Customer Service?

I've had a rotten time with customer service as of late. It stinks.

Recently, I phoned the flooring company about a damaged tile. It was a Monday. The lady took my name and number and said someone would call me back. I never heard back from anyone. (I might also add, our flooring is still under warranty, so this would have been a gimme job!)

The following Monday, I called again. Stated my problem, left my name and number. Nothing.

The following Monday after that, Randy called. Not only did he get a call back, but they scheduled an appointment to come out to my house and fix the damaged tile the same week.

What gives?

One of my "jobs" as a wife is to handle all customer service related phone calls. I'll be perfectly honest. This is part of my wifely duties that I detest. Truly.

But, because Randy hates it as much as, if not more than, I do, I am relegated to making those dreaded calls. Joy.

In addition to that, I am usually the one that has to stand-by and put my plans on hold waiting for the repairman (delivery driver or whatever) to arrive within his 9 hour window, which is usually 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. And more frequently than not, they usually don't arrive until the last hour of the "window".

And, don't get me started on email. There is nothing that chaps my hide more, then sending out an email through a website and NEVER, EVER getting a reply back. Never.

I mean, if you have a place on your website that says, "Contact us for enrollment information" and you hit that magic button with your question(s), then, by all means... reply! Is it that hard?

Several weeks back, I had finally narrowed down the ballet academy selections to two studios. Both websites offered on-line enrollment. I enrolled to both. However, knowing that my enrollment form may end up in cyber-hell, I made a mental note to join the first academy that replied back to the email. Lo and behold, I get a reply email back and that is the studio we joined. I have yet to hear back from the other studio I enrolled with online. Randy says it will eventually come down to survival of the fittest. Let's only hope!

I guess all I'm complaining about boils down to this. Answer your emails, return phone calls, do what you say, say what you do and give a 2 hour window, rather than a 9 hour window of arrival. Is that so hard, people?