If there was ever an argument in favor of companies outsourcing their customer support to India, this is the one:
The companies make money hand over fist.
Not on labor savings, but on (non-)refunds. I have been trying for several months now to get the charges reversed on two transactions. My work (a tiny little nonprofit fencing studio) purchased a one-year subscription to Intuit's QuickBooks Online Backup for $49.95 last year.
Intuit charged our debit card three times for the same transaction. So, they should refund us $99.90, right?
(Yeah. This is going to go well….)
I am stunned at just how many different ways this corporation has managed to say no:
- The first customer service number I tried was only open until 3 p.m. EST (which counts as a "no" right off the bat).
- Yes, we see that you were charged three times. What's the problem? (Sort of a reverse "no".)
- No, you need to call this number. (Another classic.)
- No, you need to go to this website and fill out this form to request a refund. (This was a new one!)
- No, you need to fill out this other electronic form and then someone will call you back within ten minutes and issue you a refund. (Oh, really?)
- No, you are six months into a one-year subscription, so you cannot cancel it. (But you charged me for three subscriptions, not one!)
- No, it has been too long since the charges were posted. Too bad. (WTF?)
- No, we cannot find your account. (Funny, you certainly managed to find it easily when the money was going to you….)
- No, I am very sorry that we cannot… <click> (after thirty minutes on the phone).
- No, we cannot find any evidence that you ever purchased this product. (Stunned silence.)
I think this may be a conscious choice on the part of Intuit Corporation to simply hope that I will go away and just forget about the $100. What's really sad is that we have never been able to get the Online Backup thing to work due to some incompatibility with our firewall.
So, I have given up on Intuit's obsequious babbling customer service. Now we'll see if PayPal's customer service can do a chargeback to our debit card this long after the transaction.
Unfortunately, PayPal outsources their support, too….
