I finally got face to face with a BC Government Employees pension plan person after her admonishing me for driving all the way to Victoria without an appointment. Her: "We are very busy, you are lucky I could fit you in". Me: "How can I set up an appointment? You never answer your phone". Her (proudly):"Our records show that 80% of phone calls are answered in 20 minutes or less". 20 minutes is about what it takes to kill a cell phone battery.
After that things went smoothly. The balance of her pension will be deposited in my account at the end of May and the missed April payment will be sent out soon. The Extended Medical payments will be deducted from my deposits.
Traffic on the Malahat was slow but not parking lot slow. I made it back to Shawnigan in an hour and a half instead of the best case 45 minutes.
When Norma was one of the heads of Forest Renewal BC, she decreed that all incoming phone calls were answered by a human being in six rings or less. If you left your desk, you forwarded your calls to your cell phone.If you were in a meeting the call went to your assistant or to the receptionist with the six ring rule still in effect.
Service is certainly NOT what it used to be. I hate those phone answering systems, that say press 1 for this press 2 for this etc. etc. They just go on and on and on and you're lucky if you ever get to speak to a real live person. Infuriating to say the least.
ReplyDeleteGlad that you finally got those issues resolved, The Malahat was a nice drive when I was there in the mid 70's.
ReplyDeleteGoodness. I wrote a whole comment and it disappeared. I'll try again......It would have seemed under the circumstances that the woman could have been more accommodating and polite. Glad though that the issue was resolved.
ReplyDeleteHere in Mexico, at least in retail stores, there is NO such thing as customer service, but I have found the government employees to be accommodating and even gracious, at times. Well except for one man, long, long ago.