I'm sure everyone reading this thread is used to dealing with Indian call centers. They are well known for being overly polite, lacking authority, possessing poor listening skills, and generally being infuriating. Even worse is the fact that they rarely get confrontational with you, but rather take their frustration out on you in a passive-aggressive way, such as "accidentally" hanging up or promising something they never intend to deliver.
My friends and family have gotten to know me as "the customer service guy" who can solve their problems for them with phone customer service reps, so a lot of time they hand their issues over to me. I don't mind doing this, as long as I'm close to the person and don't mind spending some time to help them.
In this case, a family member came home from a vacation and found their router flashing yellow. They could not access the internet. The router WAS under warranty.
They called tech support, and an Indian rep told them that the router's firmware "must have gone bad", but that this was covered by the warranty. He instructed them how to connect directly to the cable modem, download the new firmware, and then reconnect to the router and update the firmware. Indeed, this fixed the problem.
However, the tech support rep forgot to tell this person to save their internet settings beforehand! The firmware update completely reset the device, and without the proper internet settings, the router still could not connect to the internet. The Indian then told him, "Unfortunately, the software warranty is only 3 months long, and that part is expired. I can sell you a package for $139 where we will maintain all settings on your router and help you reset them if they get lost, and this coverage will last a year." This person refused the ridiculous offer, and the Indian then tried to offer a cheaper package for "$89 for 6 months". They refused again, and finally the Indian offered "$39.99 for a one-time fix."
This family member urgently needed to get on the net to retrieve an important e-mail, so they paid the $40 and just figured they had to eat it. However, a few hours later they told me this story, and asked if I could help.
I called up the tech support center, got a different Indian, and explained why "I" (pretending to be the family member) deserved a refund.
My argument was this: It was your own firmware update that destroyed the settings, and your tech support rep failed to warn me that this would happen. I followed his directions, and those directions erased my settings. Therefore, it's his responsibility to fix what his directions broke.
The Indian completely tuned out my reasoning, and answered, "You paid $39.99 for expert technical support, and we resolved your issue, so I'm sorry but we cannot refund the payment."
I demanded a supervisor. I got another Indian.
He again told me the same nonsense about how we "got the expert technical support we paid for", and ignored my actual argument. However, he did understand everything I told him. He even repeated back to me that he apologizes that the tech support rep erased my settings, but that my hardware warranty simply does not cover any sort of settings adjustments. (This is important later in the story.) I repeated it again, and surprisingly he abruptly told me, "Okay, sir. In light of what you have explained, I will be processing your refund for $39.99. You will receive an e-mail in 48 hours confirming the refund, and the refund will appear on your credit card in 7-10 days."
Done!
Or was it?
Over a week passed, and no e-mail arrived.
I called back and asked what happened. A different Indian told me, "Your refund was denied."
I asked how that was possible, when I was already promised the refund.
"It says here that it was submitted, but the refund department itself denied it."
What?!
I asked what reason was given for denial.
"The notes say you requested a refund because you said it was a simple fix, and a fix that simple should not cost $40. This claim was rejected by the refund department, as any fix costs $40, regardless of how simple."
So basically, the Indian supervisor completely bullshitted me about getting a refund, and instead wrote up some bullshit (which I never said or implied) that was sure to get rejected, and submitted it.
Fortunately, this story has a bit of a happy ending.
I was so pissed about this, I called the corporate # and got the customer complaint department. I spoke to an American who identified herself as someone who investigated complaints for the outsourced tech support. She fully agreed with both my reasoning for the refund and that the Indian supervisor was likely intentionally screwing with me. She claimed to be "really bothered" by this report, and said, "This isn't the way we do business here." It could have been bullshit, but she seemed sincere.
She pulled the calls, listened to them, and issued the refund. She also told me that "there have been some personnel changes in that department to where it is not likely this will happen again to the next customer."
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Originally Posted by Jasep
