Customer Service Like No Other

My cable is down. I get the nice blue screen saying “channel will be available shortly” on all 200+ channels on my box. This has happened before and I had to reboot the box. So, I decided I would call Shaw (at 6am on a Saturday morning) to find out what the problem was. Is it just me, are others involved, should I worry? I last watched tv at 2am and it was working then.

After a quick check, I realized that my internet and phone are still working, which is a good thing. It means that there’s not a critical failure of the cable lines. Nobody has blown up Shaw or anything.  That was reassuring to know.

I then went to the internet to look up the phone number.  The above is what I got.  Every link to a customer service phone number led to the message above.  What the hell is that crap?  I scoured the site for 45 minutes (heck tv wasn’t working so I had nothing to do).  There is NOWHERE to find the number, all the links led back to that message.  I thought that was a very cool way to deal with customers.  When there’s a major problem that affects a lot of people (potentially), remove all links to customer service from your web site.  I even tried the 24/7 online help line.  That didn’t work either.

I tried to find an old cable bill, but I don’t keep them around.  I managed to find one online finally and dialled the number on it.  It rang twenty times then hung up on me.  I was a little annoyed.  I did find the number for tech support so I called it too.  It rang twenty times then hung up on me.  I then called back in full “I’m pissed now” mode, and I got that annoying voice mail.  I did manage to get through to a tech.  He answered the phone and I didn’t understand a word he said as he quickly mumbled at me.  He then told me that the cable was down but the phone and internet was working.  They discovered the problem last night (well a couple of hours ago) and are working on it.  No eta.  No nothing then he hung up.

I understand people are busy.  I understand what it’s like when systems go down and the free world tries to get in touch with someone to find out why things aren’t working.  Hello…this is the internet age.  If they don’t want phone calls from OVERPAYING customers, could they not stick a banner on their web page and say “people in these areas are affected”???  It would have saved me 45 minutes of grief and aggravation.  Obviously the only people going into Shaw accounts are Shaw customers, so why not make that information available?

I have no other option for my cable tv.  Oh, there’s Bell Expressvu but I was told they were pulling their satellite dish a couple years ago, so I changed providers before that happened (not that I liked them anyway).   Well, they somehow re-signed a contract and managed to put an exclusivity clause in saying only them and one other provider could support my building (isn’t that a sweet deal).  So, now there is an option for me to have exactly what I have now – faster and better with more options for just less than half the price I am paying now.  But I can’t get it thanks to this stupid contract that doesn’t expire until 2010!

Sometimes customer service drives me crazy.   It’s a good thing I’m calm because I’m tanked up on cold medications!