Overstock.com . . .The answer to phone trees
BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE.
I did this as a job once, where I was the entire department for a publishing company. Yeah we were on the small side, but we had tens of thousands of customers, and I did all the customer service. It's not an easy job, and you really need to think on your feet. You also need the ability ( and authority) to do whatever it takes to resolve a customer's problem. Being polite helps too, and many of you may be surprised to hear that I was good at that job. Seriously. And our customers were all lawyers!
Anyway, the other day I ordered something from Overstock.com, and used my Paypal account to pay for the item. It was like 20 bucks, nothing major.
2 days later I get a notice that my order was cancelled because Overstock had not received my payment. "Hmmmm", I thought. "I kinda remember getting an email from Paypal confirming the transfer." So I checked. Sure enough, payment had been made and confirmed within seconds of my order. So I emailed Overstock (my first) back with the confirmation number, and got an auto-reply saying,
"Thank you for contacting Overstock.com Customer Service. We are in receipt of your e-mail and will respond to your inquiry within 24 hours. Thank you for shopping Overstock.com."
Two days go by with no contact, so I email them again (my second), getting the same auto-reply. This gets a little confusing.
Shortly after the second to Overstock, I get a response to my first, saying they have to escalate the issue to another department that has access to the information, and I will receive a resolution to the issue in 4 days. Three days later, I get a response to my second, stating that they see that my issue had been escalated on the 24th, and that I should wait until the 28th for a resolution before taken alternative action.
Now, this whole time, they are talking about refunding my money, not sending me my item, which I thought was strange. But I also see that, up to this point, the customer service messages coming from people with names that might be more commonly heard on the streets of Dehli, and they may not have understood my undertone of wanting them to ship my order.
Anyway, this morning, the 29th, I decide to get on the site and look for a phone number. Now for me to actually search out a phone number to talk to someone (I dislike talking on the phone) means that my frustration level has escalated to a different department, one with access to all the loud words I know. Low and behold, I find that Overstock has a Live Chat with customer service. You can log on and "chat" with a customer service type. Great, I try that. What follows is the transcript (edited only slightly for the order of comments, no language changes.)
-----------------------------------
Please wait for an Overstock Chat Agent to respond.
Chat Information Welcome to Overstock.com Customer Service, you are now chatting with Angelo.
Angelo: Thank you for visiting Overstock.com's secure live chat. How may I help you today?
Jim: My order was cancelled last week, because of an Overstock.com error and I am still waiting for a resolution.
Angelo: I would be happy to help you with that.
Angelo: May I have your order number please?
Jim: My order # was XXXXXXXX, is that different than the account number?
Angelo: Yes the order number is different from the account number. Please allow me to check this for you.
Angelo: I apologize for the cancellation of your order.
Angelo: Jim, it was cancelled because we never received confirmation of your payment from PayPal.
Angelo: In order to use PayPal for your Overstock.com order, you must complete the PayPal "Payment Details" section of the checkout process.
Angelo: You may have inadvertently missed this step, which would cause the cancellation of the order.
Jim: I wrote on the 22nd and gave the confirmation number. Paypal indicates that Overstock received payment at 18:01:29 PDT on October 20
Jim: This payment is verified by Paypal
Angelo: I am extremely sorry to know that your Pay Pal account has been charged.
Jim: My records with Paypal indicate that that payment to Overstock was completed at 18:01:29 PDT and that receipt of the payment was verified. The ID is: # 2PG4xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Angelo: I am sorry for the inconvenience caused and I apologize for the miscommunication.
Angelo: After reviewing your account, I see that this issue has already been escalated on 10/24/2005.
Angelo: Please be assured this matter will be resolved within 2-4 business days to your satisfaction.
Jim: It may have been escalated, but Overstock has now had my money since the 20th. On the 24th I was promised that the issue would be resolved within 4 days, That was yesterday.
Angelo: I understand your concern and I would have been in your place I would have felt the same.
Jim: I do not want to hear that it will take another 2-4 days. This is inexcusable
Angelo: I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused and the miscommunication.
Angelo: Please stay online while I forward this issue to the specialized department once again so that the matter will be resolved as soon as possible.
Angelo: Thank you for staying online.
Angelo: Jim, to provide you with the correct information required to answer your email regarding the payment made by PayPal towards the cancelled order, I have forwarded your message to a specialized representative who has access to the information needed to answer your request.
Angelo: I am sorry for the inconvenience caused to you.
Angelo: Please be advised some questions can take several days to answer as we need to contact third parties. However, we guarantee you will be contacted via email or phone within four business days.
Jim: What is your guarantee? I have already received that promise. What happens if it is not resolved again?
Angelo: I apologize for the additional time this will take, and look forward to a positive resolution.
Angelo: Please be assured this matter will be taken care as I have made a note on your account that you were not contacted within the promised time frame.
Angelo: I apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.
Jim: Maybe you are a nice guy, Angelo, but the company you are working for kinda sucks in the customer service area. The truth is that this problem all resides with Overstock.com. I didn't make a mistake and neither did Paypal.
Jim: And promises have already been broken here
Angelo: I understand your concern and such occurrences are rare I hope that you will give us another chance to demonstrate our services.
Jim: After already being promised to be contacted in a specific time frame and having that not happen three times, would you?
Angelo: I apologize for the inconvenience caused due to not being contacted within the promised time.
Angelo: Customer satisfaction is our prime goal. Please be informed that this is not our usual way of doing business. Once again, I apologize for the inconvenience caused.
Jim: Yeah, thanks . . .
Angelo: Due to our system upgrading such instances are happening on our site at present, I really hope that you will give us the second chance to prove our services.
Jim: Your system upgrades aren't my concern, I'm sorry to say. You have my money, and you won't send me what I paid for, and keep telling me to wait for a resolution.
Angelo: I understand your concern and request you to wait for 4 business days. I assure you that your money will be issued back to your account within 2-4 business days.
Angelo: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Jim: no, not really. Just make a comment on my account that I am REALLY upset by this service
Angelo: I have noted your account and please be assured that the matter will be taken care as soon as possible.
Angelo: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Jim: You don't seem to be able to help me any today, thank you.
Angelo: I do understand your concern the only way I can resolve this issue is by escalating to a concerned department so that this issue will be resolves as soon as possible. Please give us another chance to provide you the better service.
Jim: Whatever! AS you said, That was done on the 24th, and I am still waiting.
----------------------------------------------
I am still at a loss as to why it would take 10-12 days to resolve an issue, when the entire transaction (order, ship, receipt) would only take 4. But Overstock still wants me to give them a second chance to prove themselves. I'm thinking about it, but I guarantee I'll have an answer for them in 4 days. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience my delaying that opportunity might cause them.
I did this as a job once, where I was the entire department for a publishing company. Yeah we were on the small side, but we had tens of thousands of customers, and I did all the customer service. It's not an easy job, and you really need to think on your feet. You also need the ability ( and authority) to do whatever it takes to resolve a customer's problem. Being polite helps too, and many of you may be surprised to hear that I was good at that job. Seriously. And our customers were all lawyers!
Anyway, the other day I ordered something from Overstock.com, and used my Paypal account to pay for the item. It was like 20 bucks, nothing major.
2 days later I get a notice that my order was cancelled because Overstock had not received my payment. "Hmmmm", I thought. "I kinda remember getting an email from Paypal confirming the transfer." So I checked. Sure enough, payment had been made and confirmed within seconds of my order. So I emailed Overstock (my first) back with the confirmation number, and got an auto-reply saying,
"Thank you for contacting Overstock.com Customer Service. We are in receipt of your e-mail and will respond to your inquiry within 24 hours. Thank you for shopping Overstock.com."
Two days go by with no contact, so I email them again (my second), getting the same auto-reply. This gets a little confusing.
Shortly after the second to Overstock, I get a response to my first, saying they have to escalate the issue to another department that has access to the information, and I will receive a resolution to the issue in 4 days. Three days later, I get a response to my second, stating that they see that my issue had been escalated on the 24th, and that I should wait until the 28th for a resolution before taken alternative action.
Now, this whole time, they are talking about refunding my money, not sending me my item, which I thought was strange. But I also see that, up to this point, the customer service messages coming from people with names that might be more commonly heard on the streets of Dehli, and they may not have understood my undertone of wanting them to ship my order.
Anyway, this morning, the 29th, I decide to get on the site and look for a phone number. Now for me to actually search out a phone number to talk to someone (I dislike talking on the phone) means that my frustration level has escalated to a different department, one with access to all the loud words I know. Low and behold, I find that Overstock has a Live Chat with customer service. You can log on and "chat" with a customer service type. Great, I try that. What follows is the transcript (edited only slightly for the order of comments, no language changes.)
-----------------------------------
Please wait for an Overstock Chat Agent to respond.
Chat Information Welcome to Overstock.com Customer Service, you are now chatting with Angelo.
Angelo: Thank you for visiting Overstock.com's secure live chat. How may I help you today?
Jim: My order was cancelled last week, because of an Overstock.com error and I am still waiting for a resolution.
Angelo: I would be happy to help you with that.
Angelo: May I have your order number please?
Jim: My order # was XXXXXXXX, is that different than the account number?
Angelo: Yes the order number is different from the account number. Please allow me to check this for you.
Angelo: I apologize for the cancellation of your order.
Angelo: Jim, it was cancelled because we never received confirmation of your payment from PayPal.
Angelo: In order to use PayPal for your Overstock.com order, you must complete the PayPal "Payment Details" section of the checkout process.
Angelo: You may have inadvertently missed this step, which would cause the cancellation of the order.
Jim: I wrote on the 22nd and gave the confirmation number. Paypal indicates that Overstock received payment at 18:01:29 PDT on October 20
Jim: This payment is verified by Paypal
Angelo: I am extremely sorry to know that your Pay Pal account has been charged.
Jim: My records with Paypal indicate that that payment to Overstock was completed at 18:01:29 PDT and that receipt of the payment was verified. The ID is: # 2PG4xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Angelo: I am sorry for the inconvenience caused and I apologize for the miscommunication.
Angelo: After reviewing your account, I see that this issue has already been escalated on 10/24/2005.
Angelo: Please be assured this matter will be resolved within 2-4 business days to your satisfaction.
Jim: It may have been escalated, but Overstock has now had my money since the 20th. On the 24th I was promised that the issue would be resolved within 4 days, That was yesterday.
Angelo: I understand your concern and I would have been in your place I would have felt the same.
Jim: I do not want to hear that it will take another 2-4 days. This is inexcusable
Angelo: I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused and the miscommunication.
Angelo: Please stay online while I forward this issue to the specialized department once again so that the matter will be resolved as soon as possible.
Angelo: Thank you for staying online.
Angelo: Jim, to provide you with the correct information required to answer your email regarding the payment made by PayPal towards the cancelled order, I have forwarded your message to a specialized representative who has access to the information needed to answer your request.
Angelo: I am sorry for the inconvenience caused to you.
Angelo: Please be advised some questions can take several days to answer as we need to contact third parties. However, we guarantee you will be contacted via email or phone within four business days.
Jim: What is your guarantee? I have already received that promise. What happens if it is not resolved again?
Angelo: I apologize for the additional time this will take, and look forward to a positive resolution.
Angelo: Please be assured this matter will be taken care as I have made a note on your account that you were not contacted within the promised time frame.
Angelo: I apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.
Jim: Maybe you are a nice guy, Angelo, but the company you are working for kinda sucks in the customer service area. The truth is that this problem all resides with Overstock.com. I didn't make a mistake and neither did Paypal.
Jim: And promises have already been broken here
Angelo: I understand your concern and such occurrences are rare I hope that you will give us another chance to demonstrate our services.
Jim: After already being promised to be contacted in a specific time frame and having that not happen three times, would you?
Angelo: I apologize for the inconvenience caused due to not being contacted within the promised time.
Angelo: Customer satisfaction is our prime goal. Please be informed that this is not our usual way of doing business. Once again, I apologize for the inconvenience caused.
Jim: Yeah, thanks . . .
Angelo: Due to our system upgrading such instances are happening on our site at present, I really hope that you will give us the second chance to prove our services.
Jim: Your system upgrades aren't my concern, I'm sorry to say. You have my money, and you won't send me what I paid for, and keep telling me to wait for a resolution.
Angelo: I understand your concern and request you to wait for 4 business days. I assure you that your money will be issued back to your account within 2-4 business days.
Angelo: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Jim: no, not really. Just make a comment on my account that I am REALLY upset by this service
Angelo: I have noted your account and please be assured that the matter will be taken care as soon as possible.
Angelo: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Jim: You don't seem to be able to help me any today, thank you.
Angelo: I do understand your concern the only way I can resolve this issue is by escalating to a concerned department so that this issue will be resolves as soon as possible. Please give us another chance to provide you the better service.
Jim: Whatever! AS you said, That was done on the 24th, and I am still waiting.
----------------------------------------------
I am still at a loss as to why it would take 10-12 days to resolve an issue, when the entire transaction (order, ship, receipt) would only take 4. But Overstock still wants me to give them a second chance to prove themselves. I'm thinking about it, but I guarantee I'll have an answer for them in 4 days. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience my delaying that opportunity might cause them.
posted by (jim) Bo Ba Log at 9:36 AM
2 Comments:
Let the revolution begin.
I think that blogs are a great way to put these kinds of horror stories "out there" for people to find. Perhaps, if enough people read these kinds of stories, the companies who offer such lousy service will be held accountable for their actions. Perhaps, they will even do some investigation themselves, and realize that they have a problem.
Back in the days of my customer service, they told me that when a person has a bad experience they tell between 12 and 15 people about it. A good job is only passed on to about 7 people. So crappy service is publicized twice as much.
Personally, I refuse to knowingly do business with a company that has farmed out their customer service to India or Pakistan. When I do find myself doing business with them, I make them repeat everything constantly, whether I can understand their accent or not. I'm just a bastard that way.
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