This didn’t happen to me, but I just got it related to me by the injured party, and it really sounds like something that belongs here instead.
A telephone company had to hook up a line to a new house. The homeowner was told to be at the house between 8AM and 6PM for the hookup (what happened to a four hour window?) At 8:10 a truck from the company (which we won’t refer to by name… We’ll just call it Horizon) stopped briefly at another house on the block and then left.
The homeowner called his wife (at their other residence) and had her call Horizon to make sure they hadn’t stopped at the wrong house. She got on the phone, and this ensued:
“You’ve reached Horizon. May I have your account number please?”
“I don’t have that information.”
“Oh, don’t worry. It’s your phone number.”
She gives the phone number, then explains about the service call.
Horizon: You don’t have a service call today.
Homeowner: We made the appointment on the 15th and were told to be at the house for you today between 8 and 6.
Horizon: That was cancelled because you’re not Horizon customers.
Homeowner: But we will be once the line is hooked up.
Horizon: Regardless, we cancelled it.
Homeowner: Why didn’t you call to tell us you’d cancelled?
Horizon: We have no contact information for you.
Homeowner: Didn’t you just say my account number is my phone number?
Horizon: …
Homeowner: …
Horizon: We weren’t sure we should call that number.
Homeowner: And you couldn’t even try? So we were going to wait ten hours at a house with no one coming?
Horizon: …
Homeowner: We need someone to come out and hook up the line.
Horizon: {long explanation of why no one at Horizon is able to do anything.}
Homeowner: Fine, pass me along to a supervisor.
Horizon: I can put a call back request with a supervisor, and you might have a call back within 24 hours.
Homeowner: Well, that’s no good–the service call was supposed to be between 8 and 6, so we wouldn’t be called back until after then. I’d rather leave a message.
The message the homeowner left was that after the line was hooked up, they were going to get the bundled local, long distance and internet service, but if this wasn’t resolved quickly, there was a different company they’d be dealing with. The homeowner has no illusions that Horizon is going to call back or make any attempt to resolve the issue, however.
And really, they’re left with no recourse in the matter. “Horizon” doesn’t care about one customer, one homeowner, one wasted day. They can file a complaint, but I’m not sure how much good it’s going to do.
You know how a company goes out of business? One customer at a time.
Somehow I doubt these guys are going anywhere anytime soon, though.