Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Lack of Customer Service

DH lost his wallet Friday. In that wallet, along with his license & credit cards was a list of our checking account numbers.  The bank got right on it and set us up with new accounts and by Sunday everything was transferred to these new accounts and all our auto transfers and BillPays were transferred as well.  They just transferred the new account to my check card rather than issue me a new one. That is about 85% of our bill payments taken care of with no effort on my part. Thank goodness.

However there is that other 15% - those few accounts who for whatever reason are direct debiting our checking account or who were given DH's check card number to debit.  Problem is I have no idea how some of our accounts are billing us (my card? his card? direct debit?), and since the new accounts were opened I have no statement history to go look at and see. So I have to call them.

Our long distance company saved me the problem by calling me (they had DH's now canceled card), but it was an auto message so there was no human being to talk to.

A portent of things to come.

Does anyone like voice activated response systems over the phone? You know the ones where instead of pushing 1, you have to say (or shout) ONE.. ONE... ONE DAMN IT!!! in the phone to get to the next option where you have to shout NO & YES a bunch of times and then try and phrase your problem "I need to update my billing information" in short enough syllables the system can recognize it and you find yourself shouting OPERATOR!!! OPERATOR !!! over and over again in the hopes of getting a live human being? Those systems? The ones you cannot use if you have small kids in the room because while the system can't seem to hear you saying THREE with your mouth on the receiver it can hear your 4 year old across the room demanding a snack and it responds "I'm sorry I didn't understand, lets try again" repeatedly.

Let's just say I have issues with voice response systems.

I had to call 4 of them! With one account I finally got through to a person who listened to my problem, said "oh you need the billing department" and then put me back into the voice response billing system!

But they are all fixed now. I think. I'm sure I am forgetting someone but I can't figure out who it is.

I'm sure they will let me know.

14 comments:

The Four Week Vegan said...

Hate those automated things. So sorry you have to deal with this.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you got everything worked out. It's such a hassle to have to change everything over!

btw, I gave you an award. You can check it out at http://doresdiaries.blogspot.com/2008/11/im-sparky-blogger.html

Mommy In Pink said...

Whew! Those kind of things are scary...totally been there!

Anonymous said...

That is so completely annoying!

Paula @ Organizing Tips For Moms said...

Oh, so frustrating! Glad you have most of it taken care of.

I started to keep a simple sheet that tells me what bill, what method of payment, what account. Nothing fancy.

What I should do is photo copy everything that is in my purse along with the phone number of the company. Just haven't gotten to that yet.

Unknown said...

I can't stand those automated things either. Losing your wallet is such a pain!!!

Deb said...

Oh I know what you mean - I hate those automated voice response things too. And I'm so sorry you had to deal with so many of them - what a pain!

Anonymous said...

Yes, can't think of something that would annoy me more than a day of voice activated systems!

Creative Junkie said...

Ugh. I'm so sorry you have to go through that. And automated voice systems rank right up there with lice - huge PITA's.

Jenni said...

Those automated things are AWFUL...I hope it is all straightened out!

Anonymous said...

Oh how I HATE having to SAY th option...it's worse when they want actual words instead of just the number...GRRR then of course you have to keep calling back again and again...Trying to say "Technical Support" is the worst!! Hate this all happened to you guys but glad you were able to catch most of your things and cancel/transfer accounts right away.

Heather said...

ACK! I haaaate voice response systems! Everytime I call my phone company I have to go through that big hassle. So sorry to hear about hubbies wallet. I hope all resolves itself soon!

Anonymous said...

UGH. What a PITA. That's great that your back was so accomodating, especially on a weekend. And yes, whoever you missed changing your auto pay info with will definitely be in touch with you soon enough!

Jess NBP said...

OH Those are annoying!!