Morale Boosting Southern California

You may have noticed it’s been a little while since my last blog post. That’s because a week ago, my family and I made our long-anticipated move across the country, leaving New York City and relocating to Long Beach, CA! Demand has grown for TrivWorks corporate event entertainment and employee team building activities in Southern California and beyond, so I am personally overseeing the opening of our brand-new West Coast office (Follow this link to read more about this exciting expansion).

A big part of this move, of course, is getting our Internet up and running.

For those of you who read this blog and keep tabs on our company, you know that TrivWorks relies heavily on social media. We of course also depend on it for day-to-day operations: Emails, Web, even keeping our local network functioning. It’s critical to any business, and ours is no exception.

As such, I got a recommendation on an Internet company operating here in our new neck of the woods (I’ll refrain from using their brand name here). I was warned off the bat that they were, how do we say, “not great.” But beggars aren’t choosers, and we needed to get online pronto – so, on the day of our move (literally, while the movers were packing up the office) I snuck off and made a phone call.

After working my way through the automated phone tree, I was finally connected to a real, live human being – or so I presumed. He sounded awful – bored, easily frustrated, read his sales script verbatim and with a hint of exaggeration and even sarcasm. He took forever, also – after a full 40 minutes, he finally confirmed my order, with an install date of just a day after we arrived in SoCal. I would also have to commit to a 2-year contract after installation, since they didn’t offer anything less than that.

He then gave me a 12-digit confirmation code, and told me I was all set. I asked if I would be receiving an Email or other confirmation, and was flatly told, “No.”

Hmm.

Fast forward a few days. We arrived in the Golden State, but have nothing (as I write this, all of our business and personal belongings are on a moving truck somewhere in the continental United States. Relocating cross-country is no joke). But it’s critical that we have Internet in place once stuff arrive, you know? When I checked out the new office, I noticed that there was pre-existing communications company equipment from the previous tenant, literally built into the wall. Curious about this, and wanting to confirm our install for the following day, I called the Internet company.

After providing the rep with my confirmation code, he flatly told me that the tech wasn’t coming tomorrow, but actually would be there in…two weeks.

Two weeks.

I was dumbfounded. “But I confirmed the tech for tomorrow!”

“Well, that’s not what it says here.”

“But I spoke to your colleague for 40 minutes!”

“Sorry, I wasn’t on the call.”

“Don’t you have anything sooner?”

“No.”

It gets better. I asked for a confirmation Email or text to verify the order, and at least have something in writing about the new install date. Can you guess what he told me? I’m sure you can. I was stuck with the 12-digit confirmation number, and that was it.

Then I asked about the window for when the tech would arrive. Ready for this?

“8am-6pm.”

That’s right – a 10-hour window. And you want to know how long they need to be onsite, to complete the job? FOUR HOURS. We’re not talking about installing machinery for launching nuclear missiles here, but hooking up a couple of devices to the World Wide Web. No matter.

I hung up, pissed. A couple of days go by, and I’m really starting to feel the effects of running a business via the LGE network on my phone, rather than from a proper workstation. I call the Internet company again, to see about getting an earlier date.

This time, when I get the rep on the phone and pass on my code, she sounds confounded. As in, an audible sigh.

“It’s not pulling anything up. Can I get you name and address?”

You’ve got to be kidding me.

I tell her, and after a pause I hear another sigh.

“There’s a lot of people with your name in the area, I’ll have to put you on hold.”

She does. When she comes back, her tone is one of exasperation, as though she’s already had to do this five times today. “I’ve found you, your install date is still the same, there’s nothing sooner.”

By now, I’d reached the end of my patience. I asked her why it takes two weeks to send a tech, why there’s a ten-hour window, and why they need four hours to do the job. She sighed <again>, and explained to me that the company had just been acquired by another provider, and that Long Beach was a new territory for them. As such, they didn’t have enough technicians for new subscribers in the area who were trained in the proprietary technology, procedures, etc. It also takes a ridiculously long time to set up this fancy new equipment. The result is that they can only do so many installs a day, which means new customers must…wait.

I hung up the phone, and did something I should have done days earlier: I called a competitor company. Within ten minutes, I had secured a new Internet package with NO annual commitment, which was cheaper than the other company, and they could send a tech to do the install tomorrow. After hanging up, I got a confirmation Email, followed soon after by a confirmation call about my 1-hour tech arrival window. The tech has since come, did the install in about a half hour, and we now have a connection – hence this blog post can be published.

I’d be easy for me to tell you this story as a means of venting, and I assure you it’s been a frustrating experience. But I genuinely feel bad for the employees of the original Internet company referenced here. It’s obvious that they are in flux from the acquisition, and clearly this has had a major impact on service. As frontline customer service employees, they’re the ones who have to take the calls from frustrated customers and potential customers, and when the service is as spotty as is in this case, they’re the ones who bear the brunt of the negative energy from callers like myself.

In short, morale at this company is seriously low, and in need of a major boost. I’d recommend they do something about it, and quick – they can start by visiting https://trivworks.com/team-building-southern-california/