Saturday, November 11, 2006

If the call center is in India, why are their hours 9-5 PST?

So my friend Tad was in town for production and staying at the Standard on Sunset. Because I am too cheap to dial his international number from my cell phone I called information to get the number. First I got that, oh, sooo annoying recording that asks you to say the city, state and listing. "Los Angeles, CA. Standard Hotel on Sunset," I said.

"Please hold while we transfer your call to a specialist," the automated woman told me. Specialist??? Wha???? Whatever happened to an operator? And why oh why do they bother with that first step? Has anyone ever gotten the number from the automated woman and NOT had to speak with a specialist?

I hear a woman pick up and I begin to say that I am looking for the hotel on Sunset, not Downtown when I am abruptly cut off and told that I am being connected. Why would they even need a specialist to do that? The phone rings and I am connected to the Standard in Downtown LA. AARRGGHH. The Downtown Standard cannot transfer me and I cannot memorize the number they give me because I am driving. I hang up and decide to call the operator again to credit back the last call. The "specialist" cannot do that. I have to call Customer Service.

Next I go through a number of "press 1 if you are calling about number blah blah.....press 2 if this is a billing question" and so on. Of course I hit "0" repeatedly to get to a live human being. After my call is transferred, I find out that their hours of operation are 9-5. It is 10:00pm.

Which brings me to my original question. If we are going to outsource, couldnt't someone answer the phone at 10pm?

I called customer service the next day and got both calls credited back. Yes, I am that cheap.

1 Comments:

Blogger Kidsis said...

No, you're that rad.

Good for you.

12:54 PM  

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