Since Covid incompetence is off the charts

[Seraphim]

I can’t believe the general incompetence and laziness lately . Just one example today..:. Last week I made an online request for my medications. Today my pharmacy calls me to tell me they got a fax saying my doctor isn’t at my clinic anymore. 😳😳😳🤯🤯. This strikes terror into my heart . My clinic of course is on lunch . I called on the stroke of 1 PM , talk to the receptionist who says of course he is there and has no clue what the pharmacy is talking about and said they never faxed the pharmacy. 😨😨😨

I have a phone appointment with my doctor for Friday for refills of my meds . 
 

This is ONE example of incompetence I see coming out of people on a daily basis. I understand why my son is so enraged at the lack of giving a crap about doing things properly that many people display. 

[Cherylyn]

Welcome to the world of customer service. 

The other day I spoke with a customer service representative outsourced to India.  This person said his name was "Ronald Ferguson" and he had an Indian accent so thick that I couldn't understand him.  I had the same frustrating experience with a heavily accented woman from the Philippines.  Granted,  wages are cheaper overseas in Third World countries but customer service is terrible.  ☹️

[Seraphim]

Well, it has gotten much worse, and this is a white girl in small town Canada . I am not worried about people from other countries because I am very good with accents, that isn’t an issue for me. The issues is mistakes from carelessness or plain not caring that is the issue . 

[Cherylyn]

1 minute ago, Seraphim said:

Well, it has gotten much worse, and this is a white girl in small town Canada . I am not worried about people from other countries because I am very good with accents, that isn’t an issue for me. The issues is mistakes from carelessness or plain not caring that is the issue . 

Yes,  I hear you.  It happens everywhere.  ☹️ 

[Batya33]

We've experienced a lot of staff shortages here -from pharmacies to restaurants to supermarkets.  I try to cut slack -and at the same time obviously whether the new person cares about whether I want spicy or yellow mustard is NOT the same as getting appropriate care for your meds!! - so I try to cut slack when I can.

I'm really sorry about your frustrating situation and I hope it all work out!

[Seraphim]

41 minutes ago, Batya33 said:

We've experienced a lot of staff shortages here -from pharmacies to restaurants to supermarkets.  I try to cut slack -and at the same time obviously whether the new person cares about whether I want spicy or yellow mustard is NOT the same as getting appropriate care for your meds!! - so I try to cut slack when I can.

I'm really sorry about your frustrating situation and I hope it all work out!

I was shocked they didn’t get any of it right. Like what the heck. And who did they send my medical information to?? Absolutely staffing shortages is an issue , shortages in every capacity is still an issue. But I seem to remember a lot of people saying us “ old folks need to retire” so they can work. Well, not working out so well. 

[Batya33]

I find too much of a cavalier attitude too often when I need specific information from a health insurance company or let's say one of our packages is missing or it's claimed delivered but not - there are a lot of words -scripted words -but often enough not enough pride in the work.  

[boltnrun]

My insurance company requires me to have my prescription medication delivered.  Fine, it's convenient.  Except they sent it via USPS on April 9th.  It arrived at the USPS distribution center in my county on April 12th.  It sat there for over three weeks, until it was finally delivered to me on May 5th.  What if I had been out of my meds?  These are meds that I need in order to stay alive, literally.  I had called and they sent me what was supposed to be an emergency 10-day supply but ended up being the full 90-day supply.  They sent that order on April 30th via FedEx and it ended up arriving before the one that had been sent on April 9th!  So now I have a six-month supply, which is good for the next time the post office sits on my delivery for almost a month 🙄 .

[reinventmyself]

OH!  I hear you!   Almost everywhere I go.  The bar seems to be set so low lately.  It's really sad.

I called to cancel a dr appt yesterday.  The phone rang countless times and a young man aswered who I later figured out he was working from home.  Apparently the reception calls were fwd'd to him at his residence. 

Without even moving away from the mouth piece of the phone, inbetween our conversation he said things right into the phone such as "get away from me!' (more than once)  "change his diaper, he stinks"  

I gave him my birthdate to look me up in the database.  He responds  "Is this Cassandra?"  "No" I say.  "Is this Lisa?"   "No" I say.  All of this in between him barking at what I can assume was a small child.  

Upon ending the call I asked him for his name.  I don't trust he cancelled my appt that I don't want to be billed for.  When I asked he paused for the longest time as if not wanting to tell me.  I can't help but wonder if he gave me his real name.

[Seraphim]

27 minutes ago, reinventmyself said:

OH!  I hear you!   Almost everywhere I go.  The bar seems to be set so low lately.  It's really sad.

I called to cancel a dr appt yesterday.  The phone rang countless times and a young man aswered who I later figured out he was working from home.  Apparently the reception calls were fwd'd to him at his residence. 

Without even moving away from the mouth piece of the phone, inbetween our conversation he said things right into the phone such as "get away from me!' (more than once)  "change his diaper, he stinks"  

I gave him my birthdate to look me up in the database.  He responds  "Is this Cassandra?"  "No" I say.  "Is this Lisa?"   "No" I say.  All of this in between him barking at what I can assume was a small child.  

Upon ending the call I asked him for his name.  I don't trust he cancelled my appt that I don't want to be billed for.  When I asked he paused for the longest time as if not wanting to tell me.  I can't help but wonder if he gave me his real name.

Unbelievable. Really. How unprofessional. My son is totally enraged with the incompetence and lack of professionalism and work ethic or even giving a rat’s behind about your job. Now he just lets people have it . I can totally get why. 

[tattoobunnie]

Since COVID, customers think it is okay to yell and curse at our customer service reps.  They take all their sh*t feelings of not feeling any control in their own lives out on them.  They honestly treat them like garbage if they don't kowtow to them.  Some have also picked up saying, "their order got lost," as a grift because they try to get away with it. They don't get penalized for trying with credit card companies when really the merchant gets stiffed.  You have the people who don't think it exists, so can't still grasp it still is causing issues with lack of resources and manpower on the manufacturing level.  Endless Karens and Kyles.

[Seraphim]

5 minutes ago, tattoobunnie said:

Since COVID, customers think it is okay to yell and curse at our customer service reps.  They take all their sh*t feelings of not feeling any control in their own lives out on them.  They honestly treat them like garbage if they don't kowtow to them.  Some have also picked up saying, "their order got lost," as a grift because they try to get away with it. They don't get penalized for trying with credit card companies when really the merchant gets stiffed.  You have the people who don't think it exists, so can't still grasp it still is causing issues with lack of resources and manpower on the manufacturing level.  Endless Karens and Kyles.

My son doesn’t start out mad but when you have someone screw up your order 5 times and it still isn’t right and it happens every day of the week somewhere at some point never ending since Covid started it starts to grate on your nerves. I have yet to see anyone in 3 weeks to get his order right anywhere. 
 

Sunday I was double charged for an order and it was cold . 

[boltnrun]

I am polite until they give me reason not to be.

I called my internet carrier asking about adding TV service.  The rep quoted me a monthly price.  The price was good so I told her to proceed.  Then once the order was completed she told me the "total" monthly price including taxes and fees, which was nearly $30 per month higher!  I told her that I'd asked for the "all in" price earlier and why it was now higher.  She said it was taxes and fees on top of the monthly fee.  I told her to cancel the order.  She spent some time typing on her computer then assured me it was cancelled.  A couple of hours later I got an email confirming my order and telling me the equipment had shipped!!  I had to make two more phone calls to get them to take the charges off my account, but they still shipped the equipment.  They attempted to deliver it three times and I kept refusing the order.  After the third time the carrier sent it back to them.  The charges didn't end up on my bill, but I was extremely disappointed in their customer service training that clearly tells them to put in orders even if the customer doesn't want them.  I wrote a couple of scathing reviews on Yelp and Google.

In this case I know it was what they tell their employees to do.  Very disappointing that a company I've been doing business with for years resorts to scamming customers in order to make money.  And I don't think it has to do with Covid.  Just their CEOs trying to get even bigger bonuses for themselves.

[tattoobunnie]

Sorry!  I thought this was a vent on COVID thread 🤪  My hubs has to deal with this on the regular since he needs 90 days scripts, not 30 with his work travels.  I once spent 12 hours calling everyone under the sun back and forth for albuterol for my youngest having an asthma attack.  Not fun.

[Seraphim]

1 minute ago, boltnrun said:

I am polite until they give me reason not to be.

I called my internet carrier asking about adding TV service.  The rep quoted me a monthly price.  The price was good so I told her to proceed.  Then once the order was completed she told me the "total" monthly price including taxes and fees, which was nearly $30 per month higher!  I told her that I'd asked for the "all in" price earlier and why it was now higher.  She said it was taxes and fees on top of the monthly fee.  I told her to cancel the order.  She spent some time typing on her computer then assured me it was cancelled.  A couple of hours later I got an email confirming my order and telling me the equipment had shipped!!  I had to make two more phone calls to get them to take the charges off my account, but they still shipped the equipment.  They attempted to deliver it three times and I kept refusing the order.  After the third time the carrier sent it back to them.  The charges didn't end up on my bill, but I was extremely disappointed in their customer service training that clearly tells them to put in orders even if the customer doesn't want them.  I wrote a couple of scathing reviews on Yelp and Google.

In this case I know it was what they tell their employees to do.  Very disappointing that a company I've been doing business with for years resorts to scamming customers in order to make money.  And I don't think it has to do with Covid.  Just their CEOs trying to get even bigger bonuses for themselves.

This is what I am talking about . People not giving a flying crap about their jobs or service . 

[Seraphim]

2 minutes ago, tattoobunnie said:

Sorry!  I thought this was a vent on COVID thread 🤪  My hubs has to deal with this on the regular since he needs 90 days scripts, not 30 with his work travels.  I once spent 12 hours calling everyone under the sun back and forth for albuterol for my youngest having an asthma attack.  Not fun.

I hear you . Every week a few days a week I am shaking my head in total disbelief at the bs. 

[boltnrun]

44 minutes ago, Seraphim said:

This is what I am talking about . People not giving a flying crap about their jobs or service . 

In my case this is what they're trained to do. I said this to the "supervisor" and she didn't even try to deny it. If I had decent options for internet service I would switch today. Unfortunately my building is only wired for this company. And I'm not going to pay to have it wired for a different service.

My brother's homeowners insurance company is dropping him because he filed a claim. He's been paying his premiums but they don't want to have to  actually pay out a claim for the service he's been paying for!

[Seraphim]

2 minutes ago, boltnrun said:

In my case this is what they're trained to do. I said this to the "supervisor" and she didn't even try to deny it. If I had decent options for internet service I would switch today. Unfortunately my building is only wired for this company. And I'm not going to pay to have it wired for a different service.

My brother's homeowners insurance company is dropping him because he filed a claim. He's been paying his premiums but they don't want to have to  actually pay out a claim for the service he's been paying for!

All a part of the issue and it filters into everything. 

[Batya33]

Last year I had a complicated issue not of my making at all with an insurance company.  It was about wrong coding/misdelivered reimbursement check etc.  I had done everything right. I was transferred countless times.  Probably got disconnected at least once. 

After about an hour one rep says she will call the doctor's office where I'd had the original inpatient surgical procedure and that way she could undo the obstacle to my getting my check (hundreds of dollars).  She called.  I'd been there recently.  I'd paid them thousands for a mostly unreimbursed oral surgery (not saying that part was their fault -it is what it is).  I'd been there a number of times over the past several months.  The rep came back on the line "sorry they've never heard of you."

I called that office -I explained how very upset I was that I'd just spent thousands on my procedure -up front no "payment plan", been there a number of times and recently for each step in the procedure and ---- they tell the insurance company they never heard of me?

Did they even check before saying that? Response was at most a mumbled oh sorry.  No real apology -or offer to call the insurance company and make it right.  Eventually I got my $ and it took another 1.5 hour call.  Some of the reps meant well.  The issue never should have happened in the first place but once it did it should have been easy to fix in one reasonable length call.  

[itsallgrand]

I hear you!! Lately what is frustrating me to no end is not being able to get a human. And when you finally do, they have no idea what they are doing and hang up on you rather than at least let me know how to contact someone who does. So I call over and over until I get someone who will at least try ! 

It's all the way from high to low. Asking for the most basic things is like asking for a kidney it seems. 

[Batya33]

2 minutes ago, itsallgrand said:

Asking for the most basic things is like asking for a kidney it seems. 

My personal favorite from a few weeks ago - my local, rather high end supermarket chain now has a must have a receipt policy.  Recently instituted. OK fine.  But... I bought a pint of grape tomatoes, opened them that day - found moldy ones.  It was the store brand.  I'm a regular customer.  The employee simply kept repeating the store policy (I misplaced my receipt) - you could even tell from the scanner that they were recently purchased.  She didn't ask a supervisor -I asked to speak to one -finally got my $. I explained to them that it was fortunate I'd located the moldy ones before I consumed more than one (non-moldy) one.  But -nope - I mean how dare I ask for refund for a store brand produce item with no receipt? I get that obviously the employee doesn't want to get in trouble -and also get that very often a supervisor will make an exception.....

[itsallgrand]

Just now, Batya33 said:

My personal favorite from a few weeks ago - my local, rather high end supermarket chain now has a must have a receipt policy.  Recently instituted. OK fine.  But... I bought a pint of grape tomatoes, opened them that day - found moldy ones.  It was the store brand.  I'm a regular customer.  The employee simply kept repeating the store policy (I misplaced my receipt) - you could even tell from the scanner that they were recently purchased.  She didn't ask a supervisor -I asked to speak to one -finally got my $. I explained to them that it was fortunate I'd located the moldy ones before I consumed more than one (non-moldy) one.  But -nope - I mean how dare I ask for refund for a store brand produce item with no receipt? I get that obviously the employee doesn't want to get in trouble -and also get that very often a supervisor will make an exception.....

Just lazy!! Can't be buggered. Very frustrating. 

[Cherylyn]

40 minutes ago, Batya33 said:

My personal favorite from a few weeks ago - my local, rather high end supermarket chain now has a must have a receipt policy.  Recently instituted. OK fine.  But... I bought a pint of grape tomatoes, opened them that day - found moldy ones.  It was the store brand.  I'm a regular customer.  The employee simply kept repeating the store policy (I misplaced my receipt) - you could even tell from the scanner that they were recently purchased.  She didn't ask a supervisor -I asked to speak to one -finally got my $. I explained to them that it was fortunate I'd located the moldy ones before I consumed more than one (non-moldy) one.  But -nope - I mean how dare I ask for refund for a store brand produce item with no receipt? I get that obviously the employee doesn't want to get in trouble -and also get that very often a supervisor will make an exception.....

When I misplaced or lost my receipt,  the store manager was able to see my purchase records of the receipt in her store's computer,  print it and show it to me as proof of my purchase.  After that,  the returned transaction was processed normally.  You might want to try going that route if you encounter another hassle without receipt from your end. 

[Starlight925]

I don't get this, as jobs are becoming harder to find, and the people who have jobs don't seem to care about the vanishing job market.

I work for a Fortune 100 company, and we had tens of thousands of layoffs recently. 

Many of my friends, many very longterm employees, educated professionals on to manufacturing employees, have lost their jobs.

Main reason?  AI.  Artificial Intelligence.

We, along with virtually every other company in the world right now, are moving to AI to do everything from engineering to Human resources.  You can no longer get a person on the phone, you have to go through our ChatBot, from one bot to another.  We used to be the most customer service friendly company in the world.

In the plants, about 90% of the employees are now replaced by robot machinery.  I visited one of our huge facilities about 15 years ago, and it's a stark difference to now.  Back then, employees had pride in showing you what they were doing and were proud of their accuracy, etc.  Today?  It's one machine picking up things, moving to another machine, moving to a roller belt, into a box, loading into a truck.

Even the trucks will soon be driven by AI.  An empty lot in my neighborhood has been slated to hold "Nuro Cars", which are the AI driven cars for delivery service.  They've been spotted all over town, mapping.  Pretty soon, they'll be driverless.

So when I think of the incompetence, it drives me crazy, because these are the people who HAVE jobs.  You will not have your job soon enough, once it goes to AI.  McDonald's now has people-less restaurants, where you order via app and they send your food down.

[Batya33]

34 minutes ago, Cherylyn said:

When I misplaced or lost my receipt,  the store manager was able to see my purchase records of the receipt in her store's computer,  print it and show it to me as proof of my purchase.  After that,  the returned transaction was processed normally.  You might want to try going that route if you encounter another hassle without receipt from your end. 

Yes we tried that -this was that sort of store. They could not find it on the app despite fact that I'd just purchased it. In the past they were able to.  I really do thank you -that's a great idea and fortunately most of the employees there automatically attempt that if there's any issue -meaning I don't even need to ask.  Thank you very much, again.