Post by Izel Kravitz on Feb 20, 2015 1:26:31 GMT 2
This is an official "I Hate Being An Adult' topic.
What brought about this topic? A long attempt at junking my car! The simplest thing I thought I would ever do. Call a place, get an estimation (not that it was about the price or anything, it needed to go), and then boom the car is being taken away.
NOPE.
That's not what happened at all.
It all began a couple days ago:
I received a phone call from my mother who had left for work saying that I had an orange sticker on my car. Sure enough the cops had found me and my expired license plate on an old broken down beetle. The car no longer ran and didn't have any power left. The back tires were flat and everything in the car was wet. Obviously, it was time to get rid of the car.
So, I went outside and looked at the stick and started to worry, it said I had 24 hours to either put it in the garage or get it plated... and that was about 48 hours ago at that time.
So, after making several trips back and forth to clean out my belongings in the car I started looking for places to sell it for junk. One of the top rated buyers was Junk A Car. Everything looked great and it was the first place I called. They were very nice in helping me get my car scheduled to be picked up the next day.
Sadly, since I am not the only owner on the car, the second title holder had to be present at the time of pick-up. So, two hours waiting for the truck to come get my bug I had to call and re-schedule for the next day. When I asked for an estimated time of arrival they responded with: "Well, it can be anywhere between 8 am - 5 pm, but they will call when they are an hour away". In that case I said ok, fair enough, thinking I would have time to run around the next day and get some things done since I and the second title holder had the day off.
Unfortunately, every task I had would require a little over an hour, and I kept thinking: what if the driver forgets to call and they are only a few minutes away? Things happen, and I understand that. So, I stayed home and waited for my phone call. Finally at 4:05 PM I called and asked if I was still scheduled to be picked up. I was transferred only a couple times, because their automated service is not very specific in which department to call for certain situations. Eventually, after a few minutes listening to rocky elevator music I got a person that told me they didn't know why the driver had not called yet, nor where the driver was or what they were doing. Ok, fair enough, I get mis-communications all the time, it happens in the work place. They told me they would call me back within 10-15 minutes with a more information. The call probably ended around 4:15 pm.
Finally, at 4:48 I called back. Again I was transferred only a couple times and finally had the scheduling assistant and the dispatcher in a conference call. The dispatcher told me: "Yes, we were unable to send anyone due to the weather." Are you serious? The news channels cover it, you can Google it, you can even check it on your phone. Since when is missing a weather report an excuse in the 21st century? At that point I was irritated. Not only had I waited 8 hours at my house when I needed to get things accomplished on my day off, but they didn't have the communication skills to call me and let me know what was going on? No, that's not how you do business.
So, they offered to send someone the next day. I, sadly, do not have time to sit at home the next day and neither does the second title holder. I told them then that I was wanting to cancel my services and the dispatcher acted like she didn't hear anything. Then I said that I had already found another place that would pay me more and is local. Finally they made me a last offer: They could try to get someone here tonight. When I told them I was not interested in their services anymore the scheduling assistant politely apologized, they exchanged names with one another, mentioned having to speak with a manager and then hung up on me. So, apparently I didn't deserve a good-bye.
And, it's not that I'm a mean person. I was more than nice about it until I mentioned I no longer desired to use their services. Even then I did not conceive myself as rude, but firm, because I was tired of being tossed around at the point.
Then, when I tried calling another place they transferred me back to Junk A Car for towing services. When I said: "Oh, I'm sorry, I just canceled my services with you, I must have gotten a wrong phone number." I giggled at the situations, because not only was it embarrassing for me, but I was trying to lighten the mood. What did I get? Hung up on. I understand I am nothing to them because I'm no longer a customer, but I work in the service industry, and I get cursed at in my line of work, and even if the customer is walking out the door you have to do your best to keep things positive, apologetic, sympathetic, assure them the issue will be taken care of, and try to give them a reason to come back and give us a second chance. Therefore, I think it is utterly rude just to hang up on a consumer who has consumer rights and freedom of speech, expression, and opinion.
Long and short? Being an adult can really stink. I can say this month has been eventful, with disputing an over-charge on my account and now this. It's been pretty busy. I just hope this gets better...
What brought about this topic? A long attempt at junking my car! The simplest thing I thought I would ever do. Call a place, get an estimation (not that it was about the price or anything, it needed to go), and then boom the car is being taken away.
NOPE.
That's not what happened at all.
It all began a couple days ago:
I received a phone call from my mother who had left for work saying that I had an orange sticker on my car. Sure enough the cops had found me and my expired license plate on an old broken down beetle. The car no longer ran and didn't have any power left. The back tires were flat and everything in the car was wet. Obviously, it was time to get rid of the car.
So, I went outside and looked at the stick and started to worry, it said I had 24 hours to either put it in the garage or get it plated... and that was about 48 hours ago at that time.
So, after making several trips back and forth to clean out my belongings in the car I started looking for places to sell it for junk. One of the top rated buyers was Junk A Car. Everything looked great and it was the first place I called. They were very nice in helping me get my car scheduled to be picked up the next day.
Sadly, since I am not the only owner on the car, the second title holder had to be present at the time of pick-up. So, two hours waiting for the truck to come get my bug I had to call and re-schedule for the next day. When I asked for an estimated time of arrival they responded with: "Well, it can be anywhere between 8 am - 5 pm, but they will call when they are an hour away". In that case I said ok, fair enough, thinking I would have time to run around the next day and get some things done since I and the second title holder had the day off.
Unfortunately, every task I had would require a little over an hour, and I kept thinking: what if the driver forgets to call and they are only a few minutes away? Things happen, and I understand that. So, I stayed home and waited for my phone call. Finally at 4:05 PM I called and asked if I was still scheduled to be picked up. I was transferred only a couple times, because their automated service is not very specific in which department to call for certain situations. Eventually, after a few minutes listening to rocky elevator music I got a person that told me they didn't know why the driver had not called yet, nor where the driver was or what they were doing. Ok, fair enough, I get mis-communications all the time, it happens in the work place. They told me they would call me back within 10-15 minutes with a more information. The call probably ended around 4:15 pm.
Finally, at 4:48 I called back. Again I was transferred only a couple times and finally had the scheduling assistant and the dispatcher in a conference call. The dispatcher told me: "Yes, we were unable to send anyone due to the weather." Are you serious? The news channels cover it, you can Google it, you can even check it on your phone. Since when is missing a weather report an excuse in the 21st century? At that point I was irritated. Not only had I waited 8 hours at my house when I needed to get things accomplished on my day off, but they didn't have the communication skills to call me and let me know what was going on? No, that's not how you do business.
So, they offered to send someone the next day. I, sadly, do not have time to sit at home the next day and neither does the second title holder. I told them then that I was wanting to cancel my services and the dispatcher acted like she didn't hear anything. Then I said that I had already found another place that would pay me more and is local. Finally they made me a last offer: They could try to get someone here tonight. When I told them I was not interested in their services anymore the scheduling assistant politely apologized, they exchanged names with one another, mentioned having to speak with a manager and then hung up on me. So, apparently I didn't deserve a good-bye.
And, it's not that I'm a mean person. I was more than nice about it until I mentioned I no longer desired to use their services. Even then I did not conceive myself as rude, but firm, because I was tired of being tossed around at the point.
Then, when I tried calling another place they transferred me back to Junk A Car for towing services. When I said: "Oh, I'm sorry, I just canceled my services with you, I must have gotten a wrong phone number." I giggled at the situations, because not only was it embarrassing for me, but I was trying to lighten the mood. What did I get? Hung up on. I understand I am nothing to them because I'm no longer a customer, but I work in the service industry, and I get cursed at in my line of work, and even if the customer is walking out the door you have to do your best to keep things positive, apologetic, sympathetic, assure them the issue will be taken care of, and try to give them a reason to come back and give us a second chance. Therefore, I think it is utterly rude just to hang up on a consumer who has consumer rights and freedom of speech, expression, and opinion.
Long and short? Being an adult can really stink. I can say this month has been eventful, with disputing an over-charge on my account and now this. It's been pretty busy. I just hope this gets better...