Customer service outsourcing

[slant6billy]

I wish that thing called Angie's list (Web tool that rates plumbers and contractors...etc) could expand to cover companies and customer service. Similar, with my school aged kids, I'd like a post of past experiences with teachers from other parents and students. My wife went round and round in the last 2 weeks over bad communication from my kid's teacher. After the 3rd email from the teacher, my wife forwarded it to me to read and decipher. The email had some bad grammar and punctuation. Now, I tend not to care about my writings or ramblings and whether or not it makes sense to anyone. However, I hold teachers to a higher standard. I could not do what they do. Of course, my siblings called me out for critiquing the teachers email and posting my critique on facebook (where all my local friends/ school friends and family are linked). Again, I don't wish ill to the teacher, but wish she'd give the appearance of effort when sending an email. Which is key for customer service. One would think; teacher/ customer service - have nothing to do with each other. That is perhaps the problem. We lead, we teach, we are the stewards of the future. Otherwise, there will be plenty of outsourcing. My siblings also ripped me about being a bad parent and no hope for my kids.... something about me being negative and my kids are going to be negative. Just because I pick on corporations (who outsource). I pick on politicians and lawyers too. I occasionally pick on a teacher. I guess my expectations are high. Or too high for some things. The important thing is my kids smile, scream, and laugh when they are in the back seat of the F coupe when it is going down the road (sideways & shredding rubber). So, maybe I am negative and politically incorrect. It is definitely keeping me sane. Or sane enough to stay out of the rubber room. My siblings just de-invited me from Easter..... they must be really pissed off at my antics.

 

[Jack Meoff]

I wish that thing called Angie's list (Web tool that rates plumbers and contractors...etc) could expand to cover companies and customer service. Similar, with my school aged kids, I'd like a post of past experiences with teachers from other parents and students. My wife went round and round in the last 2 weeks over bad communication from my kid's teacher. After the 3rd email from the teacher, my wife forwarded it to me to read and decipher. The email had some bad grammar and punctuation. Now, I tend not to care about my writings or ramblings and whether or not it makes sense to anyone. However, I hold teachers to a higher standard. I could not do what they do. Of course, my siblings called me out for critiquing the teachers email and posting my critique on facebook (where all my local friends/ school friends and family are linked). Again, I don't wish ill to the teacher, but wish she'd give the appearance of effort when sending an email. Which is key for customer service. One would think; teacher/ customer service - have nothing to do with each other. That is perhaps the problem. We lead, we teach, we are the stewards of the future. Otherwise, there will be plenty of outsourcing. My siblings also ripped me about being a bad parent and no hope for my kids.... something about me being negative and my kids are going to be negative. Just because I pick on corporations (who outsource). I pick on politicians and lawyers too. I occasionally pick on a teacher. I guess my expectations are high. Or too high for some things. The important thing is my kids smile, scream, and laugh when they are in the back seat of the F coupe when it is going down the road (sideways & shredding rubber). So, maybe I am negative and politically incorrect. It is definitely keeping me sane. Or sane enough to stay out of the rubber room. My siblings just de-invited me from Easter..... they must be really pissed off at my antics.

I'd take it as a compliment myself. :happy2:

 

[NoCar340]

If I got an e-mail from one of my daughter's teachers filled with punctuation and grammatical errors I would print it out, correct it with a nice red Sharpie, and snail-mail it to the teacher, the principal, the board of education, and maybe the college that graduated the teacher. I would also scan it and post it on Facebook. This is all assuming that my daughter didn't beat me to it. She probably would.

We're talking about an educator, not the shift manager at McDonald's. Educators shouldn't be held to a higher standard, they should be the higher standard to which others are compared. Period.

 

[Jack Meoff]

The funny thing about people who acquire degrees to enter their profession is you never really know how they did...you just see the diploma.
Always gotta wonder if that surgeon got straight A's or a C+.

The ridiculous thing is how much kids are bombarded by bad grammar.
Hell even Chevy "Cruze" is spelt wrong.
Then there's "textspeak"....buy you would think a teacher could spell.

 

[NoCar340]

Uh, for years GM vehicles came with a warning light that read, "CHECK GAGES". I'm surprised there wasn't one next to it that said, "LOW FULE".

 

[Jack Meoff]

My siblings just de-invited me from Easter..... they must be really pissed off at my antics.

Went to the inlaw's a while back on my wife's side.
Don't particularly like the big gatherings...we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things.
My wife's sister and her husband and I get along okay and the rest are nice enough I guess but very Stepford Wife-ish.
The last time I was there I just wasn't in the mood for it...so rather than risk being a crusty bastard I hung outside at my car with the hood open under the guise that I was checking on some things.
My wife finally sent me a text asking if I was planning on coming inside at some point so I reluctantly went in.

After a few minutes of listening to them discuss which gluten free recipe's were the best one of the Stepford wives started going on about how her venza was a great fuel efficient vehicle and then started extolling the virtues of electrics and hybrids.....back to my car......
After getting grief again I parked it at the kitchen table and started talking old cars with the brother in laws grandfather....never really talked to him a lot....he never seemed to keen on me.
Once we hit a common topic.....old cars AND he realized that I was a printer and actually got filthy for a living unlike all his career university kids we hit it off big time.
Funny how that happens....
At least now I have someone to talk to when I go there

 

[Jack Meoff]

Uh, for years GM vehicles came with a warning light that read, "CHECK GAGES". I'm surprised there wasn't one next to it that said, "LOW FULE".

I'm sure it's coming.....

 

[My imp]

Teachers are rewarded for time served vs. quality education. But, is it any different than anything else these days?i try to spell & punctuate my postings. I also try to add a little levity to them. I've heard they're considering not teaching spelling AT ALL in school. Why waste time, & taxpayer money on something your phone will do for you! Same with math! That's what calculators & computers are for. But what do you do if the bat.'s go dead? Paper & pencil? Yeah, right! For some unknown reason, this country seems to be content dumbing themselves down. There seems to be fewer subjects discussed at family gatherings. Many of the ones discussed really don't seemed to be worth discussing. The very ideals that made us great, are now frowned upon. 35th place "Winner"? WTF???? If every kid buys into that bullshirt, who'll strive to get ahead? Ask a kid what they want to be when they grow up, & most will say "rich", or, "famous", or, "rich & famous". They don't say Doctors, or lawyers, or astronauts. If you can get them to fill out an application, when it comes to the line about position applying for, they write CEO, or President. I was a Union Dog! I worked every second of OT I could get! Come in Sat? Sun? Sure! Well, had a younger kid that really didn't even want to work, AT ALL! Mommy & Daddy said they had to find a job. So he graced us with his presence. A clock watcher in the truest sense.god, I don't think this/next/every day is going to end, he'd say. As a JOKE, I told him that he had the wrong attitude, & that he needed a more POSITIVE attitude. Don't look at it like a day w/o end. When you punch in, in the morning; that you're only two breaks, & a lunch away from going home! That's the mantra he'll be chanting the rest of his life! He thanked me giving his work life purpose & meaning! It made his job so much more bearable! Everyone wants money, no one wants to earn it! If someone wants to deliver the car I bought from 83Imp for around $800 or so, let me know within a couple of days. We've had nothing but grief trying to get this thing towed out of there. They're already charging me more because it doesn't run. That's fair, but because they have to pull it out from behind the garage before they can hook on & winch it on the trailer, they want to hire a TOWING COMPANY TO PULL IT OUT, so they can winch it on they're trailer. Wait, aren't YOU a TOWING COMPANY? Where I'm going to store the car until the weather breaks has a narrow driveway, & the houses are kind of close together. Do I have to hire ANOTHER TOWING COMPANY when he gets to Ohio to put the car up by the garage?

 

[ramenth]

Educators shouldn't be held to a higher standard, they should be the higher standard to which others are compared. Period.

Those who can: do. Those who can't: teach.

(Those who can't teach, teach gym.)

I used to work in Ithaca, NY - home of "Ivy League" Cornell University. I used to deal with the professors from there, a lot, on a daily basis. It's a wake up call to those who sit in the gilded halls of academia. No real hands on practical experience in the fields in which they taught, no actual line of problem solving skills, no independent thought. And lacking this, they couldn't teach it to the kids they were teaching.

What made them "experts" was they read it done in a book once.

Now, knock that down to the public school level. A masters and a teaching degree, in those states which require such an education. The bachelors means nothing, just the master, which doesn't necessarily correspond to the bachelors. No real practical experience in the field they teach. An English teacher doesn't need to have practical experience in a field such as journalism or tech writing, where every day experience of the proper usage of the language applies. A math teacher doesn't need experience in being an actuary or in the case of calculus, physics where the math has to be applied everyday.

I agree that teachers should be the standard. But many of them don't have the experience in knowing what the standard is. As such, we, as the parents and/or family support system are simply in the wrong when we make this statement. The teachers themselves, the school board, the unions, all tell us we're wrong in our thinking, simply because of the fact they know they can't fulfill that standard.

 

[My imp]

Just because you can lift a ton, doesn't mean you can spell it! That's the same shite they employ when hiring supervisors; you don't need to know the field, you just need a degree in how to manage people. At Fl. DOT, back in the day, if a job required college, you could substitute up to two years practical experience in the field for college. But now, all they care about is educated imbeciles. A degree will never be a substitute for experience. And the quality of the education isn't so great either. Once you get past the "We are No.1!", there isn't much substance to the knowledge gained.

 

[ramenth]

Just because you can lift a ton, doesn't mean you can spell it! That's the same shite they employ when hiring supervisors; you don't need to know the field, you just need a degree in how to manage people. At Fl. DOT, back in the day, if a job required college, you could substitute up to two years practical experience in the field for college. But now, all they care about is educated imbeciles. A degree will never be a substitute for experience. And the quality of the education isn't so great either. Once you get past the "We are No.1!", there isn't much substance to the knowledge gained.

Ain't that the truth. From my experience being in the automotive field over the years, managers were failed techs or salesmen. Both have no real knowledge of the job, but both can stab backs, kiss ass, and move up. When the box stores go looking for managers they want a college degree in automotive (an oxymoron... nothing beats hands on experience), basically telling the guys who have been on the line and know the ends out of the business that there's no place for them except for on the line. One of the reasons is "training." A new grad can be "trained" the "company way"... not necessarily the right way, but the "company way."

I've worked the company box stores. Never again. The "company way" centered more about treating the customer as a giant walking piggy bank, to shaken loose of every penny in one trip and then cast them to the side. High pressure sales techniques, including playing the safety card makes the customer feel as if they don't pay now, then they'll pay later.

The last shop I owned I made my living off cast off customers from the box stores. I remember one customer coming in after the box store demanded she have new rotors and pads all the way around because she was going to kill herself and someone else. She didn't bite. When that didn't work they convinced her she had to have a brake flush for inspection. An outright lie for NY State Inspection. And in doing such, they actually rendered the car unsafe. She was getting close to needing pads... the squealers were about a 1/16 of an inch from the rotor, so they refilled the master cylinder with worn pads... might as just as well as unplugged the warning light on the master, as now, it wouldn't light once the master was down enough to warrant pads.

Now, that's customer service.

 

[slant6billy]

When my sister(One that is pissed at me for being negative, mean, and just a bad father in her opinion), was in college at Rutgers New Brunswick campus in the late 80s, she needed brakes done on her Chevy Laguna. (a Leguna is limited made chevelle in the mid 70s). Instead of letting me or my Dad knock it out over the weekend (She would have to come home and Dad would have seen how bad condition she was keeping her car). So she opted for a local chain lube shop in New Brunswick with some shifty dude with a diaper on his head. She saw the sign from the street: " All Brake jobs $19.95". So the Laguna was get'n the brakes taken care of. A day or so later, the brake warning light came on. She took it back and the guy needed to adjust something. she got it back and the light was out. She drove for a week before have really bad control issues when stopping. My Dad thought proportioning valve, so we took it for a ride. The car was nose diving at stops. The skeevy lube guy disconnected the warning light from the master (like mentioned above). The rear wheel cylinders blew out and all the fluid was gone. New pads damaged and hardware was thrashed. The fronts were getting a workout. After my Dad nicely told her she "screwed up" by going cheap on the brake job, he made her file charges against the guy. Her credit card company actually took the reins on the law suit and the local prosecutor gave the guy a couple of years on the state. The fun part: My dad made me do all 4 wheels with all new parts: pads, shoes, hardware, master (since the guy monkeyed it. After I was done, I had to check my work: A few power brake burn outs and a success. My dad did not trust my evaluation, so he did his burnouts to his satisfaction. Then we took turns on panic stops and burnouts. We made sure the brakes worked. They did. So good, that a few weeks later, my sister came to a stop and some chick behind her could not and totaled the Laguna. Poor chevy.... it never had a chance being owned by my sister. My other sister had the 77 aspen SE and smacked it up the same week. No wonder my Dad drank!

 

[Jack Meoff]

When my sister(One that is pissed at me for being negative, mean, and just a bad father in her opinion), was in college at Rutgers New Brunswick campus in the late 80s, she needed brakes done on her Chevy Laguna. (a Leguna is limited made chevelle in the mid 70s). Instead of letting me or my Dad knock it out over the weekend (She would have to come home and Dad would have seen how bad condition she was keeping her car). So she opted for a local chain lube shop in New Brunswick with some shifty dude with a diaper on his head. She saw the sign from the street: " All Brake jobs $19.95". So the Laguna was get'n the brakes taken care of. A day or so later, the brake warning light came on. She took it back and the guy needed to adjust something. she got it back and the light was out. She drove for a week before have really bad control issues when stopping. My Dad thought proportioning valve, so we took it for a ride. The car was nose diving at stops. The skeevy lube guy disconnected the warning light from the master (like mentioned above). The rear wheel cylinders blew out and all the fluid was gone. New pads damaged and hardware was thrashed. The fronts were getting a workout. After my Dad nicely told her she "screwed up" by going cheap on the brake job, he made her file charges against the guy. Her credit card company actually took the reins on the law suit and the local prosecutor gave the guy a couple of years on the state. The fun part: My dad made me do all 4 wheels with all new parts: pads, shoes, hardware, master (since the guy monkeyed it. After I was done, I had to check my work: A few power brake burn outs and a success. My dad did not trust my evaluation, so he did his burnouts to his satisfaction. Then we took turns on panic stops and burnouts. We made sure the brakes worked. They did. So good, that a few weeks later, my sister came to a stop and some chick behind her could not and totaled the Laguna. Poor chevy.... it never had a chance being owned by my sister. My other sister had the 77 aspen SE and smacked it up the same week. No wonder my Dad drank!

Bad luck....
Good story.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Well....after 40 minutes on hold I finally got through to my internet/phone provider.
The company is Mobilicity although when you finally get a human it's pronounced Mobeeleeceetee witha mexican accent.
HHaparentleee weeee're hhexperienceeng han hhoutage......
This foreign call center crap makes me nuts!!!

 

[brotherGood]

Working in Customer Service, I tend to feel "slightly" bad for the people I call. All while ripping them on the phone for requiring me to call them anyway, because the company they work for makes junk. The second time my brand new washer went out, I lucked out and got a "southern" lady..thick accent, but at least English was the natural language. It would've been alright, had she not continuously interrupted me, and practically questioned my intelligence.

As far as the service at the parts stores..I go in and half the time get on the computer for their part numbers, and see if its in stock anyway. There are the fools that cant think past the screen..I refuse to have them wait on me. I've let 4 people go before me at one time, just so I got someone who at least thought outside of what the computer said.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Working in Customer Service, I tend to feel "slightly" bad for the people I call. All while ripping them on the phone for requiring me to call them anyway, because the company they work for makes junk. The second time my brand new washer went out, I lucked out and got a "southern" lady..thick accent, but at least English was the natural language. It would've been alright, had she not continuously interrupted me, and practically questioned my intelligence.

As far as the service at the parts stores..I go in and half the time get on the computer for their part numbers, and see if its in stock anyway. There are the fools that cant think past the screen..I refuse to have them wait on me. I've let 4 people go before me at one time, just so I got someone who at least thought outside of what the computer said.

We don't have those types of people at my local Crappy Tire anymore.
No computer.....no comprende.......

 

[brotherGood]

I had one lady get rude with me earlier this week..she's a new manager there. Another new manager at the Zone, pulled my phone out of my hand and argued with me about price matching. I looked at him as he's "explaining the proper procedure" and reminded him about how I've spent at least 500 bucks there in the past 8 months, and if its a big deal, I can spend it somewhere else. The ones that are cool, know me, and they don't question me. He hasn't waited on me since.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Back in the not so long ago....
There we're two old timers and one middle aged guy at Crappy Tire
The old timers were crusty as hell but they knew what you wanted and could find it......The younger guy was really good too..
Gone.......
Now I get twenty somethings that as I said......
If it ain't staring at them from the computer it doesn't exist.

 

[jamf]

My local parts stores are terrible, any thing I ever need they have to order like spark plugs, air filter, brake pads, alternator, etc.
The only thing I can rely on walkng out of napa with is an oil filter, advance seems to have more parts on stock, but the employees are just job fillers that have no interest or backround in automotive repair.
I usually look up whatever I need on their websites and go in with the part numbers, Makes things lots easier and you can compare prices too.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Pretty much it.
Now you have to know what you want cause they don't.
I call ahead to Napa too and order everything
Then go pick it up when it's in.
Realistically though....they're stocking cookie cutter car parts now.
Our cars.....not so much.
I'm just glad I can still get parts.
But the guys behind the counter don't have a clue.
Call me old fashioned....but I miss the days where you had to be reasonably knowledgeable of the job you did.