2009-10-20

All the technology, except when it comes to helping the customer

Cable's out when I get home, so I call their customer service number. Person on the other end tells me that I'm overdue a bill payment. Now I haven't received a bill for some time, so I figure it's another one of those gaffes caused by the Postal Service being a pain in the behind lately and my bill for whatever reason is probably lodged somewhere in town (or who knows, someone else's mailbox).

I ask for my balance and get it (by the way, we in Bermuda are paying insane prices for cable TV - any American or Canadian friends reading this would shudder to hear the monthly rates), then am told that I cannot pay it by card over the phone. I'm a bit bewildered, as they say that I can make the payment in person at their office if I get there before 7pm.

Okay. So I head up there. It's about a 10-15 minute ride, I suppose. Get to the front desk, and pull out my card only to be admonished that they only take CASH or CHEQUE. No freaking cards. I had thought they just didn't accept them over the phone because of fraud issues or the like, but I was mistaken. No cards, period.

This is the year 2009 and this isn't some small sole-proprietorship business selling hand-held fans. It's one of the two sole outlets for subscription television packages on the island, by far the largest, with an enormous customer base. They charge us up the wazoo for their services, and probably make serious profits on a yearly basis. And they will not accept a debit or credit card as a legitimate form of payment?!

Is it really hurting their bottom line to get some point-of-sale terminals on-site, at least?

If I didn't live in a condo and was forced to stick with Cablevision (there's a ban on external antenna for some dumbass reason) I'd be strongly tempted to switch providers STAT.

I'm quite flabbergasted!

1 comment:

Tryangle said...

Yes I'm sure. Dissertation, smimmertation. This is the oddest form of spam I've seen. No, I'm not going to follow the links, but I'm just a bit curious. Besides, it's a bit of an ego boost to see comments, even if they're trying to redirect traffic elsewhere or hawk weird crap on the interWeb.