[ga] Business Constituency's newest member hangs up on consumers

[Danny Younger <dannyyounger@xxxxxxxxx>]

Interesting article in The Register on The Business
Constituency's newest member business -- 
Overstock.com. (represented in the BC by Chuck
Warren):

Call centers go dead for the holidays

A week after Overstock.com blamed a bad software
rollout for its swelling third quarter loss, the
company continues to suffer from massive technology
problems.

Overstock's customer service line hangs up on
consumers who try to navigate their way through the
painful menus. Once customers press a button to reach
a service representative, the line goes dead. It's a
charming way to deal with complaints.

"IT is looking into that," one representative told us
after our fifth attempt to get through worked. "There
is something wrong with the phones."

We'll say. This problem has been going on for more
than a week. It's symptomatic of the huge IT failings
that have crippled the online seller, including its
inability to track orders or packages. Rivals such as
Amazon.com and eBay would likely tremble in horror if
they provided such bad service.

Overstock's President, however, has simply chalked the
gaffes up to being "his bad."

And spokesman Scott Blevins had this to say.

"We have had some minor technical issues with the
phone system."

That's if you count not being able to place a call
minor, although many people consider connecting with
the other party a basic feature of the telephone
system.

The complaints against Overstock have started to pile
up en masse on chat boards. A poor reputation is
hardly something the company needs during the holiday
season as it tries to make up for $14.2m loss last
quarter. 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/04/overstock_phones_down/




		
__________________________________ 
Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click.
http://farechase.yahoo.com