A few months ago, my laptop speakers stopped working when I needed them for a uni assignment that required using audio and video resources. Hoping to get it fixed quickly, I called my closest customer support store.
After 15 minutes on hold I was redirected to a technical support team in another part of the country to schedule an appointment with the technician in the store I called. Surprisingly, I was only offered an appointment in 3 weeks’ time from the date when I called, and it was at a computer repair shop on the other side of the city.
I couldn’t wait that long because the assignment was due well before then. I started worrying that I might miss my deadline, so I asked the technical support team for other solutions. I was then told that I could try contacting my closest store directly to see if they had any technicians available sooner.
Thanks… but I just tried that!
Next minute I heard: “Please hold.” I was redirected to the store I first called.
After another 20 minutes on hold, a woman answered. She said there was a technician available, but I would have to book an appointment with him through the technical support team that I was speaking with just before I got redirected to her.
Frustrated, I told her about the conversation I just had with the technical support team not long ago, hoping that it would speed up the process, and get me out of this endless loop they’d thrown me into.
However, she kept insisting that the only thing she could do was transfer my call back to technical support as per the company’s standard procedures, even though the technical support team in another part of the country clearly didn’t have up to date information available to them.
I said I wasn’t happy with the assistance provided and asked to escalate this issue further. I was then put on hold again while she was gone to consult with her supervisor. After waiting for another 10 minutes, I finally got offered an appointment with a technician at my closest store for the following Monday.
The technician took less than a day to get the sound back on my laptop and I was lucky to submit my assignment on time. It is disappointing that if I did not choose to argue with this woman, I’d have had to wait 3 weeks to achieve this outcome.
This company is a global leader in the tech industry and yet a mere internal communication and support system seems to be failing, and takes it out on clients’ time and energy. Large and famous IT corporations claim to put their clients first, but do they really?
