Springboard has outgrown its space, and is having a new office built. Among the punch list of items required for our build-out was Internet connectivity - simple enough. As a current broadband cable customer, we decided to stay with the service that has been good to us. When I called the company to get the process started back in November, I was given a December 29 install date. On this day, I met two field technicians at the office and they determined that a new cable from the street to the building was required, something they were not equipped to do. I was then given some paperwork and told the construction office would dispatch another technician. Having worked with several CRM software developers over the years, I thought this process would be easy. But I was astonished at what was about to take place...

After two weeks without any action, I started the follow-up process which involved navigating through a circuitous maze of customer service telephone numbers and getting bounced around to several company representatives. The cable company did not have a grasp on the exact status of my account. In an attempt to contact my sales representative, I emailed him and left countless voice mails – all of which were never responded to.

Instead of the company managing me, I unfortunately was forced to manage the company, reversing the CRM process. What’s even more disconcerting is that when I called the cable company, its customer service department used my phone number as an account ID. I found this interesting, as the company is relying on its competitor’s system to drive internal CRM processes. In this day and age, I would think the cable company would have its own unique way of identifying customers (I did have a trouble-ticket they left me and they do have account number on their invoices).

Pushing forward – after a few more inquiries by phone and email – I finally got through to a new sales representative who put my situation back on track. When a new field technician came out, he ran the line from the street to the building, but lo and behold, never made the connection at the pole. Why? I do not know. He simply left me with the cable modem and indicated we were ready to go. After a few more calls and a battery of troubleshooting, another field technician was dispatched and he finally connected the building.

Start to finish the process took eight weeks and several pages of notes (on my end) to keep track of the 20 something meetings and conversations I had with at least 10 different cable personnel. All I wanted was Internet service. What I got was a generous helping of aggravation and a peak into how unorganized and ill-prepared some companies still are in managing individual customer relationships. I only hope, for the sake of my Internet connectivity, that I was the exception and not the rule.

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)