A couple of big companies do not think that they have to provide good customer service. I guess business must be so good for each one of them that they cannot respond to a complaint or help with an issue that is extremely important. Let me breakdown each of the situations and how they failed.
The first company that failed was Wendy’s. On February 25, the hubby and I were looking for a little snack while wrapping up some errands. We went through the drive-thru at their location on Sutton Road in Streamwood, Illinois. First of all, the person taking our order could not understand what we were asking for and we had to repeat the order a couple of times. Then, when we got to the window to pay with our gift card, she could not explain to us why there was not enough on the card. Our understanding was that we had not used the card before (We keep the receipts with the gift cards just so we know what we have on them). Anyways, she couldn’t tell us what the problem was and on top of it, was too busy talking in Spanish to one of her associates that was behind her. A trip through the drive-thru that should have taken maybe 3 minutes top, took about 10 minutes. When we got home, we were so frustrated that we turned on the computer to log a complaint. I filled out their form, gave all my information including my email and phone number. After I submitted the form, it told me that I would receive a reply back within two business days. Today is March 9. Do you think I have received a response back yet? To this date I have not received a response back. Not good for Wendy’s. As a business, if you are going to put yourself out there to respond to emails, tweets, posts on FB, etc., make sure that the person(s) handling that for you is doing their job. In this case, they are not.
The second company that failed this past week was Verizon Wireless. My 91 year-old grandfather is a current Verizon Wireless customer. Last week, he received a bill in the mailing saying he owed over $500 in fees for phones he does not own. He called my mom to ask for her help with this. After talking with him, we discovered that he had received a bill a month ago and went into the Verizon Wireless in Niles, Illinois to find out what it was about. When he did that he found out that there were 4 lines that were opened up in January. He told the representative at the store that he never opened those up. That representative took his bill and said that they would mark it fraud. They did not give him any other information which put us in the predicament that we are in today.
On Saturday, my mom and sister went with my grandfather to the store with the second bill. All they could tell them was that it was marked fraud and could not give out any other information. They would have to contact their fraud department, which is not open on the weekend. They were so furious with this that they gave me a call to find out what they could do since I use to work for them back in the day. I told them that they should have never taken the bill from my grandfather and if it were me, I would have broken down what he would need to do. I mean we are talking about identity theft. I told them to call the 800# to see if they could help. They were given the same story about having to talk to the fraud department. My grandfather added my sister to his account so she could help him with the situation since again he is 91 years old and does not understand everything that is going on with this.
That brings us to yesterday’s phone call to the fraud department. They were extremely rude to my sister, basically saying oh well, too bad for him. They said that they could not provide her with any of the information regarding how the lines were activated, what the first address was on the account since he NEVER received any statements from them or any other pertinent information. The representative in the fraud department said that he would have to file a police report and the police would have to subpoena the records. Really?! Verizon, you let this go through and should shoulder the blame for this. In addition, you should provide people with the appropriate information in order to take care of this very serious situation. We have no idea if this person who signed up for these lines is also doing other things with his credit/SSN. Nice job Verizon.
In today’s economy, companies should be making sure that they show some compassion to their customers and try to help them out in every way possible. I know that many companies cannot afford to lose customers but I guess these two companies can.
Whenever I have a problem with Verizon I do whatever I can to just deal with it because their customer service is just that bad.
That’s just terrible. You shouldn’t have to deal especially when you pay for their service. Although, you have a point. They still haven’t responded which I guess I am not surprised.