John Linton I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry when I received this 'suggestion' from the User Facility Suggestion Box earlier this morning:
I realise that I'm absolutely not the right person to reply to this sort of nonsense but as it came via the user suggestion process (rather than the complaints or billing resolution process) I read it as I do all suggestions. The suggestion box has been a major success in its first month of operation and we have made over 100 changes to various aspects of our processes already based on user suggestions.
- but what on Earth do you do with communications such as this?
"Dear Exetel Support,
I\'m really ANNOYED, here\'s why:
Last month, due to no fault of my own, I had the unfortunate experience of having to cancel my credit card.
While my other accounts associated with the credit card (insurance, web hosting ...) all accepted the new credit card details. Exetel did not!
I finally got online again using my mother in-laws mastercard and after spending an extra $30.00 in failed transaction payments. I decided it must be a problem with my credit card, and called the bank.
The bank said their transaction records indicate that the wrong (visa) verification number (3 digit on back) was used for both my card and my wife\'s.
Obviously we didn\'t make a mistake typing the three digit verification number. Rather Exetel\'s payment page has some fundamental error/bug processing visa cards (The page has spelling errors also).
Because of Exetel\'s problem/bug processing visa cards, I\'m now down $40 (including the most recent failure fee).
If I don\'t receive a full refund of my $40 and re-connection to the internet. I WILL take my business elsewhere, never recommend Exetel to my friends again, blog about this issue on Whirlpool, Twitter, blogger, and any other online blog I can find.
Please contact me on 0415nnnnnn to resolve this issue."
If I was to accept the claim that Exetel's key financial processing systems have random bugs in them then we are in serious trouble in continuing to operate the company. Can a system that has processed hundreds of thousands of transactions (apparently accurately as we have never received such a complaint before) suddenly have developed a strange inconsistency on a single occasion? I would have thought that unlikely to the point of dismissing it completely after a few seconds thought (bearing in mind we use the software supplied by the bank to their multitude of customers - we don't write it ourselves) as to how it could have happened. - which is what I did.
How do you deal with a person who is so irrational as to make such a claim - and why on Earth would they do it? Is it actually possible that they believe such a thing is possible rather than the much more obvious explanation? If the last paragraph had been omitted (the silly threats) then I would have replied differently to the way I actually did. I have an absolute inability, developed when I was in my very early teens, to deal with someone who threatens me in any way other than to act as as unreasonably and as inappropriately as they do - I should have grown out of that with the onset of adult maturity but clearly I have still not reached that stage - yet.
I do wonder why an increasing number of people I observe (not only in Exetel's business dealings but in restaurants, shops, service stations and, of course, driving on so many roads around Sydney) behave so irrationally aggressively and so completely stupidly. In this instance how could this person actually believe that a financial processing system (written by a major bank) is more likely to make four successive random errors at different times than his own fingers? Even if he (and it was a he) could believe that why would his first communication be phrased so ridiculously confrontationally? What sort of reply did he expect to receive?
Without the stupid threats I would have replied that while I believed a key Exetel financial process (written by a major Australian bank) could not have randomly mis-recorded a key stroke four times in succession from one customer but not from any other customer over a period of almost 5 years we would waive the failed debit charges. However, his sheer stupidity coupled with his silly 'threats' caused me to reply differently:
"Dear Sir,
While it is easy to understand your annoyance you are directing it towards the wrong entity.
Your, silly, claim that "obviously we didn't make a mistake typing the three digit verification number" should have read "obviously WE MADE A MISTAKE..."
Because:
If "Exetel's payment page has some fundamental error/bug...." it would seem to need some explanation as to why only you have encountered this ridiculous situation whereas over 100,000 other people who have entered their credit card details over the past years have not.
Lastly your silly statements about the actions you will take if we don't agree with your ridiculous assertion are not going to find any sympathy with a supplier who realizes that you have made a careless error and to save face with your wife are asserting that our very carefully constructed and audited financial processing systems contain such a ridiculous flaw as you are stating.
But that begs the question you raise about how dangerous it is for you to do business with an organization that operates seriously flawed financial systems. What would happen in future months if other flaws in our systems disadvantage you even further? You can't possibly allow that to happen and therefore you should immediately move your ADSL service to another provider and, good citizen that you are, you should invest even more of your time warning as many people as possible of Exetel's criminally negligent and dishonest financial systems. Be careful what you assert in writing because your comments in your email are, prima face, total nonsense and to repeat them in public is a very serious denigration of a commercial entity - and I would think that any other person who reads your comments will form the same view that I have.
As Exetel is clearly not a suitable company for you to deal with, this email is to advise you that you should move your Exetel ADSL1 service to another provider before mid night on April 30th 2009 after which time Exetel will cancel your connection. Although the fault of entering incorrect information is, without doubt, entirely yours Exetel will not charge any failed debit fees.
Exetel will not impose any early contract cancellation fees.
We wish you more success with the financial processing systems of your next service provider and hope that they are not as seriously flawed as you accuse Exetel's of being."
It seems to me that there are more loonies around than there used to be.
PS: (7.20 am April 3rd) I have been advised that this customer claims on another forum that he is being mis-represented because "I have chosen not to show his earlier correspondence". Like his other comments that is simply untrue. There was "an earlier" email (by approximately 5 minutes) to the suggestion box but the only difference was that it used the words "pissed off" instead of "angry" in the first sentence and was replied to (by me) with the comment that we don't deal with inappropriately worded correspondence". A minute or so later the version refenced in this post was sent. If any correspondence exists beyond that then no-one at Exetel has ever seen it.