Alternative title: “How to Make Your Words Devoid of Meaning”
A post by
Abraham Piper reminded me of a recent run-in I’ve had with a large retailer’s credit department…
My bride and I bought a washer and dryer over a year ago with a “no interest until December of 2008″ offer. We’ve been paying on this dutifully to avoid the rather substantial interest charges that would apply were we to pay late or miss a payment. Three months ago, we noticed a $4,200 CREDIT on the account. Problem was, it wasn’t ours.
Seeing an opportunity to play the “suprisingly honest Christians” card, we decided to call and inform them of their mistake. After being on hold for 45 minutes, we finally reached someone. Took another 10 minutes or so to get them to understand we didn’t want to take credit for the credit that wasn’t ours. Seemed to perturb them more than anything. The next month’s bill arrives with a $4,200 “purchase.” Seems harmless enough, until the next month’s bill arrives — which includes new finance charges. The credit had apparently wiped out the 0% finance promotional offer, and we were now being charged interest on the “purchase” we never made.
Another stint on hold lasts for 45 minutes before we give up. Next call, another 45 minutes before someone picks up. Irony is that every minute and a half spent on hold qualifies you to hear this phrase: “Thank you for holding. Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line and an operator will be with you shortly.”
Hmm… If my call were important, it seems you’d answer it as soon as I called. And that you wouldn’t make me listen to the same empty promise over and over. And over. And over. (And over). Especially when I’m helping you fix problems you started in the first place… (I’m not bitter or anything). Eventually someone did pick up, and they appeared to understand my plight and how to go about correcting it properly this time. Only time will tell…
When asked if there was anything else they could do, I asked them if there was another number I could call where I didn’t have to wait on hold for 45 minutes?
Their response? “I’m sorry, we’ve experienced unusual call volumes today.”
My response: “Well, you see I’ve called on three different occasions and the wait time today appears to be about average.”
Their response: “Well sir, there’s nothing we can do about that. We have over 300 people assigned to take phone calls.”
My response: “What if you hired 300 more people? Seems like that would cut your average wait time in half.”
Their response: “Well sir, like I said, there’s nothing we can do about that.”
My response: “I understand there’s likely nothing YOU can do about it, so I’m not trying to give you a hard time, seriously. But someone, somewhere, in your company has made a decision that regularly putting your customers on hold for 45 minutes or more is acceptable. So please relay my displeasure with your company’s decision to the powers that be.”
It’s sad when organizations hide behind words they clearly don’t mean. I’d rather have a frank, but honest answer, than be fed lines that fly in the face of reason.
I understand the motivation though. Don’t admit you’ve made a mistake, or you open yourself up to attack. Unfortunately, the price you pay for playing it safe is the devaluing of words and a loss of credibility.
The moral? Make sure your actions are in line with your words. And just admit it when you make a mistake. And saying something’s true doesn’t make it true. And… well, I’ll stop there and let you fill in the gaps.
What would your “moral to the story” be?
