john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) (10/26/90)
Recently, I purchased some microwave (950 Mhz) gear from my friendly
local broadcast distributor. While installing it, some major problems
turned up, all of which were caused by carelessness on the part of the
manufacturer. The result was a wasted six hours between midnight and
6AM, since the old equipment had to be reinstalled.
Since the distributor effectively represents the manufacturer, I gave
him a call to express my displeasure. After dialing the number, I
heard it forward to a DID system, where it rang and rang. Finally, it
answered with a recording: "Thank you for calling. Please stay on the
line and the first available operator will process your call." To my
way of thinking, this is a new low in answering services -- and an
interesting way to understaff the facility without having people give
up on unanswered calls.
Anyway, I waited about 2-3 minutes for someone to "process" my call.
"Good morning, XYX, may I help you?" "Yes, I would like to speak to
Ferd Nerd." "I'm sorry, he's out of the office. Could I have your name
and number?" At that point, I not only wanted to let him know that I
called, but that I was ripping mad. So, after leaving my name and
number I asked if I could leave a short message. After much hemming
and hawing, the "operator" reluctantly agreed. I left a one-liner and
had to say it one word at a time, frequently having to repeat myself.
When I speak to Mr. Nerd again, I'm going to suggest a machine or
voice mail. The five minutes I wasted with his service could have been
spent conveying a REAL message that he could have started working on
without having to call back and wake me up. As it was, with his
callback and all, I've had no sleep. Answering services can join the
growing list of telephone anachronisms.
John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395
john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !