From: gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary Coffman)
Subject: Re: ICOM W2A & IC-2SRA Packet Connection Answer
Reply-To: gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman)
Organization: Gannett Technologies Group
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 14:26:14 GMT

In article <1992Dec12.210025.16696@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> jmilhoan@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (JT) writes:
>the reason for my anger isn't all of Icom's fault... it started with my local 
>dealer.  I had planned on buying the 2SRA before last christmas.  I told my 
>local dealer, who had them in stock, to hold one for me until Monday (this 
>was on Saturday, and they are closed on Sunday... They were closing in ten 
>minutes and there was no way I could get to them that quick).

Never call a dealer near closing time. They want to go home too, and will
brush you off as quickly as possible, unless you get the owner.

>Of course they sold all of them, including the one on hold for me.
>Then I told them to hold another for me when the next shipment came in, and 
>they said they'd call me when they did.  Well, I called off and on for three 
>weeks with no luck, until finally they said (paraphrased), "Yeah, we got 
>twenty in today, but there's only two left."  I told them to hold another 
>for me (since they didn't have one on hold, and they never called me!) and 
>I would come out to pick it up, which I did.

Trusting soul aren't you. :-)
I'd mark this dealer off my good list, if they failed to keep their word
on a regular basis.

>So I called Icom and was on hold with the "please stay on the line... your 
>call will be answered in the order it was received" message.  So I held... 
>and held.. and hung up and called another department.  He said he would have 
>someone from the department call me when they got back from lunch!  Why would 
>ANYBODY put that message on if the department is empty for lunch hour??? 

Number one rule of dealing with tech support, never call around lunch time.
Either you won't get an answer, or you'll get a quick, and perhaps wrong,
answer from the person with the growling stomach. A real live person
answering the phone would know that it was lunchtine and tell you to
call back. They should have a message on their automated system too,
but you know how that is, the "computer" can't do that. Of course it
can, but it requires someone smarter than it is to program it to do so,
and the MIS backlog on feature requests is currently 2.5 years. :-(

>So I call them back AGAIN and get put on hold with the same message.  After 
>another long time, I called that other department and raised hell with the 
>guy... I explained I wasn't mad at him, in fact he had been helpful (I knew 
>it wasn't his "department"), but I summarized how I had spent over $700 (with 
>accessories, mind you ;) on a radio that I can only use half of, only to have 
>it break within a week, and this is after all the calls, etc...
>
>and yes, the other department was "out to lunch" again!

Slow learner eh?

>This wasn't a flame directed at anybody specific, just at poor customer relations.

Well they should have a better phone system. Replacing live operators with
machinery has angered many customers. This is not just Icom either, it's
a problem with many businesses. At least you can get through to the right
people at Icom if you call at a reasonable hour (IE not lunchtime). With 
Kenwood's system, you'll be lucky to ever talk to a live human being. I've 
completely stopped doing business with some firms because of this. If they 
don't need my business enough to answer their phones with real people, or 
at least have ring through lines to key departments, then I don't need to 
do business with them. There's nothing more annoying than sitting on a long 
distance call, being forced to listen to an elevator music station in some 
distant city for tens of minutes, only to discover your call needs to be 
transfered to a different desk and sitting through the process again. That's 
what live operators are for, to figure out who a customer really needs to 
talk to and either connecting them or taking their number and arranging for
them to be called back at an agreed time.

We installed one of these systems at my company, but have now gone back
to live operators. As our sales manager put it, "The person whose time
and good will are most important to the business is the customer. Put
the CEO on hold if you must, but service that customer's call immediately."
Now that's the kind of attitude that generates repeat business.

Gary KE4ZV
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.packet