Customer service ... or lack of it

I am always amazed by how large companies easily and repeatedly drop the ball in customer service in very obvious ways! They spend huge efforts and money on trying to polish their image, then they ruin all that with stupid ways they behave with their customers!

I recently had such experiences with two companies, UPS and Showtime. On the first I will save your time and just say UPS sucks! They are willing to lose a customer in order not to admit their mistakes. They did lose me and now I avoid dealing with them even if they were the only available service. If I had time I would've ran a campaign against them!

More recently, it was Showtime. The kids saw Animal Planet at a hotel room in a recent trip, and they wanted to have the channel at home badly. Showtime has been trying to get me as a client for years. I am finally ready to be a client. I log on their website hoping I can sign up to their service online. That's not available. Fine, will call them. I call, I press the button that says I would like to be a new customer. This is the core of their business. This is the peak of their attempts for years to get me as a client. It is their lucky moment. A big red light should turn on at their call center and agents should be racing to pick up my call. Right. I am put on hold and their annoying message describing their lineup keeps repeating and repeating and no one picks up! So I hang up. No Animal Planet for the kids. They already forgot that they asked for it. I save a few hundred bucks a year, Showtime loses my business. Case closed.

This is just too hard to believe! It is a very simple equation but they don't get it. They pick up or I hang up. They invest millions in setting up their call centers, build their brand, go after clients, then when the client comes they don't pick up. How stupid can they be?

Now, I have a business, and I hope our clients don't think that our customer service sucks, and that we don't drop the ball frequently. But if you are a client of iHorizons and you are not happy with our customer service, please add a comment here and let me know. You will be doing me a favor and I would appreciate that.