Don't Fob Me Off

In my job, I make a lot of phone calls. I don't think it's any secret what I do - I'm a collector. Essentially, I chase businesses for money all day.

Now I can understand why people don't want to talk to me - I'm asking them to pay their bills, gasp, how dare I? And if you're having trouble with cashflow at present I imagine the last person you want to talk to is your creditor.

But today I'm not talking about Bob from Bob's Services not being able to pay his bills. I'm talking about receptionists and office staff. I'm talking about the person whose job it is to answer the business phone, or the unfortunate staff member in the workshop or warehouse who picks it up when nobody else will.

I find that more and more, people are inclined to fob me off or be openly dismissive. I don't even think it's the fact that I'm calling about money - they're not even interested in who I am most of the time, let alone why I'm ringing. Nope, if they're not the right person to speak to, I get told:
- they're not here
- ring back later
- send them an email

I also don't care if that person isn't in the office today, or if they're sick, or on leave. The least you can do is offer me an alternative person or take a message. 

More than half the time I actually have to push to have them go to the trouble of writing down a message. (I don't want to send an email. Emails get buried and deleted. I want somebody to ring me back). And even worse, I can tell half the time they're not even bothering to write down my number. They respond too quickly and the tone tells me they don't care. I must leave about 40 messages a day and you know how many return calls I get? Probably 3-5. Woeful. 

And while I'm on a rant about business politeness and niceities, I am continually astounded by the amount of phones that are not answered in a way that identify the company. eg. "Welcome to XYZ, you're speaking with Gloria/Steve.". Nope. It's "Hello?". And then I have to enquire whether I've even called the right place. Basic stuff, but it really, really irks me.

I also believe that this is happening in my personal life. People just don't bother to get back to you, they don't identify themselves when ringing, emails are just templates. My husband had a very frustrating but hilarious argument with a telemarketer the other night who kept demanding "Who you?" with him replying "You first! You're calling me!"

I don't know what the problem is, or the solution. I just know that if I have a bad interaction with a company at work or in my personal life, I'm completely put off what they're selling. And I tell other people about it. 

Are you getting fobbed off left, right and centre? Does it give you the irrits like me?

Good service is hard to find

Whatever happened to good service? Got my ranty pants on because it’s Monday.

We’re currently building a big shed. This is so that the cars/car parts which currently occupy my patio can have a home, and the mechanic of the house can have a Man Cave. This has involved getting in experts – because much as C believes he could lay a concrete slab, he did concede that perhaps it was best to leave it up to people who know what they are doing.

So we called a few concreters. We got word of mouth recommendations and even a family friend to do a quote. But they kept making appointments and not showing up. ALL of them. Not just one or two. Every contractor we were dealing with broke appointments without so much as a courtesy phone call.

I was frankly shocked – how can they run businesses like this? In a trade industry where reputation can sink you as easily as it can get you work, why give such bad service?

Long story short, we finally got a good quote and a firm promise to begin work. A loud beeping bobcat showed up at my house at 6.30am this morning and commenced making eternal enemies of my neighbours. The actual shed kit is being dropped off in a few weeks, I guess we’ll see if that goes smoothly.

Let’s just say, I’m glad we’re not building a house. I’m beginning to see why people on Grand Designs have such headaches. Wouldn’t be a building project manager for quids.

Have you been let down in the customer service department recently? And did you badmouth the company to your friends or on social media afterwards?

Pinterest Schminterest

 

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I realised today that I have finally reached saturation point with Pinterest. Sad isn't it?

I was an early adopter - been pinning every since I got engaged and a friend recommended it as a place to keep all my visual wedding ideas together that I was gleaning from various wedding and style blogs.

Today I logged on and didn't see a single thing I wanted to repin from people I follow. I searched the popular page and a few other categories too, looking for pretty or interesting items.

I found myself wading, struggling through pins. Because though some are genuine folk sharing things they like, increasingly I'm seeing thinly-veiled marketing tricks.

And the reason I know this? I'm increasingly seeing links on Twitter AND Pinterest itself to articles with titles like "15 ways to market your brand on Pinterest" or "Driving traffic to your site using Pinterest". And because I was interested in perhaps using these tips to drive traffic to my own blog, I have read them. Here's one on Why Your Company Should Take An Interest in Pinterest, just as an example.

So what are marketers doing on Pinterest to capture your attention and hopefully your dollar? They're pinning their own products. They're pinning articles on their sites, hoping to drive traffic and earn advertising clicks. The part that worries me though is that I have absolutely no doubt there are marketers and PR people creating fake accounts and pretending to be housewives pinning "amazing" products. Complete with remarks like the one I saw this morning - "X concealer - so great on my skin, wouldn't consider putting anything else on my face!!1!". Yes, complete with interrobang typo. Some of the images aren't even of a product - they're random pics and words that are selling a concept or course. I just get suspicious of those - further investigation may reveal it is a genuine person pinning a kids learning program for later reference however what if it's an employee of that company, just getting in a free plug?

I do understand that not everyone is using Pinterest like I am - to drool over interiors porn and get inspiration for event styling. I get that people would like to know where to buy the pretty products that they see on the site and that this is where links back to the source are essential. Where Pinterest really comes into its own is for cooking and crafting. Want to know how to bake bacon in the oven? Or make that cute Christmas wreath for a few bucks? Great - follow the link.  Hopefully it doesn't lead back to tumblr or Google images.

I guess I'm being a bit hypocritical here because I love to see indie craft business leveraging Pinterest's potential to advertise their wares. Two brands I see doing this regularly and successfully are Epheriell Designs and My Bearded Pigeon. Both of these small business owners are avid pinners however, and also pin other stuff. Jess and Cath both have a great eye for design and I love their Pin boards. Similarly bloggers who are using Pinterest to share their photos and linking their blog posts are doing no harm - lots of people are interested in how they did that dining chair restoration or made that cake stand out of a melamine plate and a candlestick. Pinners click because they are interested in finding out how to do/make/bake things, as well as shell out their cash for them.

One brand that I believe is getting it wrong is kikki-k. I'm a huge fan of their stores, and quickly followed them when I learned they were on Pinterest. However, all they pin are their own products. I know their products very well already - even the new ones, because not only do I visit their stores regularly but I get their email newsletter. If you're going to use social media, you have to offer some new and interseting content, not just regurgitate what you're already offering in other marketing avenues.


I guess what is really irking me is the site getting highjacked by big business looking to squeeze a buck out of it. And this is quite apart from the well-publicised worries about the copyright that the site has been scrutinized for recently.

Do you use Pinterest? Are you becoming disenchanted with it like me? Are you a business using it to drive traffic and sales? Have you seen any businesses really getting it wrong on Pinterest?