Curing Bad Customer Service - by charging for your time

I felt great sympathy for the central argument in the web page 'Curing Bad Customer Service —Just a Dollar a Minute'.

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Too much optimism

Typical! We had looked forward to something being done about all the junkmail crap posted through our letterboxes. However, things have been delayed. Even if they do get off the ground, it is still an arse-about-tit system - junkmail should be opt-in only. That would make administering the system a doddle, cut waste, and mean that we don't have to go out of our way to stop advertising crap from invading our homes.

The good news is that we came across some connected sites that are worth visiting if this is a topic which you're interested in:

Diary of a Junk Mail Campaigner is about how self-regulation by the junk mail industry is failing.
Royal Junk Mail shows the kind of crap that Royal Mail shove through your letterbox.
Stop Junk Mail has some useful advice.
Junk Buster - further advice on stopping junkmail.
Information Commisioner's Office - a form you can fill in if you get unwanted marketing calls.

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Chemist Direct

Or 'chemist indirectly confusing and purposefully making things awkward for potential customers'?

I only ever buy from websites that don't require creating an account with a password. It is nice to be offered the option for that, but all quality sites enable 'guest' purchases, i.e. just like a shop - you buy what you want with minimal fuss. Recently I went to the Chemist Direct site. It offered a quick checkout/guest option, so I spent some time putting together an order of over £60.

When I went to pay the option for a guest account had disappeared. I then spent over an hour in contact with their customer support people trying to work out what had gone wrong. I tested different browsers and sent screenshots; looked at URL formation and so on. In all that time I had to leave my PC on even when I went out, since the order would otherwise have been lost. I had hoped we could resolve it and I could go on with the order.

 

Now you see it (a guest purchase option when basket is empty)...

 

...now you don't! It disappeared once products were added to the basket.

Hours later I was emailed (6th July 2012) and told that the IT department had decided: "We are not showing quick checkout option when customer purchase pharmacy, aerosol and flammable products." That was it - no explanation of why this was, why customers weren't warned, what could be done about it. As I pointed out in my reply, none of the products in my order were aerosols or flammable; and everything they sell is a pharmacy product, since they are 'chemist direct'. Even so, all the products were straightforward over-the-counter things I could buy in any chemist without needing to give personal details or create an account. Why were they making things so complex? Why would they remove the quick checkout option? It was as if they liked putting barriers in the way of the customers.

I asked for clarification on these policies but received no further replies. I was rather annoyed at having wasted my time, some of it trying to help the company out, and being left with silly explanations for a confusing decision to make things more awkward for customers. Why would their IT department be allowed to act in that way, leading customers to spend money at their competitors?

Who knows the real answer. On 7th July I wrote to them again to see whether it was possible to get answers and for me to then go ahead with the order. They didn't bother to reply.

Oh well, that's another customer lost to crappy customer service. I recommend UK Health Store instead. No need to create an account, plus excellent customer service.

As to Chemist Direct: 1 crap for forcing people to create an account; 1 crap for wasting my time; and 1 crap for not having the courtesy to reply to communications.

Chemist Direct's current score:

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BT can't communicate

A failing of many large companies is that when you click on help or contact us on their website (or when you ring them and get through to a voice menu with myriad options) the options they offer, trying to funnel you into a certain queue, don't match what you want to speak about. The sensible thing would be to always include an option for 'everything else', but many companies don't want to do that because... oh no... you might confuse them. Here is a recent example. Two months ago a new BT pole was put up on land by my house, without any prior warning or consultation. I didn't necessarily mind, I just wanted to know why, and whether it would lead to an improved service. There was no email address or phone number to contact on the pole. When you go to the BT website though, the options below are all that you are offered:

I don't have an account with them, so that rules out the first two options; I'm not moving home; I don't want to know more about their products. It isn't really a complaint, but I thought that might be the best option. However it then gives sub-options, below, none of which apply.

That leaves technical help - again, not really what I want, but the only option left. However that only gave the following options, again none of them apply:

So where does that leave us? There were no other options. No 'general enquiry'. Basically a communications company that is unable to communicate with you or to do something as basic as provide someone to speak to. So one crap for them being unhelpful in not offering options that are relevant. One crap for not offering an email address for complaints. Oh, and one crap for putting up a phone pole without asking first.

[Update - eventually, after trying numerous numbers and a lot of wasted time, I was given a phone number for 'Open Reach' who apparently manage the poles. After ringing it and navigating through many options it ended by giving me an address to write to - then hanging up after reading it out once. I had to make two more phone calls and go through all the options again to get the address. Why not just have a £$%^ing email address on their web page? Maybe that would be too helpful.]

[Second update - I eventually got an email address from BT, but guess what - it does not work. See below. Therefore, BT now move up another crap level. I will post an update if they resolve this.

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at mx-relay-01.edge-c.murphx.net.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

:
62.241.234.226 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 555 6.1.1 User unknown
Giving up on 62.241.234.226.

[Third update, 6th March 2012 - In the end I had to write to them. BT wrote back. I had pointed out all the communication problems above - and they ignored that completely, not even responding to the details I had listed. Also, although I pointed out some issues that had come up related to the pole, they said they would do nothing and would leave it where it is. "I know this isn't the response you were hoping for," they said. BT now move up another crap level.]

Therefore, five craps for BT:

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