Quality of Care

I hate poor customer service. I really hate poor customer service disguised as an automated teller.  And I really really hate poor customer service when it involves a Christmas gift for a loved one.

For Christmas, we bought my 11-year son a PlayStation game from a 3rd-party vendor through Amazon. He really wanted the game and was very excited to receive the game on Christmas morning. He played it for a few nights until he accumulated enough points to make an in-game purchase. This turned into an epic fail. The add-ons that my son purchased would not interface with the game. After doing several Google and forum searches, we called PlayStation for customer support. After asking a few questions, it was determined that we had purchased a game that was a European-registered game and it would not allow in-game purchases in the United States (At some point, someone will have to explain the logistics). The PlayStation rep told us that we needed to return the game, what to ask for from the vendor, and to check the new disk when we received it. I contacted the vendor through Amazon, told them what we wanted in 200 characters or less (A US-registered version of the game with the correct codes that I provided for them), and used the automatically generated packing slip to return the game at the local UPS store.

My son waited anxiously for the replacement game to arrive. Two days later, it was delivered. When we opened the game, we checked the code on the disk and determined that it was another European-registered version of the game. Of course, when I tried to contact the company, there was no one that I could contact directly. There was no one I could explain the problem to. More importantly, there was no one I could explain the solution to. There was no one. There was only an automated system that could not comprehend my issue.

In the end, I had to return the replacement game and receive a refund. However, I was not reimbursed for my time, the packaging, or the travel to the UPS store. No one apologized to my son. No one took ownership. The quality of care was poor.

In the end, we got a US-registered version of the game at the local GameStop. The salesman was very professional and was able to get the exact version that we wanted. He even allowed us to open the disk and check for the US registration numbers. It was the correct version of the game and all was well.

My son learned a good set of lessons. First, do not give up when you do not get what you want. Second, do not get frustrated by poor customer service. Third, do not get frustrated by poor automated customer service. And finally, if you really want to get something, make sure that you clearly communicate what you want to someone who can deliver.

Everday is an Interview