This past week I had an experience with an order that I had placed from the “big” computer company in Round Rock, Texas.  In the previous post, I talked about the situation and how it frustrated me for a couple of days.  It frustrated me because somewhere in the translation what was actually happening got lost.

To do a short recap — I ordered a router.  The router in the pictures above and below is the actual router that I received and how it looked when I opened the box.   The router obviously had been a returned router.  It had no plastic wrap on the product box, the product itself was not in a plastic bag.  The power cord was not the correct cord and was not in its own box that should have been in the center portion.  There was no paperwork for the router in the box.  I received no installation disk.

The worst part was, as you can see, that on the bottom of the router there is no sticker with the Serial Number and other pertinent information on it.

Try explaining this to a customer service rep that barely speaks your language (I’m not prejudiced, that’s just the way it was), adding to it my Southern (I’m originally from TN)/Texas (I now live in Texas and have a somewhat Texas) drawl.  The message got lost somehow!!!  I was hung up on 2 times because they could not understand my problem.  They wanted me to contact the manufacturer of this particular router and let them handle it.  Wrong answer!!!

It was shipped from the “big” computer company’s distribution center in my home state of Tennessee.  It should have been checked before shipping and not shipped in the condition that it was shipped in.  Also, the shipping box that it came in did not have any of the usual paper work in it to return the product if I was not happy with it.  I’ve ordered numerous products from this particular company and know their normal procedure.

From this experience, I have come up with a checklist that I will always have in my home office or in my phone book to use when talking to a customer service rep.

1.  The telephone number I called.

2.  The name of the person that I spoke to.

3.  The time that the telephone conversation took place.

4.  The number of times I’m transferred from department to department and those customer service reps names and the telephone number for those departments.

5.  Notes from the conversation — what I’ve told them and what they’ve told me.

6.  The solution that has been reached.

7.  Confirmation numbers — these would include the incident number that has been assigned to this telephone call, return numbers (if I’m returning the order), confirmation numbers, and any other numbers that might be assigned to this particular call.

8.  The time the call ended.

9.  If I have to make multiple calls, then make continuous notes about each call and all the same info for each call.

By keeping notes of the telephone call, if the situation calls for it, I will be able to write a detailed letter to the company in question to let them know how satisfied or unsatisfied I am about how my problem was handled.

In the case with my router,  the “big” computer store in Round Rock, Texas will be getting a letter, after I’ve sent my return back, expressing my unhappiness with the telephone calls on Wednesday night and praising “Rachel” for finally helping me to resolve the problem.

These are just some tips on how to handle customer service calls.  What do you do in some of these situations?  Leave us a comment.  We’d love to hear from you!!!

Till next time,

JT Locke
The Frugal Housewife

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