The mere mention that you are a blogger can now strike fear in the hearts of bad customer service companies. I recently tried to order the Major League Baseball Extra Innings package from Time Warner Cable. The customer service rep (CSR) told me I just missed the early bird $30 discount by four days and he wished I would have called earlier. Now, first why would he say that? So, I explained that I was renewing this package that I had been subscribing to for the past five years and wasn’t aware that there was a discount or that it had expired. I then asked since I am a TV junkie spending nearly $200/mo for cable and internet service could he extend the discount for me. After being on hold for a while he came back and said he was not able to give me the discount and I would have to pay the entire $199 for the MLB package.
Now my blood pressure was starting to red line and I exploded into “well maybe we will just turn this in to a cancelation request and I will take my $2,000 a year couch potato habit to a dish provider or AT&T. His response…”I’m sorry you feel that way sir” and the call ended.
After a few minutes pass the marketing Dr. Jekyll in me took over from the raging customer Mr. Hyde and I begin to think this will make a great case study…so I call back. I go through the voicemail hell and finally get to another CSR. I ask for a supervisor. She now explains that there is not a supervisor available at that late hour and wonders if she can help. What the hell I’ll give it another shot. I explained the last phone call in detail but this time I told her I was in the marketing business and I was calling back to get material for my blog. I said that in this economy, I could not believe that Time Warner would let a $2,000 customer leave over a $30 discount that I missed by four days and this will make an interesting case study for my blog.
Within a few minutes I was watching the Diamond Backs beat the Rockies at the discounted price of $169. So the question is…did I just get a brighter CSR on call number two or is the power of social media really making a difference?