Automated customer service and lost customers

[LuvOrlando]

I went to Home Depot to get a bunch of poinsettia and mini evergreens. When I went to use my card it was declined, ok, so I don't use it a ton but I did use it maybe two months ago and there has been no notification. Figured I'd call and clear it up because we go between two states so maybe that is why, ok so I call and no humans. This is a general pet peeve buty there was literally no way to get any humans on the phone. So the automated loop eventually irritated me so much I bailed and I walked away without buying a thing because if a store can't be bothered with customer service I am not giving them any money. This made me wonder, do other people walk away or just go through with the purchase even if annoyed? I am disinclined to reward things I do not like, I can buy that stuff anywhere.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your post, but I would have considered that a banking issue not a Home Depot issue. I would have used another card to purchase the items I wanted, then called the card company..

 

[prairie_girl]

Definitely need to know whose customer service you called.

 

[_19disnA]

Some thing I was thinking. If this was a Home Depot credit card, I would have walked over to the customer service desk for assistance. If it was Visa/Mastercard type of card, the merchant has no control over it being declined. Not clear from your explanation what actually took place. I wouldn't fault a store for your bank credit card being declined.

 

[Schneewittchen37]

Not specific to your case.

But yeah, I've gotten annoyed and walked out of stores without buying anything. No problem stranding a cart full of stuff at the front of the store if the staff are jerks.

I work in customer service too, it's not okay to treat all your customers poorly.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I hear you all, I called the card because that was the stick in the mud.

This is just an exercise in curiosity for what other people do. I, personally, am not about to do the filtering for the store, it is up to an enterprise to manage the brand top to bottom and that includes extensions of the brand in how their credit cards are managed. There are too many purchasing options out there so if a task becomes a chore, I'm out. However, I understand there is a whole range out there which is why I'm genuinely interested.

To me there is no right or wrong answer, this sort of thing is just sort of knee jerk.

 

[soccerdad72]

Still not clear - was it a Home Depot card you had issues with?

 

[china mom]

@LuvOrlando , you still didn't clarify. Was it a Home Depot card? because that would affect my answer.

Yes, If I were trying to buy something at Home depot and my Home depo card declined and I could not get past the automated system, I would probably go across the street to Lowes (isn't there always one across the street?) If my Disney Visa was declined at HD I would be frustrated with Visa but would make my purchase using another form of payment.

 

[LuvOrlando]

LOL, my bad, yes it was the Home Depot card. When I got home I expected the account to be dead, it isn't which is even more baffling. I just now went to the credit card link to try to find a human to chat with and I got stuck in an automated chat bot loop which is such a pet peeve, not endearing me.

 

[_19disnA]

Why didn't you walk over to customer service while at the store?

 

[easyas123]

Still not clear - was it a Home Depot card you had issues with?

@LuvOrlando , you still didn't clarify. Was it a Home Depot card? because that would affect my answer.

Yes, If I were trying to buy something at Home depot and my Home depo card declined and I could not get past the automated system, I would probably go across the street to Lowes (isn't there always one across the street?) If my Disney Visa was declined at HD I would be frustrated with Visa but would make my purchase using another form of payment.

Yeah I'm trying to follow along but??? OP - was it a Home Depot card or another card (Visa. Mastercard, AMEX...) that would have determined how I handled the situation.

I, personally, am not about to do the filtering for the store, it is up to an enterprise to manage the brand top to bottom and that includes extensions of the brand in how their credit cards are managed.

I think perhaps we are missing something in translation.

 

[easyas123]

LOL, my bad, yes it was the Home Depot card. When I got home I expected the account to be dead, it isn't which is even more baffling. I just now went to the credit card link to try to find a human to chat with and I got stuck in an automated chat bot loop which is such a pet peeve.

Ok - well then in that case I would have walked over to customer service and politely asked "how do I get a live person at the Home Depot credit card number?" and when that kid didn't know the answer I'd ask if he or she could inquire with their manager.
If I cared that much - if I didn't care that much then I would presume I wouldn't still be concerned about it.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Ok - well then in that case I would have walked over to customer service and politely asked "how do I get a live person at the Home Depot credit card number?" and when that kid didn't know the answer I'd ask if he or she could inquire with their manager.
If I cared that much - if I didn't care that much then I would presume I wouldn't still be concerned about it.

I'm curious what other people would do, no more and no less.

Again, no right or wrong answer to me, we all just are who we are & we do what we do

It is entirely possible that things work this way because most people just go along with it, in truth no-one has any idea a sale was lost.

 

[LadybugsMum]

I've worked management at 2 retail stores that had their own credit cards. While I could take payments for said cards, most customer service issues had to be handled by the customer service for the cards and I would not have been able to do do anything about a declined card. The card was handled by a 3rd party so I was very limited in what I was able to do. Can you access the account online? You may be able to get more info there.

 

[tvguy]

I've worked management at 2 retail stores that had their own credit cards. While I could take payments for said cards, most customer service issues had to be handled by the customer service for the cards and I would not have been able to do do anything about a declined card. The card was handled by a 3rd party so I was very limited in what I was able to do. Can you access the account online? You may be able to get more info there.

I suspect this would be the case here too because Home Depot doesn't issue their credit cards. They are issued by Citibank.

 

[loves to dive]

In the case of a store brand card (such as yours) yep, I would have walked and gone across the street. If I wanted the items so bad I couldn't stand it and knew they weren't across the street, I would have used another card. Then, when I got home I'd call the number on the card or the number on the bill. I wouldn't have called the card in the store because I know I would have gone through that loop. Had I not been able to get through the loop, I would have just cut the card up and not used it again. That's assuming there was no way to cancel it since you couldn't get through the loop. That's not to say I wouldn't shop there again, I would just not using their card.

Usually if you get stuck in the loop, you can dial 0 and eventually a human (a grumpy one usually) will answer. I have a company visa card that I have to jump through hoops every month to pay (their on line presence is in flux and my boss never gets me the bill in time to pay by check) and it usually takes me at least half hour to get through to a human. Unfortunately, it's not just credit cards that have the automated answer now days. Banks, stores, utilities, doctors, etc. Heck, I've even had it happen with businesses I know have a human receptionist. The company I work for is in the process of shutting down so we no longer have a physical office or even employees except me and the boss. When we were up and running though my boss insisted we always had an office and a real person to answer the phone, even though our phone system had the ability to do the press # for a certain person. We even had an after hours answering service instead of voice mail. Even when it got down to just he and I but before he decided to actually shut it down, we had an office that I went in to every day just to answer the phones. I'm the bookkeeper so could have always worked from home.

 

[soccerdad72]

Automated systems suck - there's no two ways around it. The worst is when the system has you enter a bunch of numbers into the phone and then eventually, you get a human on the phone and they ask you for the same info.

In your situation, OP, I probably would have just used a different card and then cancelled the HD credit card. I'm not a fan of store credit cards anyways, so if I had trouble using the card in store, I probably would just cancel it and move on.

 

[Disneylover99]

I would have just used a different credit card to pay, and then phoned when I got home to see what the problem with the other card was.

 

[cabanafrau]

Aren't you supposed to blow it up on Twitter or make a Tik Tok or something?

If I was annoyed enough with the merchant and didn't absolutely need the merchandise I might have walked away and then attempted to sort it out at home -- and eventually make the merchant aware of my frustration and the resulting lack of purchase to see if they make some attempt to sort things out with the bank they have contracted to handle this arm of their business. I would want to sort it out to be sure that nothing was amiss that could impact my credit score or something like that.

As far as being caught in an automated maze of a phone loop, I've had the distinct displeasure of being forced to deal with a business on behalf of my mother that we had no option other than to put up with out of necessity. I came to find out the business literally employs an offshore call center solely for the purpose of serving as a parking lot and stall tactic because the call center can do nothing except return to the line every 45 seconds to tell you the person you need to speak with is still on the line with another customer. After 20 minutes the call center rep tells you that the agent you need to speak with will need to get back with you. The only way to communicate via their website is to use the contact us button and write an "email" -- which you then have no record on your end of sending because it's not a conventional email address, and they very distinctly do not make one available. A very nice, tidy way for the reps to not truly have to take calls or answer emails because they consider their customers a captive audience. I've made certain they won't have the opportunity in the future -- and gave pointers for others to do the same in my online reviews.

 

[dreamer17555]

I think everyone has a different frustration point where they feel something is no longer worth it- and besides varying from person to person it also depends on how that person is feeling that day. Small inconveniences seem to magnify when one is already under duress or stress. Personally I can't say for sure how I would react because if I am having a rough day I might not be willing to deal with anymore stress but if I am in a good mood I would go to customer service to help find a solution.