Thread "Web services- God help you if you ever have a problem." in forum "Comic Talk and General Discussion *"

Posted at 8:04AM, Apr. 2, 2007

Some services out there on the web are really cool. But if you ever have a problem, you are screwed to the wall.

My 2 examples are Skype and ebay.

Skype took my money and never credited my account. 3 MONTHS later, and hundreds of posts in their forums, and emails to and from "support", I am no closer to getting any money back, or credit to my account.

I checked my bank account the other day. Ebay charged me $3.05 and I have no idea why. My account is paid up, I have a zero balance since february. I contacted 'Live' support, and they were absolutely no help. They told me I needed to contact another department. They couldn't be bothered, aparently, to forward my problem to the department themselves. So, now I am corresponding from what I can only gather is a bot or some incredibily stupid people. I keep asking them speciaically why I was charged this, and they give me canned responses like"here's how you check your account" or "I see that your account has a zero balance". Damn it! I know all that! I just want to know why you charged me $3.05??

Customer support without a face is no support at all. They will brush you off as quick as they can and they could care less about any of your problems. Nobody reads the emails, nobody cares what your problems are. They love you as a customer, as long as you never ever have a problem. 'Just shut up and take it' is thier motto.

It's really sad,the state of things. I hope someone better comes around and blows these guys out of the water.

Posted at 9:04AM, Apr. 2, 2007

Hand written letters are somewhere to start…
Phoning can also work:

The other day my mum was excited to tell me she'd been on the phone going through the motions with some voice activated customer torture system that handles complaints- she just started asking it strange twisty questions over and over until it simply quit working. Then a shocked Chinese voice came on the other end and asked her "How you get past bot?? Clever Girl!! Clever girl!".
And at that point he started actually giving her help! lol!
True story.

That example illustrates that the entire point of automated service and complaint departments is to keep the customer away! If living staff never have to speak to a customer then the system is successful! "Out of sight, out of mind"; they never have any problems or complaints because it's impossible for any to reach them.

So try hand written letters and badgering automated phone services :) . Plus from everything I hear you should always try and contact the wrong department when trying to complain on the phone; that way you have more chance of being put through to a human voice at the right one that'll be there to help you. They say that going through sales departments is one of the best ways because that's where they're eager to actually talk to people!

Plus, you can always try and threaten consequences. That works for me. Know a little about what laws you can use to your advantage and threaten with those… I dunno in your case, theft? Fraud? It gets attention if what you say sounds genuine.
But if the money they've taken really is a big amount, then I don't see why you shouldn't contact the police directly, no need for empty threats or going through a lawyer.

Ultimately you can get together with others that've been wronged a form some kind of coordinated strategy, maybe leading to a class action? :) hehehe… ultimately.. Not something I know anything about, but it's a possibility if things get serious…

Posted at 10:04AM, Apr. 2, 2007

Hand written letters are somewhere to start…
Phoning can also work:

I'd like to say you're right, but these 2 particular companies do all of their correspondence via email/online. There is no phone number for customer service.

I emailed eBay about something once, and they responded back to me via email saying I had to fill out an online form.

Skype's even worse, because they don't even operate in this country.

Plus, you can always try and threaten consequences. That works for me. Know a little about what laws you can use to your advantage and threaten with those… I dunno in your case, theft? Fraud? It gets attention if what you say sounds genuine

Tried it. I'm no further along.

Posted at 10:04AM, Apr. 2, 2007

I'd like to say you're right, but these 2 particular companies do all of their correspondence via email/online. There is no phone number for customer service.

Sounds like a nightmare, but you can find our their phone numbers and mailing addresses because they have to have them.

Here's some info on calling e-bay I just found searching on Google:
http://auctionknowhow.com/sellthingsebay/ebay-phone-number.shtml (mailing address here too)
Hopefully it's still current. If it's not, they WILL have phone numbers were you can talk to real people somewhere. You just have to find it. Mailing addresses too.

Ok, I just found this for Skype:
Address = 15 Rue Notre Dame, L-2240 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.

They apparently have offices in London too, so if you had a London phone book, you might be able to find them… Maybe London has a White pages online?

-edit-
Found them. London Skype is here: 711 Lexington St. in London
Here's a website about it: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=4229

Posted at 12:04PM, Apr. 2, 2007

I'm an admin and I want to post in this thread too!

:kitty:

Posted at 12:04PM, Apr. 2, 2007

This is important admins business! :mad:

Posted at 1:04PM, Apr. 2, 2007

*lowly mod slinks back to his mod box

Posted at 1:04PM, Apr. 2, 2007

:(
You make me regret my Admin status…
I'm going to have to start posting with one of my alternative Ozoneocean accounts instead! :)

Posted at 4:04PM, Apr. 2, 2007

I've been dealing with my ISP for almost a year now. They've cancelled my services twice, overcharged me God knows how many times, and I've been on and off a contract because they've apparently offered me a service that isn't possible for my area.

Everytime I call tech support and the tech person looks at my record, one of two reactions come up:

1. "Wow"
2. "Um, I'll need some time to look through this…"
3. Awkward silence

Because that's how long and how many times I've had to call them about one problem or another. I've been through all levels of their tech support and they've sent enough technicians to my neighbourhood to have a good size army. Of course, whether those tech people actually show up is questionable. These days I go through with the motions and have them send the tech guy over. They have a policy where if they send a tech person over and they find the problem is on my end, I'll get charged for their services. I have yet to receive a charge.

One tech guy even called us up while he was outside and told us that that's just the way the service is and we're just going to have to live with it. My mother told him that if that's the case, then we're cancelling the service and that's just the way it's going to be so they'll have to live with it. He suggested that he'll call back then.

My friend likes to link this as me being the girlfriend and my ISP is the abusive boyfriend. He'll smack me around and then offer me gifts and sweet talk me into coming back. Oh baby, it's the last time I promise! Look! I'll even give you this free modem! Oh baby, you know you're the only one for me.

;____;

Moral of the story: Even talking to a live person on the phone is pointless when one hand doesn't even know what the other is doing.