#CustomerService#GoodorBad?

Written by cycleguy on January 13th, 2021

I’m going to blow off a little bit of steam. I will do it nicely and will not even mention the firm’s name since I do not want to cause heartache for the person if for some reason it was to get out. Here is what happened:

There has been an error in my billing from this certain company for close to a year now. When I realized it, I contacted their CS department to try to straighten it out.  She told me they couldn’t do anything about it. Now get this: it was their customer service rep’s fault. They put the service charge on the wrong phone. When we bought Jo a new phone in February, we put a line on her phone for her sister to use in the nursing home. Long story short: she doesn’t even know where the phone is (and probably hasn’t even looked), so I wanted to drop that line and save a line use charge of $25/month.  That sounds good until you look closer and see that the rep put the charges for Jo’s new phone on that line! So I tried to have them drop the charge and make the change. No go.

So I went to the local store rep to see what could be done. She (the store manager) listened and sent a request for a customer acceleration. After going back and forth I also told her I was due (way overdue since I still use an iPhone 5)  for a new phone and if they couldn’t straighten out their own CSR’s mistake why would I consider getting a new one?  Anyway, after several back and forths she told me she could fix it for me. When would be a good time to come in? I told her I was in jail, I mean quarantine for ‘rona so it would need to wait.  After several tries, we set up yesterday, Tuesday, at 1:00.  I get there at 12:45 and find out she stepped out for a few minutes to go check on her dog but she would be back in time. He asked my name and it should have been my first clue when my name was not on the list. So Jo and I waited…and waited…and waited.  Very patiently I might add. At 1:20 we left. I have yet to hear from her.

I hope you won’t take this wrong but I began thinking about the church and each individual person. As a church we are representatives of Jesus. But we are also representatives of our church family. When people walk into our church building (or see us online) how are they treated? Are we kind? Engaging? Welcoming? Did they find us real or planted there with fake, plastic smiles?

My feelings about this company were not enhanced by the discourse over the past two months, and most definitely by yesterday’s failed connection.  I’m hard-pressed to still consider this company as a carrier for my new phone.  Let’s not make the same mistake with our churches. The solution is us. Not “let someone else take care of it.” You be the rep!!

 

14 Comments so far ↓

  1. How absolutely frustrating, Bill! I do hope you will be able to straighten the mess out shortly. As for the church, we are Jesus’ reps here on earth, and we need to act like it, day in and day out.
    Blessings!

  2. Zee Gimon says:

    Good thoughts. Kind of the reverse of the “I like your Christ, but I don’t like your Christians.” (Usually, a quote that’s attributed to Gandhi, but it wasn’t him. Yet, the quote still rings true, unfortunately.)

    Indeed, we need to make sure that people can actually see and feel Jesus in us, not just hear us mention his name – whether it happens at the church or elsewhere.

    • cycleguy says:

      You hit the nail on the head Zee. Whether at the church or elsewhere. In fact, it may be even more important in the “elsewhere.” Thanks for commenting from Ukraine.

      • Zee says:

        I think elsewhere is indeed even more important because that’s where we meet the majority of people who don’t know yet God. At the church, some of the people already are “in the know” so they can dismiss the behavior of other Christians because they already know that no one is perfect.

  3. Ed says:

    This reminds me a friend gave me her old Iphone 6 plus when she upgraded to the Iphone 7. Basically it was so we could video chat. Never happened, but I digress.

    Anyways worked beautifully for a couple of years until the day that no one I was talking to could hear me. So I sent it in to have it checked. They installed new mics, etc. Still didn’t work.

    Ying/Yang a couple of times with my government provider and finally decided to ditch the phone and go back to android.

    Long story short… it was the providers fault, iphone was fine!. I’m using the android right now, but still have the iphone. Maybe someday.

    Sadly, it was kind of prophetic, since communication with my friend started shorting out, and eventually died! 🙁

  4. Ryan S. says:

    Frustrating for sure… and as you point out… can be frustrating for those who meet Christ through me for the first time.

  5. Wise Hearted says:

    All it takes is one encounter such you had to reminds us we are the church in every situation, with every person we meet. I failed at this a couple of weeks big time because who I was dealing with failed at it too. Thanks God, He does not stop using us when we fail.

  6. Rodney Olsen says:

    This speaks about the culture of the company. If they haven’t worked to build an internal culture that serves the customer, they’ll only get employees who turn up, work their hours, get a paycheck and go home. Anything more than that isn’t worth their time.

    When we translate that to the church, we either build a culture of taking God seriously in loving Him above all else and loving our neighbour as ourselves, or we simply fulfil our religious duties, then go home, and wonder why God isn’t blessing us.

    Scriptures are full of people and nations just wanting to tick the boxes and God keeps calling them to something bigger, something better.

    • cycleguy says:

      You are absolutely right Rodney. Unfortunately, my options are slim when it comes to options. I have not heard from the CSR since the incident. But I love your application to the church. Too much checking off of boxes but unwillingness to follow God to something bigger.