It took the cable company a week to get someone in to come and install my new digital land phone line. March 31 between 8 am and 5 pm was my appointment.
And so today as I got out of bed I made sure to take what maybe the fastest shower in history, worrying the whole time that he would come while I still had shampoo in my hair. But no worries, that didn’t happen. I was worried that if I took out the recycle to the basement of my building I would miss him, so I didn’t. I waited. I did a little research for a paper that I have due. I watched a little TV. Received a few calls, but mostly waited. At 4:15pm I got worried, called the cable company and they said not to worry he was coming. 5:15 pm is when my intercom rang. I mean really what are the chances of that happening?
I was happy finally I would get my brand spankin new phone line… And then 2 hrs later, with my friends chilling at my place waiting for us to leave to the restaurant that we were supposed to be at an hour ago, the cable guy sets his tools down calls a buddy for help, and announces that he will have to do some more work. I wasn’t impressed, and from the looks of it, he was begging me to let him go… And so after two hours, he put everything back to the way it was, and he was out the door. Status quo was returned, and I was still phone less.
Now the question arises, why is it alright for the cable company to give an appointment from 8 – 5? It’s not realistic. I sure don’t understand it. Any thoughts, can someone make sense of the senseless?
I wish I could help but I’m a US Government employee. All my “making sense of the senseless” ability vanished some time ago. I AM however a master at computer solitaire.
Happy Birthday!!!
yeah thats one of those things that you always hear about, but never quite believe until it happens to you. its like something out of the twilight zone - what do they expect you to do - sit by the door for 9 hours?!
them’s the breaks i suppose.. hah
That happend with the techinician that was supposed to fix out dishwasher. He ended up being super late and then not abel to fix it and it was a week before they told us nothing could be done and we needed another one.
I hope you have better luck with your phone line though.
HI Samar,
Yes, frustrating indeed…if it’s any consolation, your case is probably more the exception than the rule. I’d hazard that for every problem install, there are 25-30 installs that go by the numbers without a hitch.
I think they seem more common because we hear more about dissatisfaction than satisfaction. After all, had the tech arrived and successfully installed your service at 8:45am, would anyone have heard about that?
Speaking as a person who works in technology daily, we’re expected to have all the answers and fix any problem that may arise. While I sometimes delude myself that this is true, I get stuck, stuff doesn’t work, things don’t connect, boot, someone didn’t process an order, etc. It’s a bummer when I have to tell someone I can’t fix their problem right away, kinda takes away my superhero status.
There you go, another perspective.
Cheers,
Rem
I’ve seen 8 hours before, but typical hours would be a 2 hour window such as 8am-10am, 10am-12pm, etc. You may have received an 8 hour window if you pressed the service rep for a sooner time frame than originally offered. If that’s the case, they give you an all-day call.
you should be a priority next visit. Insist on it!
I wonder how they expect people who work 9-5 to be there for appointments like that. Can I used my sick time to get my cable fixed? Probably not.
I am unsure why they (insert company here) can’t nail down a two hour time window. What? Are we talking about a business luncheon merging Disney and IBM? Do they receive impromptu customer calls showing an immediate concern in service? C’mon. It’s a cable hook-up. It’s supposed to be an eight hour window or less. Even the grocery delivery guy can tell you she’ll be there after four in the afternoon or before eight pm. This isn’t tough science, this is about companies taking the time and effort to address you personally, as a customer, and as a person.
Quoting axscode:
But they really don’t care. And then you call and try and complain and they speak to you like you’re a moron. Human beings have been reduced to numbers.
I hate hate hate that the most..
Because you ruin and entire day waiting.. I even find if you order furniture from the brick or seomthign they give you 3 choice.. morning, noon, or dinnertime.. And yes my 7am-11am window wasnt as bad as 8-5 but on a saturday.. Jeezz… Sucks when they show up just after 11 and its perfectly ok..
I don’t really agree with the last comment your only looking at it as a simple hook up right? I mean c’mon how frickin hard is it to plug a cable into a phone? Well obviously hard enough to warrent training numerous technicians. For arguments sake lets just say the tech actually was good at his job, and it still took him 2 hours to do it and still couldn’t finish, then obviously it’s not just a simple hook up. The immediate response to this is hire more techs right. No cut their hours in half nobody would do the job and well your back to square one. I just had my house built in august when the cable guy came to hook me up (cable and internet) it took almost 5 hours not his fault he was one of the hardest working and most knowledgable people I’ve ever meet. I took away time from probably like 2-5 customers. Anyway this is why there are no specific time windows.
I work in a similar environment I deliver furniture and appliances and deal with the same problems. How long does it take to deliver a 25 cubic ft fridge, well a really frickin long time when your door way is only 29 inches.
If anyone out there can solve this equation with out pissing anyone off. I’ll follow you like a lost dog
You know, I tried to think of a clear and witty response to that, but I’ve nothing. You’ve been integrated into a system allows for a slow and readied response. The corporate CFO determines the final email that lands in your box. I am the man that speaks to you like a moron and I am sorry for that, but it’s the truth. I was court today, to that very effect. No one cares how you feel, it’s only how the issue is managed. I wish there was a system where we truly listened; now how cool would that be?
That exact same thing happened to me.
Waited all day, and made sure that I was available to let him in, and he showed up 10 minutes late at the end of the day. This not only happened with my digital phone, but also when I had to get my modem replaced. I share your distaste for the situation.
Someone mentioned it was your birthday.
Hope it’s good times for ya!!!!
the reason they give a day rather than a time. is because No two situations are Alike , some may take ten minutes some odd ball job can take four hours , you dont know until you get there .if it was a simple thing, they would just give you the kit you take it home and do it all done
Quoting calgarykeri:
I’ve always been very appoligetic when I’m late. It’s not like I’m just hanging out till 15 min past the delivery window. You never know how long a delivery will take, do I have to lay down mats so I don’t dirty your carpet, do I have to take off your doors, do I have to take a part your appliance or couch because you wanted the biggest, is it 3 miles to the other side of your house up and down winding stair cases. the are so many factors to look at. Don’t get me wrong I agree it sucks to wait all frickin day but in the end I want it and I’m willing to wait or I find the means to do it my self.
well..let me tell you… Right before Christmas ,the tub inside my washer machine torn open (and caused a flood in the BR on during a high cycle. Sevral times in one week, I sat at home because a repair man was suppose to come look at the damn thing. He was to be in- in the morning and arrived in late afternoon, only to stay maybe 10 minutes. He told me what was wrong and what part had to be ordered. He said he would do it and get back to me.
ONE MONTH of unreturned calls later- we gave up and got the landlord to track someone else down. By the end of Feb a second repair man came to look at the washer…. and then i moved out from my sublet… I still wonder if the stupid thing ever got fixed… I waited 2.5 months…
Oh,,,and the first guy that came to my place to fix the washer was about as smart as a bag of hammers…. So he comes in and says ‘What’s wrong with it?” to me…
TO ME!
I was just boggled man. I was like, “Dude, I don’t know, but I have been waiting a month for someone like you to shed some light on the situation… you Telkl me what’s wrong with it.”
I’m not certain Carrey played the role of “apologist” correctly in that movie.
Yah, it’s idiotic for them to expect you to be there all day for them.
I’ve seen this in an episode of Seinfeld.
Ugh! It’s almost as bad as waiting for a package!!! I tell ya, those tracking numbers are useless some times. When I was waiting for my computer to be delivered, I waited all morning. Come noontime, I went down to check my mailbox. At the door, I saw one of those doorknockers. Dammit! But I was home all morning! I suspect they didn’t bother to buzz and just left it there. *sigh*
I’m moving soon and the cable/internet people said they’d send a technician over on the prescribed day some time between 12:00 and 17:00. We’ll see. :p
Because they have to make all those walk on porn appearances throughout the day.
“The cable guy’s here…” (Bow chuka bow wow…)
Quoting Patrick Pitt:
hahaha… look out, here he comes with his big tool in his hands.
It’s not an outright viable excuse, but it can be very difficult to schedule service work. Especially when the guy doing the work has never seen the job and they can’t be sure how long it will take. I’m not saying giving you an 8-5 time window and showing up at 5:15 is ok, but you can see how it would be difficult to schedule a technician’s day when each job is so different. They could have days when everything goes smoothly and they do 6 calls. If he had been at your place at 8, chances are he would have spent all morning there. I know it’s a huge piss off, but just some food for thought. (Can you tell I work for a contractor?)
The Seinfeld episode with the cable guy was on the other day… I love the cable guy’s speech at the end:
“What d’you want from me? Apology? Alright, I’m sorry. There, I said it, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I see now how we made you feel when we made you sit home waiting. I dunno why we do it. I guess maybe we just kind of enjoy taking advantage of people. Well, that’s gonna change. From now on, no more ‘nine to twelve’, no more ‘one to five’. We’re gonna have appointments. Eleven o’clock is gonna mean eleven o’clock. And, if we can’t make it, we’re gonna call you, tell you why. For god’s sakes, if a doctor can do it, why can’t we?”
I’ve always wondered this myself.
HOw they get away with it is beyond me.
Reminds me of my doctor who says he’ll call anytime between lunch and 8pm.
They forgot that we have a life and things to do etc…
Just lived this recently at my own house. I simply don’t ‘wait’ well. We did have a two or four hour window first thing in the morning but they were several hours past that and I had to cancel other appointments that I had made far enough out in the day; or so I thought. When I called the cable company for a heads up, they couldn’t even get in touch with the tech! I got some sort of $20 credit or something but come on. When he got here he wasn’t told of half the stuff he had to do… which made him later for his remaining appointments. According to the tech, not only did he have a big issue at the previous house, they started him in one location, next he had to backtrack 40 minutes, then come back here… where he was the first time. I’m thinking the people who may do the scheduling are less than brainiacs for not telling them what needs to be done at each site and setting up the locations all over creation that waste an hour and a half travel time (open roads) on their first 2/3 appts! I actually felt bad for my tech and made it a no hassle day for him. Where is the sense?
On the bright side digital sounds many times better than my previous land line. Down side, no phone service if there is no power, can’t use the speakerphone on the cordless handset and the call waiting beep crumples your eardrum. Still, for caller ID on the TV screen and really clear service, I’m fine with it. Besides, I’d hate to schedule a tech to come out and disconnect it…harhar.
This happens to me all the time! You wake up early just in case they actually arrive first thing or *gasp* early and you don’t want to miss them because it was a pain in the ass trying to get them to come out in the first place and you sit around all day not getting any of your errands done because they might just show up during that one minute you’re away from the house.
At least your guy showed up, it’s happened to me on more than one occassion where I wait all day and after the latest time they said they would show up I finally call them up and ask where the hell they are and they tell me that they’re not coming. I had to call them to find that out, they never call me to tell me that they’re not coming out anymore.
This is almost as annoying as Couriers who deliver during the middle of the day when almost everyone is at work. I just paid a ridiculous amount of money to have something shipped to my house but since they were here at 11 (I work days) I wasn’t home so I had to drive a half hour to pick up my package at their facility.
So many things to be frustrated about so little time to complain about them… :)
They can’t pick an exact time to show up, since the time it takes to install cable can vary… believe me. So it’s not unreasonable for them to pick a day. But they should have these guys working 2-10 or something like that.
At the start of this year, when I moved into this apartment, I got a self install kit for my internet. Not only did it not work, but it took two weeks to get it hooked up. I had to skip class twice to stay home and wait for the guy to come by.
Yeah but the worst is a language barrier. I live in Montreal and my family speaks a little bit of french but not all too much, and I really don’t speak any. So you call a company for a technician or something and you speak to the people in english and you tell them that you prefer an english speaking techinician and what? They show up and the guy speaks little to no english and myself and my family have to get by with what little french we speak.
That’s what I hate the most. I really miss living in an english province.
Quoting Patrick Pitt:
I thought that was the pizza guy! Of course I haven’t watched porn since the 70’s. I’m behind the porn times
Pool guy, pizza boy, cable guy - I’ve been them all.
On a separate note… “The Cable Guy” is a hilarious movie.
Talk about classic Jim Carry.
Quoting Patrick Pitt:
Yeah, don’t think we didn’t see those pics and video on Raymi’s blog…
On a separate, separate note… something about Jim Carrey is so sexy. He grew up close to where I live. If only I was older. Nah, I take that back. Older men are supposed to like younger girls.
I’ve found it useful to start asking questions about why things like this occur. Sometimes understanding why it takes all day for a cable guy to get there relieves a little of the frustration, and on the rare occasion you get some action. I recall once getting our fuel oil tank inspected in Ontario. The Inspector shows up one day and tells me that the tank isn’t to code and that it will take about $1800 to fix it up. Our local fuel oil company contacts us and tells us that we cannot get any more oil past a certian date if the tank is not to code; this gave me a pretty tight window of about 3 weeks to get it fixed. To make a long story short, I started asking about “the code” that they referred to and once I got the specifics (I think it was a CSA code) I did a little research and discovered that the code was actually older than my fuel tank, and that THEIR CONTRACTOR had not installed to THE CODE. When it was agreed that THEY needed to eat the $1800 for repair the 3 week window was no longer an issue, they continued to deliver fuel oil, and it took 6 months for them to get a technician to our home to fix it.
Similarly, when we moved to the Yukon, I tried to get the area codes on our cell phones changed. Some helpful guy from Quebec informed me that there was not a Bell office in Whitehorse (I found out later there was), that he could not do it over the telephone, and asked if I could drive to Fort Nelson BC to the store there to change the area codes. I explained that that was a 16-hour round trip, and that if that was necessary I’d take a hammer to both phones and then buy new ones as this would be cheaper and far less aggravating. I started asking questions - and miraculously they could change the area codes remotely.
Quoting KET:
How did you remember his whole speech!?
I had a call couple of Fridays ago just before 8 pm. I was really sick and had crashed out on the couch after work in an effort to bring some relief. I always answer the phone (my father’s not been well) and did so, only to hear an enthusiastic young man say, “hello, is Debbie **** there?”. I was in no mood to do business, so politely said “this is not a good time for me” and hung up the phone. Two seconds later the phone rang again!!!….I couldn’t believe that the same guy had the nerve to call back and was now taking a more aggressive tone with me. He sarcastically spewed something like “look lady, this is Shaw Cable…don’t you pay us money each month?”, to which I reiterated that it was STILL a bad time and that he’d have to contact me during business hours. He proceeded to get even ruder and continued on about disrupted service and then abruptly ended the call by slamming the phone down on me! Now wide awake, I *69′d his number and reported it to Shaw, who said they’d look into the matter.
I also have an unsettled insurance claim that involved reno’s to my condo when it was damaged by a burst water line, followed by a roof leak (when it rains, it really does pour). It disrupted our entire lives and was completely due to negligence on the part of the strata/contractors involved. On top of the hassle of having to live with the damage that was done, they were also giving me grief over scheduling problems (due, in part, to the fact that they had several jobs going at once). One particular example was when they’d called on a Sunday at 4:30 pm, without any prior warning, and wanted to come over and start some work (that involved a jack hammer!). I said it was inconvenient - my mother was dying of brain cancer at the time and I was just heading back to the hospice. I’d been more than accomodating up to that point but, on this particular night, it just wasn’t going to work for me. They then abruptly abandoned the work at that point, citing my unavailability as the reason (the real reason was because they were running over budget). When I addressed the matter at a council meeting, one council member actually had the gall to suggest that I “prioritize things” in my life in order to accommodate the contractors. At that point, I told him that being at my dying mother’s bedside WAS my priority…he made himself look like a complete ass.
I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who expects business to be conducted during business hours…is it really too much to ask? Or has society become so “me, me, me” oriented that we expect everyone to cater to our schedules?
(oh, and belated birthday greetings Samar!…this really happened on your birthday?! Geesh)
Quoting Nick:
Mind like a steel trap!
(Or the ability to Google “Seinfeld” and “Plaza Cable”. :P )
You gotta scroll down - she catalogues everything.
This happened to a friend of mine with a different phone company. (The one that used to have a monopoly on BC . . .). They gave him a time frame of 8a - 5p one day, and never bothered to show up. He actually got them to reimburse him for a day’s wages due to their no-show. If that guy couldn’t set up your phone, you should be asking for some reimbursement. He was late, they say they can install it and schedule an app’t, everything should be right on their end and it’s not your fault. Your time is worth money too.
Be happy that they showed up that day at all; I once took an entire day off work because I managed to wrangle appointments with both the phone company and cable company in a single day. I needed them to come out and check the location of their lines, and move them if necessary, because I was building a patio on the back of the house. The cable company gave me the 8-to-5 window, and showed up around 3. The phone company gave me an 11-HOUR-WINDOW (8-to-7), then called at about 4 pm and said they wouldn’t be coming at all.
No, actually, that’s not correct–they didn’t “call,” as the phone never rang. Using the phone system, they sent a voicemail directly to my phone, so there was no chance they’d have to speak with me directly.
I built the patio over their phone line.
And I now have digital phone service through the cable company.
i always get mad at them when they say between such and such a time and such and such a time. do as i do and ask for a supervisor, and when they cant help keep asking for a higher up person and be as irate as possible. the more irate you get, the faster they’ll deal with you.
the reason they take so long to come out is because rogers doesn’t do the work themselves, sure it may say rogers on the truck, but its 9 times out of 10 an independent contractor, and they cant keep tabs on them like their own
secondly, cable phone sucks, if you’re going to pay that kind of money go with vonage, you get more features lower price and you can basically call anywhere for free. vonage means you need a broadband, but its quality is jsut the same as a normal phone
ANSWER: I just started to work for a major ISP in canada, and have been on more than a few installs (cable internet and digital phone) and can tell you the time frame in which they give appointments (2-3 hr window usually) is justified…somewhat.
The problem is that even though an installer knows what he’s being called out to do, doesn’t mean that the job will be as easy as 1-2-3. Many times the structure of the house will prevent a swift install. Other times, a complete overhaul of the cable running from the PED (houses the filters that give channel tiers) in the alley, need to be changed due to lo signal.
Of course this would prevent the next appointment from being on time and so on.
Too many factors prevent more accurate scheduling of installs, which is unfortunate for both parties.
Hope this might provide insight.
-S
I’ve had this kind of experience with almost every service call for every type of product, be it phone, cable, appliances, etc. In 3 different provinces and also now in Sweden, these companies give very big and non-guaranteed windows of arrival for their service personnel. No one likes it, but no one seems to be willing to do anything about it.
While it is true as one comment said that many service calls may get done early in the given window and the work completed quickly (someone has to be first!), this does not excuse all these companies from putting unreasonable time requirements on the customer (Why should customer B’s plans be ruined and day wasted because customer A had a difficult service case?).
Working people can’t afford to take a whole day off just to wait for a service person. Also, the criteria to judge if the service person can make it within the agreed window at all must be more strict, and the company must make a better effort to warn the customer of any delays and reschedule.
The reason it doesn’t change is because there is very little choice, since they all do it, and there is no will to make the changes necessary. What needs to be done in Canada is change our way of thinking and make better use of the technologies we do have, as they have done to some extent where I am now.
Firstly, the use of SMS, mobile phone calls and the like can be used to make the “wait” window much more precise and less stressful (not knowing when someone will ring the bell). What can be done is that the technician can update the head office on their progress during the day which can be translated to updated estimates sent to the customer of when they can be at the next customer’s place; the office can also swap assignments between personnel to keep work flowing during the day (if one technician is having a good & fast day, and another is bogged down in problem jobs).
Secondly, the need to stay home is ridiculous in today’s world of multiple communication possibilities. Through e-mail, SMS, Chat, and mobile phone, improvements can be easily made. The customer can be given a window of possible times for the service visit, but they can go about their normal business (even go to work depending on the type of job), and the service person or head office can call them 30 minutes (or 1 hour, or whatever time is agreed by both sides when the call for the service is placed) before the technician will arrive so that the customer can return home to let the technician do the work.
I have experienced this in Stockholm and it is much less stressful, and a better overall experience. Since I live 25 minutes from work, I can tell the delivery/service persons to call 30 minutes before they arrive, and then I can leave work as soon as I get the call.
Thirdly, learn from the automatic telephone systems that now tell you how long the wait is or what number you are in line. It is preposterous that the customer cannot be told what order they are placed in on the day of the service call. It may be ok to give an 8 hour window at the time the service call is requested, which could be weeks in advance, however, on the day of the call the company must know what order their technicians plan to execute their list of service requests. This execution order should be communicated to the customers (SMS, phone) of that day and updated all day so the customer knows how things are progressing. It is much less frustrating to know you’re 5th on the list and that the first 3 calls have been completed, than to know nothing at all. While this may not give you the exact time of arrival, it is easier to deal with, and combined with the phone call in advance to warn of the arrival of the technician, it makes for a much better experience.
All it takes is a little consideration and respect for the customer to come up with dozens of good ideas to make things better. The key is updated information and tracking progress, as is done in many other businesses.
In the end, that is exremely unreasonable to expect people to waste a whole day at home for what should be a few minutes of installation. I wonder how that company would feel if you decided to pay your bill sometime between May and July.
8-5? Yeah, that ain’t right with such an open period of time.
And the fact that with that HUGE BRACKET the cable guy was still late says something about the company.
Matt, I’ve been scammed into it before: make sure they don’t charge you for this guy coming in cuz he didn’t even do anything AND he was late! Watch out, or they will charge you for the appointment, I know from experience…;)
Ah, the bliss of the one sided answer to customer service….When you understand the exact process that each individual company has to even get the serviceman or woman to your door, you would likely understand that there is more to it than expected.
While I agree that the process in question can be revised to benefit both parties, it is completely unreasonable to expect a service window of less than 1-2 hours when there are so many factors that affect each individual install of cable or whatever.
Just providing more insight from someone who’s been on both sides of the service fence.
-S
Quoting keynlock:
I think everybody I know would be okay with a service window of 1-2 hours. It’s the 4-8 hour windows that literally waste an entire day that are problematic.
First off, i would like to say I was surprised by the quantiny of comments this post got, LOL. I am gonna stop writing about politics in Lebanon… Actually the politics in Lebanon have been kind of stale and I got sick of saying the same thing over and over… So I took a little break from it.
Second, I didn’t mean to offend any of the cable companies or those who work for them. The cable guy that came to my house was the nicest guy, we cracked a few jokes and he kept on saying how this was turning into a Seinfeld episode. So hats off to those guys that hook up our cables cause I sure don’t know how.
Third, an update on my situation, Yesterday i was pissed and couldn’t stomach the idea of having to wait another whole day at home, so I picked up the phone and called the local phone provider and ordered a new phone line to be hooked up on Monday. Today, after speaking to my husband I realized I really wanted the digital phone plan, I mean Canada and US longdistance, u can’t beat that. So I called the cable company told them about my ordeal and they said they will have somebody over next Wednesday and i don’t have to wait at home from 8-5, just from 8-Noon. I can handle that. I’ll make sure to sleep in till about 10 am have a slow breakfast, do a little reading and before you know it, it’ll be Noon, and I would have felt like I had won :-) Ah what lengths we go to inorder to fool ourselves into bliss :-)
ps. If Wednesday doesn’t work out, I’ll keep you all posted.
It’s a few days late but I was away. The wonderful land line, the communication medium on it’s way out. I don’t really see why anyone who doesn’t have a family requires such a thing. I haven’t had a land line in 3 years and I don’t miss it one bit. This may have been said else where in the comments as I didn’t want to go through them.
In my opinion, get a better cell phone plan, shell out some more bucks (less than you would on the land line) and live without and don’t waste anymore time on the cable company and the service guys. That way you have one phone number and that’s that.
Cell phone too small and get too hot against your face for long phone conversations?! A hands free kit solves that problem. Keep the phone in your back pocket (it’s small and fits!) and talk for as long as you like while both hands are free for whatever you like. But that’s just me. C’est tous.