Requesting phone based customer service options!

krayphysh

Customer service is the act of taking care of the customer's needs by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high quality service and assistance before, during, and after the customer's requirements are met. I am a customer and my requirements are not being met. As a paying customer, I would like to have access to real customer service, the kind that makes its customers feel valued and goes above and beyond to meet their customers needs. Might you consider offering phone based customer service options?

virtus753

Sadly, most companies these days do their level best to limit support agents’ time on customers. The post office, health insurance providers, gaming companies — whatever the field, we’re increasingly faced with automatic replies and automated menus to make sure there’s a significant barrier to interacting with a live person. They hope your problem will be addressed by the system, or at least that you’ll be too discouraged and/or frustrated to persist until you’re put in touch with an agent.

Unless a company is going out of its way to be consumer-friendly, like Amazon, or unless it’s somehow regulated in the future, I think we aren’t likely to see any more human interaction than the bare minimum. Too much expense with not enough payoff. Money is a dictatorship all its own.

TequilaFire

“Our representatives are on the line with other customers. Someone will be with you soon.” lol

krayphysh

TequilaFire wrote: »

“Our representatives are on the line with other customers. Someone will be with you soon.” lol

LoL sadly this is true. We spend so much money in this game yet have so little options in regards to receiving real customer support. I dont spend this much with money on Amazon, and they provide optimal customer service. I expect the same treatment here. Surely this company can afford a live customer service team with all the money we throw at them.

Elsonso

krayphysh wrote: »

Customer service is the act of taking care of the customer's needs by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high quality service and assistance before, during, and after the customer's requirements are met.

I am not actually fully convinced that this is why ZOS has a Customer Support team. They make it easy to open tickets, but only for certain things. Outside of those things, it is hard to find exactly what categorization will get assistance. Navigating the "you need to reply or they won't do anything", which is paired with the "every time you reply you get kicked to the end of the line", makes it the opposite of customer oriented. From forum reports, the way they respond, when they respond, appears to be random, and the quality of the response, even at the higher levels of support, seems bizarre, at times. I hesitate to make stronger comments, for fear of stepping outside of the bounds of the forum rules.

Legate_Lanius

I can tell you never worked in a support team with phone calls or call centers.

Besides I don’t think it’s a good solution.
Tickets are fine.

krayphysh

Elsonso wrote: »

krayphysh wrote: »

Customer service is the act of taking care of the customer's needs by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high quality service and assistance before, during, and after the customer's requirements are met.

I am not actually fully convinced that this is why ZOS has a Customer Support team. They make it easy to open tickets, but only for certain things. Outside of those things, it is hard to find exactly what categorization will get assistance. Navigating the "you need to reply or they won't do anything", which is paired with the "every time you reply you get kicked to the end of the line", makes it the opposite of customer oriented. From forum reports, the way they respond, when they respond, appears to be random, and the quality of the response, even at the higher levels of support, seems bizarre, at times. I hesitate to make stronger comments, for fear of stepping outside of the bounds of the forum rules.

I feel fhe same way, you couldn't have worded that any better. It's pure truth. Can we complain? No. They will shut us down in a heartbeat. Is there no departmemt with a telephone capable of providing true customer service? We spend thousands of dollars on fake virtual goods. Can we at least be granted real customer service - true customer service that tries to satisfy and accommodate its customers?

jircris11

Legate_Lanius wrote: »

I can tell you never worked in a support team with phone calls or call centers.

Besides I don’t think it’s a good solution.
Tickets are fine.

Being a CSR sucked. I got yelled at for the DUMBEST of reasons and it made me hate humanity more then I already did.... freaking apple support sucked.

krayphysh

Legate_Lanius wrote: »

I can tell you never worked in a support team with phone calls or call centers.

Besides I don’t think it’s a good solution.
Tickets are fine.

Thanks for your opinion. I have indeed; ACI Worldwide offers this service for their customer's satisfaction. The company actually looses money each year because of this department. This department does not exist to produce profits, it exists to make it's customers feel valued...I expect ESO to provide similar support options. If they can not do so, what are we paying for? These fake virtual items cost us real money. As these items we invest in are virtual, they are pure profit for the company. I'd like to see some of the money we invest be diverted into a true customer service option.

NordSwordnBoard

Why is making a person listen to your verbal feedback better than putting it in writing on the forum?

nafensoriel

virtus753 wrote: »

Sadly, most companies these days do their level best to limit support agents’ time on customers. The post office, health insurance providers, gaming companies — whatever the field, we’re increasingly faced with automatic replies and automated menus to make sure there’s a significant barrier to interacting with a live person. They hope your problem will be addressed by the system, or at least that you’ll be too discouraged and/or frustrated to persist until you’re put in touch with an agent.

Unless a company is going out of its way to be consumer-friendly, like Amazon, or unless it’s somehow regulated in the future, I think we aren’t likely to see any more human interaction than the bare minimum. Too much expense with not enough payoff. Money is a dictatorship all its own.

It's not really about limiting support for many companies. It's actually absurdly expensive to have multiple phone lines today compared to just having a single internet connection. One standard 100mpbs u/d line is more than enough for even several skype calls. A regular phone line can be 40 bucks a month per line.

It also lets your support structure gain some depth. When you have a phone call you are on the spot.. if you handle things by text ticket you can bump the problem around the department if its something you are unsure of.

Pretty much in every way possible except "appearance" text-based ticket systems are better for the customer and the business.

max_only

Can you imagine what kind of phone calls they’d get? If it’s not a billing issue I vote no.
“Hello this is Ste...”
“WHEN ARE YOU ******* GOING TO NERF SORC I GOT BLASTED INTO A WALL AND CANT MOVE THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. ITS A SLAP IN THE FACE. ITS LITERALLY THE THING KILLING THIS GAME”

krayphysh

NordSwordnBoard wrote: »

Why is making a person listen to your verbal feedback better than putting it in writing on the forum?

If one day your power was cut off, would you rather speak with a representative on the phone in regards to your issue? I imagine you would as it is direct and in real time,

We are paying A LOT of money to these people. It's not at all absurd to request real time customer service that actually takes care of the customer's needs by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high quality service and assistance before, during, and after the customer's requirements are met.

krayphysh

NordSwordnBoard wrote: »

Why is making a person listen to your verbal feedback better than putting it in writing on the forum?

To clarify, Im not making anyone listen to anything, you chose to read and comment. I respect your opinions and thank you for your input.

Dusk_Coven

I'd be more interested in the quality of the customer service, not the medium
And so far quality is severely lacking. https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/507942/if-your-credit-card-gets-double-charged-beware-the-dangers-of-support
Just because you call them doesn't mean you'll get better troubleshooting or they won't hang up on you.

krayphysh

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

I'd be more interested in the quality of the customer service, not the medium
And so far quality is severely lacking. https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/507942/if-your-credit-card-gets-double-charged-beware-the-dangers-of-support
Just because you call them doesn't mean you'll get better troubleshooting or they won't hang up on you.

Worded so truthfully. This is really sad.

Elsonso

NordSwordnBoard wrote: »

Why is making a person listen to your verbal feedback better than putting it in writing on the forum?

It can take 5 minutes to explain and understand the situation on the phone, or via text messages, compared to hours, days, or weeks, passing notes back and forth by email.

nafensoriel

krayphysh wrote: »

/snip

We are paying A LOT of money to these people. /snip

No, we really are not.
You pay less than two fancy coffees at starbucks a month. Any crown store related purchases are voluntary and fall under the "caveat emptor" rule.

As I said in a previous thread I pay four times as much for a phone line(actually its 12 times but eh whos counting). An MMO is dirt cheap.


@Dusk_Coven
It is never in the customer's best interest to initiate a chargeback without first contacting the company about a billing error.
A chargeback is a tool of absolute last resort in the dispute process. People wield it like a club and if you had any idea how utterly brutal it is on a business you would never issue one for such a petty reason. Especially since the most likely cause of a double charge is "oops the system fired twice here let me fully refund your CC it will take me about 2 minutes".

I've contacted support for both payment, bug, and gameplay reasons several times(more than 6 IIRC) and have never once had them not resolve the issue. I have never once had them take more than 3 business days to resolve a payment issue.
ESOs support is, compared to most support teams, very quick and very good at resolving issues.

vamp_emily

I really think Customer Service has went down hill in the U.S.

Example ( Monopoly Electric Company )

Customer Service: Thank you for calling, we will get someone out there this afternoon (lies... lies.. lies)
Customer Service: Sorry that happened, since you reported the problem before we will get someone out there this afternoon ( lies.. lies.. lies )
Customer Service: We understand how you feel, let me call the engineer and have them look into the problem
Customer Service: Sorry we are experiencing more than averages callers. Please try again later.. bye

This has been going on for 40+++ days with no internet and all they have to do is move a cable a few inches over. All the employees are kind to me but they can't do their job.

Similar issue happened recently at a home appliance store. It took 2 months to get my appliances delivered and they forgot half my order. One time the guy said he was there waiting and then left. Really? I was practically sitting at the end of the drive way waiting on him for 4 hours.

Dusk_Coven

nafensoriel wrote: »

It is never in the customer's best interest to initiate a chargeback without first contacting the company about a billing error.

Completely irrelevant.
It is the job of Customer Service to make sure they understand the problem and let the customer know the best way to handle the problem. Not to turn back time and undo what has already happened.
In the end that was what "Escalations" did https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/6540624/#Comment_6540624 but it took way too long to get there plus a long post on the forums to even get it handled properly.

If you have to post your issue on the forums to get a useful resolution, the customer service procedure is broken.

Eiagra

I'm pretty sure, given how much griping and toxicity I see on the forums, that a phone support line would just be flooded with the same kinds of complaints, there would be high amounts of turnover, and you wouldn't be getting the kind of service you think you should be getting -- and then you'd call in to complain about THAT!

So, no, the current system of support tickets and e-mail help is sufficient. At least until people know how to behave and have realistic expectations on what can be done, perhaps stop being so entitled. But I think we all know the likelihood of that.

I get where you're coming from in terms of wanting to form a connection with a brand. There are some big companies out there that have managed to do so successfully -- but it takes a phenomenal amount of work to get to that level of success. I'm not sure if you realize the magnitude of what you're asking for here, from a logistics standpoint.

barney2525

NordSwordnBoard wrote: »

Why is making a person listen to your verbal feedback better than putting it in writing on the forum?

'What you read and concluded from what I wrote is not what I said'

Issues always get resolved much faster with an immediate response. A friend of mine was having an issue and was able to use a Chat customer service. It wasn't Zos he was talking to tho. It was about an old account issue and he may have been talking with Bethesda or Steam.

Resolving any issue in minutes or even an hour is much preferable than having to wait days for several exchanges between the parties.

Of course, we could always have the CS (or lack thereof )that Archeage provides ....

Sometimes its better to just be thankful for what we got.

IMHO

jircris11

vamp_emily wrote: »

I really think Customer Service has went down hill in the U.S.

Example ( Monopoly Electric Company )

Customer Service: Thank you for calling, we will get someone out there this afternoon (lies... lies.. lies)
Customer Service: Sorry that happened, since you reported the problem before we will get someone out there this afternoon ( lies.. lies.. lies )
Customer Service: We understand how you feel, let me call the engineer and have them look into the problem
Customer Service: Sorry we are experiencing more than averages callers. Please try again later.. bye

This has been going on for 40+++ days with no internet and all they have to do is move a cable a few inches over. All the employees are kind to me but they can't do their job.

Similar issue happened recently at a home appliance store. It took 2 months to get my appliances delivered and they forgot half my order. One time the guy said he was there waiting and then left. Really? I was practically sitting at the end of the drive way waiting on him for 4 hours.

I worked for TXU energy as a CSR. If the person was nice I did all I could but most where rude as hell so I returned the favor.

nafensoriel

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

nafensoriel wrote: »

It is never in the customer's best interest to initiate a chargeback without first contacting the company about a billing error.

Completely irrelevant.
It is the job of Customer Service to make sure they understand the problem and let the customer know the best way to handle the problem.
Not to turn back time and undo what has already happened.

What you are saying is like, "oh, you encountered a bug? don't trigger that bug. bye."

This will be slightly off-topic but since it might give a bit of insight into how the other side works I'm going to post it.

I once had a customer of 7 years chargeback 129 thousand dollars...
After delivery was already complete...
And the customer had simply forgotten he ordered two instead of one for the detectors.

It took nearly six months to get paid for something we correctly delivered and correctly charged for because one moron was too lazy to pick up the bloody phone and call me first and it impacted my companies ability to get credit for years. In a minor way for sure but going from flawless credit to a black mark is annoying.

In your example of bad customer service, you are implying that its ok to take action before contacting support. This is just never the correct course of action. Always contact the people you buy services from first. Yes some of them(cough Comcast) are dirty rotten snakes and you will eventually have to take more extreme measures but most businesses out there are actually in the habit of wanting to give you good service since its what keeps us fed and warm at home.

ZOS isn't large enough to be able to ignore customers. They actually do a good job though I don't expect anyone to ever give them any credit for that because support is traditionally the most *** on industry of all time.

RefLiberty

NordSwordnBoard wrote: »

Why is making a person listen to your verbal feedback better than putting it in writing on the forum?

Exactly.

Also written complaint have a bigger weight than call to CC.
OP just want to release his frustrations to someone it seems.

Furthermore, call agents are usually triage agent with least approval to do anything like billing corrections or refunds or similar issues so they will open a ticket anyway and pass it to next level department.

By OP post, I have a feeling that he or she just want to yell at someone

My standard choice would always be to fill a written complaint over calling customer service, as written complaint always have more weight and cannot be dismissed easily.

MEBengalsFan2001

krayphysh wrote: »

Customer service is the act of taking care of the customer's needs by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high quality service and assistance before, during, and after the customer's requirements are met. I am a customer and my requirements are not being met. As a paying customer, I would like to have access to real customer service, the kind that makes its customers feel valued and goes above and beyond to meet their customers needs. Might you consider offering phone based customer service options?

Most games got rid of that to reduce staff. By forcing customer support through ticket system online games can cut staff by 75%. Seen it in other MMOs. Again, the change here is about the company earning more profit. .

vamp_emily

jircris11 wrote: »

I worked for TXU energy as a CSR. If the person was nice I did all I could but most where rude as hell so I returned the favor.

This is definitely an issue. So someone was rude/frustrated/mad and you just make the situation worse? That is poor customer service.

Everyone has been nice to me but they just can't seem to get the job done. I understand my situation is not "high priority" and that is why I wait; but I shouldn't have to call the engineer every 5 days to find out why they forgot about me.

MellJazz

There is a phone option for tickets. I submitted a ticket last night on this website and chose text option. You put in your cell number and it's instant. Zachary helped me and problem fixed within minutes.

NordSwordnBoard

MellJazz wrote: »

There is a phone option for tickets. I submitted a ticket last night on this website and chose text option. You put in your cell number and it's instant. Zachary helped me and problem fixed within minutes.

Anybody asking to be provided a service you actually used last night ought to give you an insightful, you deserve it.

krayphysh

RefLiberty wrote: »

NordSwordnBoard wrote: »

Why is making a person listen to your verbal feedback better than putting it in writing on the forum?

Exactly.

Also written complaint have a bigger weight than call to CC.
OP just want to release his frustrations to someone it seems.

Furthermore, call agents are usually triage agent with least approval to do anything like billing corrections or refunds or similar issues so they will open a ticket anyway and pass it to next level department.

By OP post, I have a feeling that he or she just want to yell at someone

My standard choice would always be to fill a written complaint over calling customer service, as written complaint always have more weight and cannot be dismissed easily.

Written complaints are simply ignored and the issue closed. This is not providing customer service.

xXMeowMeowXx

krayphysh wrote: »

Customer service is the act of taking care of the customer's needs by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high quality service and assistance before, during, and after the customer's requirements are met. I am a customer and my requirements are not being met. As a paying customer, I would like to have access to real customer service, the kind that makes its customers feel valued and goes above and beyond to meet their customers needs. Might you consider offering phone based customer service options?

ZoS did have a phone number for customer service but got rid of it as far as I know.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS CONCERNING THIS LICENSE, PLEASE CONTACT CUSTOMER SERVICE AT HELP.ELDERSCROLLSONLINE.COM OR 1-844-ZENIMAX (1-844-936-4629) OR WORLDWIDE +800-6044-6044 OR +1-678-460-4893 (INTERNATIONAL RATES MAY APPLY, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR CARRIER FOR DETAILS).Mar 17, 2015

Not sure if it still works