Customer Care

[Tuppermore]

Thank you for all of your comments.  I do feel redeemed that it isn't just me that finds the music annoying and LOUD.  I waited on the phone for 25 minutes and never received a response.  I had a person on the phone at the beginning and was transferred to Customer Service. No one ever answered.  After waiting, I hung up and I tried a "live chat", then an email to find an answer to my problem.  Each time,a screen popped up that told me QVC was not responding.  My frustration is that apparently QVC was experiencing problems today because I saw another posting to that affect.  Here's my question--"Why doesn't QVC put some kind of notice on their home page that they are having technical issues?" This should be done before you are trying to send emails, have live chats or are sent to CS.   When the problems are prolonged, they should have a way to communicate that to their customers.  I actually wasted 45 minutes trying to find my solution.  I still don't know the answer to my question.

[Fona]

I am so glad to see this thread because I thought I was the only person who seemed to be affected by loud music.  I will never understand why any restaurant/eatery manager anywhere thinks it is okay for people to go in for a meal and not be able to chat because the music is so loud.  Do they think we go just to stare at each other?  I often think that this is the fault of the staff who want to be entertained as they serve people.  As mentioned by other posters, some of the music in stores is ridiculously loud and I always leave immediately because I just cannot stand it.  It is extremely bad in our local Macy's, who often play what I call "music for 17 year olds" on, say, the fashion floors for older women.  One time I brought this to the attention of a manager, who actually said "we are trying to attract young people" and I asked him if he could see any young people on the women's fashion floor.  He just looked at me.  And, lastly, need I mention that persistently loud music in every TV show out there, usually louder than the actual spoken words?  Yet, having said all of this, it has been this way for years and no one fixes it.  I must admit I often wonder if this is just me, getting old.

[stevieb]

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@Big Joanie wrote:

I don't know what is wrong with our country and don't know if other countries

in the world are like this.. but why do we have to have music everywhere....

last summer I was at a gas station and they were actually piping music

outside for the gas pumps....Too much...

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 Oh yea... One of my local stations literally has a screen on the pump and plays video while you pump gas. Stupid.

[stevieb]

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@circles wrote:

I use to work in a very busy supermarket...the music was loud and annoying...and there way always someone screeching on the overhead speaker for price checks or for other employees...

I could tell how angry the customers were when they got in line and now had to wait their turn to be checked out....

When i retired...I never went back there to shop...I had enough with all the years of noise...

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Sounds like the store I go to most often, only because it's across the street... If the annoying music isn't playing then they're yelling over the intercom for this one, that one, or the other one to pick up... Of course, they never do, so a minute later there they go again... I wonder if they don't get how really annoying it is... Similarly, I don't frequent fast food restaurants, but go occasionally and apparently those who work there have learned to tune out the timers that beep incessantly, but they're enough to drive anyone trying to relax with a cup of coffee up the wall !! I fully accept that I'm sensitive to noise, but others I know who aren't have noticed the same things.

[stevieb]

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@Tuppermore wrote:

Thank you for all of your comments.  I do feel redeemed that it isn't just me that finds the music annoying and LOUD.  I waited on the phone for 25 minutes and never received a response.  I had a person on the phone at the beginning and was transferred to Customer Service. No one ever answered.  After waiting, I hung up and I tried a "live chat", then an email to find an answer to my problem.  Each time,a screen popped up that told me QVC was not responding.  My frustration is that apparently QVC was experiencing problems today because I saw another posting to that affect.  Here's my question--"Why doesn't QVC put some kind of notice on their home page that they are having technical issues?" This should be done before you are trying to send emails, have live chats or are sent to CS.   When the problems are prolonged, they should have a way to communicate that to their customers.  I actually wasted 45 minutes trying to find my solution.  I still don't know the answer to my question.

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And THAT would be the sixty-four thousand dollar question... They have a website and yet they never us it to communicate pertinent information... Incidentally, I've never found the on-line chat feature helpful either in resolving problems or in quickly obtaining information.

[Gram W]

I agree with you ladies on the music volume.  I also wish they would call their own numbers and listen.  Often the tapes are not running properly and the screeching noise is inexcusable.  I can't hang up and call again because it puts me to the back of the line again.

I also hate going into restaurants who keep the air conditioning cranked up so you freeze while waiting for your meal.  Sometimes it appears that there is a vent over every second or third table.  I have asked to be moved to get out from under but they are always unable to do.  One waitress told my husband they keep the temperature down so that we will eat and leave.  When there is a comfortable temp the customers relax and visit while they eat.  They want the tables available for new customers and more money.  No problem.  We just find a different restaurant where we can enjoy the company and the food.  We never linger when a restaurant is busy as we understand everyone's need to have us move on.

[stevieb]

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@Gram W wrote:

I agree with you ladies on the music volume.  I also wish they would call their own numbers and listen.  Often the tapes are not running properly and the screeching noise is inexcusable.  I can't hang up and call again because it puts me to the back of the line again.

I also hate going into restaurants who keep the air conditioning cranked up so you freeze while waiting for your meal.  Sometimes it appears that there is a vent over every second or third table.  I have asked to be moved to get out from under but they are always unable to do.  One waitress told my husband they keep the temperature down so that we will eat and leave.  When there is a comfortable temp the customers relax and visit while they eat.  They want the tables available for new customers and more money.  No problem.  We just find a different restaurant where we can enjoy the company and the food.  We never linger when a restaurant is busy as we understand everyone's need to have us move on.

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Boy is that stupid... Unless a restaurant is stellar, people will simply move on to another eatery. No one wants to be uncomforable and have to rush through a meal. I also think they set the A/C so the wait staff, hustling and bustling around, are comfortable and don't think about those of us sitting quietly and eating...

[Kachina624]

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@stevieb wrote:

It's not just 'hold' music that's gone off the rails, it's store and restaurant music too... More and more I find I just want to wrap up my shopping and leave because the music being played is just flat out too loud and too annoying...

Clearly, some enterprising imbicile has convinced today's breed of managers that annoying customers is a good thing... Because truly, no one chooses to be on hold... and other, perhaps, than teens and some young adults, few people are going to seek out shopping venues or restaurants for the canned music they play.

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@stevieb  Maybe the problem is today's managers are young and have zero taste in music.   Also they are self-absorbed and have no clue as to what music a middle age woman will tolerate. 

[stevieb]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

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@stevieb wrote:

It's not just 'hold' music that's gone off the rails, it's store and restaurant music too... More and more I find I just want to wrap up my shopping and leave because the music being played is just flat out too loud and too annoying...

Clearly, some enterprising imbicile has convinced today's breed of managers that annoying customers is a good thing... Because truly, no one chooses to be on hold... and other, perhaps, than teens and some young adults, few people are going to seek out shopping venues or restaurants for the canned music they play.

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@stevieb  Maybe the problem is today's managers are young and have zero taste in music.   Also they are self-absorbed and have no clue as to what music a middle age woman will tolerate. 

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I think that is part of the problem @Kachina624, but I also think probably most of these choices are made at corporate headquarters where you'd like to think everyone isn't an inexperienced nitwit who somehow managed to get an MBA... Also, because this seems to be an across the board phenomenon, it seems likely that whatever entity is selling these music packages did a bang-up job of convincing managers of all ages and at all kinds of businesses that this was the way to go... It isn't... All they need to do is ask their customers... No kind of music will appeal to everyone, and that's part of the reason that if they need to have it, it needs to be as unobtrusive as possible.

[Kachina624]

I've often asked servers in restaurants to turn the music down. 

Strangely,  one the my greatest annoyances is the Vivaldi "Four Seasons"  selection my hair stylist's Verizon phone plays when I'm on hold for her.  I love classical but this choice is the pits.