One of the concepts behind capitalism is that the market can deliver goods and services to the public much better than any kind of collective economy can. Companies owned by investors (whether individually or collectively, as in a corporation) are supposed to be more responsive to consumer demand and needs than are companies owned and operated by the government.
So let's look at this major corporation, AT&T. I've been having a lot of problems sending email from my AT&T Yahoo service. I've gone to their web site several times and have done all they suggest. Occasionally I can get it to work for a while, but it goes back to having the same issues. So today, I glanced over the suggestions to verify that I had done all they said to do, and looked for some kind of "contact us" link. I found a "having problems sending email?" link, and it send me to a page which sent me back to the page I had been on. I finally found a "contact us" link which sent me to 2 more links, both having to do with the iPhone. Now, I don't have an iPhone and don't have cellular service with AT&T, just phone and internet service. But I clicked those links, hoping I could find someone who could help me. No. If you click on iPhone support, you get taken to a page where.....they try to sell you iPhones. But they don't give you any way to get support for them if you're having a problem.
I finally ended up on the investor relations site, because that's the only place I could find a phone number to "contact us". The other links for "contact us" just led to more web pages that had links to click on if you were having problems, which led me back to the web pages I had been on. Apparently, AT&T has gone into the federal witness protection program.
The investor relations dude I finally got to talk to (after pushing '0' numerous times because it wanted me to enter my account number or my social security number before it would let me talk to someone. The man with whom I spoke said they are investor relations but they aren't even part of AT&T, they are a separate company with a contract for investor relations.) But he was prepared for my issue, because apparently I'm far from the first. So he gave me a phone number, 800-288-2020, to call.
I called that number and got......drum roll please.......Dish Network. Or maybe Direct TV. Anyway, it had to do with TV. (I think I first got a "what are you calling about" and of course the options were "pay my bill" or "new products and services". Again, they don't want to help you solve their screwups, they just want money from you. I kept saying "technical support" and finally got transferred to the Direct/Dish TV thing. I got a person there. He told me to call 800 288 2020 to get AT&T internet services. Um, that's the phone number I called, and I got you, sir. He put me on hold so he could transfer me to internet services. Then I got transferred back into the queue that wanted me to enter my DirectTV account number. FAIL.
So then I hung up and called 800 555 1212, and asked for AT&T. Guess what number I was given? 800 288 2020!!!! So I called that again, and I think I got back into the TV queue. Or something. I'm not even sure what division I got, but it wasn't the right one. At least this time I got an Indian fellow who apologized for AT&T's utter, complete idiotic incompetency (well, he didn't use those words) and he put me on hold to transfer me to tech support. Actually, first he said we could fix it by fixing my settings, which of course are already the right settings because I've gone to the AT&T/Yahoo web page 10 times over the past week for help on this precise issue.
Oh, and-----I was calling from my cell phone. The call was clear, no problems hearing----until I got transferred to his division. Then it was staticky as hell. He came on, and we couldn't understand each other. I got him to call me back on my home phone, which he did, promptly. Good thing I bought a new home phone last night (my previous one just quit working, just like that. Yeah, I could have replaced the battery, but I didn't like it much anyway, and it had battlescars from when it looked just too much like a chewtoy, so I just got a new one.)
The man I spoke with---I wish I had gotten his name----was very good. He kept coming back on the line to apologize for the lengthy hold time and to tell me that someone would be with me shortly. He finally got me through to the Macintosh support people, came back on the line to tell me I was being transferred. I heard a faint voice on the other end, then.....we got disconnected.
So I called back, 800 288 2020. It asked what I was calling about. I said "technical support." It said, "You said (I forget which option, but it wasn't tech support), is that right?" "No." "I'm sorry, please state the reason for your call." "Tech support". "You said [something else entirely], is that right?" "No. Technical Support". "I'll transfer you to Sales and Service." I swear, these people don't want to fix problems with the things I'm paying for, they just want more money out of me.
So then I get a nice lady in Sales and Service, and I ask to speak to a supervisor, because by now I want a credit on my bill. She says she can transfer me to technical support, and she will stay on the line until I'm connected, and she puts me on hold. She finally gets me to a tech support guy. He tells me to do all the things I've already done.
I run through all the settings. As if he hasn't heard me, he wants me to go back and read them all again so he can check them off on his little check box. I would think that if you've been doing this for any time, you'd know that the smtp port is 465 and the pop account is 995, that they're both SSL protected, and that you've got to have the entire email address. I would think that you could check those quickly. Apparently not.
I tell the guy what version of Mac OS I'm running, what version of Mail. I tell him I've downloaded a completely different email program called Postbox, yet I'm having the same problem with Postbox. I can't connect to the smtp server, or can do so only intermittently.
So then he asks what version of Windows I'm running. Windows 84 version 10.4.11, and he asks what mail program I'm using. Sigh. 'Scuse me while I rewind the tape I was just playing.
He wants me to do various things, all of which I've already done (and in fact just told him I already did). He wants me to delete my pop account. The only problem is that every time I go to delete my pop account, it says that if I do delete that account, I'll lose all my messages in that account. I don't want to lose all my messages, many of which are saved only on my computer and not on any server.
So I'm going through this with him, and.......we get disconnected.
FAIL.
It is now 2 hours after I first started dealing with this problem today. This is not counting the 5 hours I spent one night puzzling over the ATT webpage, trying to solve this problem. I think it's time they solved this problem. My neck is getting cramped from holding the phone.
Every time I call AT&T for tech support, I get a survey. The tech support agents really rely on these surveys for their promotions, raises, and even continued employment. But the problem is not with the customer service agents, almost all of whom are exceedingly friendly and nice and do their best to be helpful. But if you're dealing with a pile of shit, no matter how nice you are and no matter how many layers of gold paint you put on it, it's still a pile of shit. If your corporation is systemically broken, a lowly customer service agent is not going to be able to fix it. But AT&T doesn't care about their broken system, how hard it is to find contact numbers on their web page, the fact that their phones disconnect me, their voice interaction system (whatever you call those things that ask you to speak your phone number, tell them what you're calling about, etc) does not work, the fact that they have a problem they seem not to want to fix----AT&T doesn't care about any of that. They just care if they can give some lowly customer service person the boot for not making me happy, when I'm furious because I've now spent 2 hours of my day, when I SHOULD be at work, trying to reach them and get them to solve a problem.
Unfortunately, AT&T is not the only major American corporation with this problem. The company I work for does a lot of business with Coca-Cola. I kid my boss about his $1500 per week Coke habit. When I call Coke about a billing issue, I get a call center and am told that billing will call me back within 48 hours. Fine, except the delivery guy is standing here right now, and we need to resolve this problem right now, and I don't think either his boss or his wife is going to be too happy if I make him hang out here for 48 hours. Plus, what if I'm out of the office or unavailable when they call back? Then I call them back and wait another 48 hours?
It's not only billing. I've called and asked to speak to our sales rep. No, they can't put me through to her, but I can leave a message and she should get back to me within 48 hours. Can you give me her company-issued cell phone number, the one she's given me in the past but I can't find right now? No, but if you leave your name and number and a message, I'll have her get back to you within 48 hours.
This is our SALES REP. This is the person we call if there's a problem with our order, if we need something special, if we need something expedited, etc. Sales reps are supposed to be halfway on call for you at all times, not "we'll get around to getting back to you when we feel like it". They're supposed to WANT our business, and the corporation is supposed to WANT our business and work to retain it. But they don't, because they're a virtual monopoly and know they're pretty much the only game in town. (We have now established an account with Pepsi, and, despite the fact I'm not a big Pepsi fan, are pushing their products more.)
American corporations don't care. They sneer at us instead of working and competing for our business, then when any whiff of regulation or rules is in the air, they scream about how free market capitalism is supposed to be the best of any possible system, and regulation will kill their business, etc etc.
No, guys. Regulation won't kill your business. Your incompetence, ineptitude, and total lack of concern for how well your product works, will. Regulations come about because people are not doing the things they ought to do. So by being incompetent yahoos, you force the government to take action.
Having said that, capitalism does occasionally work. Some years back, I bought a telephone at Circuit City. It did not work properly, so I exchanged it for another. Now, a telephone is not an overly complicated piece of equipment, so when the second phone also proved defective, I was annoyed, and returned it for an exchange. When I had to take the third phone back, I expected some sort of profuse apology. I did not get it. I received an air of impatience, as though I was imposing upon them. When the fourth phone did not function correctly, I asked to speak with the manager, but he didn't have time for me. I did not exchange it for another, just my money. I wrote a letter to Circuit City headquarters, detailing my experience with defective merchandise and poor customer service (it was hard to get waited on or helped on those places, too.) I fully expected some sort of letter back with profuse apologies. Nothing. No response, nothing at all. Well, hell, if they don't care about their business, why should I be expected to???
So I didn't shop Circuit City again, until their going out of business sales. I asked to see a laptop computer that was all boxed up, no display items. I was asked if I wanted to buy it (for almost full-price, maybe $30 off). Well, I don't know, I need to look at it first, I responded. Nope, sorry, if I wanted to buy one, let them know, otherwise they didn't have time for me.
FAIL, FAIL, FAIL. Circuit City deserved every last penny of bankruptcy. They deserved to fall into the depths of corporate hell.
Unfortunately, I hear Best Buy is just as bad, though I've not had defective product problems from them (then again, how much have I bought there?). But other people have had a litany of poor customer service and bad merchandise. But Best Buy is almost the only game in town, having run everyone else out.
This morning, when I should have been at work, I spent 3.5 hours on the phone with AT&T, getting routed to departments that have absolutely nothing in common with my problem, being disconnected, and ultimately speaking to people who asked me for the information I had just given them. (This happened several times. I'd say, "the POP server address is pop.att.yahoo.com" and they would say, "Okay m'am, now if you look where it says, "address" you will find an address for a POP account there. What does it say?") Finally, the last man with whom I spoke opined that the problem is in my computer. The problem replicates using 2 different email client programs and 2 different email addresses. But he thinks that the reason my computer isn't talking to their server, despite having all the setting set correctly, is because my computer has some sort of flaw or bug or something.
This still should not have taken 3.5 hours. I should have been able to speak with a living, breathing customer service tech support technician within 15 minutes of dialing, not routed all over AT&T hell, and the tech support people should have listened to me instead of letting it go in one ear and out the other and asking me to repeat what I had just said 4 times.
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