November 7th, 2006
Why does tech customer service suck?
Even after several reads, I still get a rise out of Jon Swartz "Technology troubles set off tantrums, tears and tirades" piece in yesterday's USAToday.
Jon notes that a survey of 2,511 Americans polled by Harris Interactive and software company RightNow technologies revealed that "about 85% of those polled said they've become so flustered, they've ended up swearing, shouting, experiencing chest pains, crying or smashing things. Slightly more than half said not being able to get a live person on the phone was their greatest frustration, according to the Oct. 9-11 survey. Seven out of 10 people polled said representatives weren't trained adequately.
"The findings illustrate the growing anxiety of U.S. consumers as they buy more gadgets for home use and expect them to work out of the box" Jon adds. "And they reflect the challenges vendors will face during the holiday shopping season, when they are typically deluged with customer-support phone calls."
This is especially bad news for the vendors of VoIP, convergence and home networking products. Vendors who are counting on a positive fourth quarter to make their year.
I do realize that many of you readers are more technologically sophisticated than the average consumer. Still, I get the sense some of you folks share the same frustrations.
I want to know what you think. So let's do a poll, OK?
Loading …Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
