It's all in the Management

As management goes, so goes the company. If the management of a company or a division is just there killing time until the next promotion, you're best off looking for a job elsewhere.

Management has always talked about commitment, however, if you are only doing things so that you will quickly get another promotion, ascend to corporate, then you are lacking commitment. In the end a company is not just the management or the workers, it's the way everyone works together. I hesitate to say teamwork because that word has been over-used and bent all out of recognition. "Teamwork," said one manager. "Is a lot of people doing what I say."

Oh, it sounds like a joke, but too many managers feel that way.

Just this week I got a taste of what different kinds of management will do to companies. If you haven't noticed, if you call a company and experience bad customer service, rest assured that management is to blame. When management lacks commitment, so does everyone else. Oh, you do have those one or two individuals that will not want to work, but in general, most people, most workers want to do a good job. They and we just get frustrated when we get no help from management. Remember that a manager only exists to provide what's necessary for the workers to do their job.

I'm not going to pull punches with this story, no Company A and Company B. I'm giving the names.

For a long time I have been frustrated with AT&T. We used to have our local & long distance telephone service (land line) with them and DSL internet. Let's face it, AT&T charges a lot for a single telephone line. Then you start adding services like voice mail and caller ID, which have since become indispensible, and you have a large bill. Back in the heyday of dial-up internet, I had 3 phone lines in the house....and a whopping bill. Since I've cut back to one line, I've always been trying to get the best deal to keep my expenses in line. Everytime I called AT&T, they have graciously offered a new deal. The problem was, everytime I changed my service, the next month my bill was sky-high. Like clockwork I'd call and be told that they were sorry, but the correct codes were not entered for me. Note that every time my bill went higher, not lower. Then, a month or two later, my bill would suddenly jump up. Upon calling, I'd be told, oh, sorry, a particular program or discount expired, but we have a new deal. And, you called it, we'd go through the whole fiasco again. In general, I'd be calling AT&T customer service about over-billing at least 3 to 4 times a year. Do you think that's good customer service?

To my mind because I was constantly being over-charged, it had to be something that was mandated by some manager. Think about the profit if the person doesn't call! Plus, even if we have to refund the money after a few months, think of all the interest on that money! From purely a bean-counter mentality, it's a great strategy.

And, let me not forget, that even when I requested AT&T to email me when the discount or calling plan expired (which they said they do ALL THE TIME!), I have never, never received notice except in the next bill.

Contrast this to Cox Communications (at least in my area). I had them for cable TV just as long as I had AT&T (well, SBC & SNET going back ages, same difference), however, in the last 20 years I had to call their customer service maybe once. I honestly don't remember.

Hang with me, we're getting to the point here.

I finally went with Cox Digital Telephone, which meant that I had to go with digital TV also (that was not a choice I was going to fight ;-). I called Cox on Monday, picked up a cable box that afternoon and was watching HBO a couple of hours later. The phone was installed on Friday. Since my phone number was ported, I lost DSL. To AT&T's credit, they did waive the change of phone number fee (or so they said, I haven't gotten the bill yet...here we go again), but that was the highlight. I called on Friday and was told that the largest phone company in America would have to send a service technician out to install the new number. I had a choice: I could either get a guy in on Weds between the hours of 8am to 6 pm (!) or I could wait to Thursday and then he'd be there sometime between 8am and 12 noon. Such a deal. I did not mention that when I had the Cox appointment for the phone, the appointment was for 10:30 to 12:30. Much better.

Now comes more fun. When I had set the appointment with AT&T, they told me that my DSL service would be restored by 8 pm that night. In other words, I was lied to. When I called soon after the phone guy left, I was told, oh, no, you're scheduled for activation tomorrow. I got a little upset.

"Sir, it takes more than just flipping a switch."

"How much more than flipping a switch?"

"It takes much more than just flipping a switch."

"How much more than flipping a switch?"

"It takes much more than just flipping a switch."

"Wow we're getting somewhere really fast here!"

My sarcasm was not appreciated.

The next day, by the time I got home from work, the DSL modem was happy, but my browser would only take me to an AT&T page that told me I had a problem with my High-speed Internet. Lovely.

It seemed that my DSL had not been reconnected, I had a whole new account! Stupidly I let the AT&T service person (on the phone) walk me through the re-registration. Luckily I got my email address back (and, according to the tech, this wasn't a given). Being eager to get this sh*t over with I stupidly followed her directions. These directions included an unnecessary step that no technician would ever have you do unless you have router problems--she had me hit the reset button on the router. Although I did have internet access now, I did not realize until after the phone was cold that my wireless print server was no longer in contact. To make the story short, not only was the security on my wireless router set back to 'none', but it also reset the password to default.

As you can see, we have one company that agressively pushes technology and makes it easier for the customer, while another is hanging onto old, obsolete technology and making it difficult for the customer. In one case the management is involved and committed, in the other, they won't do anything but count the number of their vacation homes.