it clearly stated that the forms I need could only be ordered by calling a specific phone number. I called the phone number and the machine said the form you need can only be ordered online and of course it gave exactly the same URL that I had just visited. I guess they don't want me to pay my taxes.

[bizi]

Originally Posted by Ripose

I need some forms from Revenue Canada so I went online and it clearly stated that the forms I need could only be ordered by calling a specific phone number. I called the phone number and the machine said the form you need can only be ordered online and of course it gave exactly the same URL that I had just visited. I guess they don't want me to pay my taxes.

That is maddening!
bizi

[bizi]

I was so surprised by capital one before our vacation. I was on hold for ever and complained about it nicely to the customer service person who finally answered my call. Things got handled quickly and she credited my account with $30 dollars which was a nice gesture. But what surprised me the most was the huge 2 dozen pink roses that came with a fancy vase from capital one wishing us a happy anniversary just days before we left for our europe trip.
Now that is good customer service.
Shocked me!!!!!
bizi

[Ripose]

That is shocking. I would never in a million years expect a company to show gratitude towards a customer!