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On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

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Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#171

Post by OkGoDoIt »

njarboe wrote: post #107
kenneth wrote: post #57

The most obvious example of this in daily life is through airlines, where the difference is pretty transparent and you get night-and-day better service by being a loyal customer. With top status with AA and UA (EXP and 1K), you connected to U.S.-based very senior phone agents right away, who always make sure to take care of any issue that arises. 50min delay on your AA flight? No problem, sir, we are rebooking you on…

So if you aren't in the top tier, fly Southwest as much as you can. I do. All the same seats with minor differentiation possible. There are many reasons they have been the only airline to be profitable for decades, but having good service for everyone is definitelty one of the reasons.

On the other hand if you’re flying with another person and you want to sit together, you’re more or less forced to pay for a seat upgrade. I’ve flown on Southwest with my girlfriend 5 times this year and only 1 time did we get to sit together even when I checked in exactly 24 hours beforehand. It’s infuriating. I imagine if you’re traveling with children it’s completely unacceptable.

There’s a lot of things I like about Southwest Airlines, but the lack of assigned seats negates them all.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#172

Post by tomjen3 »

goostavos wrote: post #69
grahamburger wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question: does this actually help you get what you're after faster? I've never been a call center agent, but I've worked closely enough with call centers to know that they are often divided up in to different skill sets. Even if the automated responses won't get you what you need (modern ones can do quite a lot!) and you really need to talk to a person, you still have to talk to the right person. (Or the right…

>Even if the automated responses won't get you what you need I honestly hate that this is a thing at all. If I'm calling customer service, it's because I've exhausted every other option _other than calling customer service_. I'm not here to have fun, I've got a problem than I unfortunately need a human to solve. Sitting through several minutes of "helpful" suggestions, options, and tips completely unrelated to why I…

You and me, but that is not the case for a lot of people.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#173

Post by CaptSpify »

grahamburger wrote: post #17
hiei wrote: post #2

At least for my phone provider, you can hit 0 about 6-7 times after the automated responses and be directly sent to a live agent.

Honest question: does this actually help you get what you're after faster? I've never been a call center agent, but I've worked closely enough with call centers to know that they are often divided up in to different skill sets. Even if the automated responses won't get you what you need (modern ones can do quite a lot!) and you really need to talk to a person, you still have to talk to the right person. (Or the right…

> Honest question: does this actually help you get what you're after faster?

For me, yes! Absolutely!

Having worked in a call-center before, there is a large amount of undeserved trust in their routing. I'm usually going to be transferred two or three times if I follow the phone-tree or not, skipping the phone tree just lowers my latency to those transfers.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#174

Post by IshKebab »

I find it hard to believe most call centres have sophisticated tracking systems when they can't even manage a basic "You are number X in the queue. The estimated wait time is X minutes." Or how about "If you would like us to call you back, press 1". I've had that from about 2 call centres in my life total (one was Google, can't remember the other).

Fancy tracking linked to wait times? Please.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#175

Post by thrav »

OkGoDoIt wrote: post #171
njarboe wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if you aren't in the top tier, fly Southwest as much as you can. I do. All the same seats with minor differentiation possible. There are many reasons they have been the only airline to be profitable for decades, but having good service for everyone is definitelty one of the reasons.

On the other hand if you’re flying with another person and you want to sit together, you’re more or less forced to pay for a seat upgrade. I’ve flown on Southwest with my girlfriend 5 times this year and only 1 time did we get to sit together even when I checked in exactly 24 hours beforehand. It’s infuriating. I imagine if you’re traveling with children it’s completely unacceptable. There’s a lot of things I like ab…

They have special family boarding. My wife and I just pay for a single seat upgrade, and then hold a second for the late boarder. Would want to be up front anyway.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#176

Post by this_user »

da_chicken wrote: post #140
jklinger410 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>they link my identity to my browser They link your phone number to a session/user along with ad networks who have stored cookies on your machine and use predictive modeling to guess at who you are/what you do. It doesn't work on 90% of the HN crowd, people who block ads/disable javascript, or just don't do a lot of traditional "browsing", but yeah.

You know, I'm quickly reaching a point where I want the default browser to work in Incognito mode, and the browser should only switch to regular mode when I explicitly whitelist the domain.

There are extensions like "Cookie AutoDelete" where you can explicitly whitelist what coookies are not supposed to be delete. I think it does not automatically clear localstorage, though. But if you combine this with a blocker extension to remove the usual suspects when it comes to tracking, you are mostly there already.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#177

Post by Swizec »

forapurpose wrote: post #159
da_chicken wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, I'm quickly reaching a point where I want the default browser to work in Incognito mode, and the browser should only switch to regular mode when I explicitly whitelist the domain.

Does Incognito mode solve this problem? I thought it mostly prevented data from being stored on your local computer; I did not think it was effective against tracking.

It improves tracking by fisabling your ad blocker.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#179

Post by CamperBob2 »

mehrdadn wrote: post #124
atwebb wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not nearly how far it's gone, but yes, this is an implementation of it.

You mean it's gone much farther than this? Would you have any examples?

A classic example from several years ago:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-targ...

That was several years ago.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#180

Post by ebullientocelot »

slowhand09 wrote: post #161
newnewpdro wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you think they weren't going to leverage your phone number in other ways when you furnished it for "improved security"?

local area code + 867-5309

Thanks, it's stuck in my head now.
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