Long story short: Recent mechanical failures of major appliances we purchased from a single retailer resulted in my wife calling the chain's service department to come out and fix the machines.
After listening to her talk to service reps for over an hour and getting nowhere — because, for example, they have a policy of only sending out one repair person even though we (and they) know from past experience that it requires two to move our stackable machines — I took to social media. Within an hour of posting my displeasure online, I received a message from the retailer that someone would be in touch to address our concerns. Not too long after that, my wife received a call from a regional bigwig who easily understood his company's policy would potentially add weeks to the machines being repaired.
So what did I learn from this experience?
- Call center reps and their managers at this particular company either don't have the knowledge or the authority to help address issues that are outside their company's policy book.
- I shouldn't waste time on the phone with people who either don't have the knowledge or authority to address my particular issue. Instead, I should take my complaints directly to social media sites. If I do that, however, what purpose will call centers serve?