Maybe it’s just me. But I’m sick of hearing that phrase from customer service when they have no intention (or ability) of doing it.Tonite it’s the cell phone. First, the phone I bought is NOT as it was advertised (understand I have little cell phone need other than to make phone calls and get messages). While it talks about web access this and that, a basic functionality is missing, namely, one cannot upload phone numbers to the phone without paying the company (which I shall not name, but it rhymes with ‘lint’ and is another word for running really fast) or jumping through enough hoops to make you not want to call anyone. Ever.So tonite I find the lovely open source community has a way for me to get the pictures out of my phone, which I was able to do. Pressing my luck, I tried to sync my calendar. CRASH. Phone is non-functional, and gives the phone number to call. Which I do.Only to get a computer woman who aplogizes profusely, but ultimately has me say “receptionist” to get a very nice sounding woman — after I enter my 10-digit phone number. Lovely lady #1 then asks for the SAME phone number, talks for over a minute sounding very interested in my plight, only to… transfer me to tech support. Guess the first thing James wants to know. Just guess. I’ll wait a second…My phone number. And security code, which I’ve already given a computer and a human. When I tell James what happened, he says, “You can’t do that.” Well, thank you. Can you get my phone working? Turns out I’m instructed to take the battery out, which is what I would have done had I not been instructed to call for assistance that I didn’t think I needed and apparently wasn’t able to be provided for me anyway. Power the phone up and all is well with the world.But you have to wonder who at ‘intspray’ (Pig-Latin) designs the flow of information. Did they envision this as the best way to guide me through the bowels of their overnight phone support? Or the lovel engineers who designed the phone, and instead of putting an error message of “take out the battery and wait two minutes”, instead chose to send me to this maze of incompetance.Remember Rule #1. Especially if you sell a product or provide a service. Communicate and provide said service on their terms, not yours.
Make things easy for your customers/listeners.
