My adventures in customer service

This story is a long and twisted journey in three acts.  Please, pull up a chair, curl up with a blanket and toss back a drink as I tell you how I've been (mis)treated.  And does this story have a happy ending?  Well, that depends on when you stop reading it.

Part 1 - Dashwire
Dashwire is a wonderful little web application for my Windows Mobile phone.  I run it in the background and it syncs all of my call logs, texts, speed dials, contacts, calendar appointments, photos and videos with an easy to access we site.  And it's two way so I can use it to restore my phone.  Well, at some point I reset my phone.  The internet was acting all wonky and I wanted to get rid of the built in AT&T crapware.  What better way to restore texts than to use this web program.  Well, I redo my phone and install the Dashwire client.  I go to log in and it tells me only one phone can be used per account.  Let me tell you how the tech support went:

• 12:07 am - I send an e-mail asking what's up with the service?  How do I do a backup if I can't log in with a new phone or even a reset phone?
• 12:19 am - They respond with a personal email, not form.  They explain where their development is at and they know it's a problem.  Here's what's great.  They ask if I have content on my phone.  If I do they say they'll reset my ID and let the phone overwrite my account.  If not, they'll set the account to write to my phone.  That's... helpful.  Incredibly helpful.
• 12:24 am - I let them know that I have contacts on my phone but would like the texts from the web site.
• 12:33 am - Dashwire e-mails me back and says that my contacts have been cleared off the site and everything else is set to load on my phone.

And that is amazing customer service.  I sent a final response telling them how blown away I was from that help.

Part 2 - Guitar Center
I've recently started playing guitar.  Well, learning.  I am borrowing my wife's guitar and needed a tiny amp to get started with.  I went to Guitar Center with my mind on a cheap $25 micro-amp.  If I have absolutely no aptitude then I don't want to blow $70+ for nothing.  Well, I ask about it and they say that there's nothing that cheap.  They show me a $50 amp and then tell me that it's crap and they have an $85 amp that's much better.  I actually find the cheap micro-amp on my own and ask about it.  The guy behind the counter (different employee) tells me that I can't really call that an amp and it's crap.  But for $55-$85 they have some cheap ones...

I leave dejected and post a Twitter update calling the employees dicks.  The next day I notice that I have a new follower who's not in my normal demographic.  It's the Executive VP of Guitar Center.  We PM and later talk by e-mail.  He asks if there's anything I need help with and that he's sorry for the hard sell at the store.  We're still corresponding and he gives me tips and advice whenever I post questions about playing.

That is amazing service.

Part 3 - Myspace.com
Motherfucking myspace.  This one actually starts with motherfucking comcast.  Out of nowhere they disable my e-mail address.  By the time I realize I don't have anything coming in and ask about it they have already assigned it to someone else.  So they're getting my e-mail.  Well, I've already moved over most things to gmail by this time buy my myspace is still on comcast.

Changing my e-mail address - part 1

• I got the Myspace.com
• I find the help link for changing my e-mail.
• I choose the form for when I no longer have access to my old account.  I fill in old, new and password.
• I get a confirmation page saying that all responses will be sent to my old e-mail address.  From the form used when you don't have access to your old address.

Changing my e-mail address - part 2

• I do the same above except lie and put my new address in as both.  In the comments I say what my old address is and why I need to change it.
• I get a confirmation the next day (April 23rd) asking for more info.
  
• I send them the info.
• That night I get a different e-mail asking for the same info.
• I send out the same info on the 25th.  I'm getting tired and will not dance to their schedule.
• On the 27th they tell me that the request has been forwarded to the appropriate department.
•  
• May 6th - I e-mail them asking what the status is.
• May 11th - I ask them what the deal is...
• May 15th - I ask what the hell is going on with my really simple request.
• May 20th - I tell them that this is fucking ridiculous.

Changing my e-mail address - part 3

• May 25th - I go and fill out that all too familiar form.
• I never get a confirmation.

Changing my e-mail address - part 4

• May 26th - I fill out the form again.
• I get a confirmation and it asks for that same information.
• May 27th - I send it out.
• May 28th - I e-mail them asking if they got my username change and password as I never got a response that it was received.
• May 28th -
  Hello,
  Thank you for bringing this to our attention. The profile in question has been deleted. Please note, it could take up to 72 hours for a profile to be deleted/removed. Should you have any further concerns or if the profile hasn't been deleted after 72 hours, please reply to this email directly keeping the subject line and footer information intact.
  
• I flip out and use caps lock to tell them that I don't want my account deleted and never asked for that.  I use up my monthly quota of exclamation points in that one e-mail.
• Hello,
  We have changed your email address as requested. Your password has not been changed. Please verify your email by clicking on the Verify your email address link on your Home page next time you login to MySpace. A verification email will be sent to your new email address.

And that is that.  For a social networking site that makes money on adverts on my page that I don't use except to read bulletins from other people I had to beg to not have my account shut off.  Shut off because I had to beg for help.  Many times.  Had they cancelled my account I would not have set up another one.  That was by far the single worst customer service experience of my life.

What did I learn from all of this?  Well, I'm not totally sure.  I don't expect fantastic customer service every time I have an issue.  But let's look at what beat out MySpace's service for help:

1. A free new tech startup personally responded to me within minutes and walked through their system to set up my account by hand to fit my needs.
2. A national retail chain tries to push a sale on me and the Vice President of the company starts chatting with me to make sure I'm not too put off and see if there's any advice he can give me.  He explains their training and how not everyone can have an A game every day.  He makes me "not mad" which is quite a feat.

And then there's MySpace.  A social networking site that has absolutely no social interaction with any of its users.  Sure, you see Tom's smiling mug in your friends list as soon as you sign up but every single help page tells you that requests don't go to Tom.  Is that supposed to let me retain fond feelings for Tom while still hating a support system that should be paid overtime for not showing up to work because they'd get more done that way?  Tom can shove his MySpace up a very SensitivePlace.  It's a web site based on communication and it can't handle either task of fulfilling a basic settings change or even keeping track of internal e-mails.

There is a bit of a happy ending.  It's not that I got my address changed without having them kill my account.  At this point I don't know if I even want the damned thing anymore.  No.  My happy ending is this:
My last e-mail from them contained a link.  It seems that they want me to fill out a survey about their customer service.