Customer Service sucks

Still no word from RCA on the TV.

My Panasonic Replay DVR stopped accepting time updates from the server.
The date was stuck on 11/12/1999.

I called Replay, which is now owned by DTV and they said called Panasonic.

So I called Panasonic and they said this was serious. I asked if this was the reason I was not getting any guide data, because it was looking for data for November 1999, they said maybe, but they were not sure.

The tech was really surprised that the unit was even still working. He said " We stopped making those units in 2000. That unit is over 8 years old. There's no way it should still be working."

Nothing like confidence in your companies merchandise.

I explained that I did have to replace the hard drive, and asked if there was any way to manually set the time, since I figured that would solve my problem.

He had no clue.

So I loaded a hacked image onto the unit that restored the option to input a manual date and time. ( The unit had this feature when it was built, but software updates removed this feature )

I set the date and time, and bingo, the guide data downloaded.

The attitude and the quality of the products being made really sucks.

Cars are made to not last much past the last loan payment, sometimes even less.

It seems like 3 years is the magic number for most electronics. 90 days is all they give on warranties, without buying an add on warranty that's roughly 20% of the purchase price for 1 year.

It also seems like the RMA depts delay processing the claims in an effort to get to that 90 day mark. This may not be the case, it may just be that they are short handed, or incompetent.

I know when I've worked in companies there has always been a good portion of the workforce that was faking it most of the time and a few of us that knew what we were doing. But, with downsizing and outsourcing it is very hard to provide good customer service with only a few knowledgeable people.

In my opinion, not that it means anything since most people don't want it, companies are looking for the wrong qualities in certain positions.

Take for example this company that called me out of the blue and wanted to interview me. They made DVD players that held 100 DVD's at a time. They had the ability to hook up remote units to the main unit, but you could only watch one DVD at any given time.

The units had hard drives, but because of copyright concerns they did not load the DVD's to the hard drives, which would have made sense, and you could play any movie on any TV simultaneously.

They needed someone to do tech support on the phone. they had already looked over my resume and they wanted a face to face interview. I went in and I saw what they were selling, and these units were very expensive. They stressed the point that even though the position was tech support, what they really wanted was a good salesman that could sell a new unit verses repairing the old one, even though these units were only a few years old. At 10K a pop.

I spent about 45 minutes talking with them and I told them I understood what they were looking for. I let them know that I thought it was crucial that they have someone who was tech savvy, even though they were trying to sell, more then repair.

I guess I missed the cue, because what they really meant, I believe, is "We don't want to repair any of these units, even if they are under warranty, even if they are only a few months old. We don't have the setup to do the repairs, we don't have the people to do the repairs, we don't want the hassle. We want you to sell new units to these people. These people are rich and stupid and that's why they buy from us instead of going with a more complex, cheaper, system that is far superior to anything we have to offer."

A few months go by and they call me again. They had hired a woman to fill the job right after they interviewed me. They thought that the female voice would work well because most of the clients were men. It turned out she had no tech experience, none. She had sales experience, but the people calling were not looking to buy new, they wanted help with the units they just purchased, in other words, tech support.

The woman that called me for another interview told me this. I explained to her that, at the first interview, I felt that tech support was key to this position. Selling units to replace older units was possible, but most people were calling for tech support, and repair. I again told her I would be perfect for the position of tech support, having dealt with so many companies tech support depts.

She e-mailed me a few days later to say they had gone with another woman for the job and that they were sticking to their original game plan.

I've got hundreds of stories like this, and depending on who listens, I get different responses. If someone in a management position listens they always see the negative, how I was wrong, said the wrong thing, did the wrong thing, did not give them what they wanted.

But, when I talk with people on my level, the workers, they see my point and they often agree with my assessments. Not all the time, but enough of the time that I know I'm not the only one seeing the situation in that way.

Now management will tell you how this is a bad thing, and in order to succeed you need to think like management, conform, " Be a team player" . However, management is hardly ever a team player. They say jump and you jump, no questions, no explanations. Having the money and the power makes their decisions right and yours wrong. It is that simple.

When you look at failures, major failures, in companies, it is rarely the fault of the workers. Management has put people in place that are not equipped to do the job. They have stripped away all the safeguards, they have set up situations that can only end in disaster for the customers and the employees.

The airlines are a good example of this. Enron is another good example. And the best part is they take absolutely no responsibility for anything that happens. The people at the top with all the power are clueless, or so they want you to think. If you believe them they have no idea about anything that has ever happened in the companies that they run.

The saddest part is some people actually believe them.