Citylink Nightmare

Nov 20 - My Amazon parcel was supposed to be delivered by Citylink by 1 pm. I waited for the entire day and found out from the Citylink web site in the evening that a delivery was attempted and a calling card was left. Fact: There was no calling card. And as I had been at home all day, I did not believe the driver had come.

Nov 22 - Citylink attempted delivery and left a calling card. Obviously I couldn't receive the delivery or calling card until I got home in the evening. And that night, when I logged on to the web site, a delivery was rescheduled for 23 Nov for me at 5:15 pm (while I was at work). Somebody picked a time that was not convenient for me.

Nov 23 - I phoned Citylink at 7:31 am as soon as their customer service was open, explained the matter, and requested a rescheduled delivery for 26 Nov. The customer service said she'll had it sorted.

Nov 26 – There was no sign of my delivery so I phoned Citylink again.

Citylink, "I can't see anything on the system. Who did you talk you on Tuesday? If you can't tell me, then..."

Her voice was firm but for the sake of Citylink's error, I did not enjoy being investigated.

I said, "Are you telling me that you can't help me because I did not know the name of the person that picked up my call on Tuesday?"

Citylink, "Don't accuse me as if I am not trying to help. The driver did go on Saturday and phoned your landline 6 times... blah..blah..."

I was thinking, "Well, you don't sound very willing to help. How am I going to answer your error and the fact that your system doesn't have it, was it my fault? I am sure you can check the call record - since they will be monitored - and you will know that I called!"

One of the greatest things that I hate is when a customer service said something along of the lines of "it's not on the system so there is no proof of human error, so what do you want me to do..."

In the rare chance when I needed to talk to a customer service, I did usually ask for a reference number or a person's name. I actually had been refused given a name a couple times with some customer service in the past.

The Citylink customer service that I talked to on Tuesday was quite polite so I was easy on her.

I said, "I trusted that when your customer service said that if it's done, it's done. I would not have this problem if the parcel were delivered on Saturday to begin with. There was no calling card and I don't think there is any phone message."
So this lady puts me on hold. And Mr. Kuei checked the phone record for me. Nothing on the Nov 20.

She is back on, "Sorry, we can't locate your item in our depot and you need to speak to Amazon. I will also request a search."

I said, "Well, I am frustrated and I am not happy. If it was delivered on Saturday to being with, I wouldn't have this problem today. And who reschedule this for me for Tuesday? And I just checked my phone record. There is no phone record on Nov 20."

She was keen to move away that "did he turn up or not" discussion. Well, I think she asked for it! I would not like to let it go so quickly.

She eventually said, "Our drivers also take pictures of the premises and we would ask the driver again tonight."

Wow, are photos of my property taken now? I think some Brits would have problem with photos of their premises taken.

I said, "Okay. What is your name?"

She said, "Kim."

I hardly talk to anyone (except to Mr. Kuei as he is uniquely privileged) in a harsh manner but to show more assertiveness is a growth plan of mine. I am assertive within but I don't usually carry myself that way.

Is this Kim lady a good customer service?

All customer service needs to do is just "apologise" and move on to "solve" the problem.

Yes, maybe that lady I spoke on Tuesday failed her mission to reschedule it for today. But Kim just opened a can of worms with me with the way she approached it - analysing the problem with your customer, and most dangerously, question your customer on their part. It gave me a chance to fix on an error that can't be unmade - that I believe the driver actually did not come on Saturday, and you, you, you Citylink is all to blame.

Citylink now claimed to have lost my parcel and Amazon is trying to replace my order. Yes, and they have to wait for their own internal authorisation.

So I am still waiting….