(no subject)
Damn, I haven't posted since June?
Well. No wonder it seems like it's been a long time.
Um. I moved. I like the new place (more later) but the moving process is never fun. I recommend hiring movers -- it's awesome and fast and means you don't have to go up all those stairs over and over again -- but don't hire Starving Students. Here's the text of my email to their customer service department, annotated for your amusement (including the bit about getting a tetnaus shot), and with a few bits of identifying information taken out.
When I first called Starving Students, I spoke with Jay, who was very helpful. I arranged my move, and asked for a 10:00 start time to ensure that I would be completely ready by the time the movers showed up. He said that he’d make a note about that, but it should be fine.
[I called SS because the guys who moved Adam, Ace Movers, had said they didn't have a driver for that day.]
I got a confirmation call on the Wednesday before the move. The caller didn’t see to know about my request for a delayed start, but otherwise the call was fine.
I got a second confirmation call on Friday afternoon. Again, the caller had no knowledge of my request for the start time, and when I mentioned that there should be a note about it, he said there was a note about me wanting two mattress bags, which I had not requested. He explained that the note was for someone else with the same first name who was also moving on the same day. He then agreed to try to accommodate my desired start time.
[At 5PM on Friday, Ace Movers called me to "confirm" my move -- the one they had told me I wasn't scheduled for -- and I basically told them they'd better not show up, because they had said they were unavailable and I hired someone else. The rep was very understanding, and said these things happen at the end of the month, and it was ok.]
On Saturday, I did not receive my 30-minute courtesy call at 9:30. At about 10:30, I called the main number for Starving Students. The representative said that they had been dispatched and that the manager for this area would call me shortly.
I did not receive a call by 1:00 PM, so I called back and asked for the phone number for the general manager’s office for this area. I received it, but when I tried to call, the phone just rang.
I called the main SS number a third time, explained that no one was picking up, and asked for further help. The representative transferred me to the same number, which still just rang without anyone picking up.
I called the main number a fourth time, explained that it was my fourth call, and pleaded for help in general. I was transferred to Darren, who gave me the phone number for the cellphone of the manager in my area.
I called the manager and left a voice mail. I called again about twenty minutes later, and he picked up. Things sounded hectic: he was out in the field helping the movers. He explained that there were delays, and that it looked like he couldn’t send a crew to me until the next morning. He promised that they’d be there at 8:00.
[At this point, I had called Ace Movers to ask if they could squeeze me back onto their schedule after all. They couldn't, but they put me down for Tuesday morning. And while I was on the phone with them, Dad arrived with the van and Mom came in the station wagon. We loaded up those and Adam's truck, and took over everything I would "need" to get by for a week or so. The stairs were miserable, but it was really nice to have my stuff here and not have to set things back up at home. (I had dismantled furniture and stuff, even the last things that I had used the night before and morning of -- the place was basically too packed-up to live in.)
On Saturday night, I was cutting zip-ties on a package of awesome silverware. Like an idiot, I was using scissors, but using them by sliding one side into the zip-tie far enough to make it snap without closing the scissors. At one point, I slipped, and stabbed my hand. The cut is a little "L" about a quarter of an inch wide. Given the shape of the scissors, I think it's probably half an inch deep, but maybe not -- at the time, I didn't stop to see if they went straight in or at an angle, and an angle would've made a shallower, wider cut than straight in. Yes, I got a tetnus booster on Monday. No, I didn't get stitches -- it held closed on its own, if I didn't try to use my hand. I'm still being careful not to pick up heavy things or actually use my thumb too much.]
I was ready for the courtesy call at 7:30 the next morning, but when I still had not received it by 8:30, I called the local office. Apparently, the movers weren’t in yet: the weekend buses run late, etc. He said he’d call me as soon as he could send a team out to me. I called back later in the morning-11ish-and was told that he was still struggling to get guys together. Eventually, I got a phone call saying that the truck broke down in route to my apartment.
At 4:30, I received a call letting me know that they probably wouldn’t be able to move me that day, either. I wasn’t surprised, and let him know that I wasn’t interested in trying again on Monday. At 5:00, I received another call: the other truck had arrived, and so they could move my stuff if I wanted. I explained that starting a move at 5:00 on a Sunday afternoon was ridiculous. Had my lease been ending that day, I would have been forced to accept the help, but I was able to line up other movers and did not have to give any money to to your horribly disorganized company.
On Tuesday, the other company arrived when they said they would, moved everything with no problems, and even charged me $25 less an hour and wrapped all my furniture in plastic for free.
[They were efficient: 3 hours, including transit time, was enough for 2 guys to move all my furniture, my book boxes, and the remaining boxes of random junk. Guys who are used to climbing lots of stairs while carrying heavy objects are fit in a way that's almost scary. I kept thinking, "Wait, I can barely lift that damn thing" when I saw them hoist and carry things without help. I mean, I get that feeling when any guy is carrying stuff, but at least Dad and Adam had the decency to make it look like it's at least a little difficult to go up two flights while carrying those really heavy boxes.]
What could Starving Students have done differently? What would have prevented me from telling everyone I know that they should never hire you?
Don’t overschedule your moving teams. If I had been told that the schedule was already full when I first called, I would have thought of you as a busy company. I would have found another company or planned to move on another day, and that wouldn’t have affected your reputation. As is, I’m disappointed and angry with Starving Students, and I’m explaining exactly why to friends and coworkers.
Keep track of which customers have made which special requests-having my information confused with someone else’s left me worrying about the overall competence of the local team.
If the movers are going to be more than an hour late, call the customer and give a status update! When a customer calls to ask about the status of their movers, try to check on the actual status rather than giving an answer that boils down to “be patient and wait your turn: they’ll get there eventually.” Especially when they’re going to be 31 hours late.
When a customer is calling because the movers haven’t showed up, don’t make that customer listen to hold music that is interrupted by self-glorifying [*cough*masturbatory*cough*] ads for your own company. The bit admonishing customers to “beware of bandit movers who disappear when things get tough” made me particularly angry, given the circumstances.
Don’t promise things that you can’t follow through on. When I was informed that the movers weren’t coming on Saturday but that I would be first on the list for Sunday, I should have been told that the movers may not be able to arrive before noon. Being awake, alert, and ready to go at 7:30 is fine, but doing so the morning after a very long day of moving much of my own stuff because I had been given an unrealistic promise was extremely unpleasant.
Also, I received a letter today from Starving Students, suggesting that I use their utility transfer service. (It’s laughable, because at this point there’s no way I would trust you with important things like turning on my electricity.) Perhaps it’s not the case in all locations, but around here, utilities have to be arranged before you can get keys to your apartment-the information about the transfer service is absolutely useless if it’s received after moving.
Basically, what I’m saying is that a company whose entire business is customer service can’t afford to let the quality of that service degrade at any point. If the positive experience of my initial phone call had been followed by a series of equally positive phone calls and follow-through, I would be extremely happy with the company. I would be telling people what a wonderful move I had. And instead, I’m saying that about another local company.
I hope that giving you this information helps you prevent this from happening to anyone else. I don’t know what’s going on in the local office, and there may be unavoidable reasons that things went the way they did. But some amount of additional customer service training to help them handle these difficult situations better is probably in order.
[Yes, I actually do believe that. It's too late for them to fix it for me -- I didn't pay them any money, and I didn't suffer measureable consequences from their incompetence. Just stress -- and I inconvenienced someone a little by leaving my stuff in the old apartment. But I didn't violate my lease or anything. It's more important to me now that they just not fuck anyone else over like that. And, you know, to keep anyone I know from hiring them.]
They never did respond.
But the new place is awesome. We still have boxes sitting around -- need to get more bookshelves. (And I swear that the closet shrank while I was putting stuff into it.) I'll miss the fireplace at my old apartment. (And my roommate, who was cool even if we never were home at the same time in the last six months or so.) But there are trees across the road here, and the kitchen is big enough to actually use, and the big bathtub is awesome enough to make up for the pathetic amount of counter space and still have awesomeness left over. The water heater is turned up scary-high, the thermostat numbers don't correlate to any actual temperatures, the guest/computer room is insanely warm, and I get to see Adam every day. (These facts aren't necessarily coordinated within a sentence -- I'm in ramble mode.)
I think that's the most eventful/interesting thing that's gone on. There was also a beach trip -- we left the day after moving Adam into this place, which was craaaazy and I swear I'll never schedule things that way again -- but it was noteworthy mostly because of the killer ear infection/Meniere's flare-up combination, which sucked most of the joy out of the trip. Ah, well. I did get to swim once or twice before I was required to get my ears dry. And I'm proud of myself for wearing sunscreen every day. And I learned to drive stick, which was awesome!
That's all for now. I'll try to catch up on more stuff later, and start reading other people's entries more regularly.
Well. No wonder it seems like it's been a long time.
Um. I moved. I like the new place (more later) but the moving process is never fun. I recommend hiring movers -- it's awesome and fast and means you don't have to go up all those stairs over and over again -- but don't hire Starving Students. Here's the text of my email to their customer service department, annotated for your amusement (including the bit about getting a tetnaus shot), and with a few bits of identifying information taken out.
When I first called Starving Students, I spoke with Jay, who was very helpful. I arranged my move, and asked for a 10:00 start time to ensure that I would be completely ready by the time the movers showed up. He said that he’d make a note about that, but it should be fine.
[I called SS because the guys who moved Adam, Ace Movers, had said they didn't have a driver for that day.]
I got a confirmation call on the Wednesday before the move. The caller didn’t see to know about my request for a delayed start, but otherwise the call was fine.
I got a second confirmation call on Friday afternoon. Again, the caller had no knowledge of my request for the start time, and when I mentioned that there should be a note about it, he said there was a note about me wanting two mattress bags, which I had not requested. He explained that the note was for someone else with the same first name who was also moving on the same day. He then agreed to try to accommodate my desired start time.
[At 5PM on Friday, Ace Movers called me to "confirm" my move -- the one they had told me I wasn't scheduled for -- and I basically told them they'd better not show up, because they had said they were unavailable and I hired someone else. The rep was very understanding, and said these things happen at the end of the month, and it was ok.]
On Saturday, I did not receive my 30-minute courtesy call at 9:30. At about 10:30, I called the main number for Starving Students. The representative said that they had been dispatched and that the manager for this area would call me shortly.
I did not receive a call by 1:00 PM, so I called back and asked for the phone number for the general manager’s office for this area. I received it, but when I tried to call, the phone just rang.
I called the main SS number a third time, explained that no one was picking up, and asked for further help. The representative transferred me to the same number, which still just rang without anyone picking up.
I called the main number a fourth time, explained that it was my fourth call, and pleaded for help in general. I was transferred to Darren, who gave me the phone number for the cellphone of the manager in my area.
I called the manager and left a voice mail. I called again about twenty minutes later, and he picked up. Things sounded hectic: he was out in the field helping the movers. He explained that there were delays, and that it looked like he couldn’t send a crew to me until the next morning. He promised that they’d be there at 8:00.
[At this point, I had called Ace Movers to ask if they could squeeze me back onto their schedule after all. They couldn't, but they put me down for Tuesday morning. And while I was on the phone with them, Dad arrived with the van and Mom came in the station wagon. We loaded up those and Adam's truck, and took over everything I would "need" to get by for a week or so. The stairs were miserable, but it was really nice to have my stuff here and not have to set things back up at home. (I had dismantled furniture and stuff, even the last things that I had used the night before and morning of -- the place was basically too packed-up to live in.)
On Saturday night, I was cutting zip-ties on a package of awesome silverware. Like an idiot, I was using scissors, but using them by sliding one side into the zip-tie far enough to make it snap without closing the scissors. At one point, I slipped, and stabbed my hand. The cut is a little "L" about a quarter of an inch wide. Given the shape of the scissors, I think it's probably half an inch deep, but maybe not -- at the time, I didn't stop to see if they went straight in or at an angle, and an angle would've made a shallower, wider cut than straight in. Yes, I got a tetnus booster on Monday. No, I didn't get stitches -- it held closed on its own, if I didn't try to use my hand. I'm still being careful not to pick up heavy things or actually use my thumb too much.]
I was ready for the courtesy call at 7:30 the next morning, but when I still had not received it by 8:30, I called the local office. Apparently, the movers weren’t in yet: the weekend buses run late, etc. He said he’d call me as soon as he could send a team out to me. I called back later in the morning-11ish-and was told that he was still struggling to get guys together. Eventually, I got a phone call saying that the truck broke down in route to my apartment.
At 4:30, I received a call letting me know that they probably wouldn’t be able to move me that day, either. I wasn’t surprised, and let him know that I wasn’t interested in trying again on Monday. At 5:00, I received another call: the other truck had arrived, and so they could move my stuff if I wanted. I explained that starting a move at 5:00 on a Sunday afternoon was ridiculous. Had my lease been ending that day, I would have been forced to accept the help, but I was able to line up other movers and did not have to give any money to to your horribly disorganized company.
On Tuesday, the other company arrived when they said they would, moved everything with no problems, and even charged me $25 less an hour and wrapped all my furniture in plastic for free.
[They were efficient: 3 hours, including transit time, was enough for 2 guys to move all my furniture, my book boxes, and the remaining boxes of random junk. Guys who are used to climbing lots of stairs while carrying heavy objects are fit in a way that's almost scary. I kept thinking, "Wait, I can barely lift that damn thing" when I saw them hoist and carry things without help. I mean, I get that feeling when any guy is carrying stuff, but at least Dad and Adam had the decency to make it look like it's at least a little difficult to go up two flights while carrying those really heavy boxes.]
What could Starving Students have done differently? What would have prevented me from telling everyone I know that they should never hire you?
Don’t overschedule your moving teams. If I had been told that the schedule was already full when I first called, I would have thought of you as a busy company. I would have found another company or planned to move on another day, and that wouldn’t have affected your reputation. As is, I’m disappointed and angry with Starving Students, and I’m explaining exactly why to friends and coworkers.
Keep track of which customers have made which special requests-having my information confused with someone else’s left me worrying about the overall competence of the local team.
If the movers are going to be more than an hour late, call the customer and give a status update! When a customer calls to ask about the status of their movers, try to check on the actual status rather than giving an answer that boils down to “be patient and wait your turn: they’ll get there eventually.” Especially when they’re going to be 31 hours late.
When a customer is calling because the movers haven’t showed up, don’t make that customer listen to hold music that is interrupted by self-glorifying [*cough*masturbatory*cough*] ads for your own company. The bit admonishing customers to “beware of bandit movers who disappear when things get tough” made me particularly angry, given the circumstances.
Don’t promise things that you can’t follow through on. When I was informed that the movers weren’t coming on Saturday but that I would be first on the list for Sunday, I should have been told that the movers may not be able to arrive before noon. Being awake, alert, and ready to go at 7:30 is fine, but doing so the morning after a very long day of moving much of my own stuff because I had been given an unrealistic promise was extremely unpleasant.
Also, I received a letter today from Starving Students, suggesting that I use their utility transfer service. (It’s laughable, because at this point there’s no way I would trust you with important things like turning on my electricity.) Perhaps it’s not the case in all locations, but around here, utilities have to be arranged before you can get keys to your apartment-the information about the transfer service is absolutely useless if it’s received after moving.
Basically, what I’m saying is that a company whose entire business is customer service can’t afford to let the quality of that service degrade at any point. If the positive experience of my initial phone call had been followed by a series of equally positive phone calls and follow-through, I would be extremely happy with the company. I would be telling people what a wonderful move I had. And instead, I’m saying that about another local company.
I hope that giving you this information helps you prevent this from happening to anyone else. I don’t know what’s going on in the local office, and there may be unavoidable reasons that things went the way they did. But some amount of additional customer service training to help them handle these difficult situations better is probably in order.
[Yes, I actually do believe that. It's too late for them to fix it for me -- I didn't pay them any money, and I didn't suffer measureable consequences from their incompetence. Just stress -- and I inconvenienced someone a little by leaving my stuff in the old apartment. But I didn't violate my lease or anything. It's more important to me now that they just not fuck anyone else over like that. And, you know, to keep anyone I know from hiring them.]
They never did respond.
But the new place is awesome. We still have boxes sitting around -- need to get more bookshelves. (And I swear that the closet shrank while I was putting stuff into it.) I'll miss the fireplace at my old apartment. (And my roommate, who was cool even if we never were home at the same time in the last six months or so.) But there are trees across the road here, and the kitchen is big enough to actually use, and the big bathtub is awesome enough to make up for the pathetic amount of counter space and still have awesomeness left over. The water heater is turned up scary-high, the thermostat numbers don't correlate to any actual temperatures, the guest/computer room is insanely warm, and I get to see Adam every day. (These facts aren't necessarily coordinated within a sentence -- I'm in ramble mode.)
I think that's the most eventful/interesting thing that's gone on. There was also a beach trip -- we left the day after moving Adam into this place, which was craaaazy and I swear I'll never schedule things that way again -- but it was noteworthy mostly because of the killer ear infection/Meniere's flare-up combination, which sucked most of the joy out of the trip. Ah, well. I did get to swim once or twice before I was required to get my ears dry. And I'm proud of myself for wearing sunscreen every day. And I learned to drive stick, which was awesome!
That's all for now. I'll try to catch up on more stuff later, and start reading other people's entries more regularly.