Save A Sale.. Cable Disconnect Problems

My wife once worked over 20 years in a major department chain store. Over the years customers eventually became known as clients and in the end "guests". From being a department store clerk the job she did evolved into her being defined as a "Sales Associate/Representative". She bagged this store several years ago after it changed hands for the 4th time and all the aggravation that went along with it.

Her pay raises were based on rather complicated store evaluations. Some of this included meeting goals set by her individual performance over the year earlier. This involved not only the number of 'units' she moved, but the amount of dollars she earned for the store broken down to annually, quarterly, monthly and on a daily basis. In addition how well she did on each particular recurring annual sale event.

Other particulars included how many clients she called from her 'clientele list' and how many of those bought something. The evaluation also included comments from both her department manager and divisional in store manager. Also how many times she had overages and underages as well as closing the register on time. The number of sick days or days she requested off were also another factor as well as any complaints from her customers clients "guests".

By and large one of the most aggravating things she was responsible for was to 'Save A Sale'. Apparently this whole save-a-sale idea has been taken to new heights I would have never dreamed possible.

A Must Hear For Yourself--
CHECK OUT THIS AUDIO RECORDING LINK
A cable customer trying to get his service disconnected


If you think this guy had a problem, you haven't seen nothing yet!
Uploaded on June 28, 2014




COMMENTARYHere I thought calling for a service problem with my local cable company was bad. I woke up Sunday morning to find my internet, TV and cable modem telephone was out. Over the next 24 hours, until Monday afternoon I tried calling 4 times from my cell phone.

On the first call (after dancing around the menu selections and being on hold for 10 minutes) I finally got a representative who somehow has the impression that I'm calling from the "Borough of Allentown". She also insisted that w/o a contact number she could not process my request. I tried to tell her my "contact number" is my home phone, which is out of service, hence why I'm calling in the first place.

Keep in mind I have a pay-as-you-go plan that cost me 25 cents a minute. I tried to explain it does not work inside the house and I'm not intending to spend my day in the backyard. In fact I always have it turned off. I bought the thing for emergency use only. None-the-less she stuck to her guns so I ended up giving her my cell phone number. Which no one ever called back anyway!

Call number two was around late Sunday afternoon. I wanted to know the progress. I was greeted with an entirely different menu selection. I remained on the line for 10 minutes listening to advertisements about how great they are. What other services I could buy. How much they value me as a customer (apparently I'm not a guest). I surrendered and hung up. So now I'm up to about $5.00 on my cell phone charges.

Call number three was about one hour later. Same as call number two. Mix stir, repeat. That's $7.50. Lucky for me I have DVD's and a bunch of recordings on my DVR and computer in which to amuse ourselves through Sunday night.

Monday morning I wake up. Surprise! I still had nothing. I waited till 9:30 AM and called the 4th time. You know the drill Mix stir, repeat same as call number two and three. That's $10.00 I wasted on my cell phone. Well we had to go grocery shopping and I figured the hell with it I give up. Finally around noon it came back on. I knew I wasn't the only one because I spoke to a few neighbors.

Here in Allentown we have several choices. You would think a cable company knowing this wouldn't want to lose someone to another provider. I now completely understand the frustration with a couple of people I know who live in towns or in housing developments where there are no other providers other then the one chosen for them.

This isn't like the old days when someone lost their TV cable or even their internet services. Back then it was no big deal. This now involves telephones which are vital in emergencies. Bell Telephone was heavily regulated and forced to provide and maintain services 24/7/365. What we have now is the wonderful world of deregulation where anything goes. It's a damn shame I have to pay two phone companies just to have sustained service.

Internet service has become far more important then it was a few years ago. The internet is not just for fun and games anymore. You see I was already waiting 10 days for the routing number to clear my 401k account (based in Chicago) so I could move money over to my checking account. Sunday was that day. I needed the money really bad because I had a unexpected $2,400 bill to pay. Tick tock before I'm penalized.

People now depend on reliable internet service for things like stocks trades, banking and so forth. This especially being so now that the post office has either screwed up my mail delivering it to the wrong house (several times) or not at all in some cases. I'm not blaming the postal delivery people .Speaking with some of the carriers they can no longer pick a permanent assigned route. The post office now forces carriers to switch from route to route. They used to know peoples names that went with their addresses. Because of all this switching around that's become impossible.


Yeah I Know...
I got long winded. I felt it was necessary to explain how all this fits together. For most people bad service all the way around has become the norm.

The point I'm trying to make is rather then things getting better they are getting worse. Yeah things may not have been perfect years back, but they sure as hell aren't getting better. The goal of technology was to improve our lives and reduce our stress. In the end we must ask ourselves... Have today's companies fulfilled that goal?