Bad Customer Service, part II

As mentioned in Josh's comment, customer service is really a part of every company, and in my opinion a part of any company's survival. In any case, I thought I'd let everyone in on our latest bad customer service. This time it wasn't necessarily rudeness, just incompetence.

Paul and I set up new bank accounts with Mountain America Credit Union. We've been wanting to leave Washington Mutual for a bit, but we finally decided we'd do it. MACU has the best kids' program of any of the banks/credit unions around, so we set up accounts for our kids last fall. So, several weeks ago we went and set up our own accounts as well.

When we were talking about the debit cards tied to the account, the man helping us said some people come in and change the picture on their debit cards because they don't like them. Okay, whatever. After a couple of weeks of not receiving our cards in the mail we called to find out where they were. Turns out this not-so-helpful employee was supposed to give them to us when we set up the account. I guess that'll teach us for going during the last 30 minutes before the bank closes. :)

So, I went down to pick up our debit cards. I asked for them to show me the selection I could pick from. The girl said that you don't get to pick -- that the machine "just spits out whatever one it wants to." Okay, sure. I knew it was probably just that she didn't know how to put the card into the machine herself, but I figured the designs couldn't be THAT bad, could they? I hoped if there was a cutesy one that I would get it. However, I figured if they don't let you pick, then none of them must be cutesy or a man wouldn't want it.

They brought me my debit card, and it was pretty much what I anticipated -- a nice, beautiful, peaceful-looking mountain picture:



Then they brought out Paul's. I started laughing:



So much for my thought that none of them would be cutesy. I mean, look at the font!!! I told the lady that my husband would not like such a cutesy card. Mind you, I would use it in a heartbeat, but I just can't see Paul going to Home Depot and pulling out a card with such cute letters on it. HELLO! I assured the girl that Paul would be back to change out his debit card.

I later called the customer service line and asked if it really was true that you can't pick the design of your card. She said that you could pick out your design, but you had to pick from what the bank had on hand. Two strikes for us, I suppose. Not good ways to start our service with MACU, but hopefully it's just a fluke that the first two employees we encountered were eager to get rid of us quickly. Do I smell or something? :)

"English"

I'm used to calling customer service of various companies and getting people with accents, and oftentimes heavy accents. I'm fine with that. It exercises my brain, I suppose.

Anyway, today I was calling Hotwire to ask a question about an airline ticket I wanted to book. When I made it through the phone tree, I got an employee who answered in what sounded like another language. I said, "English please" as I wondered if I had mispunched a number in the tree. I was actually very surprised at the response I got, "This is English. If you can't understand me that's YOUR problem!"

Hello? What did you just say?!? I quickly realized this was not a person I wanted to deal with on my phone call. I said, "Oh, sorry. Is there someone else I can speak with?" He said if I wanted someone else I would need to hang up and call back. I asked for his supervisor. He said no, that I was being rude. I said that I hadn't meant to be rude, but that I honestly hadn't realized he was speaking English. I once again asked for his supervisor, to which he hung up the phone. The click of the phone is understood in any language, I suppose.

Paul and I have been appalled over the past few years how much customer service has disintegrated. We're not difficult customers ... unless there is need for us to be difficult. :) We are usually very easy-going and laid-back, but I am often appalled at how poorly people treat their customers. Apparently they haven't heard the statistics about how much cheaper it is to keep a customer than to get a new one. Sigh -- I guess they'll have to deal with their own consequences as I shop elsewhere!

"New" technology

This morning I had a hilarious reminder about how much things change. Becca came upstairs after trying to call a friend and said the phone wasn't working right. It was making this weird beeping sound every time she tried to make a phone call. I told her to bring me the phone and let me hear what it was doing. (I got nervous that maybe Vonage wasn't going to work, and I just signed my mom up for it last week!)

So, she dials her friend's phone number and listens for a minute and then hands me the phone. I listen to see what this weird beep is. I started laughing, which Becca didn't appreciate. I said, "Becca, that's called a busy signal!" She said, "Oh, I didn't know." I found that hilarious. I guess she's used to it going straight to voicemail or having Qwest say, "The line is busy. For only 75 cents Qwest will redial the number and call you back when it's available."

This reminded me of when my mom taught piano lessons about 20 years ago and a student was stumped by her phone. The student went to call for a ride home, but then came back to my mom and said, "I don't know how to use an old-fashioned phone." Maybe those rotary phones were trickier to figure out than I realized 20 years ago!

In any case, I'm behind the times with technology myself. I'm just now going to online banking. Paul would probably be embarrassed for me to admit that considering he is an IT smarty-pants, but we haven't done it in the past. (This is mainly because I balance the checkbook myself. If Paul were doing it, he would have gone to online banking years ago.) I wanted to start using MS Money a while back, but I didn't know how exactly to start it when the checkbook and the bank are never in sync. So, we've opened up a new account from which I'll go all electronic. I'll save some money on stamps and the headache of pulling out my calculator to do the math. I'm a little nervous since I know it may be a pain to set it up (which is why I've avoided it thus far), but I'm excited about the time it will save me in the long run. Wish me luck!

Funny Raymond and MILs

The other night my favorite episode of Everybody Loves Raymond came on. It's one that just cracks me up. In fact, when I saw the preview that it was going to be on, I thought to myself, "Yes, that's funny, but I won't laugh nearly as hard this time as I did last time." And then I did. Well, almost.


It's the episode where Raymond's parents tell the kids that they're going to move into a senior community. Debra and Raymond go into the kitchen and have a little mini celebration as quietly as possible. Robert and Amy decide to join them and the four of them all start hugging and dancing around in excitement. Rob gets so excited that he picks up Amy and sits her on top of the fridge. They do some more dancing around and then Raymond tries to pick up Deb and put her on top of the fridge. He can't quite pick her up that far and basically throws her into the fridge.


It's hilarious. If you've seen it, you're probably laughing about it now, too. If you haven't seen it, you definitely need to watch it. (Episode 194, "The Home") I definitely thought I wouldn't laugh out loud this time, and I still did.


I think I relate a little too much to Deb and her relationship with her MIL. The last talk they have before Marie moves fits my relationship to a T. Deb stops her and says that she is sorry that they haven't been better friends and that she wants to resolve their differences, because she knows their relationship is not how it should be. Marie smiles and says, "Do you know what your problem is?" She then goes on to tell Deb she's such a drama queen and that she (Marie) is just fine with their relationship. Of course, this reminds Deb why the relationship is how it is and that she really should be okay with them moving away. That conversation alone would explain my relationship with my MIL. I would like a real relationship; she wants the appearance of a good relationship.


How is it possible that we (I say we because I know I'm not alone in this!) fall in love with and marry men who have mothers who are so DIFFERENT than us? I mean, has anyone out there gotten the MIL you imagined? Maybe I'm just selfish -- I just wanted someone to be totally into me and my kids. I think I'm a little biased, though, because my mom is probably the perfect MIL, and I've seen her be that for more than 20 years now. Of course, she's not my MIL. :) However, I believe my husband and in-laws would all agree with my opinion. In any case, I'm hoping you all have figured out your MIL relationships better than Deb or I. Let's just say that 7 1/2 years hasn't been long enough for me to figure this out ...

United, although different, States of America

So, Paul finishes his training for his new job tomorrow and gets to fly back to good ol' Utah. He's enjoyed his time at company HQ and getting to know his new team. They have been great to work with thus far, and Paul is enjoying the work.

Anyway, his new team has taken Paul out to dinner every night to make sure he gets to know everyone. What's crazy is how small Delaware is. It doesn't have a major airport in the whole state. Isn't that crazy? Paul had to fly into Philadelphia and drive to New Castle. So Paul's gone out to eat in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. That's just crazy! Getting to another state for dinner would be a major ordeal for me here in central Utah.

He said one of his co-workers from back East came to the Utah office once and decided he'd take a jaunt down to Vegas since he hasn't been there. He had no idea how long it would take to get there and back, because "it's just in the next state." How funny is that?

I think the Eastern states are much like the European countries that are so small. It's much harder for them to comprehend the size and distance in these western states. In any case, I'm looking forward to Paul coming back to laid-back, slower-talking, very-long-desert-stretched Utah.

Vonage update

Our free trial for voicemail transcription is over. However, the humor continued, although nothing as good as Pitsy Gazillion. According to Vonage, my husband can now be called Paul, Bob or Carl.

Oh, and if you missed Josh's comment to my first Vonage post, make sure to check it out. It had me and Paul both laughing ...

Swim fun ... or not

My kids are aquaphobic. My boys get any water on their head, and they freak out. Swimming lessons ought to go well this summer. I thought I was set when I realized that Shayla LOVES the bathtub. However, she proved me wrong this afternoon. This is how she looked when my sister Rachel had her walk into that "deep" water:



I get her bath water deeper than that and she loves it. The only thing I can figure is that at least in the tub she's contained and she's the only one in the tub, so she determines when to splash and when not to splash. It was funny to watch her get so upset when the water wasn't even close to deep. She actually ran away from the water when we tried to get her to go back into it. Eventually she warmed up and came and sat on my lap as I sat in the water. Toward the end of our being there she actually tried splashing the other kids, which was hilarious to watch. She'd try to grab the water by clenching her hands and then lift up the two separate fists and throw the water (by this point just drops) on the other kids. They were great about playing with her. You can see she eventually did have some fun:



And I was great about remembering sunscreen on everyone, including me. As we left I realized my sister's back was red and that she hadn't put any sunscreen on. Fortunately she said she isn't burned. However, tonight as I sat on the couch I felt my back hurting and realized I forgot to have anyone put sunscreen on my back. I had Becca check it, and she said, "Whoa! That's so red!" So, my advice to you all for this summer is this: Don't forget the sunscreen -- even on your backs!!! Aloe vera, anyone?