Ivan sent a message to Glen F. Post, III President and CEO, CenturyLink, Inc. – email address that said:
Mr. Post,
I need to make you aware of the disservice your call centers are doing.
I recently had the great misfortune of having to call you billing department again. In July of 2016 my payment was mishandled when I made a payment on-line, no problems. I had to go to a physical sales center and make a payment since the letter said my check wouldn't be accepted. I wrote it off as an error and made the payment and moved on. Now, in September I make a payment through the mail and the check is processed, the amount on the check was for $204.49, but your billing department processed it for .01 cent.
I called and spoke to Mayra on 10/17/16 at 2:33. Mayra was rude, spoke over me, she has no skills in customer relations and blamed me for the improperly processed payment. I asked to talk to her supervisor, I waited for 20 minutes and Nancy came on line. She said that she couldn't help me since the check was processed and could not explain why it was processed for .01 cent. I asked to speak to her supervisor and I was sent to a voice mail of a Sophia. I left a message and to this day have not had a response.
As the CEO and the leader of your company I would expect that your policy is to provide service. There is a disconnect between what I assume is your policy of customer service and what your subordinates are actually doing.
Should you read this, please investigate, as I am sure I am not the only one who has had problems like this. Also, retrain your phone personnel. I am quite aware of the difficulties when dealing with customers and the old antiquated adage that the customer is always right. Sometimes the customer is wrong, but the way you deal with difficult customers is not to talk over them and blame them.
Institute a Lean Six Sigma principle and do a Kaizen in your customer services department. You sorely need it.
Ivan