So customer service is dead and gone! The last few weeks have been riddled with frustration as I have dealt with various customer service agents, representatives, and automated robot voices.
Let me open with I worked retail for about 6.5 years and have a standard of expectation for service. THe same standard i gave to others! That standard is reasonable in my opinion and includes:
· Adhering to sales and marketing promotions
· Providing me with quality service (meaning without attitude or anger)
· Fee for service exchange (if I pay the expected price I wish to receive the expected product)
· Minimal waiting
Unfortunately I have learned that no matter how much you spend or where you shop…service is dead and gone. This fact makes me sad and no longer excited to shop in public!
Many of my friends and family are aware of my recent issues with my apartment complex. Please note that NO names were changed or edited in this blog because I am calling folks out!!!
Since I moved in Oct 2011, I have been having issues with my bathtub preventing me from filling it with water. Tell a black woman she can’t take a bubble bath ever and see what happens to you! But I pushed through; I notified the leasing office at Lenox Hills apartments every time the tub flooded the bathroom. I did my due diligence as a resident!
Problem: all water from full tub disperses onto bathroom, hallway, kitchen and closet floors
So it was “fixed” 3 times but continued to leak water everywhere. After a few months and that uncomfortable mildew smell from wet carpets and floors and extreme urgency by me they decided to send a plumber and mold inspector. Did my leasing office follow-up with me at all? Did they provide me with status checks? Did they offer me anything for my inconvenience? Hell NO!
Did I have to call them every day for 2 weeks and leave messages when they never called me back? Did I have to do spot visits at the leasing office 2-3 times weekly? Did I have to call and email the corporate office to get a response back from the office manager? Yes to all of that.
Problem: Having to chase down management to fix a problem in my apartment that I pay $825 a month for
So eventually months later I come home (on a Friday) and there is equipment (industrial fans and humidifiers) plugged into my outlets, that was my message that they were fixing the issue because they certainly didn’t call me to tell me or leave me any instructions. So after calling and filing an emergency request someone finally told me that the equipment was supposed to remain for 3 days and that I had to dump water from it every so many hours.
Problem: I don’t read minds or know how to work a large humidifier (isn’t that what I pay you for)
After that didn’t do the job, the plumber suggests removing the tub. I am told (after asking multiple times) that the repairs and removal will take 4 days, won’t start without my knowledge, and will begin on a Monday.
Fast forward to Thursday after they can’t find a replacement tub when I happened to stop by for a random site visit on my lunch break (before repairs have started), and in the span of 30 minutes I no longer have bathroom tiles or a floor. Oh we are starting now, my bad for living here.
Problem: where am I supposed to live while you impromptu make repairs on my bathroom?
No care or concern, no arrangements made they start destroying my bathroom with no new estimated timeline and I was told “it wasn’t a hazard for me to stay". It was my choice to leave. It’s not that bad or uninhabitable. I live in a one bedroom/one bathroom and my floor was missing along with all of my bathroom tiles and my faucet, plus it was 95 degrees outside and still the part of a work week. Lakendra the Office manager you stay there! After I asked about other options I was then told I could use bathroom 4 buildings over but still sleep in my apartment. Chile Please!!!!
Problem: aside from the obvious, who wakes up to pee and shower but has to walk outside through buildings to use a restroom in an empty apartment where I would have to bring my own shower curtain, rugs, and towels.
So 2 weeks into all this I was still getting the run around and I had to mention the lease agreement where my rent should be pro-rated! I also had to mention the importance of communication so I could know when to return to my apartment. Upon what I was told was completion, I return to 3 more days of large equipment 2-3 fans, humidifier, etc that was so loud you could pop an ear drum. I finally saw the light at the end of the wind and water tunnel. We are finished they proclaim, we have agreed to pro-rating your rent, and will pay your power costs….at last my incessant pestering paid off. But wait…I return home after hours on a Thursday to find 3 Asian non-English speaking workers cutting wood and painting in my apartment (no tarp, no covers, using my broom and sink). When I am told to return in 30 minutes (I have been gone 9 hours already). When I do return is my apartment back in order….NO. Did they leave everything on the floor including dirt, Yes. Did I have any indication from my leasing office this would occur, NO!
Problem: The Asian invasion should not come to Apt 1005 without an invitation and a cleaning crew!
The problem is not that all that occurred (which is a problem) but that I had to threaten, bully, and pester my leasing office into doing the right thing. I wasn’t asking for you to give me special treatment, I wasn’t asking for new appliances, or even a new apartment. I just wanted a working bathroom, what I was paying for, what I was entitled to as a resident.
My leasing office is just one example of this but over the last few days I have had multiple encounters with tomfoolery in service:
Dear waitress who left our table (without notifying us she was off shift and going home); we needed you to come back and close out our ticket. Why did we have to flag down a hostess after waiting 15 minutes so we could pay our tab. But you get mad when people dine-and-dash! PS: black people do tip stop being racist!
Dear police officer attending the scene of my cousins accident, it’s not ok for you to discuss how you were out last night until 5am, or to be sleeping in your car while they waited for a tow-truck, or to use your PA system to greet and bother other residents.
Dear Equifax, it’s not ok for you steal my credit card number after I have informed you that my Ex’s account is now using it without my authorization because of an automated draft. When I call to cancel don’t tell me you can’t because I am not the authorized user on the account. I am authorized on my credit card and you are taking money you shouldn’t! I opened the damn account and I was paying for it. Close it or I’ll block it…you decide. They chose the blocking and would not agree to stop payment. Irony of that is you are an agency that prevents identity theft but your will allow credit card misuse!
Dear every retail worker under the age of 25; stop making personal calls in the fitting room! Bag my stuff with respect and decency. Please help me find the item I am looking for without rolling your eyes or saying snide things under your breath; I wasn’t rude to you that old leather looking lady was! Don’t throw my credit card at me unless I throw it at you. At least wait until customers exit the store before you start talking trash and please come to the register when you see a line!!
Dear Cox cable that called and emailed my cousin multiple times regarding his closed account (which initiated the account closing because he was moving and paid it off and returned equipment in person) with threats of collections because your window clerk made a calculation error and he owed 1 cent. Yes a penny! Collections over a penny!!! Plus he paid in person what he thought was the full amount. Plus he was never delinquent.
Dear every automated phone system, #0 – REPRESENTATIVE!!!!!!! I hate you!
Problem: Customer service is dead!
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