Posted by
Peter V. Bella on Friday, November 17, 2006 1:44:21 PM
I have been away for the past few days. There are two reasons for this. One, internet issues and two, we all need a break form politics for awhile in order to appreciate all of the other great things life has to offer.
As to the first reason; it seems that our business enterprises are more concerned with selling products and services and have no concern about actually providing service. I tried for two days to get answers as to why my internet connection was down. I spent untold hours on the phone being shuffled from one person to the next. Even threatening to cancel my service did no good. The standard reply was I am not the person to talk to.
It seems that private industry has been infected with the principle of “we are not responsible or accountable for anything”. “You bought it. You pay us every month, too bad if it does not work. Just try to get better service someplace else.” They are right. All customer service in this country is poor; customer service is the new oxymoron, like honest politician, ethical journalist, or legal integrity. This is a national shame. One cannot even get a simple answer to a simple question; sorry, I am not the person t talk to let me connect you. It is the mantra, the song that never ends.
Whose fault is this? It is ours. We have become so accustomed to poor service that it is now politically correct to be oh so polite while they tell us they cannot help. They also know that it is uncomfortable to change services. Look at the absolute love hate relationship we have with Microsoft. We will boycott a company over silly political correctness reasons or multicultural lapses or because some fool like Jesse Jackson tells people to. But will we boycott companies that take our money and provide little or no service? Nope.
It is time that we as consumers take charge of these giant corporations and hold their feet to the fire. If they promote service, and you know better, let the whole world know they are lying through their crooked teeth. Just like I am doing now. Hey, NEXTEL, are you listening? Hello? Why did it take forever to get the right person to help me- hours, days, and numbers of people before I was able to get help? How come you did not even offer me some type of financial compensation for not being able to use your service? I do not want insipid apologies. I want the service I pay for.
Now, Nextel is not the only company. We all have had the same experiences and we all do the same thing; politely put up with it. I am advocating a new tactic and strategy; get mad as hell. No more Mr. or Ms. Nice. If they are soooo polite, tell them to can it, fix the problem, or give your money back. Where are some good lawyers who can sue these people into compliance? If they can sue over stupid things like flag burning or one person out of a million being offended over prayer, we should find some legal eagle who can sue over bad service which actually costs us money and time. It is money and time wasted. Our money and time wasted. It seems that business is just like the government, a waste of our money!
Business has learned the lessons of our inefficient government and they are putting them into practice. If you complain about the government, nothing happens, even though they take our tax money. Now if we complain about business it is the same thing while they are laughing all the way to the bank.
Let us all get mad as hell and refuse to take it any more. Let us put our feet down and tell business that they owe us the service and answers we deserve. Being nice and polite gets us nowhere. If we can’t get the service we deserve, then let us boycott and blog them into compliance or out of business.