Day 9 - Tuesday, March 19
Following my second blog entry, which was Tweeted at DirecTV Service, I get a quick spurt of support from a few friends with a more sizable following than my small (but proud!) group of 30-some followers.Whether this moved the needle at all I'm not sure, but I like to think it had an impact. At the very least is was nice to have some sympathy and/or rage on my side from others. After an hour or so, DTV Service responded via Twitter which led to the exchange below.
Call me naive, but I believed the sincerity in that Tweet. The one part that gave me pause was the lack of timing for their follow-up. As I had seen in the past, their ability to respond to my Tweets and e-mails was impressive, but the ability to follow through after that was lacking. With that in mind, I sent a follow up Tweet...
Ok, still no timing but another promise to follow-up with me. Again, I believe there is some sincerity and desire to assist me. With that in mind, I hold off on emailing their Senior VP of Customer Care and their Chairman/President/CEO as I had resolved to do the day before. The rest of the day passes in familiar silence.
Around noon, I get a voicemail from someone with Multiband. I call back around 12:30 and speak with a helpful lady named Melanie who gets some information on the issue I'm having along with contact info for my homeowners association. She thanks me for the info and assures me someone will follow-up that day. Maybe this is what progress feels like.
A couple of hours pass and I get another voicemail. This time from S&S Broadband looking to schedule an appointment... I pinch myself to make sure this isn't a dream. We play phone tag a couple of times and finally connect. They can have someone out to my place by noon the next day. It seems crazy that this was handled in a couple of hours when you consider amount of wasted calories that have already been burnt. Nevertheless, I'm thrilled!
I begin the day working from home hoping that S&S delivers on their word. I don't like to throw the word "hero" around lightly, but at approximately 10:30 a hero emerges. This hero comes in the form of man named Vinny. He comes in to assess the situation, politely listens to me share some of the hoops I've jumped through, then heads outside to look at the dish. Within about 30 minutes, he's back inside. I'm a bit superstitious, so I don't want to ask if it's fixed (because that would obviously jinx it). He tells me to turn on all the TVs and reset the boxes - apparently we have a signal! Instead of searching for signal, the message on the screen tells me that the box is acquiring signal - YESSSSSSSSS!!! I thank Vinny for his help, though in typical hero fashion, he shrugs it off like it's not that big of a deal and flies away. Classic superhero move.
In the end it was S&S Broadband who came to the rescue with what appears to be an assist from Multiband and possibly an assist from DirecTV Service (via Twitter). I pack up my bag, head to the office, and with that my nightmare is finally over.
So what have we learned from this? Well, there is definitely some power in social media. It appears to have caused much more movement than the traditional method of placing a phone call, or the recently-traditional method of sending an email. It also seems like the majority of people I dealt with in customer service either had no ability, or no desire to help. At one point, I was asked by a friend what I wanted from this (as in free service, money back, etc.). My answer was simply that I wanted someone who could help me. It took 10 days for that to happen, which is absolutely mind-boggling... TEN days! Yes, I understand not having TV is extremely insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Looking back, the lack of TV didn't bother me as much as the feeling of helplessness that surrounded me throughout this. Now that it is all over I'm not holding any anger. It was merely one of many educational moments that everyone has. I'm thrilled that it's behind me and hope all the parties involved look at this as an opportunity to improve service, rather than dismissing it as an isolated incident.
Will I continue with DirecTV after my two years are up? Doubtful. There would have to be some sort of pitch or special offer to retain my business, and I'm merely one tiny fish in an ocean full of prey. My account and my money are likely inconsequential in the eyes of DTV and extending an olive branch would require time and effort that probably doesn't have a large enough ROI. I would love to be wrong on this, but I'm not holding my breath either.
Well I'm out of words and energy, and I'm ready to close the book on this mess. To all who read, helped and commiserated with me, thank you for the time & effort.
-B
Call me naive, but I believed the sincerity in that Tweet. The one part that gave me pause was the lack of timing for their follow-up. As I had seen in the past, their ability to respond to my Tweets and e-mails was impressive, but the ability to follow through after that was lacking. With that in mind, I sent a follow up Tweet...
Ok, still no timing but another promise to follow-up with me. Again, I believe there is some sincerity and desire to assist me. With that in mind, I hold off on emailing their Senior VP of Customer Care and their Chairman/President/CEO as I had resolved to do the day before. The rest of the day passes in familiar silence.
Day 10 - Wednesday, March 20
Around noon, I get a voicemail from someone with Multiband. I call back around 12:30 and speak with a helpful lady named Melanie who gets some information on the issue I'm having along with contact info for my homeowners association. She thanks me for the info and assures me someone will follow-up that day. Maybe this is what progress feels like.
A couple of hours pass and I get another voicemail. This time from S&S Broadband looking to schedule an appointment... I pinch myself to make sure this isn't a dream. We play phone tag a couple of times and finally connect. They can have someone out to my place by noon the next day. It seems crazy that this was handled in a couple of hours when you consider amount of wasted calories that have already been burnt. Nevertheless, I'm thrilled!
Day 11 - Thursday, March 21
I begin the day working from home hoping that S&S delivers on their word. I don't like to throw the word "hero" around lightly, but at approximately 10:30 a hero emerges. This hero comes in the form of man named Vinny. He comes in to assess the situation, politely listens to me share some of the hoops I've jumped through, then heads outside to look at the dish. Within about 30 minutes, he's back inside. I'm a bit superstitious, so I don't want to ask if it's fixed (because that would obviously jinx it). He tells me to turn on all the TVs and reset the boxes - apparently we have a signal! Instead of searching for signal, the message on the screen tells me that the box is acquiring signal - YESSSSSSSSS!!! I thank Vinny for his help, though in typical hero fashion, he shrugs it off like it's not that big of a deal and flies away. Classic superhero move.
In the end it was S&S Broadband who came to the rescue with what appears to be an assist from Multiband and possibly an assist from DirecTV Service (via Twitter). I pack up my bag, head to the office, and with that my nightmare is finally over.
Epilogue
So what have we learned from this? Well, there is definitely some power in social media. It appears to have caused much more movement than the traditional method of placing a phone call, or the recently-traditional method of sending an email. It also seems like the majority of people I dealt with in customer service either had no ability, or no desire to help. At one point, I was asked by a friend what I wanted from this (as in free service, money back, etc.). My answer was simply that I wanted someone who could help me. It took 10 days for that to happen, which is absolutely mind-boggling... TEN days! Yes, I understand not having TV is extremely insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Looking back, the lack of TV didn't bother me as much as the feeling of helplessness that surrounded me throughout this. Now that it is all over I'm not holding any anger. It was merely one of many educational moments that everyone has. I'm thrilled that it's behind me and hope all the parties involved look at this as an opportunity to improve service, rather than dismissing it as an isolated incident.
Will I continue with DirecTV after my two years are up? Doubtful. There would have to be some sort of pitch or special offer to retain my business, and I'm merely one tiny fish in an ocean full of prey. My account and my money are likely inconsequential in the eyes of DTV and extending an olive branch would require time and effort that probably doesn't have a large enough ROI. I would love to be wrong on this, but I'm not holding my breath either.
Well I'm out of words and energy, and I'm ready to close the book on this mess. To all who read, helped and commiserated with me, thank you for the time & effort.
-B
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