Credit Entitlement

[XXDarrienX]

Me: Thank you for calling Tech Support, this is Darrien how can I help you?
CEL: I am getting a no picture on one of my tvs with a cable box.
Me: I do apologize for that, let me send a authorization to your box to try and clear it up for you.
*a minute pause*
Me: Did that resolve your issue?
CEL: No its still not getting a picture and I already did all the steps you people tell me to do.
Me: Alright, looks like the box could be bad. There is one thing you can do to resolve the issue, you can exchange the box today at one of our service centers and have it restored.
CEL: No I do not want that, I want you to send a tech out to bring me a box.
Me: Alright I can do that. Hold a moment while I schedule the tech to come out.
*a few minutes go by while I add a Lazy tax to the work order.*
Me: Alright mam, I have you scheduled for Tuesday at the earliest we have available.
CEL: Ok, but do I get a credit for the inconvenience of this not working.
Me: It is just affecting one box?
CEL: Yes but it is inconvenient and you should take care of me.
Me(thinking): You do know the credit your getting is like 50 cents? Seriously are you that lazy to watch tv in ANOTHER room?
Me: I do not have the authority to give that sort of discount since your other TVs are working so I am going to have to send you to billing.
CEL: You're sending me where?
Me: To billing, they can see if they can give you the credit your requesting.(ie. they are going to laugh at you)
CEL: Well alright fine then send me to whoever to get credit for this inconvenience.
Me: Thank you for calling such and such Cable Company you have a great day. *call transferred*

Normally I give credit for legit reasons and I understand if someones out of all services for a few days. I have more sympathy for someone without any tv as opposed to one stupid lady with one box malfunctioning. The lazy tax is the 19.95 fee we charge people that refuse to troubleshoot over the phone, I generally tend to waive it if its a elderly person and shes nice over the phone but not the entitlement lazy people.

[JustADude]

The lazy tax is the 19.95 fee we charge people that refuse to troubleshoot over the phone, I generally tend to waive it if its a elderly person and shes nice over the phone but not the entitlement lazy people.

W00TNESS!

Never thought I'd see the day that something like that was actually put into play. I hope the rest of the policies are just as cool. I'm the same way about people like that. Back when I was at Blockbuster, if they were nice and they actually have a valid complaint, I'd use every trick in the book to give them a break... which wasn't really that tricky, since we were given full authority to cut late fees and do free rentals, as long as we didn't go overboard on it. The ones that were SCs and Entitlement Whores got exactly zilch, zero, and nada. I couldn't apply an idiot tax, but I certainly wouldn't give them breaks either.

The lesson in both cases: Don't piss off the guy who controls your account.

[IlovemyGeek]

No fair, if you get a lazy tax. I want a dumbazz tax for the geniuses that have log in issues b/c they spell their name wrong.

[It's me]

I don't get.

She's paying for something that is not working properly. Asks for credit because otherwise she would be paying money but not getting what she is paying for. Doesn't want to mess with it herself and is will to wait for a tech to come deal with issue.

This person sounds entirely reasonable to me.

[Arcade Man D]

I do get it. Presuming that Darrien's company works similarly to the one I have service through, if one has digital cable, one generally has cable internet as well. When purchased in a package with internet, digital and standard cable are the same price. If you have digital, TVs you have that do not have a box on the line between them will receive standard cable.

Finally, the SC refused to take the option available that would fix the problem that day, instead choosing to make a tech come out to replace it. If the SC got it replaced at the service center, she would have had the problem fixed the same day. All in all she would have lost a grand total of 10 cents worth of service.

I say she can look for sympathy between "Shit" and "Syphillis", but I don't like entitlement SCs.

[XXDarrienX]

To clarify one other point. The person in question also had another TV with a cable box that was working along with two other tvs not hooked into boxes that were receiving standard cable. If I were to credit her account for one box being out of service for 1 day, that is 30/7=23.3 so basically shes losing out of 23 cents. Boy do they get mad at you when you tell them how much a 1 day credit is. Thats why I never tell them unless they ask, if you do your just asknig for a reeming call.

[TNT]

To clarify one other point. The person in question also had another TV with a cable box that was working along with two other tvs not hooked into boxes that were receiving standard cable. If I were to credit her account for one box being out of service for 1 day, that is 30/7=23.3 so basically shes losing out of 23 cents.

Exactly. A lot of customers want to bring up the idea that, "I paid my entire cable bill based solely on the idea that I would be able to watch this program at this time in this room."

Meanwhile, the cable company takes the position that one box at 6.95 (or whatever) a month was out... therefore you get 1 day of credit for that box and only that box.

Going further than that would be okay... but then you get the customer I once had. "Well, you see it's not that simple. I invited friends over to watch a movie in that room. I want to be compensated for that box not working, the money I spent on drinks and snacks, and the embarrassment of it all."

So, it's best to stick to, "One box was out... that's what you get credit for."

[cheese]

I don't understand where 23.3 cents comes from.. 30/7 is certainly not 23.3?
Also where does 7 come from anyway. I'm sure it is a small amount as you say just not sure where you got those numbers

[jnd4rusty]

I don't understand where 23.3 cents comes from.. 30/7 is certainly not 23.3?
Also where does 7 come from anyway. I'm sure it is a small amount as you say just not sure where you got those numbers

Assuming it is just like my cable company..$7.00 divided by 30 days=.23 cents.

[XXDarrienX]

I don't understand where 23.3 cents comes from.. 30/7 is certainly not 23.3?
Also where does 7 come from anyway. I'm sure it is a small amount as you say just not sure where you got those numbers

Yes its the 7 dollar a month box fee divided by 30 days to get that.

[BravoOrig]

I experienced that when the cable company I work for had a statewide outage with the last big PPV boxing fight. It cut out just before the main event. I'm in tech support but we were transferred calls to help out. You wouldn't believe how long people will hold to tell you there's a problem or that it went out. Well duh, we probably know by now. We were told to tell customers that the PPV charge would be reversed, but this wasn't good enough for one person as they asked "Is that it?" "I said what do you mean is that it? Of course that's it." Sometimes I wish the lady I spoke to over a year ago who said she'd have my job was right.

And we had to deduct points for the lady who kept getting transferred to tech support, where we told her the situation, and insisted she speak with Customer Service to get credit or to complain, all we could do was warn her it'd be awhile and she'd probably get back to us for the 6th time. She wouldn't call back in the morning like we advised so that there would be no hold time and she'd still get the credit, despite it being automatically done.

[XXDarrienX]

Oh woe is me for big PPV events, that last boxing fight was the first time since I started with the company, that little event caused 200+ calls in queue and it just kept going up without going down. People were pissed and rightfully so, one guy demanded the CEO though thats not possible but still. I hate those PPV events we get no commission on it and it causes major problems in the system.

[wagegoth]

My cable internet went out a little over a week ago. I called the service department, and from the troubleshooting we did it appeared the modem was dying. "Okay," I tell the tech, "my husband will take the modem in tomorrow for a replacement at the local office."

Then the service guy says the words that put me into complete shock, "Oh, no, I'll schedule a tech to come out tomorrow morning. Is that a good time for you?"

I actually took the phone from my ear to stare at it. Wha, huh? "Why do I need a tech? It's probably the modem; it's pretty old."

"Well, we don't know if it's the modem, or the line, or a network issue, so it's really best if I send out a tech."

Again, wha, huh? My cable TV is working fine, the modem is old, and after the dealings I've had, and the stories from Phone Jockey and TNT, no way do I want a tech in my home except as an absolute last resort. Me: "Okay, why don't you put this down in your notes, but don't schedule the tech. We'll exchange the modem, and if that doesn't work, we'll schedule the tech." To which he agreed.

Sure enough, it was the modem.

[BravoOrig]

Electronics both new and old can die out, but there is a low percentage of the modems going bad. They'll test a returned modem and most of the time its still good. Most connectivity problems are caused by the signal coming into the home, from out on the pole into the house, anything can cause a bad signal. Just because you can still watch TV doesn't mean the signal is strong enough for a cable modem to work. Televisions have much more tolerance for weaker signals and can still give you an acceptable picture, but when you start seeing tiling on a digital channel, or if the tv is out too, then its a bigger issue. I wasn't privy to the conversation and what exactly pointed to the modem going bad, but if he was doing his job, he might have found a high number of flaps, and show that the modem reported the signals coming in were about out of range the last time it was on. There are a number of reports that can be run to determine what the real issue is. I think its awesome that your area had an appt for the next morning to have a tech out, some areas get so behind because of a shortage of manpower that you have to wait a week. You can swap the modem all you want at the local office, but everyone blames that piece of equipment so he has certainly heard it more than a few times that it must be the modem. If he was a good tech, his job was to try and save you the time and trouble of calling back to schedule a technician which might not have been so soon, after swapping the modem didn't change a thing. The lights on the modem are a good indicator as to if it is bad or not, if the mdm is cycling through its steps over and over, and cannot complete those steps to get you online, then it goes back to square one and tries again. About the only time I'd say a modem needs replaced is an odd light sequence, or its completely dead and you've tried another electrical outlet.

The analogy I like to use is, you have a Dodge Viper all tuned up ready to go, but the road is under construction or needs work so you're not going anywhere.

[wagegoth]

BravoOrig:

We did run through some testing on the modem. The lights were all flashing, and flashing improperly. Email was working, but I couldn't get on the Internet. After powering down and restarting the modem, the email then wouldn't work either. There were no reported outages in my area. There was no quality loss on my digital TV picture.

Combining the testing results with the age of the modem seemed a good indicator that the problem was in the modem itself.