DIRECTV is rated #1 in customer satisfaction, higher than cable or any other satellite company, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index.*
This statement comes directly from the DIRECTV website and if true, it apparently is restricted to those customers who have never actually had to talk to a DIRECTV customer service agent, all of whom are in India, the agents, not the customers.
As you may recall, I am locked in a dispute with DIRECTV over their attempt to charge me for failing to return my dead receiver to them, the one that I had previous purchased from them, which belonged to me and as nearly as I can tell, they had no claim to. This is equivalent to a car dealer demanding that a car he sold, be returned to him when the buyer wished to dispose of it. Per their instructions to call back in 48 hours to find out if they intend to remove the bogus $200 charge from my bill or not, I called back.
Call one was answered by a woman who spoke English plainly enough but apparently did not understand it completely. She could not grasp the sentence, I threw the old receiver away. Please understand that I am not being facetious. She did not understand the phase, I threw it away. She kept telling me that there was no indication in their notes that I had thrown my receiver. This is the problem with these off-shore customer service centers. Even though the the agents may speak English, there are nuances to the language, or the turn of a phrase that might escape them. I had to finally say I put it in the garbage, before it sunk in. I am not trying to be critical of this person, it is just the way it has evolved. After 20 minutes of miscommunication, she tried to transfer me to the supervisor, but instead disconnected me.
I called back, got another DIRECTV customer service represetative and told the tale again. She got the the technical assistance department, which has not been outsourced, on the line and I had a pleasant enough chat with a young guy who sort of shared how this all works, including that it takes 7 to 10 days, not 24 to 48 hours to resolve these disputes. He gave me a direct number to reach him back and said that if the answer from headquarters does not go my way, he will give me enough free stuff to cover the $200 dispute. This is a nice gesture, but getting several months of pay channels free in exchange, is the same as having bought them in the first place, a purchase I would not make, given my TV habits. So we will see what happens.
I am meeting my friend today for lunch, then I have to go to the dermatologist to see if my leprosy is clearing up. At 4 pm-ish, my brother Earl is coming over to show me the pictures from his trip to the traditional Sneed homeland in America. I may or may have shared this before, but my loopy brother took our dead father's ashes along on the trip in order to scatter them in the family burial plot. However, after surveying the site, he decided it was too dumpy to scatter them and he brought Dad back home. In life, my father refused to travel, so it ironic that after death he crossed the country twice. If you can figure this out email me with an explanation.
The lovely Mrs. Sneed is interviewing a subject this evening for a reseach project she is working on, so she will not be home until 8 pm or so. This will throw the entire Friday night social schedule out of kilter and probably cause us to be out later than normal, which is already pretty late for a guy of my advanced years.
Merle
Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong and sometimes just full of it.
Tag: Daily Life
Personal Finance
Humor
Oct 20, 2006
I'm Off! Work That Is.
My brother Earl took this photo of my father's boyhood church in Peekskill, NY.
DIRECTV is rated #1 in customer satisfaction, higher than cable or any other satellite company, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index.*
This statement comes directly from the DIRECTV website and if true, it apparently is restricted to those customers who have never actually had to talk to a DIRECTV customer service agent, all of whom are in India, the agents, not the customers.
As you may recall, I am locked in a dispute with DIRECTV over their attempt to charge me for failing to return my dead receiver to them, the one that I had previous purchased from them, which belonged to me and as nearly as I can tell, they had no claim to. This is equivalent to a car dealer demanding that a car he sold, be returned to him when the buyer wished to dispose of it. Per their instructions to call back in 48 hours to find out if they intend to remove the bogus $200 charge from my bill or not, I called back.
Call one was answered by a woman who spoke English plainly enough but apparently did not understand it completely. She could not grasp the sentence, I threw the old receiver away. Please understand that I am not being facetious. She did not understand the phase, I threw it away. She kept telling me that there was no indication in their notes that I had thrown my receiver. This is the problem with these off-shore customer service centers. Even though the the agents may speak English, there are nuances to the language, or the turn of a phrase that might escape them. I had to finally say I put it in the garbage, before it sunk in. I am not trying to be critical of this person, it is just the way it has evolved. After 20 minutes of miscommunication, she tried to transfer me to the supervisor, but instead disconnected me.
I called back, got another DIRECTV customer service represetative and told the tale again. She got the the technical assistance department, which has not been outsourced, on the line and I had a pleasant enough chat with a young guy who sort of shared how this all works, including that it takes 7 to 10 days, not 24 to 48 hours to resolve these disputes. He gave me a direct number to reach him back and said that if the answer from headquarters does not go my way, he will give me enough free stuff to cover the $200 dispute. This is a nice gesture, but getting several months of pay channels free in exchange, is the same as having bought them in the first place, a purchase I would not make, given my TV habits. So we will see what happens.
I am meeting my friend today for lunch, then I have to go to the dermatologist to see if my leprosy is clearing up. At 4 pm-ish, my brother Earl is coming over to show me the pictures from his trip to the traditional Sneed homeland in America. I may or may have shared this before, but my loopy brother took our dead father's ashes along on the trip in order to scatter them in the family burial plot. However, after surveying the site, he decided it was too dumpy to scatter them and he brought Dad back home. In life, my father refused to travel, so it ironic that after death he crossed the country twice. If you can figure this out email me with an explanation.
The lovely Mrs. Sneed is interviewing a subject this evening for a reseach project she is working on, so she will not be home until 8 pm or so. This will throw the entire Friday night social schedule out of kilter and probably cause us to be out later than normal, which is already pretty late for a guy of my advanced years.
Merle
Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong and sometimes just full of it.
Tag: Daily Life
Personal Finance
Humor
DIRECTV is rated #1 in customer satisfaction, higher than cable or any other satellite company, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index.*
This statement comes directly from the DIRECTV website and if true, it apparently is restricted to those customers who have never actually had to talk to a DIRECTV customer service agent, all of whom are in India, the agents, not the customers.
As you may recall, I am locked in a dispute with DIRECTV over their attempt to charge me for failing to return my dead receiver to them, the one that I had previous purchased from them, which belonged to me and as nearly as I can tell, they had no claim to. This is equivalent to a car dealer demanding that a car he sold, be returned to him when the buyer wished to dispose of it. Per their instructions to call back in 48 hours to find out if they intend to remove the bogus $200 charge from my bill or not, I called back.
Call one was answered by a woman who spoke English plainly enough but apparently did not understand it completely. She could not grasp the sentence, I threw the old receiver away. Please understand that I am not being facetious. She did not understand the phase, I threw it away. She kept telling me that there was no indication in their notes that I had thrown my receiver. This is the problem with these off-shore customer service centers. Even though the the agents may speak English, there are nuances to the language, or the turn of a phrase that might escape them. I had to finally say I put it in the garbage, before it sunk in. I am not trying to be critical of this person, it is just the way it has evolved. After 20 minutes of miscommunication, she tried to transfer me to the supervisor, but instead disconnected me.
I called back, got another DIRECTV customer service represetative and told the tale again. She got the the technical assistance department, which has not been outsourced, on the line and I had a pleasant enough chat with a young guy who sort of shared how this all works, including that it takes 7 to 10 days, not 24 to 48 hours to resolve these disputes. He gave me a direct number to reach him back and said that if the answer from headquarters does not go my way, he will give me enough free stuff to cover the $200 dispute. This is a nice gesture, but getting several months of pay channels free in exchange, is the same as having bought them in the first place, a purchase I would not make, given my TV habits. So we will see what happens.
I am meeting my friend today for lunch, then I have to go to the dermatologist to see if my leprosy is clearing up. At 4 pm-ish, my brother Earl is coming over to show me the pictures from his trip to the traditional Sneed homeland in America. I may or may have shared this before, but my loopy brother took our dead father's ashes along on the trip in order to scatter them in the family burial plot. However, after surveying the site, he decided it was too dumpy to scatter them and he brought Dad back home. In life, my father refused to travel, so it ironic that after death he crossed the country twice. If you can figure this out email me with an explanation.
The lovely Mrs. Sneed is interviewing a subject this evening for a reseach project she is working on, so she will not be home until 8 pm or so. This will throw the entire Friday night social schedule out of kilter and probably cause us to be out later than normal, which is already pretty late for a guy of my advanced years.
Merle
Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong and sometimes just full of it.
Tag: Daily Life
Personal Finance
Humor
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