Good and Bad Customer Service Experiences

You were tuned in to Steve Megatron on altered

geek Hello and welcome to another episode of

altered geek off the cuff I am Your host for

this show Michael Booth Inja powers and I am

joined as always by your most regular ongoing

host the gracious Steve Megatron Phillips yo

On this episode, I thought it might be fun to

take a step at sharing our thoughts on customer

service, both good and bad customer service experiences

that we've had. And right before we started recording,

I posited the question of, this is, I would like

to see what the listeners have to say about this

in our comments and whatnot. So you go into a

customer service call, you have your expectations

for what you are hoping to accomplish, right?

So if you are able to get the desired outcome,

regardless of what you have to go through to

get it, if you get the desired outcome that you

wanted, does that ultimately make for, does that

all ultimately make it a good customer service

experience? Or does it, or is there like a, and

like if you don't get what you wanted, does that

automatically make it a bad one or are there

shades of gray with customer service? Cause like,

obviously, obviously you go with ideas. Sometimes

you can compromise. So I guess there is like,

Shades of gray in there like it's not customer

service isn't just a black and white Issue, but

I just I'm curious to see you where you guys

Fall on that like you know like I said if you

get this desired result does that automatically

make it a good customer service experience And

is it only bad if you don't get what you want,

so I Guess kind of early just let us know what

you think about in the in the comments on that

one But Steve, do you want to share, I don't

know, do we want to start off on a negative note

and go to a positive note? I can kind of jump

into one which is kind of amusing to me. It's

kind of positive and negative. I was conversing

on social media as I usually do when I complain.

Uh, because I know that I'm not shouting into

a wind chamber. Uh, somebody is going to be listening.

Uh, I was sitting around on New Year's Eve and

I complained on social media and I believe my

original tweet had something to the effect of,

uh, I was complaining that dominoes, cause I

really wanted breadsticks. Oh, I saw these tweets.

And they don't carry regular breadsticks anymore.

They have these bread twists and then they have

like some other thing. Like, it's not their breadsticks

they've had since they remarketed themselves,

like reinvented themselves. Is it the Parmesan

Bites? I love the Parmesan Bites. It's the Parmesan

Bites, but like I feel like I'm eating Little

Caesar's Crazy Bread when I eat that. Okay. And

to me, I could spend half the price and get the

same thing at Little Caesar's. I mean, they're

not little bites, but it's still the same thing

to me. And I didn't know that they quit selling

the breadsticks because to me that was like my

main thing to go there for. Like I love the breadsticks

and I love the pizza. And I was, we'd put the

kids to bed and my wife asked me, she's like,

What do you want to eat?" And I says, I want

some breadsticks. And she's like, no, what do

you want to eat? I says, I want some breadsticks

from Domino's. And so she's looking online and

I'm looking and I'm like, she's like, they have

bread bites. And I says, I don't want bread bites.

I want breadsticks. And so she ends up going

to Kroger in the frozen food aisle, buys me a

box of breadsticks, brings them home. I have

them cooked in five minutes and they're in my

stomach after that. So. It hit the spot. It was

good. I couldn't eat more and it still didn't

taste as good as like the Domino's breadsticks

that I was wanting but it filled that need and

so I Complained on on social media and said that

you know I'm a little disappointed that I had

to go to the frozen food aisle at Kroger because

Domino's doesn't sell breadsticks And they followed

up with a tweet like two days later like I didn't

even expect to get an answer I just tagged them

in it because I yeah, that's what you do. Yes,

you do. It's Twitter. And so I didn't expect

to actually hear anything and They tweet me two

days later and they're like, you know Send us

a DM with your information and and we'll work

with you and I'm like I didn't even buy anything

like I was a little confused. I'm like, I didn't

buy anything and they're, they're willing to

work with me. And so I give them all their information

and I'm like, just so you know, I, I, you know,

just to preface this, I, um, I didn't buy anything.

I says, I was just upset that you don't sell

breadsticks anymore. And they're like, you know,

thanks for your info. We've reported this to,

you know, you know upper management and blah

blah blah and so they're they're sending it to

somebody higher up for more review I don't know

I never got anything back but I was like wouldn't

it be cool if I got free breadsticks or like

free like gift cards or something like 20 bucks

you know just something I think it would be hilarious

so I I just thought it was kind of amazing that

and the fact that they messaged me in the first

place Even if they don't really I mean now it

would kind of pale if they didn't do anything

like and they just were like Yeah, yeah, yeah,

we shut him up like and it just left it there

But I would be interested to see if they actually

go on with this and I will update if they do

send me a message I've still got the the DM channel

open but It's it's just funny to me That's no

that that that is kind of I thought you're gonna

be like we contacted our locals the store closest

to you They're gonna make you some or I thought

they or maybe they were gonna be like well. We

have a hidden menu. You know like you can still

You know request certain food items Despite them

not being listed. I kind of thought that's the

way it was gonna go But no, that's kind of me

it'll be interesting to see if One guy in Michigan

can get Domino's to bring back breadsticks. I

think would be hilarious. I would love it honestly

because that's Like I said, that's one of my

things like I get gift cards for Christmas for

Domino's from people in my family And I'm like

I I don't go there unless like I'm really having

a hankering for pizza But I love Domino's I love

Domino's. It's like my favorite go -to fast -food

pizza place Yeah, I worked at Little Caesars

for years. I still love dominoes more than that

so I Think the only funny customer service customer

service experience. I have is I Don't know if

it kind of counts like it's it's it's it involves

me like On the employee side like I'm the one

providing the customer service I used to work

at Blockbuster It's under my wife and one of

my favorite things to do Was well it At blockbuster

the the employee that was ringing you out had

a little bit of leeway on whether or not you

had to pay late fees or not Like we could make

them go away up to a certain amount And I would

work Friday and Saturday night and you'd get

You'd get the guy that would come up with his

girlfriend and you know You pull up the account

or whatever so they could rent a movie and you'd

be like hey You've got you know a three dollar

and fifty cent late fee You know, how do you

want to take care of that? And the guy be like

no, I don't I don't I don't have to pay it. I'm

like Yeah, it's it's right here. You You've got

you I can't I can't I can't do anything If you're

not gonna pay it, you know and he proceeds to

argue with me meanwhile, there's people like

I could care less right there's people behind

him like waiting to get their movies and get

out of the store and It's because it's packed.

It's Friday and Saturday night and his girlfriend

is like standing behind him like just Completely

beside herself like more than once I would catch

them like looking at me like oh my god, I am

so sorry That you know, he's you know, it's it's

three dollars, dude, you know, like Just pay

the bill and leave. And often they would like

leave in a huff like they wouldn't get their

movies or anything. They'd just be like screw

this and they just like walk out and the girl

would you know sheepishly follow after him and

I'm just like whatever. But every once in a while

you get the guy that comes up with the girlfriend

and you're like sorry you've got a 350 late fee

and he's like oh all right no problem. you know

and proceeds to be a normal human being and You

know accept the fact that he has to pay a late

fee well, I would just go and remove it Because

He's not being an ass Yeah, and then and that's

the thing that people seem to forget is when

you work in service. Don't treat the employee

like crap I Try never to treat anybody Like crap

especially like especially like fast food workers

because I I have I have respect for anyone that

could work in fast food or or or in the food

service industry because like sucks like I and

from and not only does that but because I can't

do it like I I Can't and I know that which makes

there is something about you that allows you

or you need to do this, but I Can't so I'm not

going to make you miserable like I like I'm not

going to do that to you, you know, like Like

it's kind of like me saying like you are better

than me like I am I Bow to you because you can

you can do this like I and I know I cannot because

I have tried like I went I tried working at McDonald's

I went for my four -hour orientation shift and

never went back I tried working at Burger King

in college. I went and filled out the paperwork

and never went back. I think I spent a summer

working at Qdoba and I don't even know how I

did it. I don't know. Looking back on it, I have

no idea how I did it. But I just have such respect

for people that can do that job or do jobs that

I can't. But yeah like that that's just like

kind of like my funny customer service experience

experience You know it was like my way of like

just sticking it to a dick. You know like And

and the flip side of that is Whenever I go to

rent a movie like if I ever do I I have I have

not rented a movie and like probably over two

years, but I've rented one probably three months

ago, but like if I ever go to rent a movie like

a family video or something, I always approach

the counter expecting to have a late fee. Like,

I always have more money than what I need to

rent the movie. Because I'm not gonna fight with

them over whatever the late fee happens to be,

you know? Like, because I rent movies so infrequently,

like, I'm not even gonna, I'm not gonna remember

when I brought the freaking movie back the last

time, you know? Like, there's no point arguing

about, like, Three dollars. No and and making

an ass out of yourself No, I'm not saying like

I've had every late fee wave because I offer

to pay it No, I just don't I just refuse to make

an ass out of myself. So I always expect it so

but yeah, that's that's kind of my My my one

-off funny customer service Story So do you have

a good or a bad one? Well a lot of my bad ones

that that ended up turning out good were dealings

with Comcast. So they like, but that's what we're

getting to, right? Like if it turned out the

way you wanted, does that make it a bad, like

is it the journey that makes it bad? I would

still argue that it's the whole scenario itself.

The fact that you're having to go through it

in the first place makes it a bad scenario because

I don't like having to waste my time. Especially

when I'm dealing with customer service like because

the company is It's screwing people. Okay. Is

there a differentiator then between Like I'm

trying to Because I feel like this is where some

of these are gonna go to like I'm trying to haggle

a better price well, I feel like this is like

straight -up like Customer service. Well, I had

no I did have straight -up customer service when

I first got my house Okay, I signed up under

under the pretense of a special that I was mailed

They Proceeded to tell me that I they were going

to honor that particular pricing and It was like

cable and like 50 meg internet for like 50 bucks

a month Okay, and at the time and I ever $45

a month or something like that I don't know it

was ridiculously cheap for for everything and

I said, yeah, I'm game I'll do it and then I

get my first bill and it's like $90 and I'm like,

hold on like and then they proceeded to Not generate

a bill for me online for like a month and a half

and they're like, oh we'll credit you and then

they would never credit me and so like I ended

up like dealing with this for three months and

then I finally just said to heck with it and

cancelled it and we I think we went three weeks

without internet because at the time we had sprint

and we had unlimited data and don't get me wrong

it sucked but when we did that I ended up switching

to Comcast under my wife's name. And we got a

different special price and they still screwed

us on the signup price. And so we were going

back and forth, back and forth with them and

then finally got it straightened out. And then

by then I was getting close to the like, cause

it was like a six month program. It was getting

close to that cutoff where they just jacked the

price up again. And so. I have to like preemptively

argue with them the month before knowing that

the price is going to go up on my next bill and

in order to get you know a decent special and

It didn't matter like there were times where

my wife was dealing with them for hours and and

just getting infuriated and no matter what I

was doing like social media or phone calls was

just hitting against a brick wall and then I

think it ended up culminating in the point where

I signed up for AT &T TV and Internet that December

which was like right at the end of that six month

of Comcast garbage and We we had AT &T I think

for a whole like 13 days and you had like 30

day free trial type, you know I mean you paid

the you didn't pay the installation or anything

and we ended up having to cancel that because

there was a bunch of issues with it. And then

going back to Comcast and then everything was

fine for that first year after we went through

that whole debacle for this house. And then when

that contract was over, we got 18T. So I mean,

it's been smooth sailing since after that, but

it was just horrendous. Which just showed me

that their customer service had tanked since

Over the last three years compared to what it

used to be when I used to have to haggle with

them That's just Now that that's like what I

that's what I usually hear like people like nightmare

stories I hear about people like haggling for

stuff. Well, it wasn't even haggling I was just

trying to get the special that they sent me right

right And then they screw your they screw the

current customers and you know jack up their

prices which I think it's kind of dumb See I

have never had Either of those things like any

of that Happened to me like like legitimately.

I've never had any of that stuff happen to me

I think No, I guess like my my worst customer

experience I got I've got two I've got one that's

like kind of bad and then I've got one that's

like That is now that you brought that up is

probably the one that I can think of that is

like just the worst customer experience It was

I When I moved when my wife moved in and I moved

into our first house I signed up for AT &T universe

because they had the fastest internet I could

get which I think was I'll say 40 45 megs I think

Yeah, 45 is as high as AT &T goes There's areas

where they go over that I've had the faster one

it really depends on how close you are to their

hookup, but had it was like 45 and I was paying

like $60 a month or whatever for it and my promotion

was coming up and I just I just wanted to have

a conversation with the salespeople and I called

them up and I said listen I I know my promotion

is over and about I think I was like two weeks

from an ending I was like I'm my promotions over

in about two weeks. I'm just wondering what I

can do see what I can do about extending the

promotion. I don't have a problem with the price

or the speed. I would just like to extend it

for another year, if I could. And the person

just flat out said, I can't talk to you about

any promotions because you're currently in a

promotion. Yeah, I've had that scenario happen

multiple times. And I was like, all right, we

are done here. And I called No. No, no, no. What

was it? Maybe it was 25. Because I know whatever

it was, I called Comcast and they blew me away.

So I had 25 meg internet from AT &T. It was the

fastest I could get. So I called Comcast. I said,

listen, this is what's going on. This is what

I've got now. This is how much I'm paying. What

can you do me for? And they're like, well, we

can do the guy went away for like two minutes

and he came back and I was like I can do I think

he said I can I can do 30 meg for 30 bucks and

I was like okay he's like I'm like that's both

faster and cheaper than what I'm paying for right

now and I didn't even name my own price I just

told him what speed I was looking for you know

And so I I was like, okay, you got me like I

I went with Comcast after that and They didn't

they didn't f anything up I even called like

Within my 30 days and had him change it to one

of those plans like you were just talking about

where it's like you get the phone and the internet

for 50 bucks. Mm -hmm, but I used it from My

sister who lived around the corner from me got

it got it for her in the mail. We were in the

same subdivision. She got a flyer in the mail

that I didn't get. So she gave it to me and I

told them that I got it in the mail. And I had

to make a couple of calls. I got a direct line

to some guy down in Detroit, like Troy. Oh, nice.

And he set everything up. He made it happen.

He was like, can we get pictures of the flyer?

Because they didn't, for some reason, they didn't

believe I had the flyer or whatever. I was like,

here you go. Just gave them everything that they

wanted and I ended up with that. See, I even

did that with, they told me that they needed

that and I gave that to them. Like I took a picture

of my flyer and they were like, well, it's expired.

I says, well, yeah, now. I says I've been dealing

with you guys for a month. Yeah, so that was

like the AT &T side of that story was the worst

one because it's like you don't even want to

deal with me like Like you don't want to have

a conversation to try to retain a customer Like

I'm I'm currently like I'm obviously calling

because I'm getting ready to shop for other service,

right? But I'm giving you the opportunity to

retain me as a customer The one thing I've always

wanted to say and like haggling over price with

like an ISP is I've always wanted to go I always

want to be like well, you know what I can either

leave I can either drop I can either not pay

you like a hundred and fifty dollars over the

next two months So that I can leave and then

I'll come back and get your one of your promotions

Because like down here the provider I have right

now you have to not be a customer For two months

in order to qualify as a new customer And I can't

sign up under my wife's name because it's logged

to the address. And I've always wanted to be

like, well, listen, I'm gonna switch to Spectrum

and I'll deal with slower internet for two months

and then I'll just call you guys back and get

one of your specials. So you can either keep

getting money from me, or I will just go with

another provider until I can give you less money.

But I've never had to say that. See, I always

have to threaten it. So that was, yeah, the AT

&T side of that was the bad one. And then the

only other one was at like a dealership. I used

to have a G6 and it had a moon roof in it. It

leaked, didn't it? It it did the the was an aftermarket

No, no, okay factory installed so I what I took

it in while I was still under warranty because

it was leaking walls under warranty and they

found that one of the Drainage hoses had disconnected

And so when it would rain the water would just

slowly leak in leak in and just get it would

get the seatbelt wet like while it was in the

while it was in the The eye pillar? Yep. So,

and you wouldn't even know it was wet unless

you were in the passenger side and you buckled

your seatbelt and then it would just be damp,

okay? So it wasn't like it was flooding the car

or anything like that, but it's still leaking,

right? So I took it in, car was still under warranty

so they fixed it, okay? And then I think it was

like a year later, maybe two years later, like

it happened again. And so I went in, I pulled

into the dealership and I said, listen, I brought

this in when it was under warranty. The same

issue happened when it was under warranty. You

guys fixed it when it was under warranty. The

problem has returned. It was the drainage hose

had come off. Can you, you know, fix it for me?

And they were like, well, it's $100 to diagnose

it. And I'm like, I just told you what it was.

Like, can you fix it? And they're like, no, we

have to diagnose it first. And I just, I left.

I went over to my dad's house because he's got

a mechanics garage, more or less. I went over

to his house. I ripped the ceiling panel down

from my car and just hooked the hose up myself.

Like it took me I I spent more time trying to

get them to take care of it, then it actually

took me to fix it But that's because I didn't

want to deal with it But it you know so that

that was like before we actually started recording

that was the only bad customer service experience

I could think of because I I Generally end up

I I think it's more for me. I feel like it's

more The outcome than the journey And I think

it has a lot to do with how frustrated the The

customer service representative makes you feel

Right like they're you know, I I just What brought

this whole thing up was I I think this goes like

in the in my all -time best customer service

experience personally for me was what is what

actually brought up this topic. I recently had

an issue with my brand new MacBook. And I'm like,

I, I forgot like sometimes when I go in some

places, I forget how hard it is to act dumb.

I mean, once once the rep is once the rep Found

that there was something that she was actually

able to do like her attitude even changed I was

starting to like kind of just I was getting just

kind of really irritated because I was getting

ready to just blasted like everywhere like that's

That's ridiculous to manufacture a computer in

such a way that you cannot replace a key without

replacing the entire top part Like a quick fix

But I've had other like positive experience with

Apple before like I've had I Remember I brought

my 3gs in like I was just down at an Apple store

looking for a case and the the the guy that The

Apple store guy that was helping me like look

at the cases like saw that I had a micro crack

on my 3gs and He just swapped the phone out for

a brand new one Nice. That's why I keep coming

back. That's why I'm willing to pay what they

want me to pay for their stuff is because I've

gotten experiences like that. This is literally

the worst Apple experience I've had, getting

the key replaced on my MacBook. But at the end

of the day, it also ends up being one of the

best ones. I have tons of good customer service

experiences. So I guess if this one has to go

down as a bad one, it's a pretty good bad one.

So do you have a good one? So you shared the

bad Comcast one. Well, I would say the Domino's

one is kind of good. Do you want any other ones?

Not really. I have one. I've got one. Just one

real quick last one and we can probably wrap

it up. I would say Amazon stuff, like when I've

ordered something and then I don't get it and

then Amazon like overnights it to me and then,

you know, I would say that's about the only good

customer service I've ever had. I think the best

customer service I've ever gotten was honestly

AT &T. I got them to activate the mobile hotspot

on my phone and allow me to keep my unlimited

data at a time where their rate plans didn't

have that option. Either way like when my wife

and I first moved into our first home again This

is the first time when my wife and I moved into

our first home. We signed up for AT &T universe

like I said And then there was that really bad

snowstorm and the beginning of February of 2011

like right before the Super Bowl mm -hmm and

so AT &T couldn't get out to Do their install

and if we wanted them we wanted install on a

Friday So we're going into the weekend, but my

wife was taking online classes and she had to

be able to do her schoolwork. And so I called

18 teen. I said, listen, this is what's going

on. I've got your schedule to come out here today,

but they can't make it. They're going to come

back on Monday. I have I have phones that allow

for tethering, but I have unlimited data. Can

we please turn off the unlimited data for the

weekend so that I can tether? and then turned

the unlimited data back on on Monday. And they

were like, yeah, no problem. And I had to call,

I called back on Thursday just to make sure that

everything was done. And it both was and wasn't

like the flags weren't set right. Like someone

was working on it, but it wasn't done when I

called. So they got it all wrapped up before

I got off the phone. So and I think that was

pretty good like they didn't have to do that

they could have just been no Yeah, you want you

want to use the tethering you got a you got to

give up your unlimited data But they they let

me you know got the best of both worlds But I'm

pretty sure you know that's because oh I'm signing

up for your for your home internet service You

know like it's not like I told them that I'm

trying to get Comcast to come out and So Anyways,

I think the moral of this story is Try to treat

your customer service guys with some respect

and you might be able to get what you want Yep,

and and that's that's the thing I've heard people

that swear to them and people that that scream

at them and it doesn't do anything but Irritate

both parties and you usually walk away the the

sad one. I get I get really close sometimes I

do I do want to start yelling I like that and

start yelling at them about it, but I don't when

i was at the apple store conversing with the

with the apple specialist like that's i was really

close to just being like you don't even understand

what's going on here like you do not there is

no third part like and part of me is wanting

to be like i broke this i know there's no third

part i was there when it happened you know like

it was because i didn't want to just like spill

like the whole bean you know it's like ah i have

to remember that just let them say what they

need to say to get this taken care of So Anyways,

if you have any good or bad or funny customer

service stories to share with us you can Comment

on Facebook or the website. You can also use

on Twitter use the hashtag altered service Yeah,

all service altered service You can follow me

on Twitter at booth ninja 81 where they kind

of get used to you At SCP 21. Until next time,

get altered, get geeky with the Altered Geeks.