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Is this the most condescending customer support ever experienced by mankind?

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Re: Is this the most condescending customer support ever experienced by mankind?

#31

How quickly can you reach out to the company to apologize? Were you having a bad day or do you fly off the handle on a regular basis?

At what point exactly do you think I flied off the handle? When I said their stance was terrible and that I was disappointed? Or after the flood of condescension that came my way?

I feel like you just didn't like their completely valid response and then went after them for it. They provide a service. You might think their service should cover some feature but the reality is that they don't. You could have probably told them what you need in a nice way and waited to see whether they would support it. The way it went down, you lost them as a provider and they lost you as a customer, so what was gained?

Re: Is this the most condescending customer support ever experienced by mankind?

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your ego was just a tad more in check, your correspondence with customer support might have been far shorter and you would have saved us all this ridiculous thread.

This is what I don't get. People seem to genuinely think ego was involved. I was just blown away by how clueless the rep seemed (at first at least) about what I was asking. The condescension did the rest and I lost it.

Multiple people have said the problem is with you, not with the support person.

Doesn't that at least make you pause to reconsider whether you're right or not?

Re: Is this the most condescending customer support ever experienced by mankind?

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your ego was just a tad more in check, your correspondence with customer support might have been far shorter and you would have saved us all this ridiculous thread.

This is what I don't get. People seem to genuinely think ego was involved. I was just blown away by how clueless the rep seemed (at first at least) about what I was asking. The condescension did the rest and I lost it.

I think your very first response exhibits that you were looking to have a spat with the support rep.

Most level-headed people would have thanked the rep, or said "That's unfortunate--I really would like to see a way I can script the install of this on new machines."

Again here--I don't think the rep seemed clueless at all. He exhibited a pretty in-depth knowledge about your topic of discussion. I think his point was "I wasn't trying to guess what you were really asking," and your point was "you should have guessed what I was really asking."

Re: Is this the most condescending customer support ever experienced by mankind?

#34
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I don't get. People seem to genuinely think ego was involved. I was just blown away by how clueless the rep seemed (at first at least) about what I was asking. The condescension did the rest and I lost it.

Multiple people have said the problem is with you, not with the support person. Doesn't that at least make you pause to reconsider whether you're right or not?

It does, but multiple people also stated that the rep was clearly untrained in customer service matters, some agreed saying a straight now without trying to help isn't the right thing to do. After all the comments I do feel like I was 100% wrong with the tone and volume I chose. I just felt incredibly frustrated at the complete lack of interest in trying to help out.

Re: Is this the most condescending customer support ever experienced by mankind?

#35
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I don't get. People seem to genuinely think ego was involved. I was just blown away by how clueless the rep seemed (at first at least) about what I was asking. The condescension did the rest and I lost it.

I think your very first response exhibits that you were looking to have a spat with the support rep. Most level-headed people would have thanked the rep, or said "That's unfortunate--I really would like to see a way I can script the install of this on new machines." Again here--I don't think the rep seemed clueless at all. He exhibited a pretty in-depth knowledge about your topic of discussion. I think his point was…

He proved he wasn't clueless a few answers in the thread. But by that point that fact possibly bothered me even more. It was as if he was trying his best to be smoky and withholding information that could have proven to be relevant (hence the smartass comment I made. That's exactly the opposite of what a rep should do, i.e. trying to figure out how to help out.

Re: Is this the most condescending customer support ever experienced by mankind?

#36
I think you had it coming .. as many may have pointed out already, the first response from the CSR was "to the point" - i.e. you asked a specific question - and you got an exact answer.

Maybe you didn't like the answer.

So, you resorted to using uppercase words (TERRIBLE).

And you were not given a NO for a service request - you had a question for which the answer was, rightly, NO!.. What else do you expect - a No with an apology attached?

Ideally, you should have responded to the CSR's first reply with a "Thanks for your response ... I would suggest you to strongly consider .. as it is already a norm and most competitors offer this ... " etc.

Instead, it appears that you took offense ... and well.. it was just downhill for you from there wasn't it :)

I also think the CSR didn't step out of bounds any time ... if this thread is reviewed by his supervisor, he/she would probably get a certificate of appreciation for handling an irate customer.

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