Does anyone take customer service seriously now?

[Vitnery]

Like most people I've spent a lot of the last two years listening to hold music and being told my call is important before being cut off. I've kind of come to expect that any dealings with any government department will be frustrating, truncated and unsatisfactory. I know that there are some people - DVLA, HMRC, Passport Office - who no longer deal with queries at all.

But today I finally managed to get through to Octopus. I've been trying for a while, because they took over my gas and electricity after my previous company went bust, and now they've sent me an email offering what they say is their best deal which involves me paying £150 more a month than I was previously. Plus they've finally got their act together and actually billed me for the period between September and now which is obviously hundreds, with just a week to pay it.

Obviously I'm going to have to pony up but I do balk at such shoddiness - not billing me throughout the winter despite me requesting it etc. And to top it all when I was on the phone getting gouged up the arse by them I could quite clearly hear Judge Judy playing in the background, which the call centre agent was obviously listening to, from home.

AIBU to think that if we're all going to get fucked over - which we are, no doubt about it - these corporations should at least pretend to act professionally while they're doing it?

Was it a decent episode?

Don't see the problem with the six month bill, it was in arrears not in advance and shouldn't have been a surprise. You should have the money already from each month you didn't have to pay.

I’ve been really impressed with Sky recently. We wanted to switch to them for broadband and while on the phone doing that the guy noticed we’d had TV with them for over 20 years and proceeded to give us some brilliant discounts which effectively has made our broadband free. Once installed the broadband was a bit patchy in the house, again very helpful operative sorted it

@LizzieSiddal I can do that now but it's taken six months to get there. Which. Is. My. Point.

Lol at PPs who suggested the first few answers were from people who watch telly while "working". You are probably right!

What do you mean HMRC doesn't deal with queries at all? I'm on the phone to them several times a week and generally they are very helpful.

You can easily calculate how much your bill is going to be and then put the money aside each month. I’d assume that as they took on a share of six million customers, there is going to be a backlog in processing them. The woman answering the phone isn’t going to be responsible for billing is she?

I’m totally with the OP on this — customer service in last few years has been totally appalling— if it isn’t working with people working from home then companies need to look into why that is— whilst there are some extremely diligent people on here, I suspect there are also plenty who fit a bit of work in around watching Judge Judy— especially when it’s not monitored— and no I personally don’t think it’s ok that the person has the TV on in the background either— a bit of soft background music yes—

Omg ! Your post has attracted some nutters.

Eventually the people providing shit service wfh will be replaced by people wfh for less in other countries for less money.

Let's hope they've not got the TV on.

YANBU every fail is excused "because covid". Standards have slipped so low people are indignant at the suggestion they should turn the TV off.

@QueenOfHiraeth

I am very old and, when I took my first management job, we were told "your job is to take care of your staff and make sure they are happy with and loyal to the company then they will make the customers happy too". As years went by it changed to companies wanting more profits and dividends so staff were treated like dirt and it now shows

Well this really, why should employees care about the profit margin of a company that treats them like shit and makes that money off the back of their work? It's no wonder that employees standards have dropped, why put anything other than the bare minimum in to it when you get very little in return? Most employers treat their employees like a necessary evil, something that takes away from their profit making, all they seem to care about is profit, and as quoted pp says, that attitude is showing because the people they employ know it and why would you invest in a company that treats you so badly and allows you to take the blame for their money making methods, having customers complain constantly about something that you can do nothing about? Do you really think that the company care if you don't like the agent listening to Judge Judy on a call as long as they extract money from you? And that's the bottom line, they employ people to get money from customers and do that by spending as little as possible and this is the result.

I'm surprised by the number of people who think that the TV in the background is in any way appropriate. It's unprofessional, full stop.

I agree op. It's disgraceful.
She should have had Judge Rinder on instead.

I'm with octopus, I have an online dashboard, you upload the meter readings and it creates a bill...do you not have this? I'm rubbish at remembering so do it every 6-7 weeks

I have it now, yes. It has taken six months though.

Whether they issued a bill or not, you should have kept the month aside to pay it, it's not an unexpected bill!

Customer service is royally shit these days. I've had massive issues with 2 suppliers in the last year. I took one lot to the Ombudsman, who found against them, and they've managed to cock up the compensation payment.

I'd be pissed off hearing Judge Judy in the background. I'd suspect that I didn't have the agent's full attention, which if I was complaining and had been half an hour on hold would send my blood pressure even higher.

Of course they shouldn't have TV on while they are working and clearly their systems are crap.

Awful service OP.

It's true what a previous poster said about company greed showing in the workers' disdain.