Here’s a customer service story for you. I just had to send this email to the CFO of Trimaco regarding an emergency service call I had to place with Brightstar Communications yesterday regarding a down fax line:
Drew,
Yesterday I contacted Brightstar Communications regarding our down fax line. I was told to open a ticket through their on-line form which I did. I was informed a tech would call me shortly to schedule a time for the repair. I never received a call. My follow up with Brightstar revealed that the ticket had been assigned to Tim Beach (Beech?). I never received any communication from Tim Beech. This morning I had to call and had to insist to speak with him. It was apparently a big problem that I actually speak to the guy assigned to the call.
When I asked Tim why no contacted us to schedule a service time he went off explaining some big job they were all on at a hotel or something. In a somewhat irritated tone, I admit, asked why someone didn’t communicate this to us because the service call was entered as an emergency. He got irritated and hung up the phone.
I will be finding another vendor to handle this and any future problems with the phone system. I know several with very good service records including Network South and Atcom. I will not be conducting business with Brightstar Communications unless specifically directed to do so. In over 13 years of phone system management and administration I have never seen such poor service or communication from a vendor and will quickly communicate this experience with everyone I know in the industry.
And I didn’t even get to wish him a happy 4th of July. Mike Seibert, the owner of Brightstar, is listed as the Communications vendor and consultant for “The Business Clinic” in Raleigh which consists of “groups of local professional service firms experienced in offering and implementing fundamental business solutions for small and mid-size businesses.” This is important because during the coarse of this saga Mike and his staff repeatedly implied the Trimaco was not big enough to warrent emergency service from Brightstar. Never mind that Trimaco is several times the size of Brightstar with an annual revenue that dwarfs Mike’s.