Had a couple of fights picked with the electricity utility of late. One with a property that was recently sold and the second was with at the new place with a new solar installation.
First off, the old place. We were on self-read as the meter box was inside the locked property due to an extension which encapsulated the meter. No probs, been like that for years. When we vacated the property the electricity usage dropped noticeably. Obviously. The property wasn't on the market for long and during the period set aside for settlement I had to provide a reading. Duly noted the value and instead of using the phone service to register it I decided to complete an online form. The form notified me of an issue, namely the usage was lower than anticipated. So I commented that the property had been vacated. Soon after I received my bill with the usage as I had recorded.
Come the day before settlement. I advised, by phone, that the property was being sold the next day (13/2) at lunchtime and I wished to have a final reading of the meter done so that I could close the account. No probs and the utility and I read the meter in the late afternoon and took photos of the meter with date, time and usage.
And a bloody good thing too as it was only 2 kWh of usage since the previous reading. The bill came in for 140 kWh of usage. Excuse me! On 27/3 I spoke with the utility and explained the situation. I was informed that the usage must have been estimated. Well, that was a no-brainer as it was behind a locked door. Thank you, Captain Obvious. I explained that I had photos to show the reading and offered to send them. No need, they'd get the electricity network supplier to check except for a rule that stated a bill wouldn't be reviewed unless there was an error greater than 200 kWh. Fine, but I didn't care about their rules as I had all the proof necessary and wanted to speak to someone higher. She spoke to her supervisor and advised that they'd contact the network supplier to see if they'd recheck and she'd put the bill on hold for three weeks.
Fast forward to 13/4 and I receive a revised bill. Wow. Only they still wanted to charge me for 122 kWh of consumption. Bastards. Rang them as soon as I arrived home. The lady I spoke to this time was unable to assist and advised that a supervisor would call me within two days. And she had the nerve to ask if she'd answered my questions to my satisfaction.
Worse was to come. I also received the bill for the new house. It was an astronomical bill for 1161 kWh of consumption with a credit of $1.86 for exported electricity from my solar array. The solar array was 4 kW in size and had been installed and switched on nine days into the 58 days billing period.
This time the lady was most unhelpful and completely lacked understanding. I said that my meter read 1161 kWh on the day of the reading, as I had actually recorded the reading that day, but it didn't take into consideration that that was a cumulative value on the meter for some 18 months or so since installation date. I'd paid my bill only two months before and for this bill they wanted the entire reading for the life of the meter. The stupid person couldn't understand this. I said that I expected my consumption to have been about 470 kWh during that time. Then I mentioned that the 26 kWh that I had exported should be more like 700 or 800 kWh as my solar array had output 997 kWh during that time. For some reason my bill shows 787 kWh as a starting value when the installation took place after the billing period commenced. It made no sense at all.
By my reckoning I'd been overcharged by $163.45 and I'd been shortchanged about $50 in rebate for exporting (I produce more than I consume during the day). It was very frustrating dealing with a customer service operator who doesn't understand the bill nor the mechanics of the product being sold and who continued with that stance.
OK, today I received a call from a supervisor. She got me to check the meter at the new house and it showed I have exported 950 kWh since installation and she could see from the records that installation had taken place on a date after the last billing period commenced. I checked the usage reading too and reported it. Most logical explanation is that the meter hadn't been read correctly and human error was to blame. If I didn't mind she'd request a reread of the meter and waive the $19.65 fee associated with that as it wasn't my error. No probs. Better yet, she believed my recollection of events, probably as I constantly offered to send the photos of the meter, regarding the old house and offered to waive the whole bill which saved me $47.25 when I'd only been looking for a credit of $30 which is what I had been overcharged.
There it is. Even if you are a big, ugly electricity utility you shouldn't mess with a frugal bastard. Especially one who has recorded his electricity consumption and output and had photographic evidence to prove it. Well, I was pretty indignant that an expensive solar array would still lead to an increase of $160 in the bill instead of a sizeable reduction. Oh, and make sure you have a customer service representative that knows the product.
Showing posts with label customer service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label customer service. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
Service (Partially) Without The Smile
My watch battery had carked it and so required replacing. Spent a bit of time looking around but there are few places these days that offer the service. I guess people don't use watches as much nowadays. Anyway, I thought $28.95 just to replace the battery was a bit much.
The guy took his sweet time to do the job whilst we were waiting and then was quite happy to inform me that the back of the watch had been done up too tightly. Perhaps my explanation that a lady at his shop had done it last time didn't go down too well. He asked me if I knew how to set it, as it is quite complex to do so, and handed it back to me when I assured him that I did. I mentioned that the lady gave me a discount last time because I set it myself. His response?
"I don't do that."
"You can set the watch then," I said.
"I need the instructions," he replied.
Full price but not full service. Not happy.
The guy took his sweet time to do the job whilst we were waiting and then was quite happy to inform me that the back of the watch had been done up too tightly. Perhaps my explanation that a lady at his shop had done it last time didn't go down too well. He asked me if I knew how to set it, as it is quite complex to do so, and handed it back to me when I assured him that I did. I mentioned that the lady gave me a discount last time because I set it myself. His response?
"I don't do that."
"You can set the watch then," I said.
"I need the instructions," he replied.
Full price but not full service. Not happy.
posted from Bloggeroid
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Amazing Customer Service - From A Telco No Less!
My missus lost her pre-paid mobile phone recently. As she doesn't use it much it took a few days to notice. The usual trick is to call the mobile and then find it pretty easily. Didn't work on this occasion. Maybe the battery was already dead. Searching the car, house, shopping centre, etc, failed to turn it up.
I did something unexpected. I called the customer service on my mobile account. Surprisingly there was an option not too deep within the menu to talk to a customer service person and I didn't have to wait very long. As I didn't have the password/code for the wife's account they needed to speak to her for verification. I asked if they were able to pinpoint the phone's whereabouts, from the triangulation with the towers that happens constantly but the customer service rep informed me that only iPhones have that tracking ability. She started up an online account for the mobile, after trying to call it herself, and that would enable us to check the last 60 calls and SMSs from the phone. Lastly she put a block on the phone so that no outgoing calls were possible but incoming calls could still be received.
Two separate emails provided the username and a temporary password to this online account. I did make an error using the password, as it contained a "," as a special character at the end of the code and I didn't notice it. Quite frustrating and I made another call to customer service who quickly put me back on track. Few minutes later and I have a complete list of the last 60 calls/messages and the phone numbers that they related to. Brilliant - as the SIM wasn't backed up that meant that all of the contacts had been lost.
Next weekend the wife remembered that she had an old phone, and it turns out that she liked that one better than the newer one, and so we took it down to the Optus store. Before we got there we had a bit of shopping to do and noticed at Woolies that they were selling Optus SIM cards for only $2. Still, I wanted to talk to the Optus people first. It turned out that they were selling SIM cards for $2 as well. The guy, a trainee, even deactivated the old SIM card and reactivated the new one. As my wife had credit left we didn't need to top it up. It certainly cost more than two dollars of his time.
Back home and the phone wasn't charging properly. That was until I rummaged through one of my drawers and found the original battery charger. That was bound to happen as I'm a hoarder and never throw anything away. Few hours later and one perfectly working mobile phone without any contacts. Only cost a phone that the owner wasn't happy with and two bucks for a new SIM card.
Can't believe the trouble that Optus went to to provide customer service. They were so helpful in the store and on the phone. Being pre-paid customers we certainly aren't high revenue by any means. But we are happy Optus pre-paid customers and not afraid to say so. Who would have thought that in this day and age a telco was capable of providing outstanding customer service? Thanks Optus.
I did something unexpected. I called the customer service on my mobile account. Surprisingly there was an option not too deep within the menu to talk to a customer service person and I didn't have to wait very long. As I didn't have the password/code for the wife's account they needed to speak to her for verification. I asked if they were able to pinpoint the phone's whereabouts, from the triangulation with the towers that happens constantly but the customer service rep informed me that only iPhones have that tracking ability. She started up an online account for the mobile, after trying to call it herself, and that would enable us to check the last 60 calls and SMSs from the phone. Lastly she put a block on the phone so that no outgoing calls were possible but incoming calls could still be received.
Two separate emails provided the username and a temporary password to this online account. I did make an error using the password, as it contained a "," as a special character at the end of the code and I didn't notice it. Quite frustrating and I made another call to customer service who quickly put me back on track. Few minutes later and I have a complete list of the last 60 calls/messages and the phone numbers that they related to. Brilliant - as the SIM wasn't backed up that meant that all of the contacts had been lost.
Next weekend the wife remembered that she had an old phone, and it turns out that she liked that one better than the newer one, and so we took it down to the Optus store. Before we got there we had a bit of shopping to do and noticed at Woolies that they were selling Optus SIM cards for only $2. Still, I wanted to talk to the Optus people first. It turned out that they were selling SIM cards for $2 as well. The guy, a trainee, even deactivated the old SIM card and reactivated the new one. As my wife had credit left we didn't need to top it up. It certainly cost more than two dollars of his time.
Back home and the phone wasn't charging properly. That was until I rummaged through one of my drawers and found the original battery charger. That was bound to happen as I'm a hoarder and never throw anything away. Few hours later and one perfectly working mobile phone without any contacts. Only cost a phone that the owner wasn't happy with and two bucks for a new SIM card.
Can't believe the trouble that Optus went to to provide customer service. They were so helpful in the store and on the phone. Being pre-paid customers we certainly aren't high revenue by any means. But we are happy Optus pre-paid customers and not afraid to say so. Who would have thought that in this day and age a telco was capable of providing outstanding customer service? Thanks Optus.
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Fast Eddys - Not So Fast (Or Accurate)
Shopping the other day at Carousel we walked past Fast Eddys Cafe. The missus noticed that they did some breakfasts there and so this morning we decided to head there for brekkie. Our weekend eat out meal. Not normally something we do for breakfast as it's either lunch or tea.
The young girl who took our order didn't seem switched on. When I ordered the scrambled egg special she informed me that I could have scrambled or fried eggs. I repeated that I wished to have scrambled eggs and then she proceeded to write and say that she was taking an order for fried eggs. Not a great start. Then I told her that the missus wanted a coffee. "Will you be ordering any drinks?" she asked.
"No, just the coffee please," I said.
When our meal was nearly finished, my missus was fuming as her coffee hadn't been delivered. She found the waitress and asked her about the coffee to which the response was, "What coffee?" Apparently she had a choice of black or short white which had not been mentioned at the time of order. The girl hadn't even included the coffee in the order. When it was finally delivered she didn't even apologise.
A little bit later the duty manager wandered over to ask if everything was OK and so we told her that her waitress needed to switch on. She offered not to charge us for the coffee and to provide some complimentary drinks which I declined. When we left to pay the bill the duty manager took over the register and did not charge us for the coffee or the pancakes that I had (the eggs were for the missus). I said that the food was great but the service hadn't been and that the girl needed to be spoken to. I was assured that she had already been spoken to. She apologised and said that there was new waitstaff and you have to start them sometime, even when it's busy, for them to learn. Hey, I'm fine with that. She just needs to learn from it as she didn't seem too interested.
Sometimes it pays to complain. My missus is one who suscribes to the motto "Give me coffee and no-one gets hurt". Still, I'd go back for the food. We'd just avoid the waitress.
The young girl who took our order didn't seem switched on. When I ordered the scrambled egg special she informed me that I could have scrambled or fried eggs. I repeated that I wished to have scrambled eggs and then she proceeded to write and say that she was taking an order for fried eggs. Not a great start. Then I told her that the missus wanted a coffee. "Will you be ordering any drinks?" she asked.
"No, just the coffee please," I said.
When our meal was nearly finished, my missus was fuming as her coffee hadn't been delivered. She found the waitress and asked her about the coffee to which the response was, "What coffee?" Apparently she had a choice of black or short white which had not been mentioned at the time of order. The girl hadn't even included the coffee in the order. When it was finally delivered she didn't even apologise.
A little bit later the duty manager wandered over to ask if everything was OK and so we told her that her waitress needed to switch on. She offered not to charge us for the coffee and to provide some complimentary drinks which I declined. When we left to pay the bill the duty manager took over the register and did not charge us for the coffee or the pancakes that I had (the eggs were for the missus). I said that the food was great but the service hadn't been and that the girl needed to be spoken to. I was assured that she had already been spoken to. She apologised and said that there was new waitstaff and you have to start them sometime, even when it's busy, for them to learn. Hey, I'm fine with that. She just needs to learn from it as she didn't seem too interested.
Sometimes it pays to complain. My missus is one who suscribes to the motto "Give me coffee and no-one gets hurt". Still, I'd go back for the food. We'd just avoid the waitress.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
The Good Guys Should Be Renamed The Fantastic Guys
On Thursday night the missus and I went shopping for a vacuum cleaner. Our old Bosch has served us well but the motor is on the way out. It's noisy and a bit smelly. The Yellow Pages informed me that the only specialised vacuum cleaner sales company is Godfreys. Popped over to Belmont to visit their shop. They demonstrated a couple of Hoover units and although the missus was reasonably impressed she wasn't ready to make a purchase. Neither was I. Godfreys quite often has a sale whereby they offer $100 trade-in on any working model - I happened to throw this into the conversation so that he realised we weren't going to pay top dollar. The salesman, quite a helpful guy it must be said, showed us a piece of plastic worth about five dollars, which acted as a filter and stopped 99% of the rubbish actually getting into the vacuum cleaner bag/bagless dust collector. It just sits in between the pipes on the handle. Great idea but not worth the $49.90 it was shown to be.
We were just about to walk out of the shop when he offered to throw in the rather expensive filter for nothing. No, we still wanted to think about it. Then he came up with a final offer, tonight only, whereby he'd knock $100 off the price of the more expensive bagless vac that we were reasonably keen on. If he's that desperate for a sale we can deal with him later. My missus did tell him that if she bought a Hoover she would purchase it from his shop.
Jumped in the car and headed to Rick Hart but turned off to The Good Guys on the way. No Hoover in the store and that's because Godfreys has an exclusive deal with the company. I thought as much initially when I couldn't spot the brand in the shop. The saleslady who showed us the Dyson on display, which my missus was quite keen on, knew almost everything there is to know about the product. We were likely to be surprised at the amount of dust and dirt that would be collected on the first clean of the house. She even knew that Harvey Norman was having a sale on the same model and that The Good Guys would price match. What really surprised me was her admission that she didn't own a Dyson, she was just a sales person and that we should do our homework before committing to a purchase. Honesty, which was quite refreshing. And from a sales perspective she was aware of what her competitors were doing. Great business acumen.
We trundled down the road to Rick Hart, which just happens to be owned by Harvey Norman (I have a distinct dislike for this particular store as the sales reps are rude at times) and found that the same model was on sale, with the additional turbine head attachment, for $142 less. Checked out the features of different models from the brochure in store and agreed that this particular model was the one we wanted.
Straight back to The Good Guys to check out the price match promise. She spoke with her manager and discovered that the sale price was below cost but they would still match it. In fact they offered a further ten dollars off. The mantra of this company used to be, "Pay Less, Pay Cash", but they now offer the same price for Visa, not Amex, as cash. Bargain. We picked up a popcorn maker with the ten dollars that we'd saved.
My missus commented on the way home that she wasn't expecting to purchase a vacuum cleaner that night. Weighing up the facts that our vac was on the way out and that we'd found a Dyson at a spectacular price it didn't make any sense not to make the purchase. I might be a frugal bastard but I know great value on a quality product when I see it.
Assembled the unit at home and tried it on a small rug. Amazingly almost half of the collector was filled with dust, dirt and hair. Gobsmacked I was. So gobsmacked that I rang The Good Guys to pretend that I was disappointed. Then I let the saleslady know that I was disappointed that there was so much rubbish in our household carpet. She was rather glad that the Dyson worked for us. That girl will be a shop manager before too long. She has a great attitude towards customers. The Good Guys in Belmont - check it out.
I think that The Good Guys should be renamed The Fantastic Guys. Fantastic prices and service.
We were just about to walk out of the shop when he offered to throw in the rather expensive filter for nothing. No, we still wanted to think about it. Then he came up with a final offer, tonight only, whereby he'd knock $100 off the price of the more expensive bagless vac that we were reasonably keen on. If he's that desperate for a sale we can deal with him later. My missus did tell him that if she bought a Hoover she would purchase it from his shop.
Jumped in the car and headed to Rick Hart but turned off to The Good Guys on the way. No Hoover in the store and that's because Godfreys has an exclusive deal with the company. I thought as much initially when I couldn't spot the brand in the shop. The saleslady who showed us the Dyson on display, which my missus was quite keen on, knew almost everything there is to know about the product. We were likely to be surprised at the amount of dust and dirt that would be collected on the first clean of the house. She even knew that Harvey Norman was having a sale on the same model and that The Good Guys would price match. What really surprised me was her admission that she didn't own a Dyson, she was just a sales person and that we should do our homework before committing to a purchase. Honesty, which was quite refreshing. And from a sales perspective she was aware of what her competitors were doing. Great business acumen.
We trundled down the road to Rick Hart, which just happens to be owned by Harvey Norman (I have a distinct dislike for this particular store as the sales reps are rude at times) and found that the same model was on sale, with the additional turbine head attachment, for $142 less. Checked out the features of different models from the brochure in store and agreed that this particular model was the one we wanted.
Straight back to The Good Guys to check out the price match promise. She spoke with her manager and discovered that the sale price was below cost but they would still match it. In fact they offered a further ten dollars off. The mantra of this company used to be, "Pay Less, Pay Cash", but they now offer the same price for Visa, not Amex, as cash. Bargain. We picked up a popcorn maker with the ten dollars that we'd saved.
My missus commented on the way home that she wasn't expecting to purchase a vacuum cleaner that night. Weighing up the facts that our vac was on the way out and that we'd found a Dyson at a spectacular price it didn't make any sense not to make the purchase. I might be a frugal bastard but I know great value on a quality product when I see it.
Assembled the unit at home and tried it on a small rug. Amazingly almost half of the collector was filled with dust, dirt and hair. Gobsmacked I was. So gobsmacked that I rang The Good Guys to pretend that I was disappointed. Then I let the saleslady know that I was disappointed that there was so much rubbish in our household carpet. She was rather glad that the Dyson worked for us. That girl will be a shop manager before too long. She has a great attitude towards customers. The Good Guys in Belmont - check it out.
I think that The Good Guys should be renamed The Fantastic Guys. Fantastic prices and service.
Monday, March 07, 2011
Why Don't Telemarketers Become Customer Service Call Centre Operators?
I've got an issue with the wife's netbook. It won't even start and I've tried all of the possibilities to get it to boot up to no avail. Sent their customer service an email and they responded with a phone number to call. On two Saturdays, when I've had time, I've called them during their office hours. Both times the service was down for "system maintenance". Not happy Samsung.
Today is a public holiday in WA but not for the rest of the country so I gave them a call. Too busy to answer the call but able to take a message for a call back function. It's been about an hour and no call back.
So, I've had a thought. Why don't those telemarketers, who seem to have lots of time on their hands, take up a role in a customer service call centre? I'd be more than happy to hear from them and so many companies could do away with the annoying message, "Due to an unusual amount of calls all of our customer service representatives are busy. Your call is important to us and will be answered when the next customer service representative becomes available. Please hold the line and listen to some boring music (which, hopefully, will make you hang up) or listen to some guff about how great our company is and the myriad of products we offer even though it will be of no use to you."
Great idea? The world has too many telemarketers and not enough customer service representatives.
Today is a public holiday in WA but not for the rest of the country so I gave them a call. Too busy to answer the call but able to take a message for a call back function. It's been about an hour and no call back.
So, I've had a thought. Why don't those telemarketers, who seem to have lots of time on their hands, take up a role in a customer service call centre? I'd be more than happy to hear from them and so many companies could do away with the annoying message, "Due to an unusual amount of calls all of our customer service representatives are busy. Your call is important to us and will be answered when the next customer service representative becomes available. Please hold the line and listen to some boring music (which, hopefully, will make you hang up) or listen to some guff about how great our company is and the myriad of products we offer even though it will be of no use to you."
Great idea? The world has too many telemarketers and not enough customer service representatives.
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