So what is bad Customer Service?

[jpezz]

Dish advertizes how they are rated as having the best customer service oer J. D. Power. So what is bad customer service?

Q - (phone) "I didn't see any DVD recorders on your list of devices for my 322 remote control. There are DVD players and VCRs but no recorders and none of the DVD player settings work? DVD Recorders are the hottest thing on the market. What century are you in?"

A - "We don't support third party devices."

Issue - What about all the other devices listed. Do you "support" them"?


Q - (Email) - "Can I pay one year in advance?"

A - "Call the 800 number."

Issue - They can't answer that question via email?


Q - (Phone) Can I pay a year in advance and get the free month?

A - Yes. And it will cost you $389. This doesn't include the $5.99 monthly for local channels or the $5.00 for extra receiver or the tax but those can also optionally be payed in advance without discount or will be billed monthly.

Issue - Fine. As she was calculating the total cost, we got cut off. When I immediately called back and finally got someone else, she said: "No, you can't pay in advance. That is not available".
"But I was just told I could by the other person!"
"No, only if you owned your equipment. You lease."
"But the other person said it was OK!"
"Sorry!"


Q - (email) - "Your web site is not clear as to what upgrades I can get as an existing customer. Can you tell me?"

A - "Call the 800 number."

Issue - You can't answer that by email?


Q - (phone) - Can I get an upgrade to a 522 from a 322?

A - "No. Only available to new customers. you should have done it when you got your service."
"But I only had it 2 months and nobody told me about the 522 option!"
"Sorry."

Issue - If they had told me, fine but they didn't.

They do say "Sorry" a lot. I don't know if they are apologizing or describing themselves.


I wrote a letter to the General Manager of Customer support at Echostar. So far no answer.

 

[korsjs]

dishnetwork customer service.

to me bad customer service is what you posted above. never really had bad customer service with dish, just unknowledgable service.

 

[jlhugh]

Why do they even have email with answers like that.

I wondering if they are hiring for that job. Seems it might be pretty easy.

 

[boba]

Why do they even have email with answers like that.

I wondering if they are hiring for that job. Seems it might be pretty easy.

Just go across the border I believe they have a call center in OK City.

 

[gpflepsen]

The best thing is to arm yourself with knowledge from sights such as this one. Call then with request, not questions.

 

[SimpleSimon]

True, but that's not the point.

The point is, THEY ARE CLUELESS.

What REALLY ticks me off, is that there's NO valid reason for it.

Decent technical/customer support is EASY with a decent management/support structure.

 

[hpman247]

True, but that's not the point.

The point is, THEY ARE CLUELESS.

What REALLY ticks me off, is that there's NO valid reason for it.

Decent technical/customer support is EASY with a decent management/support structure.

Exactly. They know nothing except the basic reset procedures, and "Sir/Main would you like credit card autopay."

I think they should just have everyone go through a certification test of some sort and if they fail they are out. As the Trump would say,

"You're Fired!"

 

[kluken]

What is bad customer service?

And the answer is ....


1-800-333-3474

 

[DishSatUser]

All the customer service issues are really societies fault. We've moved from a "service" oriented society to a fast pace, want it now society.

Look how you are treated at fast food and all of the other services you now receive. Used to be that you'd go to a drive-in or regular resturant (not the 5 stars that you have to attend to get the level you used to everywhere) and get fantastic service.

So when I call, knowing the above, I get what I expected which wasn't much.

 

[MonkeyWhacker]

E*'s Customer Service is spotty at best. Is it training or the lack thereof? Is it lack of motivation? I've had great CSR's respond to my questions quickly and with facts that seems to ring true. I've had poor CSRs responding to questions with a total lack of knowledge.

At best, its like playing roulette.... you just never know what will happen when they pick up the phone. So, if you don't like the first answer you get, keep calling back.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Welcome aboard!

You've hit the nail on the head - we've been calling it CSR Roulette for a long time.

I think you're gonna fit right in here.

 

[jpezz]

What is bad customer service - an update


Well I finally heard something from Echostar after writing to them. Yesterday I got a call from "Gerri" from Dish. She had no interest in resolving any of the issues I brought up. She only wanted to know who was the person that replied to my email. She did express disappointment that I received such short answers but she really had no interest in pursuing my issues.

On a scale of one to five, Mr. J. D. Powers, you can award these people a zero for me.

 

[GaryPen]

All the customer service issues are really societies fault.

Yeah that be it. !sadroll The only blame society has in this is that they continue to accept it. And, in the case of some customers who mostly frequent a different dbs forum, actually DEFEND the practice out of some weird emotional attachment or loyalty.

 

[Slamminc11]

I guess paying someone like Soraya $13.5 mil a year to run the CSC really did the trick! And she wonders why Charlie would get a bit "angry" with her.
Let's face it, if you had to sit on the other end of the phone and listen to people gripe and b*tch eight hours a day would not only drive you to the brink of suicide, but would definitely have you looking for a career change! There's more turnovers in the call centers of both Dish and Direct than Ruben Droughns (gotta get the bronco reference in) on a bad day! They get $10-$11 an hour and are shoved onto the phones ASAP so that you aren't on hold forever, and then they get to basically learn as they go. I'd love to see any of you try it for a week, and then come back here and sing your same songs! Just my two cents!

 

[drod]

Yeah, I knew an agent that went onto sites like this to learn more information about HD, the general technologies and such, just general information to allow themselves to better answer questions and answer integabilly when talking to customers. When management found out they threatened to fire her on the spot, stating it is a conflict of interest. The trainers don't know any information about upcoming equipment, they refuse to train regular CSRs in situations like HD and tell them to just transfer to advanced technical. Its really a situation where they go through and just shoot themselves in the foot not allowing people that want to learn the ability to do so and those that don't will pretty much always win out.

 

[BFG]

Well at least you can feel comfortable knowing everyone else's customer service is worse than E* since we got the JD Power

But really the CSRs aren't that bad, it's when you challenge them with info that they don't know about themselves, and for that it's managements fault not the person...

 

[wmhjr]

That's the "old" Dish

I used to get through after 5-10 minutes. Now, it's forever (OK, I'll define that as in excess of 30 minutes during the FIRST hold time).

I've had One (1) CSR in the past four months that knew anything. I've had at least 20 CSRs that knew nothing. Frankly, they gave clearly false information.

Call centers are tough to work at. However, some companies get it right. I can name a few that are clearly far superior (including both D* and Cable, in my recent experience).

On top of everything else, they almost NEVER follow through after the call. That is simply unacceptable.

I miss the old Dish. For sure, however, I'm not currently missing Dish!

 

[GaryPen]

My bit of advice for customers seeking a higher level of service is to always select Tech Support in the phone menu, even if you have a non-technical issue. They are authorized to handle standard customer service issues, and are usually much smarter and more articulate than the standard CSR's. I believe I've only had one dopey TSR. Conversely, I've probably only had one sharp CSR. (Executive CSR's excluded.)

 

[jerseyjk]

From the other side of the fence ... I had occassion to call customer service for the first time since I activated my 4xxx like 5 years ago (yes, you read right. haven't called CS in 5 years ... legacy receivers rock). I was calling to activate the new 522 I bought off Ebay. It was about 10:30 EST and it was something like this ...

After about 8 minutes of initial hold time, I get a CSR. "I'd need to activate a new receiver. I've run it through the switch check and it's all set playing the Dish Info station. BTW, it's a 522."

After some initial confusion on the other end, she asks me to hold while she checks out how to do this. After 2 minutes, she's back on and says no problem, but she's got to verify it's installed properly and then send me over to another dept to activate. I read off S00 and R00 numbers, give her switch status, sat positions and trans and she puts me on hold. After about 8 more minutes of hold time, same CSR gets back on the line. She apologizes for the delay telling me again it had to go to another dept and come back. "You're all set. Leave the receiver alone for about half hour and then you'll be good to go. Anything else I can help you with?" Sure enough, after about 15 minutes I was experiencing video bliss.

Maybe I got lucky on two counts ... activated an owned 522 with no email to Charley and got a helpful, knowledgeable CSR who managed to do exactly what I asked ... but I don't think CS is bad at all.

 

[jpezz]

Let's face it, if you had to sit on the other end of the phone and listen to people gripe and b*tch eight hours a day would not only drive you to the brink of suicide, but would definitely have you looking for a career change! There's more turnovers in the call centers of both Dish and Direct than Ruben Droughns (gotta get the bronco reference in) on a bad day! They get $10-$11 an hour and are shoved onto the phones ASAP so that you aren't on hold forever, and then they get to basically learn as they go. I'd love to see any of you try it for a week, and then come back here and sing your same songs! Just my two cents!

I did customer technical support for a major computer corporation for a number of years. The problem was NOT the customers but the company. Customer support does not earn money for the company. It is a cost center. The result is that management always cuts corners. Training is minimized. The number of people online is minimized. They won't let you do the "right thing" for the customer. Working conditions are less than ideal. Customers get angry because they end up with untrained, overworked CSRs who can't authorize anything but what is in the book. The customer is not the problem. Management is!
To cut costs even more, they move support to India. The real solution is to outsource management to China and keep manufacturing and support here. Then the managers can make $2/hour (CEO and executive committee up to $5/hour) and the employees and customers will be happy.

John