SOE Lack of customer serviceFollow

For you who dont know this morning there was a patch where they forgot to push the client to the downloader. They posted some info about the server having the old code but when the problem resolved was after it downloaded a new patch.

While this was happening and before any offical response of a problem was posted to this forum I was having this conversation with online SOE customer serivce. Please feel free to add your experiences to this in hopes SOE will fix their support.

Here is the copy of the support log please forgive spelling problems I posted it exactly as it happened:

TSR Ralph R.:Hi, my name is TSR Ralph R.. One moment please, while I read your question.
TSR Ralph R.: While the server status page may reflect that all servers are currently up, it does not mean they are accepting external connections. So the servers are up, but in a locked status. This means that the servers are technically up but are not yet accepting connections. However, this is the last stage that the servers undergo before they open completely. We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience.
You: what about the incorrect client version?
TSR Ralph R.: Please log in after an hour and you will be able to sucessfully log in.
You: also I dont believe you in that the servers are in a locked state. Almost everyday when the servers are down I get to char selection page that shows my server is locked or down
You: where can I see this info on a webpage?
You: your answer of a random try after 1 hour is completly un-acceptable
TSR Ralph R.: You can be updated about this from our station website.
You: give me a url
You: I have checked the website often with no info
TSR Ralph R.: One moment please, while I look into this for you. Thank You.
You: just for your info servers are now up 3 mins after you told me to wait an hour ... can you please explain your response?
You: if not I need to talk to someone to complain about your very poor customer service
TSR Ralph R.: While the server status page may reflect that all servers are currently up, it does not mean they are accepting external connections. So the servers are up, but in a locked status.
You: that is bogus ralph i get to a state that servers are locked and down all the time ... please transfer to someone who can answer questions instead of reading canned response from a sheet of paper
TSR Ralph R.: I am sorry for the inconvenience but the servers are locked
You: that is not true they are up ... who can i complain about your service too
TSR Ralph R.: Please try after an hour and if the problem still persists ,Please come back in chat.
You: who may i complain about your service to Ralh? Or do I just post the contents of this session on the web?
TSR Ralph R.: I am sorry for this but the servers are locked and I have checked this again for you.
You: sir I am on the game now
You: where can I complain about your service
TSR Ralph R.: The servers are just comming up
You: Thank you Ralph I see Sony Online Entertainment CS is just untrained individuals that read responces from a piece of paper instead of helping their cusomters. I will be posting the contents of this conversation and hope for some trained rep response.
TSR Ralph R.: I am sorry for this inconvenience but the time you contacted me the servers were locked
TSR Ralph R.: And the queue was loaded with customers
TSR Ralph R.: I am sorry if I could not provide you with much attention
You: Thank you Ralph I will post this conversation on several websites for people to see the lack of service.

You did not get you wanted so it was bad customer service for you. But looks like you was at fault. He was polite to you and gives you the info he had and was most likely true. You wanted a quick fix and there was none. I think all you did is shown us how good the customer service is.

This CSR is obviously an idiot. Why are you flaming the person who was only trying to get an answer from the ignorant CSR. Your saying that the CSR was only able to give the same answer over and over again because that was the information he was given? CSR's are supposed to know the answer, that is why they are CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES. The CSR didn't even acknowledge a single thing the customer said. He only read the question and copy pasted the same thing over and over. SOE has always had a lack of customer support and the on going problems of content ingame. I recently canceled every SWG account i owned and have vowed never to buy another game from SOE because of their recurring ability to fail their customers and betray their trust. SOE is nothing but a money grubbing company that doesn't look to improve or even listen to their community.

I actually see nothing wrong with the CS responses. They were asked questions and gave the answers they were suppose to. Remember CSR are not programers, they are just an inbetween for customers and programers. They said the servers were locked, because the programmers said they were locked. They said an hour because the programmers thought it would take an hour to fix. The programmers also work on getting things running first before informing the CSR.

The real problem here is the OP is an idiot in the way the world works. Things are not always black and white, things happen that are not planed, but people dont always have to be an *** about it.

to theknightmax;
So, there was a problem with this morning's patch. Badgering someone like that over their inability to make your morning rosy & bright is inexcusable. You were rude and obnoxious.

It's not like there was a problem with someone's life support system. It's a computer game that you were temporarily unable to play.

Get over it, move on... and look into taking some anger management classes...

to Daask;
I'm sorry to hear that you're that dissappointed with SOE and their customer service dept. Maybe it's time you moved on and spent your hard earned money in a game made by another company. You are obvously bitter and upset with SOE so why give them any more cash... maybe you should try Blizzard...

True maybe he was a little rude but none of you have obviously had to deal with SOE's CSRs yet. SOE's CSRs USUALLY (not always) ignore every word you say and don't actually care if you get your problem fixed or not. Now i have met some nice CSR's BUT in general the DEV team is a bunch of money grubbers and the CSR's can't actually help you. I'm sorry if you don't agree but this is what i've seen from my experiences.

Daask noted:

This is your perception but how many points of contact does your sample include? If you can tell me that you have spoken to them, say, 100 times and in 70 cases this was so then I'd say the statement was valid. On the other hand if you have spoken to 3 people and 2 of them sucked, then your pool just isn't large enough to be realistic. There are too many variables involved to accept a blanket statement like "usually" without a large table of experience to draw from.

And btw - 2nd hand experience (my buddy said...) does not count. the experience needs to be first hand, otherwise the data can be colored or contaminated by the story teller's level of frustration, which may or may not actually be the result of incompetence on the part of a CSR. Only 1st hand experience should be factored in because if it didn't happen to you, you can't be sure of all the details.

No, I'm sorry, but unless you can honestly tell me that you personally know more than a few members of the DEV team, there is no way you can accurately draw this inference. The people on the development team are employees of SOE just like the CSRs, and while it is possible that the owners of SOE are "money grubbers" it is highly unlikely that the worker bees on the dev team are motavated by greed. It is far more likely that they are nerds and geeks whose motavation every day is to continue to code in a great game.

And finally, I just noticed your sig "Retired...." which makes it seem likely you have moved on. If that is the case, I'm sorry you were discontent enough to leave and I hope you're having more fun where ever you did go...

(edited to correct spelling)

Edited, Sat Nov 12 23:23:29 2005 by OldBlueDragon

The original poster was not rude and the CSR offered poor Customer Service. The OP became frustrated after the CSR kept speaking like a broken record. I certainly don't like talking with someone who keeps repeating the same thing over and over and I'm sure most people don't either. It is one thing to have a generic response to a common problem, but when the customer asks to speak with a supervisor or how to file a complaint, because he or she does not feel their problem has been properly handled, it is fully within their right to do so and the responsiblity of SOE to provide a channel to address grievances. Since the CSRs are the front line people, they should have the information on how to address a grievance and it should be released to the customer upon request. This is common practice in American Business.

Perhaps, SOE is the rare exception and does not have a grievance procedure or if it does, it does not inform it's CSRs of how to initiate that procedure, or it does not allow it's CSRs to release that information to customers, for whatever inexplicable reason. If this were the case, then the CSR is faultless and the responsibility again rests with the managment. However, I find it this hard to believe that a large and successful business like SOE. Pending any examination of further evidence, it would seem that the Customer Service Representative was simply, not doing his job.

Rudeness, to be sure, is very subjective by nature. However, I saw nothing in the OPs words that would lead me to come that conclusion. The OPs language never devolved into profanity and while it was apparent that his patience was worn thin, and some of his frustration was slipping out, he restrained himself very well.

Customer Service Representatives get paid to deal with difficult customers, it is their job. I say this, because if there were only "nice" customers, the CSR position would not exist. Just as Police Officers are not paid to deal with law abiding citizens. Do I sympathize for the CSRs difficult job? Certianly, but no more than I do for a Mechanic who has to get his hands greasy or Custodian who has to take out someone's smelly trash.

The OP was not the best customer and did not present his problem in the most proffesional and well worded way to be dealt with in the most expiditious and effecient manner. That is irrelevant. I disagree with how the OP handled his frustrations and attempted to deal with the problem. That is irrelevant. The only thing that is relevant, is that CSR failed to provide the customer with a means to address his grievance, either in the form of a supervisor, a webform, a mailing address, or another telephone number.

walwyn sez:

Then don't give them your 15 dollars a month. Better yet, go play with yourself... we won't miss you or your 27th post.

as others have stated all I saw was a guy looking to take his anger out on someone. It's examples like this that give the CS a reason to be ***[b][/b]holes. You, however, got a decent CS who kept his cool.