“You double charged me!”

We get this so often I get a little chill down my spin every timeI hear the customer service reps in the next room dealing with it. The problem arises from those banks that are so helpful as to show authorizations on your card as well as the actual transaction. An authorization is when a company first checks to see if the money is available, and then later closes the authorization for either the amount checked or a part of it. Various business we all use do this every day, such as pay at the pump gas stations and restaurants that allow for tips to be added later.

Simple concept, right? Apparently not.

Another version of this is when we do issue a refund to a client, which appears as a credit on their statement. Somehow that +/- difference, sometimes shown in the typically accounting fashion with parenthesis surrounding the number is a difficult one to grasp. Even when it says “credit” next to the transaction we get people who assume this new line item on their statement means we have the gall to be charging them again. Pick up that phone and lay into a customer service rep, that’ll teach ‘em!

The kicker is that those that don’t get this concept right off, and take the time to call in and complain, either never get the concept or won’t back down on it. These people will hang on the phone forever arguing with reps that are sincerely trying to explain this in the simplest of terms. Our reps often will have to resort to asking the customer to fax in their statement as proof, which many do not do, likely because they finally realize their error. Yet, somehow we have customers that will fax things in only to show that it does in fact say “credit” or “authorization” right next to the transaction just like we are trying to explain.

“You need to refund every charge I have on here that is unauthorized”

This is another oft repeated concept in a variety of ways. When people purchase products online, they seem to do it in spurts. I find this is true of myself in fact; though I try hard not to compare my spending habits to those I complain about here, they are on a much different level. Because our company actually answers the phone because are a legitimate company we tend to waste a fair amount of time trying to convince people that we cannot in fact provide customer service for other companies on their statement.

Does this sound ridiculous to you? I hope so.

Sadly, there plenty of companies out there that try hard not to help their customers with billing customers as a part of their business model. Their modus operandi is to see if customers will just give up and let the business keep their money. We on the other hand feel good about the products we are offering, and though we deal with our share of loonies that we end up refunding, the bulk of our customer base is happy and enjoys the services we charge for.

Funny thing is, next to every charge on your statement is a “descriptor” that a business can customize with a limited number of characters to help customers identify the charge. We include our toll free number as part of that descriptor to help customers get a hold of us, as do many other businesses. When our reps suspect a charge is not from us, they ask the customer to read off what it says next to the charge – no small feat in many cases – and even when it says another business name, the customer will refuse to believe it is not our company! No matter how hard I shake my head, I cannot get my mind to clear enough to understand the logic on this.

Our reps are repeatedly called liars, thieves and many other choice names when they continue to deny these charges are from us and therefore not our responsibility. Just today a lady just kept screaming “LIAR!” over and over to a nice girl on our end until she finally had to just hang up.

BCB – The Better Customer Bureau

I really am baffled out people like this can act this way to customer service reps. Even beyond that, I just don’t get how people that cannot read a statement or understand the concept of taking responsibility for their purchasing habits can feel justified in trying to bully their way into getting a charge refunded. I really think there needs to be some business reporting process that allows companies to report errant or fraudulent customers back to credit card issuers and banks. Some kind of flagging system so you have the ability to know if a “problem” customer has a history of buying and charging back items without basis. Though the eBay system is flawed in many ways, having some public accountability for their actions keeps many customers acting nicer than they might in a more anonymous world. Think of it as the Better Customer Bureau. I know there are many privacy issues and other flaws with this concept, but I’m here to tell you that most BBB and Consumer Protection Agency complaints I have seen over the years are just if not more flawed..

I read a lot of information online. I don’t get a paper edition of any newspaper, and I even rarely watch the news on TV because I get all I need online. I enjoy the ability to pick out the articles I want to read, when I want to read them, and to be able to consume information from sites I enjoy. This means I read a lot of blogs these days as well. Say what you will about the reputability of blogs in general, I find many of the postings on blogs much more than I do many news sites.

Anyway, in my perusing I have read many a rant about terrible experiences with customer service. These range from not being able to close down your AOL or cell phone account, to a complete inability to get a service agent that has a clue about the service you are needing help with. I feel for these people, and the situations they are often describing sound horrific. I have had my own customer service woes, and even one shocker that made me want to reach through the phone and strangle the rep on the other end of the line.

A Personal Example

In my extreme situation I was trying to cancel a credit card that had gone past its promotional period and had lost its usefulness for my situation. I had other cards and this one had been for a business startup that I didn’t need to carry the card for any longer. So, like the average consumer, I looked up my statement and called the number provided. After wading through the menu options, I finally arrived at a live person and made my request to cancel the account. I expected a few “save sale” attempts, and my expectations were met. I politely declined and waited for the rep to get the job done. Instead, the rep took it upon himself to ridicule me saying things such as “So, are you just a freeloader then? You just got our card for the zero interest period and then you’re off to get another card?” I was floored. The comments continued for a bit until my blood pressure rose and I had a few choice yet calmly worded things to say back to the rep. I had never been so insulted in a customer situation before and I really was at a loss as to what to do. I requested his name, agent number and to speak to a supervisor at which time he hung up on me. I’m not sure if this was a prank or if he had not taken his medication that day, but he was way off base and out of line. I called back, got a supervisor, but there was no record of the call (of course) and I had no identifying information to help track down this imbecile.

The Customer Is Not Always Right

Throughout my life I’ve always heard the phrase “the customer is always right” as a mantra to how service should be given by “good” companies. Though this may have worked in some previous generation, I am here to tell you that the customer most definitely is not always right; in fact, in my industry the customer is often wrong, and not all that intelligent either. I know, that sounds pretty harsh, and I’ll give a few details to soften that statement a bit.

I work for a company that sells informational products online, most of what include a monthly membership that customers can keep for as little or long as they want. We offer a free 14-day trial on most of our offer pages that allow the customer to check out what we have and decide to keep it or not. We make this very clear in the process that if the customer doesn’t want to keep the product, cancel (by phone, email or online) and they are charged nothing more. If they want the product, they get charged automatically each month until they cancel. Think of Columbia House Records, BMG, a monthly gym membership, etc. Not that hard to understand, right? Apparently not.

We get the craziest people calling, irate that they have been charged for a membership, and they have the widest variety of excuses, claims and outright lies they give to try and get their money back. We have come to know that these customers usually fall in one or more of the following categories:

• Forgetful – they don’t remember what they sign up for online
• Fraud – the favorite among most is to claim that they never signed up for this and someone has stolen their identity (even though we have all their info correct, even the IP address of their ISP that points right to them having actually done this)
• Scammers – those that are trying to get something for nothing with online offers, or even worse, try to trick you into giving a refund when they have also charged back the transaction to try and double dip against the company to get some “free money”
• Angry people – will try to bully or scare you into refunding everything ever charged because of how angry they are
• Bluffers – threaten legal action of every possible kind to get their $1.87 shipping fee back
• Selectively illiterate – they can’t read the important facts of what they are signing up for, but they sure can pull out that credit card and enter the number into the right boxes
• Imposters – will act like they are someone else, such as a bank manager, police officer, etc. to try and sound official to get you to refund fees for the “victim” they are helping
• Victims of a disaster – some major catastrophe in their lives has happened, so you must feel obligated to give them a refund on anything you ever charged them.
• Liars – fall into any of the above categories, but they can get even more creative when pressed for details.

The list can go on, and on, and on, and…you get the idea.

The Vocal Minority, Again

To temper the above description, I happen to know we hear from the lively, noisy with apparently the time on their hands to check their bank statement daily go to battle with customer service over a few bucks, but not enough sense to use that time to actually track the obligations they signed up for. We have thousands of clients, and the majority of them either a) cancel using one of our easy options, typically online or by email, during the trial period if they don’t want the product or b) use the product for as long as they want and then cancel when they are done. Who we hear from are those that simply do not want to take responsibility for their actions and want you to “make it right” by giving back the money rightfully charged to them because of their choice to buy something.

These people drive me, and our entire customer service department crazy, but they are 99% of the people they get to deal with. You may wonder why it bothers me, because I don’t work in customer service; my office is right next to them though, and I often overhear the conversations, or the summary they share with each other on the particularly ridiculous gems.

More to Share

So, one series of posts I’d like to start sharing are some of these “gems” as I call them. Where possible, I might even share some recordings of the really good ones, but we’ll see on that. Just the summary alone should be comical enough that you’ll enjoy reading them. Either that, or you’ll simply shake your head at the type of people we get to hear from.

How these people are ever given the ability to make financial transactions is beyond me.

“My husband Adrian caught the thief red-handed in our home,” she said. “And what is even crazier, the man even had my husband’s hat sitting right on his head.”

Adrian McKinnon held the suspect, 33-year-old Tajuan Bullock, at gunpoint and told him to sit on the floor until he decided what to do.

“We made this man clean up all the mess he made, piles of stuff, he had thrown out of my drawers and cabinets onto the floor,” Tiffany McKinnon said.

When police arrived, Bullock complained about being forced to clean the home at gunpoint.

“This man had the nerve to raise sand about us making him clean up the mess he made in my house,” she said. “The police officer laughed at him when he complained and said anybody else would have shot him dead.”

It’s always satisfying to read a story of a criminal caught; even more gratifying to read that the criminal was forced to undergo some humility training along the way.

Original Story:  http://www.whatsgottago.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=245

An MIT student with a fake bomb strapped to her chest was arrested at gunpoint today at Logan International Airport and later claimed it was artwork, officials said.

Star Simpson, 19, had a computer circuit board and wiring in plain view over a black hooded sweat shirt she was wearing, said State Police Maj. Scott Pare, the commanding officer at the airport. “She said that it was a piece of art and she wanted to stand out on career day,” Pare said at a news conference. “She claims that it was just art, and that she was proud of the art and she wanted to display it.”

The device had wires connected to a battery, allowing it to light up, he said. Simpson also had Play-Doh in her hands, he said.

Simpson was charged with disturbing the peace and possessing a hoax device, and was to be arraigned in East Boston District Court later today.

“I’m shocked and appalled that somebody would wear this type of device to an airport,” Pare said. Simpson was “extremely lucky she followed the instructions or deadly force would have been used,” Pare said. “She’s lucky to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue.”

I’m no genius, but I can figure out that in today’s climate this wouldn’t be the kind of “art” to display at an airport.