United We Stand?

I once heard Ralph Nader speak at the nearest state university.  You might think this sort of event would not be well attended in a red state, (red state? sounds like a bunch of commies), but the university students and adult folk turned out to a standing room only auditorium.  This was way back at the start of the century, year 2000.  Ralph Nader won me over when he said, "When I want to listen to classical music, I just telephone United Airlines and get put on hold."  Used to be they put you on hold for a good long time and you could listen to classics or get in your 20 minutes of meditation while on hold.

Today  I called six different toll free United numbers and didn't have to wait 20 minutes on most of them, but all the folks I spoke to were in foreign nations, i.e., not the USA.  Several times I could not hear or understand the person on the line.  When I asked to be transferred to the USA I was told they could not do that.  In addition to volume too low and accents too thick, offshore reps were too polite and pandered so as to waste time.  Finally, several referred me to other toll free numbers that were supposed to solve my problem.  Twice I was referred to numbers that were eternal, exclusive automated systems with limited menus of possibility and no live operators.  Sometimes I was limited to only "yes" or "no" answers.  One of the choices asked whether I wanted to lodge a complaint. I responded in the affirmative.  I was referred to the website by the automated system!

Finally I got to rate the service I had received on one of my phone calls.  Rating was to be done on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being lowest.  Evidently the service is so so-so (at best) that they could never rate a 10, so they did not bother with a scale from 1 to 10.  After I rated all categories, they wanted me to tell them why I gave them the ratings I did.  This was all automated.  I had wasted over an hour in this cycle of offshore phone rooms, automated systems, more offshore phone rooms, difficult to understand service reps, and a web site that wanted my "profile" before it would issue me a password to conduct my business.  The system is too invasive and inept.  Maybe we read blogs because we cannot talk to anyone in the USA anymore.

I am not a fan of United.  Their skies are allegedly friendly, but their phone system and online profiling is not.  One of my best United horror stories is the time I boarded a trans Pacific flight at its airport of origination.  There was a half eaten sandwich in the emergency instruction, magazine, and barf bag pocket located on the back of the seat in front of me.  I had a window seat.  The window was covered with greasy smudges.  The food tray was dirty.  The vegetarian snack was a handful of corn chips, not in a sealed bag, but in the type of plastic wrap you use for leftovers, with a little salsa, and some other little unmemorable, inedible.  The non vegetarian selection appeared to be much more generous -- a whole sandwich.  Their complaint process has always been unsatisfying.  I have even more abusive stories, longer stories, of flying United.  But enough complaining.

When are we going to move jobs back onshore?  My computer, and the security system that was sold with it, resulted in painfully long, hours and hours and hours and hours and hours with offshore, difficult to understand folks with irritatingly slow, if any, solutions to my issues.  I know there are unemployed folks in the USA.  I know many of them are tech savvy, willing, and able to work.  I know there are bright, quick, folks in the USA who could solve consumer issues rapidly and pleasantly.  Could the time saved by clearly communicating with quality customer service phone reps in the USA offset some of the additional costs of domestic labor?  I quit doing business with four large businesses who have moved their telephone customer service offshore.  I have also quit doing business with one very large, (as large as an Amazon woman?) bookseller because customer service email was incorrectly and repeatedly mishandled by offshore reps.  They did not understand the problem of a book ordered as a gift not delivered as promised, the applicable policy, and solution.  Finally I got through to someone in the US who understood what was going on and took care of the matter quickly and easily.  I easily changed wireless companies when that "socially responsible" long distance and wireless company moved their excellent customer service from San Francisco to outside the US.  The quality of the customer service markedly dropped and I deserve better.  The San Francisco workers deserve better, too.

Things will change when enough consumers unite and vote with their pocketbooks whenever possible.  Will I ever buy another computer with a name that rhymes with hell?  Hell no!  Will I ever again pay a fee to that computer security company that has "a fee" in its name?  No way Mc.  Will I chase offshore bakers trying to get one I can understand?  No.  I decided to change my bank -- buck the system.  And today I fly away from skies that were not friendly enough.  I deserve better treatment.  Consumers unite! 
(c) 2011.