Thursday, October 28, 2021
Saturday, October 16, 2021
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Friday, August 21, 2020
Friday, March 13, 2020
Sunday, October 6, 2019
You May Be Shocked, You May Be Outraged and You May Laugh or Shake Your Fist!
This is the long strange and ridiculous story
of Shaw Cables world’s worst customer service failure!
This may take a bit to read but trust me when I
say this is worth the read. I am also certain there will be some blowback from some
well-meaning folks. But here goes.
1: I have been a Shaw customer for over 20
years. I now have 3 accounts and pay them $570 each and every month. I am 60
years old. I have never had a late payment or been in trouble with the police.
Ever.
2: On September 1st I moved into a
new location in Rockland (one of Victoria’s nicest neighbourhoods). The house I
moved into is a 120 year old character home and has had Shaw cable for at least
25 years according to the landlord.
3: My suite in this house was previously
occupied for 23 years and in that suite there is a coaxial cable coming out of
the wall.
4: The suite directly below me and a mere 2
feet away has just had Shaw cable hooked up on September 1st.
5: On September 1st I phoned Shaw
Cable to come and “hook me up”. At this point I had 2 other accounts and this
would be my 3rd! I do not get any special rates or deals.
Here goes the story…
On September the 1st I called
Shaw…after holding for 10 minutes they said “wait times are longer than usual,
you are 624th in line, would you like a callback in 1 to 2 hours?”
Yes…I expected that…I waited for the callback.
Callback came and the Shaw CSR came on the
line..”Gurjit here…how can I help?” Now, I want to be perfectly clear,
this part of the story is not about the CSR being from anywhere else or not
being Anglo-Saxon…I could care less! …The only reason I raise this is about Shaw’s
hiring people whose first language is not English and training them VERY POORLY
and then throwing them into a mix of unhappy customers. So, please save your
crankieness about this for something else.
The calls and the problems begin….
CSR: How can I help?
Me: I have 2 accounts already and want to open
a 3rd in Fairfield # X. 500
block of St Charles St.
CSR: “hmmmmI am looking and it looks like you
don’t exist?”
Me: Huh?
CSR: Your suite..it does not exist…we will need
to alert the city to come out and verify it exists.
Me: There is a coaxial cable coming out of the
wall and the suite 2 feet below me has just had the Shaw guy there yesterday to
hook her up. The house is 120 years old and the owner has had Shaw for over 20
years, there is a coaxial cable coming out of the wall. It exists!
CSR: No sir…it does not!
Me: How long will it take to get it to exist…?
CSR: 10 days for the city to verify it exists,
then another 10 days to get the service tech back to hook you up!
Me: Thanks..I will get back to you…
I then phoned Telus….bypass this mess I thought…I
spoke with Telus…they said…”All cable into that house is Shaw…we will need to
run our cable to the house and that can’t be done until 3 weeks from now”.
Thanks I said…I will get back to you.
Back to Shaw Cable and help from the Landlord.
Me: (call to Landlord aka Hans) Hans can you
help out here?
Hans: Sure, I do not know why Shaw is so loopy
but I will call them.
Hans called me back later that day and said Shaw
was sorted out and that a tech would be at the suite Sunday the 15th
to hook me up. 10 days henceforth.
Excellent I said…I will wait.
About the 8th of September I decided
to speak to Shaw Customer Loyalty to express my frustration….but first I had to
speak to yet another CSR. Another 1.5 hour wait and callback.
CSR: How can I help you?
Me: I would like to speak to customer loyalty.
CSR: What is your address?
Me : X.
500 block of St Charles St.
CSR: I don’t see you, that suite does not
exist. We will need to get the city out there…..
Me: STOP! Look at your notes on the
account…what do you see?
CSR: Oh, you do exist…I will put you through to
customer loyalty.
I then waited for over an hour.
Shaw Customer Loyalty Rep 1: How can I help?
Me: I have 3 accounts and pay over $500 per
month, I am waiting for 2 weeks to get the box hooked up…I am not very
impressed, what can be done to speed up the connection?
Shaw Customer Loyalty Rep 1: I can give you 2
free months?
Me: I don’t have cable here, I don’t want 2
free months! I just want some service! Some action!
Shaw Customer Loyalty Rep 1: Sorry but 2 free
months is the best we can offer, the techs are booked up. The tech will arrive
on the 15th by 12 noon.
Me: Thanks, I will wait.
The day of September 15th came. 12
noon. No tech. 1 o’clock, no tech. I called Shaw. Waited for 1.5 hours for yet
another callback.
2:15 the callback came from Shaw.
Me: I asked where the tech was/is.
CSR: I will text his manager and his manager
will contact him.
Me: Can’t you just call him, you are a
communications company aren’t you?
CSR: Sorry, nope.
Me: Ok, text him and can you get Shaw customer
loyalty to call me?
Then at 2:30 PM the Shaw tech called from a
blocked number saying he would be there in an hour.
3 o’clock, 4 o’clock…no tech…I called Shaw again
and ended up getting in the callback que...I was 432nd in line…2 hour wait.
5:30 PM Tech shows up.
Now the Techs at Shaw (aside from being late)
are an awesome bunch…(remember I have 3 accounts and know them well)…The tech
comes in and says…
Tech: Sorry about that but Shaw is so f’d up
that they have laid off 12 tech guys today as they are cutting costs and moving
to a new “self serve” option. He then goes on to say….The amount of customer
complaints we are getting are ramped way up as the training of CSR’s is almost
non-existent and many are new to the country and do not understand English that
well….they create more problems than they solve.
Lets see what we have here…..Ooops looks like
there is no active cable to this suite…
Me: What?…they are 3 other Shaw customers in
this house…the tenant below me has Shaw cable…she is 2 only feet away…
Tech: Sorry we cannot take it from her feed
(understandable) so we will need to get a bucket truck here to run cable from
the pole to the suite…
Me: How long will that take?
Tech: at least 10 days, then another 10 days
after that for me to return. I can’t do anything more….got to go…You should
call Customer Shaw Loyalty and complain.
An hour later the callback from Shaw loyalty
came……
Shaw Customer Loyalty Rep 2: How can I help?
Me: (I told her the whole story…it took 10
minutes) …I just want cable and internet…I have 3 accounts…I want some
service!!!
Shaw Customer Loyalty Rep 2: I will get a tech
out there tomorrow.
Me: I just had a tech here today (look at the
notes) ….he says we need a bucket truck to run cable from the pole to the
suite….
Shaw Customer Loyalty Rep 2: I see that…ok we
will get you a bucket truck in the morning…!
Me: Excellent….
As the next morning was a Monday, I asked Hans
(Landlord) to oversee the bucket truck and to make sure they actually hooked up
the box as well…not just ran the cable and left me waiting for a tech to return
10 days later…Hans agreed to help and is a sweetheart!
Monday morning 10 am.
Hans calls: John, they sent another tech but no
bucket truck. I am so pissed off. I am going to phone Shaw again and scream at
them…this will be my 6th call to Shaw. I cannot believe how
incompetent they are!
Me: Thanks Hans…I will call them as well again
(now I am fuming)
At the time, I was at the airport waiting for
my adult daughter. I thought I would call the Shaw customer service one more
time…maybe I wouldn’t have to wait on hold…
Ring, ring, ring….calling while waiting at the
airport.
CSR: How can I help? What is your accounts
phone #.
Me: 250 XXX-XXXX
CSR: Sir, I show you do not exist?
Me: I hung up. Off I go to the Shaw store at
Uptown in Saanich which is on the way back from the airport. I am in the
company of my 24 year old daughter.
The Shaw center at Uptown had a 20-minute wait.
We waited patiently in line.
Finally, we got to the head of the line where
we were greeted by a CSR that was no older than 18 and overly enthusiastic and
likely his first real job…. (yes I am probably stereotyping…however…sometimes
stereotypes are true…which is why they become a stereotype)
Shaw Uptown CSR #1: Hi there…how can I help?
Me: Please do not take this the wrong way but I
need a senior Shaw CSR. I have a difficult ongoing problem and it requires a Senior
CSR with experience.
Shaw Uptown CSR #1: I can help!! 😊 I’m the guy!
Me: I have 2
accounts and trying to add a 3rd. I have had over 14 calls to Shaw
about this issue and my landlord has placed another 5 or 6. I have been a Shaw
customer for over 20 years and always pay on time. Each time I call about this
problem I am waiting for up to 2 hours. I am then repeatedly told “I do not exists”
at which time I ask them to check their note…they then see I exist and put me
on hold… I feel that your Shaw CSR’s on the phone are poorly trained and don’t
read the notes. I have spoken to Shaw Customer Loyalty who only wants to give
me free service! All I want is cable to my 3rd place. I am so
frustrated I could shoot someone. Is there anyway we can get to the bottom of
this problem and fix this…now? I do not want to go to Telus I just want
internet and cable…can you help?
Shaw Uptown CSR #1: I think you need a senior
CSR. Let me get someone for you.
Me:?
They then take me to the senior in store rep. I
sit across from him.
Shaw Uptown Senior CSR: What is the problem?
Me: I start into the story…into the story about
3 minutes when my cell phone rings..it’s Hans the Landlord.
Hans: John I have been yelling at Shaw and they
have finally agreed to send 2 bucket trucks today. 1 from Sooke and 1 from
Sidney, they will be here at 3 o’clock!
Me: (yippee) excellent I will be there at
3…thanks Hans.
I then thanked the senior instore CSR without
needing to finish the story and said to him the trucks are on the way….and
left. No problems, no yelling, no raised voices, no disturbances of any kind.
No police called, no melee.
I then went to the new home on St Charles (3rd
Shaw account) and met the Shaw Bucket Truck techs. Great guys. They hooked me up but not before venting
about Shaw’s letting go of techs, the incompetent phone CSR’s and the general
malaise reaching throughout the Shaw business.
The Bucket Truck techs…set me up….
Ahhhh..a Nestea moment..….I finally had
internet and cable…Monday night football…
Now..you would think this would be the end of
the story…..and you would be wrong.
Fast Forward 5 Days.
Friday night September 20th at 10:45
PM. My phone rings 3 times. I was in the washroom and did not answer. I called
back to the number.
Me: Hi, I see you called, how can I help?
Saanich Police Officer: Hi this Sergeant Smith
from the Saanich Police.
Now I have a rental house in Saanich and my
first thought was there must be something amiss at the rental…
Saanich Police Officer: I am outside of your
residence on St Charles St. Were you recently in the Shaw Uptown Store and
utter a DEATH THREAT to an employee?
Me: Pardon?
Saanich Police Officer: Did you threaten to
shoot the CSR? I need you to come out of the house with your hands at your
side.
Me: I will be right down. (which I did).
Saanich Police Officer: (after flashing his
light in my eyes and asking me to walk slowly towards him we spoke) Did you
utter a death threat to the Shaw CSR?
Me: No I did not, I then explained the whole
story to him and reiterated the words spoken exactly as I have written them.
Saanich Police Officer: So, you did say you
wanted to shoot somebody?
Me: No, I said I was so frustrated I could
shoot someone! It was just a figure of speech said in a long story about the relentless
problem and is a common phrase that expresses ultimate frustration.
Saanich Police Officer: I see that as a Death
Threat or utterance. Do you have any firearms?
Me: No.
Saanich Police Officer: You sure.
Me: Yes, absolutely.
Then what took place on that quiet treelined,
deer infested street was a rather circular conversation where the Saanich police
office suggested I could be arrested but wouldn’t and that I should understand
that etc.
He also said I was banned from the Shaw
Uptown store. (now bare in mind, no one yelled at anyone, no police were called
to the location, no disturbance of any kind.)
I said the CSR was in his first job and his mom
still made his lunch and on and around it went…the police office left…I went
back to my Netflix.
Now…I told a few friends the story and they
laughed at this insanity. However, I was upset because at age 60 without any
prior run-ins EVER with the law I have a death threat utterance on my
file….wtf?
So I waited 5 days thinking the whole thing was
over..let sleeping dogs lie….not so fast…..
A registered letter came from Shaw. I did not
pick it up yet but will today (October 2nd 2019)
I did however call Shaw customer loyalty again
as I wanted this cleared up…I wanted an apology.
On Thursday September 26th I called.
Shaw Customer Loyalty Rep 3 : How can I help?
Me: I am sure you have notes on my issue along
with the recordings but here is the story….I took 15 minutes and told her the
story.
Shaw Customer Loyalty Rep 3: Holy shit..she
says…I have heard some crazy complaints but never like this….I am going to get
a senior loyalty rep to call you Monday or Tuesday at the latest.
Tuesday comes and goes but no call back.
Wednesday the 2nd of October. I called and asked for customer loyalty.
After an hour of waiting I got “Shawn” Shaw Senior Customer Service Rep
V01Z.
Shaw Senior Customer
Service Rep V01Z: How can I help?
Me: Have you looked
at the file on my issue?
Shaw Senior Customer
Service Rep V01Z: I have, how can I help?
Me: Listen, I have
been a loyal customer for over 20 years and I am really upset at this entire
issue, all I want is a written apology and to get out of my contracts with you
without paying the early cancellation fee.
Shaw Senior Customer
Service Rep V01Z : I am sorry but you will have to pay the early cancellation
fee.
Me: stunned
silence….. Seriously?
Shaw Senior Customer
Service Rep V01Z: Did you get our registered letter?
Me: I have not yet
picked it up, what is it?
Shaw Senior Customer
Service Rep V01Z: We have cancelled your service and accounts as of October the
7th.
And so….after 20
years as a loyal Shaw customer this is my story…do you have a comment or Shaw
Customer Service nightmare you wish to share?
Shawn Customer V01Z
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Thank You Bruce Springsteen
It all started with Bruce http://brucespringsteen.net/ is I guess about the best way to say it
…..this song….this oddly different song came on the AM radio…..it was
Jungleland….a 3.5 minute radio edit of Jungleland……? Now for you out there who
know this song…you know it is a 7 minute epic…so to be aroused by a 3.5 minute
version on the local AM station with its scratchy crackling signal it must have
said something….I was 16 at the time…
Next thing I remembered was seeing his picture on Time and
Newsweek magazine…..the same week….who the fuck was this guy…? The front cover
of Time and Newsweek was the favored haunt for Chou En Lai http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_Enlai
and the Arab Oil Embargo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis
.... Musician’s, let alone rock musicians did not show up here… so I bought the
album…
That album of course was Born To Run http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_to_Run ….on the cover was a large black man in
leather pants holding a sax and the singer in leather and sporting a scruffy
beard…..the images in high contrast Black and White……. This was at a time when
music was deep in the dark heart of disco….
I went to Miller’s record store…….asked the clerk….”do you
have an album by a guy named Bruce Stringspeen?”….. I asked…… he looked at me
as if I had just asked for the keys to the Kremlin or some other unimaginable
thing…….”You know…” I said…” He has the song, Jungleland?”….
After some confusion he understood what I was asking……he
took me too the “S” section of the albums…..there it was…$4.99. I bought it.
Getting home I went into my room….there, my stereo…my prized
possession, was front and center in the room …the room farthest away from the
rest of the family…I locked the door…took the album from its bag…
To this day I remember slicing through the film wrap on the
album cover…a motion that created a crackle and a static charge…..The two fold
cover opened stiffly…..the smell of the ink still fresh and pungent…..I slid
the album out of the sleeve….The Red Columbia record label, the black text with
the songs on each side…..4 songs per side…..nothing more…nothing less..
I dropped the needle into the first songs groove…..a
crackle….and then…..”Screen doors slams, Mary’s dress waves…” …still to this
day…just to remember this moment makes me shiver…..
I listened to the whole thing……Thunder Road, Tenth Avenue
Freeze-Out, Night, Backstreets…side 2…Born to Run, She’s the One, Meeting
Across the River, Jungleland. …I listened to it again…and again….
I had to share this with others…
My running buddy was Derek Gale…..Derek and I shared pretty
much everything…..I dragged him into my darkened bedroom…..”You gotta listen to
this”..I said……I dropped the needle on Thunder Road…….He looked at me as if I
had lost my mind…….”Don’t you get it!”…I exclaimed….There was no visible
recognition from Derek that he had indeed “gotten it”…only a look that said…”Have
you lost it..?”
I was undaunted….I made Derek listen to this record again
and again……finally…he got it….and to this day Derek and I are still
friends….and to this day, and every day he wakes, Derek plays a little
Springsteen on the stereo…..
But this was not the end of it……I was an apostle of sorts…..
preaching the gospel of Bruce to everyone who would listen…..friends,
bandmates, classmates, teachers….any one…..
When I was 19….I met a girl…….between us the chemistry was
like flint and steel….always a spark when one was near the other….between us,
the chance for its survival was the most unlikely of outcomes….she was 14….I
had a girlfriend, she was the daughter of my former high school teacher…. Still it did not deter us…..
For 2 plus years we played a cat and mouse game of
romance…..Me, never committing, always playing both sides of the coin….her,
wanting more than was possible….I knew, even then, it would take a man to be
with her, I knew that I was not yet that……
We struggled on….between the troubles of family, differences
in age, the meaning of it all……..we played with each other’s heart…..me maybe
more so, than her……me… definitely more so than her…..
In the midst of all of this…one thing I do remember doing
was telling her about Bruce……by this time, Darkness on the Edge of Town http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkness_on_the_Edge_of_Town
and The River http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_River_(Bruce_Springsteen_album) had come out….I had seen Bruce live for the
first time in Seattle…Tickets were $12.50
Here is the setlist
Set 1: Badlands, Out In The
Street, Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, Darkness On The Edge Of Town, Factory,
Independence Day, Jackson Cage, Two Hearts, The Promised Land, Racing In The
Street, The River, Prove It All Night, Thunder Road, Cadillac Ranch, Fire,
Sherry Darling, I Wanna Marry You, The Train Song, Wreck On The Highway, Point
Blank
Set 2: Crush On You, Ramrod, You Can Look, Stolen Car, Drive All Night, Rosalita, Jungleland, Detroit Medley, Raise Your Hand
Set 2: Crush On You, Ramrod, You Can Look, Stolen Car, Drive All Night, Rosalita, Jungleland, Detroit Medley, Raise Your Hand
The show started just after 8 and went to nearly 1 in the
morning……
Back to her….
I would take her out in my jeep…..my “Ghetto Blaster” along
for the ride…….I would take her to a secluded place…..steal a kiss, maybe
more….. Bruce was always the soundtrack…….
I knew I was in love with her, but did know this until much
later in life…..
As things sometimes do…..this thing we had, came crashing
down……accusations of being a cheat, dissolving trusts, experiences crowding in
on us that neither of us were prepared or skilled for….I spun away from it all,
like some piece of space junk tumbling away into the night……I moved away….she
stayed here…..years passed…
I married, she did not, I had kids, so did she, I chased the
light in my own way, as did she…..I never talked to her, she never did either…
I never forgot her…
From time to time….I would hear things……she had a kid, but
not a husband……she was a lawyer, she had an older boyfriend……I never forgot
her…
Over the years, from time to time, she would come rumbling
across my mind’s horizon…..sometimes it was like a dust cloud on the deserts’
floor, sometimes it was like a pinball banging off my cerebral cortex http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_cortex but she came to mind…..and I never did shake
it….nor did I want to….. I suppose….
33 years passed…..
About a year ago……one evening…she came into my mind
again……like vespers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespers
.....
I decided to reach out……..I knew she was still in
Victoria……she was a lawyer….beyond that much, I did not know much…… I composed
a simple e-mail……”Hey….It’s me, John…..I just thought that after all these
years I would just drop by to say hello…how are you?”……
The response was quick and cold…”I don’t think it’s a good
idea that you just drop by….”
….I wrote back….”I meant… drop by in a digital way….you see
I live in another town…..I thought it was time to reconnect and see how you
are…?”….another email came slamming back…” I am fine….followed by a here is
what I do, here is what I am, thanks for asking, but why the hell are you
e-mailing me after 33 years?”……Good question…I had not thought I would have to
explain myself……?
“ I was thinking of you….wanted to see how you were….to
talk…”……the response was simple….” I am fine, leave me alone…but before I go….I
do want to thank you for one thing from so long ago….You introduced me to Bruce
and I still love him….everyone in my life thinks I am nuts when it comes to
Bruce and they just don’t get him…but it has been a lifelong passion for me,
one which I thank you for…”
HALLEFUCKINGLUAH …….There is a god!
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