In an effort to make sure that I could connect to the internet when I was traveling and no Wi-Fi was available to borrow or purchase, I unwittingly signed up for a dial up service called PeoplePC.
The PeoplePC service boasts of thousands of dial up numbers scattered throughout the United States and requires you to download their PeoplePC software to install on your computer to manage your connection, your account, and web experience.
I’m sure it boasts of great customer service also, but I can attest to the fact that this is not the case.
For a primer on how not to provide customer service, I would direct anyone to PeoplePC to experience the pain and suffering of having to deal with a company that just doesn’t get it.
Here is my personal experience when trying to cancel my free trial.
Web Support
Their account management website worked about 1 in 3 times that I tried to navigate to it. The rest of the time, the server did not respond and left me with a timed out browsing experience. Plus, even when it did work, there were very few options that you could even affect through the web and none of these options pertained to cancelling your account. The FAQs area did not mention anything about how to cancel either.
Email Support
On the contact page, a customer service email was provided for inquiries. Response time for my messages seemed to be between 6-18 hours. Unfortunately, the email response said that I could not be helped and that I instead had to call their 800 number to talk to a representative.
Phone Support
First, their automated 800 number script is poor. You can’t skip around through the menu even if you know the sequence that you need to press. Also, on multiple occassions, the numbers that I pressed did not register properly. Even upon connecting with a CSR, half of the time that CSR spoke Spanish and not English and then tried to connect me to the proper Customer Service line, only to have the call end in dead silence and hang there until I finally gave up.
- 11/6/07: Connect with CSR after 10 minutes. CSR speaks Spanish, but switches to English. Unfortunately, the person either wasn’t able to communicate effectively or their phone line had issues. Eventually had to hang up due to inability to understand the CSR’s requests.
- 11/6/07: Connect with CSR after 5 minuts. CSR speaks Spanish and says he will connect me to the proper line. Phone rings a few times, sounds like it is answered, then dead silence for 10 minutes. I hang up after another 5 minutes of silence.
- 11/6/07: After 15 minutes, call connects with something, again ends in dead silence. I hang up after another 5 minutes of silence.
- 11/6/07: After 10 minutes, call connects with something, again ends in dead silence. I hang up after another 5 minutes of silence.
- 11/7/07: Connect with CSR after 5 minutes. CSR speaks Spanish and tells me in English he will connect me to the proper customer service. Call connects withs something, ends in dead silence, and I hang up after another 10 minutes of waiting.
- 11/7/07:Connect with CSR after 5 minutes. CSR speaks English and actually helps me resolve my issue. SUCCESS! They still tried to pawn a variety of stupid up/cross sells off on me, someone who is disgusted with their service and wants to cancel, but at least the end result was resolution of my inquiry. Finally!
(In between calls #4 and #5, I decided to send another email support message. I detailed the problems I am having in the email, provide all of my account information, and ask for assistance in cancelling my service. I receive the same form letter from my previous attempt telling me to call the support line. Awesome.)
All in all, a terribly painful experience for me. I would never consider using this service again… all because of the aggravation and frustration I experienced while dealing with their support.
