Monday, February 09, 2009

SkyGolf-another terrible customer service experience

Here's another vendor who is proving that a customer comes dead last in their list of priorities. Here's my experience in trying to get help with one of their products.

I recently decided to invest in a Skycaddie SG5, a top of the line GPS for golf. I've had a problem with the unit since I purchased it, and today finally decided that there must be a problem with the unit and not the user. As I write this, I've tried to get through to the tech support number 3 times today.

The first time the recording informed me that the queue was so full that they wouldn't even put me in the wait queue and promptly hung up. Hung UP! On a customer! Bet you don't do that in your business!

The second time, I was on hold for 30 minutes, listening to a recording telling me that they'd just launched a new web site and that call volume was higher than normal. They thanked me for my "... commitment and loyalty to SkyGolf." Are they kidding?? After this experience!

The third time I've been on hold for 45 minutes and am writing this as I listen to this unbelievably annoying recording repeat every 30 seconds. Has it not occurred to this vendor that if you've just launched a new web site, and that your abandon rate and average time to answer are through the roof that you need more agents!

This is another example of a company deciding that customer service is just an expense and that the customer will just have to suffer through it. How about management pitching in and answering the phones? How about taking a message and offering to schedule a call-back? Both of those methods would greatly increase customer satisfaction at virtually no cost.

So, the takeaway is that if you're considering purchasing any SkyGolf product, consider a Garmin instead. If you encounter a problem with your SkyCaddie, you'll never be able to get through to them, and you'll be out over $350 for a product you can't even use.

As for me, it's getting late, and I'm afraid they'll close their Help Desk on me after my waiting on the phone for one hour. That would send me over the deep end, so I think I'll just waste some more of my time tomorrow.

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