Customers

We provide service - at our convenience

These are my customer service experiences with some organizations in Nova Scotia. It is mixed bag. Let me put it this way. You cannot have the cake and eat it too! Does this happen in your part of the globe too?

Try getting a communications connection

This experience highlights the total lack of respect for my time as a customer. But it is an oligopoly – only two companies, Eastlink and Aliant, that provide internet, telephone and television connectivity.

I moved to Halifax four years ago. Telephone and internet is part of the basic necessities. I compared rates, checked for down times with some references and decided on Aliant. The earliest date a technician could come over was after three days – which was fine. But what I did could not understand was this statement, “He will come between 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.” Huh? So I have to WAIT for the technician to show up for eight hours? He could come in the morning or in the evening. And I have to stay home from work for a day. I couldn’t believe it. I called Eastlink. Same story there. Cell phones companies are no better (at pricing. It’s a rip off.)

The message I get is, “You want our service. You wait! We will get there when we want to.” Upon inquiry, I was told that each installation site is different. And they really did not know how long it will take them at each site. I was stumped. How could they not have benchmarks? How could they not have standard times within which to complete their installations?

There are only two companies in Nova Scotia that provides these services. Surely between the two, they could have wired the apartment buildings already. It is in their interest to do so. Moreover, most, if not all, apartments would already have either one of their existing connections. Most of the time, all they need to do is the move a few “jumpers” around in the control room or just change the billing name.

Even agreeing to their rationale for a moment, why can I not be told where I stand in their schedule? Am I going to be the fourth, seventh or tenth? I found it hard to believe, they did not use a scheduling software to predict installation times with reasonable accuracy.

I can understand a window of about one to two hours – but asking for eight hours of my time is asking for too much, isn’t it? I basically need to take a day off work to get hooked up with a communications channel. Things did not change even in 2005 when I moved residences. I hear now, at least Eastlink provides a four hour window, which is a lot better than the eight hour window.

The doctor’s appointment

This is my favorite pet-peeve. Appointments have no meaning at all. You book an appointment for 1:30 pm. What time do you actually get to see the doctor? 3:00 pm. I am left wondering as to why I am waiting for an hour and half when I could have walked in at 3:00pm. Of course, when you call at 1:00pm to confirm, the doctor’s just behind by 10 minutes. In the space of 30 minutes the doctor is now behind by an hour and half? The message I get is, “You want my service. You have to wait! I will meet you when I want to.”

Changing doctors was the solution, I thought. But I just changed the location of the problem. Now I am wiser. I always book the very first appointment. I’d rather be at the doctor’s office by 8 am and leave by 8:20 am than book any appointment later than 9:00 am. I am not always lucky – especially when it comes to meeting specialists. So I take my laptop. My only request to all those tardy doctors is to at least have a wireless connection so that I can get some work done instead of wasting time reading magazines published six months ago.

Care to share similar experiences you have been through?

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