Service Untitled

OK, as I mentioned, I had the technology day from you know where yesterday. Everything around me seemed to break. I narrowed down the problem with my phone’s cable to something that wasn’t the cable, wasn’t the phone, and wasn’t the USB port. It was really quite annoying. So, I called Verizon.

This was my first, somewhat expanded experience with Verizon. I will give more details in a little bit, but the overall grade from me was C-/D+.

I used GetHuman to get the number for Verizon. I entered my phone number, pushed 0 frantically, and got some obnoxious hold music (filled with advertisements). After about 5 minutes, I was transferred to a guy who seemed nice enough. I explained my problem and he said he would have to transfer me to technical support. He tried to get a tech support person on the phone, but said there was a delay in that department and asked if I wanted to wait. I said okay.

More annoying hold music and advertisements, and 10 minutes later, I was connected to a lady who read her script and such. I explained my problem and attempted (and failed) to verify my account. She said she could only provide me with “general information.” I explained my problem, she provided a few suggestions, and I said none of those would work for X reason or Y reason. The lady said that she couldn’t help me much more and would elevate me to a level 3 representative. Throughout the call, she had been fairly rude, but got nicer towards the end. She tried to do the same thing as the last guy. After about 5 minutes, she said there was a delay and asked if I wanted to hold.

I was connected to a level 3 representative in about 30 seconds. He introduced himself, got my personal information, and asked how he could help me. I explained my problem once again (despite being told it was all logged the first time) and he tried to guide me through the steps. He was ruder than the last woman, but knew his stuff. After about forty five minutes with the very impatient representative, I was able to get my problem fixed.

Then, I called ViewSonic about my monitor not wanting to work on my desktop. I found the phone number and called. After one or two simple menus and about 30 seconds on hold, I was transferred to a guy who seemed fairly nice.

I explained my problem, what I had done, and such. He was very honest and very straight forward. He told me that I done a good job so far and from what I described, it is actually hard to tell if it is a problem with the monitor. He said he would be more than happy to authorize sending it in, but that is usually a last resort. I asked him how long it would take to fix it and he said “Quite honestly, 4 weeks.” The call did not seem scripted at all and throughout the entire call, he was very polite and very honest about what the best options would be.

I was told I would be emailed a program that could help fix the problem and I asked if he could stay on the line while I installed it. However, he told me that there were about 5 people waiting to talk to him and that if I had any problems, I could call back. I have yet to get that email, so I have to call back.

I have to give ViewSonic two grades. In terms of customer service experience (how nice everyone was, how long it took to get me to the right person, etc.), they get an A-. In terms of getting the problem fixed, ViewSonic gets an F. In the end, the customer wants the problem to get fixed. A great customer service experience is very important, but so is fixing the problem.

Have you had any technical support experiences lately? If so, how were they?