My first thought at the abrupt end, right or not, was that there was a service interruption of some kind. The only way to confirm that is to call them back again at near-end-of-day and see if it happens a second time. Perhaps he did, don’t know.
I worked at a small company where tech support was four people, we staggered our hours as I indicated, it doesn’t take a large staff to do it, especially for a company such as this that sells across (at least) two county borders (east-west, not Can-US).
Another option that I have enjoyed is the, “We are very busy right now, please enter your number and we will call you back. Doing this will not lose your place in line. If we are unable to return you call during our normal business hours…we will return it the following business day.”
I’m not surprised at not responding to this forum. My current (soon to be ex) service provider is Verizon, they do not monitor their forums either. That said, if you post there with a particular phrase in a posting they do get an alert and will respond. Apparently their software monitors for that phrase and sends an alert to support. People are nice enough (for the most part) not to use that phrase when not needed.
My largest complaint, and it happens with a lot of tech support groups (Verizon included) is that they don’t fully read an email/post to get a complete idea of what the problem is, and what has already been tried. I get the feel they skim for certain words/phrases then send a pat response, hoping it will resolve the issue. It’s a poor, but common, practice.
I appreciate the fact that a least some contributors here are open-minded enough to see this issue from both sides (vs. staunchly defending being literally hung up on!).
Thank you for that!
FYI…In a previous email response (which took them 3 days and is the exact reason for my relying upon phone support instead), they actually suggested that I pose questions on this forum (a bit of a “cop-out”, IMHO).
They claimed that they routinely monitored this forum.
If that’s the case, Tablo, shouldn’t there be some feedback from you regarding this debacle??
Do you honestly feel that it’s justified to abandon the remaining callers that have waited on hold??
Perhaps you should consider the fact that your customers are the reason for your existence and that these units aren’t perfected to the point where you can take this type of “so what, we’re done for the day” approach to customer service!!
I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, since it’s only been a short period of time since my initial complaint…but so far, the silence is deafening!
I give Tablo some leeway because they are a small company, but they still need to heed the complaints.
Verizon is near the worst, which is an odd thing to say, I’ve found their cellular support to be great, but their tv/internet/landline company is terrible.
A pair of companies (NordicTrac/iFit) are the worst I have ever experienced, and they are far larger than Tablo. I was actively working with them on a problem with the software on my treadmill (the iFit part of the duo), they made a suggestion which they said would take an hour to run through, they got me started then ended the call. An hour later it finished and still did not work, I called back and they put me on hold, came back and said I’d have to speak with upper level support, they transferred me…click. The call ended. I called back and got a robo announcement that they were closed, call back on the next business day. That was a Friday, for the weekend I had a 400-lb paperweight in my game room. Called back Monday, don’t know what country they are in, but is was a national holiday, they were closed for the day.
Thanks for your input!..
It seems as if good customer service is becoming the exception to the rule these days!!
I’ve always thought that the smaller technology companies (such as Nuvyyo) should actually try harder to please their customers!!..and (insofar as I’m concerned) shouldn’t be excused in any way for this type of behavior!
It’s easy for some (here) who (perhaps) haven’t been victimized by this type of treatment to find ways to excuse them for this (very flawed) approach!!
However, if those same individuals had needed support, waited on hold for quite some time and then were rudely hung up on (and their email responsiveness leaves alot to be desired!), they might be a bit more open-minded and/or empathetic!..and a bit less argumentative!
…and by the way, I noticed (in another 'general discussion" thread where the product had been complemented) that they were very quick to respond, so as to thank the thread starter that was pleased with the product!
So, in essence, they do monitor this forum (the “general discussion” area to be specific).
I don’t know anything about their history of responding here…but they should be doing some “damage control”…doncha think??
…or perhaps their (wrong) approach to customer service may resonate here as well!
… we’ll see.
I’ve been sitting on the sidelines until now and I can appreciate the differing perspectives people have to offer. First, I believe (my memory may be faulty) that I have heard of another instance shared in this forum where a user’s call was abruptly dropped at the end of the day. Do I like that? Absolutely not. Do I understand it? To some degree I do. There is always room for improvement and no company is perfect and maybe this is a wart they should address, and maybe they have plans to do just that. Then again, maybe not due to financial constraints. All companies are profit driven, and any money spent on additional labor or tools will pull from the profits. Maybe there are other cost effective methods such as mentioned above, offshoring, or some tools that could help. Personally I am willing to give Nuvyyo a break because i know they are small and I am tech savvy enough to fend for myself and I know I can come here for help if needed. I understand that others have a different perspective and that is fine too but I think it unrealistic to expect any company to satisfy all the needs of all customers because we are all different and have different needs. @Displeased, You certainly have a right to feel as you do and let your views be known but in the end Nuvyyo needs to balance the needs of the customer, the (seemingly declining) industry norms, and profits and in this case I wouldn’t expect your threat to go to TiVo will scare them enough to change course. That said, I hope they do make improvements in this area and I hope they stay profitable so they can continue to please the vast majority of their customers.
Actually, I have been astonished at the customer support some companies offer.
Over a decade ago I purchased a pen from Fisher Space Pen, a set with three pens and a pencil. The pencil mechanism broke, I asked if I could purchase a replacement mechanism, they sent me an entirely new pen at no charge.
I backpack, purchased a cook set (pot/bowl/cup) from Sea to Summit, the lid cracked 5 years later. They are sending me a new lid at no charge.
Hallmark is another good company, they have a slogan, “Our customers are everything, without them we are nothing.” And I’ve had them prove it several times.
It doesn’t take much to be great at customer service, but it doesn’t take much to be lousy at it either. It is the company that makes the decision which direction to go. I pay extra for the same product at a company that treats its customers right.
Ditto!!!
BTW…when I shop at Target here in NY, at closing time, they literally follow customers around the store and rudely chase them to the front checkout lines!
When I shop at Microcenter (a considerably smaller company), they allow customers to relax and finish their shopping (minus the pressure)!
I have actually felt guilty about lingering after closing time and have been assured (by the store manager) that it’s not a problem because they don’t want to pressure their customers into being forced out of the store!
Same thing should hold true for remaining calls at (an already earlier than normal) closing time!
Guess what?..I’ll make it a point to purchase any product that I need (in terms of technology) from Microcenter (even if it’s a few dollars cheaper at Target, as they both carry the same products in some cases).
Caring about customers needs to be the #1 priority, as, in the long term, it will actually serve to increase your profits (via overall customer loyalty and recommendations).
I’m hoping that Nuvyyo takes this into serious consideration and (at the very least) finishes it’s day knowing that their customers are satisfied
(as opposed to feeling like Target customers at closing time)!
Anything less is an embarrassment!!
I think you misunderstood what my intentions were. I was note saying that “poor customer service” is acceptable - ever. I was not saying that your experience was typical, or should be the “acceptable standard”.
What I was pointing out is this. Accidents happen. With automation, computers are basically answering the phone, and placing you in a queue. With the current Covid-19 crisis, often these calls have to be routed from an office to remote locations (i.e. people working from home).
Also, it is really difficult for small companies to provide extended hours of technical support.
I offered the suggestions to try and get your issues resolved, not to berate you, or make you feel less of a human being. The people on the forums may also be able to help out if you asked the questions here.
I used to work for MicroCenter many years ago (back when they only had stores in Ohio, I worked at the 4th store - and opened many new stores). They were a great company to work for. It goes back to the philosophies of the founders of the company (they were ex-Radio Shack employees who were discouraged because computer parks were so hard to come by).
It is easy to make the customers the #1 priority - jack up the prices, or charge for priority support. That allows a company to provide those services. TiVo charges almost twice the price for a DVR, requires over priced equipment to view on multiple TVs, and a lifetime subscription costs $649 - a far cry from $149…plus you can’t transfer your subscription when your unit dies.
As for no replies in this thread? I can understand that too - who would want to be openly berated by a customer who is not happy. While the “squeaky wheel” may get greased, it also means they may run from your next issue, as they know you will create a “squeaky wheel”…
Again, I am not defended any “bad customer service” - merely trying to help out.
Well, I am not a company employee… not of this company or any other for that matter, I am retired.
My experience with this company, and their support, is excellent! I am a Tivo customer also… as well as an Amazon Prime (recast) customer. And so far, I find this company, Tablo TV, is pretty good. Do they have flaws? You bet. But overall, I give them pretty good grades. The only time I have needed help, it was rendered quickly and expertly. Both here in this forum and thru the telephone. Perhaps my experience is colored by the fact that I have worked customer service for more than 10 years, for another firm, before I retired. We were very callous about customers, and yet we earned JD Powers awards for customer service excellence almost every year I worked there.
So my experience colors my opinion. I have suffered on both ends of the telephone line, both as rep and as customer.
@Displeased we apologize that you didn’t have a good experience with our support team when you called.
We can confirm that after 5:30 ET, any calls in the queue are removed from the queue and directed to voicemail.
We recognize this is not ideal, but this enables our support team to finish their existing calls and wrap up any ongoing cases they are still working on, which often takes them well past our regular hours of operation.
We hope to improve this experience in the future by investigating ways to improve the workflow of our call queue system, providing additional clarity around our stated hours of operation when you enter the queue, providing additional alternatives for contacting us, etc. We will work to do better in this regard.
As some have pointed out, many companies choose to outsource a large majority of their help desk labor to overseas call centers but we are 100% committed to maintaining a fully in-house support team.
This isn’t the most cost-effective way to provide customer support, but we believe that close collaboration between our engineering, QA, marketing, and support staff is one of the key pillars of our success.
We do our best to resolve all customer issues in a timely manner, but we are human, and we are fallible. As noted, we will take this feedback as an opportunity to re-evaluate our current policies and procedures and continue to improve.
I was thinking about this, and have a possible (though not full) solution to the hang-up portion of the issue. Assume the average call is 15 minutes (just as an example, not sure what their average is) back up the service hours to end at 5:15, and turn off new incoming calls at that point. Then finish with the people already in the queue, until whatever time that takes.
I still have a problem with the 5:30 time, as that only gives West Coast customers until 2:30 to call in with issues. A possible solution to this is changing support hours to run from 12:00ET (noon) until 10:30PM ET (9:00PT to 5:30PT) that still shorts the West Coast people, but not as badly, and it’s still the same number of support hours.
