I recently had a very confusing and frustrating series of miscommunications with a computer supply company. My account representative changes every couple months, so there really isn't an ongoing relationship. The past reps used to email me with questions, which is great because things in writing are much easier to both track and understand than phone conversations made overseas - or at least what I presume is overseas.
But with this new rep, his call left only the general phone number for the company with no additional information like an email address. Calls came in at odd hours, and when I phoned back, I was always sent to voicemail. I left messages each time, and suggested we communicate via email. Each time he phoned me again, he'd act as though I had never contacted him before, "We still have not heard back from you..."
One day I received a voicemail message from a different person from the same company. This new caller told me my rep was on vacation, so he'd handle the account. He gave me the same general company phone number - one that when I typed in my account number would send me to my rep's voicemail, certainly not helpful if my rep is on vacation! This new caller said I could email him (Yay! An email address!) But when he gave me his Americanized name and then spelled it in his email address, it made absolutely no sense. "My name is Victor, "v" as in "voy"..."
I never did connect with my rep, but since I had sent some communication via postal mail, the voicemails touting problems stopped.
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Last year a perky girl from our payroll company phoned to tell me about tax credits for new employees. I'm always wary of sales folks, and don't particularly want to take time out of my day to hear pitches that will likely end with me feeling pressured and saying "no" over and over again during each "follow up" communication.
But, my accountant (who I actually trust) told me there are some new tax credits, so I'd probably benefit from hearing about how they would work with payroll. ("Why wouldn't such changes occur automatically," I thought. They have got to want to sell me something.) I agreed to meet with the young saleswoman.
When the gal phoned me to set up the appointment, she used an unidentified number (which I assume was her mobile.) The night before our appointment, she insisted to push it back an hour because she had another (apparently more important) appointment. I reluctantly agreed, even though I had to rearrange my schedule a bit to accommodate the last-minute request.
The day of the appointment, she didn't show up. I phoned the payroll company and used the company directory to leave her a voicemail, but didn't have her unidentified mobile number to actually find out if she was planning to eventually come.
Days passed with no call back. No apology. No excuse. Nothing.
I contacted a different person at the payroll company to inquire. They brusquely told me the perky girl had been terminated but they did not offer an apology.
A few weeks ago, a new person from the company phoned with the same line about tax credits for new employees. I reluctantly agreed to meet with him, but told him that the last time had ended with me losing over an hour of valuable time with no apology.
Well, the dude was 35 minutes late. I was about to walk out when he walked in. He didn't really apologize, just scoffed that his prior appointment was farther away than he thought.
He looked like the stereotypical American Boy: portly, flushed cheeks, young.
He treated me like a not-so-bright girl to his apparently "educated" man. He wondered if perhaps he could also meet with a man from the company. He made a big deal about how his product (because indeed to get the tax credit you had to buy an HR product that magically cost the same amount as the credit) is "all-American." He kept harping on how his company only hires Americans and how "there are no funny accents unless you count the New Yorkers."
He laughed at his own joke.
I smiled politely, feeling uncomfortable. Dare I call him on his racism while I was still harboring my own "darn those difficult accents" grudges from my recent experience with an outsourced company?
The whole conversation was uncomfortable. He had stars in his eyes and stripes on his shirt as he told me about the excellent financial investments that would surely make him an American Gazillionaire.
All I see, though, are two companies with a high turnover rate and poor communication skills. American or not, I'm not impressed.
