Apparently the superiority of eBay's social media help isn't the only example of that
I didn't know which sub forum to put this in -it really doesn't apply to any of them as it's not 'on topic' of anything eBay-related, yet I suspect some of you will find this interesting and possibly very handy at some point. We DO all need internet, so there's that connecting thread at least.
On August 28th I had to have an Xfinity technician come because our internet had been cutting out for hours at a time, the previous few days. Of course I had tried all the usual check/reset stuff, including with a phone rep. So the guy came, super cool feller, and sure enough the problem required him to get up on his ladder to the telephone pole by the street. Now if you have Comcast/Xfinity (possibly other companies too) the policy is: if the tech has to do something you could have done yourself, you get charged a service fee. If it's anything outside your home, it's automatically THEIR responsibility. So I didn't even think about it after he left.
Today, over a month later, the internet went out so I switched to my hotspot, went to the Xfinity website and saw that it was just a temporary outage, work being done in the neighborhood. But then I noticed the bill looked crazy high, and I realized THEY HAD CHARGED US $100 for that service visit! I will spare you the rabbit hole of phone call nightmare I went through for the next couple hours, but basically the answer was "The charge is valid." They wouldn't even tell me what the service guy reported he did on this visit, just "Ma'am, the charge is valid, so you will just have to pay it." The second chick also seemed to indicate that there is NO differentiating the type of service performed; there is a charge if you need a tech for ANY reason. I KNEW BETTER, but ......
I was so furious and felt so helpless, I did the only thing I could think of: went to social media to vent. First I went to Nextdoor, partly just to ask neighbors if they had the same thing happen to them, or if they knew of an Xfinity policy change that made it so absolute like this. Then I went to Reddit. I just found the group with "Xfinity" in the name and the highest number of members, and posted my story.
I just assumed it was a group for customers to share war stories like mine. But very soon after, I received a reply from someone who appeared to have Xfinity credentials of some sort, telling me to check my messages for a link to follow up. -This had a very familiar feel to it, as you would know if you have ever gotten help on eBay For Business on Facebook or Twitter.
It ended up being a bit of a hassle because the first code that the guy sent expired after I sent it back to him but before he could get back. So we had to redo that, and then it was a different name replying also. But anyway, you can see the results below. I'm going to take that last recommendation at face value, and go to this Reddit group INSTEAD of bothering with the overseas phone people from now on! And it makes me wonder, what other companies can you get better help from via social media than their own phone number or website???
robbie31415
·2 years agoWhat i do a lot of the times is send a letter to the corporate office.
Will typically be given to someone from "executive support".
Little slower but typically resolves my issues.
Verizon once gave me a bill for $7000 for 1 month. All the calls were to another Verizon customer so it was supposed to be free.
gurlcat
OP2 years agoOoof I wish I had that level of ability to just postpone worrying about something. In fact now that I think about it, I'm glad I discovered this charge when I woke up today instead of late last night, with probably no help available and me needing to get a night of sleep.
But I'll keep your corporate office idea in mind, as a last ditch route.