Guess Who's NOT Going to Win this Week's Award for Excellence in Customer Service?

The Accounts Receivable department at ADT Security. I called them at 8:00 a.m. this morning to update my in-law's monthly automatic billing to a new credit card number. This is the message I received:

"Thank you for calling ADT Accounts Receivable. Our office is open from 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. mountain standard time. We are experiencing a higher than usual volume of calls....."

OK, so I've heard that before. I expected the message to tell me my approximate wait time, as it does if you call Bell or Rogers or American Express or..... but no, here's what came next.....

"....We will return your call within 3 business days."

WHAT????? 3 BUSINESS DAYS TO RETURN A PHONE CALL TO COLLECT MY PAYMENT????? Who established that standard -- I pitifully picture some middle manager at a meeting announcing that the new standard for returning customer phone calls is 3 days. THREE *&^%$##%&* DAYS? THIS IS ACCEPTABLE? DOES THE PRESIDENT OF ADT KNOW THAT THE A/R STANDARD FOR RETURNING CUSTOMER PHONE CALLS IS 3 DAYS?????

Notice that it's not 3 days -- but 3 BUSINESS days.

Never mind that A/R collections can make or break a company. It's all about cash flow *&&%^%%*()!

(c) 2006 Michelle Henderson
aka Empress of the Universe

Online at www.empressgallery.com