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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

How did you remember his whole speech!?

Mind like a steel trap!

(Or the ability to Google “Seinfeld” and “Plaza Cable”. :P )

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?

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?”

How did you remember his whole speech!?

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.

Pool guy, pizza boy, cable guy - I’ve been them all.

Yeah, don’t think we didn’t see those pics and video on Raymi’s blog…

Talk about classic Jim Carry.