ALERT - You may have been compromised. Anyone starting to get an influx of txt messages and e-mails from major vendors & credit card companies where they send you a message that's a borderline fraud alert stating, “there’s a possibility that you've been compromised.” So you spring into action and after fighting through 50 minutes of online chat angst, they finally come clean and say, "this may have been part of a promotion." Is it not bad enough that multiple vendors each inundate us four or five times a day with the same sensational “one-time offer” emails? I haven’t personally crunched the numbers yet, but I have to think after the 3rd offer with the same details being ignored, they have to know it’s time to stop and move on.
I believe that in desperation, their marketing technique has devolved into nothing short of a series of scare tactics to grab and hold your attention. They know the one last thing that everyone is leery of, and will pay attention to is: “The Hack” alert. When you see that message a knot immediately forms in your stomach, and an all-consuming anxiety builds. Of course if you don't respond in a timely manner and formally deny that you're supporting the Prince of Nigeria's efforts to regain the throne, then you are responsible for those charges.
The best is that at the end of this massive waste of time, your customer service representative asks you over your chat session, “Is there anything else I can help you with today?” I’m incredulous. They didn’t help me in the first place, if anything; they were the antithesis of help.
My belief is that they can’t be typing that message every time; it has to be a simple pre-programed button they hit that sends that final message. I also believe that if they don’t hit that button, they lose their jobs. One for the suggestion box - would it really be too much trouble for them to program a second button? A button that once pressed says, “I know we’ve wasted half your morning and I apologize for that. Unfortunately we live in an imperfect world. I’ll raise your issue with my management team and find the responsible party - there will be retribution, I promise you that! But putting all of that aside, is there anything else I can help you with today?” I don’t think that’s asking too much. It would also go a long way from stopping me from throwing my phone through a wall when they have the guts to send me a customer satisfaction survey.
One lesson learned from this is: Shop Locally. Generally speaking, my experience has been that local customer service reps have more of a…human touch.
