*This is a long post… Dying to see my lesson learned? Scroll to the very end.*

We have used Cox Communications as our internet/phone/cable provider for about 10 years now. We have always been pretty happy with them, but I felt that we were paying a steep monthly amount (about $190) for our services.

We dealt with it, because it’s not fun to change 3 utilities in your house at the same time.

Recently, though, our neighbors switched to Qwest.

They were now paying almost half of what we were. Half.

That’s a lot of money to save.

There are many, many issues that arose with our switch. Too many to list here without losing all of you guys.

Let’s make this easy.

We’ll call it Customer Service 101.

Qwest

Qwest had 3 weeks notice about our installation. During that 3 weeks, Qwest changed my appointment twice. The first time, they called and told me that I “didn’t return the third party verification call in time for” them to honor my original appointment time.

I called back 43 minutes after the verification service left me a message.

I thought that was quick.

Last Friday, the installer came.

Late.

He disappeared around the side of the house and about 20 minutes later, I went out and told him that he could find us out back if he needed anything. I found him running a cable from my box to my neighbor’s house.

Across the sidewalk.

Across our yards.

Me: “What are you doing?”

Installer: “Well, my fish tape doesn’t reach far enough to run this cable across the street. So for a bit, no longer than a week, I’ll have this cable run from here to your neighbor’s house.”

Me: “Um… no you won’t. You’re talking above ground? Over the sidewalk? We have little kids. That’s a broken arm waiting to happen. No. Way.”

Installer: “Well, ma’am. That’s all I can do. You see my truck is in the shop…”

At this point, Steve came home and saved the day.

He had a long fish tape.

But, funny thing, he didn’t have to use it.

He used the installer’s tape and pulled the line across the street.

Steve installed the cable.

Installer: “Thank you, but now, it’s past 6 p.m. and our switch is closed. You can call this number in the morning and they can turn your phone on.”

I’m thinking… “if you had been here on time…”

At this point, I was mad.

I was without internet and phone all day. I had blogs to write work to do. (Seriously… at the end of the school year? I had so much work to do!)

I called Qwest from my cell phone.

I was on the phone for 2 and 1/2 hours.

With three people.

I got a few different stories.

1. “Your phone isn’t actually set to be turned on until Monday.” (Then why did the installer come today?)

2. “Your phone number hasn’t been released by Cox yet. It takes 10 days.” (I set up installation 3 weeks ago)

3. “I can’t help you. Customer service is closed until Monday.” (How can it be closed on the weekend? Do people not sign up for phone service on the weekends?)

Long, long story short?

No help from Qwest.

No apology.

Nothing.

Cox

So, 9:00 at night, I called Cox.

And I tweeted.

A friendly employee answered the phone, apologized for my inconvenience (did you hear that? the inconvenience that Qwest caused), and turned my internet on.

At 9 p.m. on a Friday night.

He apologized again and said that my phone would take a bit longer.

Up to 24 hours.

I thanked him. And told him that if he were in my house, I would hug him.

He laughed and said, “Um.. thank you, ma’am.”

Then he asked why I was going to switch to Qwest.

We reviewed my services, cut down my internet speed (we aren’t able to benefit from the internet speed we were paying for), and decided that it’s cheaper to use DirecTV instead of digital cable.

I am now saving about $40/month.

The next morning, I woke up and turned my cell phone on.

And had the most wonderful exchange with Cox.

Seriously? They saw my tweet from the night before, replied, gave additional contact information, AND then replied again?

My phone was turned on by 11 am, but since the Qwest technician cut the lines, we couldn’t get a dial tone.

We didn’t realize this until about 5 pm.

I called Cox again.

They apologized again.

And someone was at our house by 9 am on SUNDAY.

A real, live person from Cox was fixing my phone and double checking my internet as I was watering my plants Sunday morning.

What I learned this week?

I learned that stellar customer service is invaluable. It’s definitely worth paying extra for.

Cox has my business now, and will have my business for as long as they are around.

Thank you, Cox Communications!

This post is being linked up with Julie’s carnival, What I Learned This Week