Tuesday, June 1, 2010

31 may

yesterday i wrote about how irritated i was that i didnt find the stuff i needed... that ended well and thanks Swaps for the hug... it helped, trust me.... i sorted a tonne of paper rubbish and trashed most of it... i sorted out stuff in my wardrobe...and felt instantly better. in the evening i picked up the duplicate invoice for the computer, ran into my boss at the store, and drove to pick K up so we both could make it to the service centre. 

The Acer service centre in vengal rao nagar in hyderabad is a dump of a place with very unfriendly staff who instantly told me i was late and had to come back the next day. when i told her, i'd already called and asked if i could come because i was a few minutes past their official working hours, and the gentleman asked me to come "no problem" she siad ok and took my complaint. Telling me after a few minutes that the adaptor wasnt in stock and would take 4-5 working days to be replaced since the parts come from bangalore. when asked, she replied that they dont stock these parts... i mean come on.. its a battery adaptor.... possibly the first thing that gets screwed. i asked if i can be given a spare adaptor to use in the meantime... they said no, they dont have that "policy" anyways, with no other option but to login a complaint and wait for them to have mercy, i did just that. 

i just got off the phone with a moron at the acer call centre. i asked him 2 things, would it be possible for me to check with another service centre in hyderabad if they had the stock so i could shift my case to them for a speedier solution. and secondly, was there an email id or phone number where i could express my displeasure at the whole process they have set up. firstly, having worked in a call centre, i know how important it is for the executive at the other end to really comprehend what the caller is saying and then reply. this guy was answering me before i finished asking my question. when i asked him to stop talking and please listen, he said "sorry ma'am i cant do that" :) then he said that they dont have any number or email id where i can write in and express my displeasure with the process (not the same thing as saying i want my adaptor to be replaced in 24 hrs). so they have it on record and it may prompt them towards working to better turn around times.... he said... no they dont have any such thing. i then asked if he was saying, once you bought a product, there was no access to customer service? he asked to put me on hold, and checked and got back saying his senior will call back in 12 hrs. 12 hrs for a call back with an email id!! you Acer, must be joking!

so this is what he asked me to do, gave me the numbers of the other service centre, asked me to call and find out if they had the part ready and then call the call centre back so that he would redirect my complaint. (i called this SC, same response 4-5 days they dont stock parts)

and hopefully someone will call back and give me a freaking email id i can write to. 

how irritating is it to get standard responses from a call centre, the customer just bangs the phone down in frustration. I didnt tho, i politely thanked him for his (lack of) help and hung up.