Last weekend, my cable went out.  That's right.  No TV at all.  I didn't panic, I just asked my (very patient) husband to call our cable company while I entertained the kids.  This was the beginning of the worst customer service experience either one of us has ever encountered.  Now, I recognize that we're in a recession.  I know companies are struggling and have been laying off staff; so waiting on hold was not really a surprise.  However, waiting for 10 minutes in queue and being hung up on, then waiting another 31 minutes to speak to someone to troubleshoot my problem was unacceptable to me as a paying customer.  I also felt it was unacceptable that the soonest a technician could get to my house was six days. No morning news over coffee?  No Lost!?!  Any Lost fans know that if you miss an episode, you're doomed to never catch up. 

But, that was not the end of the experience.  When my husband asked to speak with a manager to complain about the unreasonable wait times, the customer service rep was not only unapologetic, he actually agreed with my husband that our best option was to cancel our service!  We hung up the phone angry, frustrated and totally flabbergasted at the lack of interest in retaining our business.

I want Edwin, the overworked, cranky and curt customer service rep to read this Business Week article that says, "As the game changes from acquiring new customers to keeping old ones, companies are shifting more resources to their steady patrons. They're the ones who pay the bills."  Edwin, not only will I actively avoid CSRs and look to self-serve in future interactions, your company is going to have to spend a lot of money to bring back my business, because I'm not paying for service like that anymore.