I am getting ready to leave on our youth mission trip to Kingston, TN this weekend. There are a lot of last minute details I am trying take care of before leaving. Tonight, I was checking my bank account online, making sure that bills had been paid and checking to see if a deposit had registered. To be honest, I have addiction issues with checking my bank account online. I check it probably twice a day, sometimes three times…just because I can.
Tonight, I noticed a charge from amazon.com for $5.95 that came out of my checking account. The thing is, I haven’t bought anything from amazon.com in a few weeks—but admittedly, I am a frequent amazon shopper. I went and checked my amazon.com account to see what that charge was from, and there was nothing in my account information that explained the charge. My computerized bank statement actually had a contact number that went with the charge, so I decided to call. Apparently, I am so desperate for $6 that I am willing to spend my Friday night on the phone with a customer service representative. Really, though, I was just worried that other unauthorized charges might start popping up on my checking account and I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen.
So, I call. The person who answers the phone is from India…seriously. She can barely pronounce the questions that her script tells her to ask. I am pretty good at understanding people with accents, but not tonight. I kept saying, “Could you say that again?” I felt like such a jerk! She seemed like a nice lady and was trying really hard, but the whole interaction was frustrating. It took 3 minutes just to clarify the spelling of my last name (granted, my last name is not that user friendly, but still…). Then she put me on hold for 12 minutes to “research the situation further”…yes, I sat on the phone, holding for an obscene amount of time, just for my $6. When you make 20 cents an hour, $6 is a big deal! Seriously, though, my real question was: why am I being charged for things that I did not purchase or authorize?
After being on hold forever, she came back and asked for more information…like my blood type, my favorite movie, and my deepest fears and desires…actually, the questions were somewhat more closely related to the topic at hand, but it felt like the conversation was headed in a completely unrelated direction. Seriously, how much information do you need to find out why I am paying $6 for nothing?
At the end of all this, she tells me that I will get an email in the next 1-2 business days from someone who has researched this further. I ask: “So, this email will tell me why that money was taken out of my account and assure me that it won’t happen again?” She simply repeats: “You will get an email in the next 1-2 business days from someone who has researched this further”. Then she added, “ok?” I think she said “ok” about 567.2 times during our 24 minute (and 20 second) conversation. That’s right. I was on the phone close to a half an hour over $6. I promise it was the principle of the thing that kept me going. And yet, after all that time, I know nothing more than I did before. Such is the state of customer service in the year 2007.
Tonight, I noticed a charge from amazon.com for $5.95 that came out of my checking account. The thing is, I haven’t bought anything from amazon.com in a few weeks—but admittedly, I am a frequent amazon shopper. I went and checked my amazon.com account to see what that charge was from, and there was nothing in my account information that explained the charge. My computerized bank statement actually had a contact number that went with the charge, so I decided to call. Apparently, I am so desperate for $6 that I am willing to spend my Friday night on the phone with a customer service representative. Really, though, I was just worried that other unauthorized charges might start popping up on my checking account and I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen.
So, I call. The person who answers the phone is from India…seriously. She can barely pronounce the questions that her script tells her to ask. I am pretty good at understanding people with accents, but not tonight. I kept saying, “Could you say that again?” I felt like such a jerk! She seemed like a nice lady and was trying really hard, but the whole interaction was frustrating. It took 3 minutes just to clarify the spelling of my last name (granted, my last name is not that user friendly, but still…). Then she put me on hold for 12 minutes to “research the situation further”…yes, I sat on the phone, holding for an obscene amount of time, just for my $6. When you make 20 cents an hour, $6 is a big deal! Seriously, though, my real question was: why am I being charged for things that I did not purchase or authorize?
After being on hold forever, she came back and asked for more information…like my blood type, my favorite movie, and my deepest fears and desires…actually, the questions were somewhat more closely related to the topic at hand, but it felt like the conversation was headed in a completely unrelated direction. Seriously, how much information do you need to find out why I am paying $6 for nothing?
At the end of all this, she tells me that I will get an email in the next 1-2 business days from someone who has researched this further. I ask: “So, this email will tell me why that money was taken out of my account and assure me that it won’t happen again?” She simply repeats: “You will get an email in the next 1-2 business days from someone who has researched this further”. Then she added, “ok?” I think she said “ok” about 567.2 times during our 24 minute (and 20 second) conversation. That’s right. I was on the phone close to a half an hour over $6. I promise it was the principle of the thing that kept me going. And yet, after all that time, I know nothing more than I did before. Such is the state of customer service in the year 2007.
