See update of the article at end
There seems to be a new trend with companies of all sizes, shapes, industries, and sectors. Customer Service with limited or no contact information.
If you don’t use their internally generated customer service system (which limits the customer’s ability to convey the issue they are having) you can’t get a phone number, an address and heaven forbid, a real person (which is usually like talking to the bot you started with in the first place).
UBER
Take my experience with Uber this past week (June 24th to be exact). We won’t talk about their second-by-second changing fees for cars. That would be too easy to complain about!
What we will talk about is their disappointing Customer Service. Upon landing in O’Hare Airport and walking from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2, from downstairs to upstairs (talk about a screwy airport) I finally get to the pickup points for Uber/Lyft.
I take my trusty smartphone, load Uber, and order a car to take me to the hotel. An Uber Driver accepts the ride, and the app tells me 7 minutes. The little car on the map shows him getting closer and closer.
All is well, until the app tells me he’s here, and he isn’t. I send him text messages. The app shows he reads them but doesn’t reply. I finally told him I’ll cancel the ride; no answer and I cancel the ride.
Uber charges me $5.32. What for, their driver never showed. After going around and around in the app I get to an area that allows me to complain, without being able to complain.
UBER Response
They say they are giving me Uber credit. I don’t want Uber credit; I want a credit card credit! They charged my credit card, didn’t they?
I go back to the app and enter their circular world of customer service hell. Nowhere to contact them, nowhere to complain. I even looked at their website. No info, period.
I filed a complaint with American Express who gave me the $5.32 back. I urged Amex to suggest strongly they change their policies (I doubt the will).
Stand up against tyranny
Why don’t we as consumers, be it personal or corporate, start demanding more from our vendors? E-mail addresses which get answered by humans (yes, I know I’m asking for the world), phone numbers to call, supervisors and managers that work 24 hours a day (amazing how there is never a supervisor or manager on duty when you call customer service… especially health care insurance companies).
How about a postal address so we can send a letter (to those who are of the younger generation, that putting thought to actual paper, putting it in an envelope, adding a stamp and giving it to the US Postal Service).
My answer
While I may not use Uber as much in the future, I have certainly cut out vendors who have acted in this manner before. Sketchers comes first to my mind. Horrible customer service.
What’s your customer service horror story?
Update: 10/12/2022
Lauire Madock read the blog and offered two websites that may be helpful in finding contact numbers. www.GetHuman.com and www.Elliott.org.
Give them a try and thank you Laurie!
