Your Repair Has Been Completed

Yesterday afternoon the phone rang. So, fool that I am, I answered it. As I said "hello" I realized that I was speaking to another automated message. It was ATT calling. The recording said the telephone repair had been completed. Yeah, I already knew that. Then it continued with a series of questions about the person who repaired the problem. For this I was to rate the repairman from 1 to 5, with 5 being the best. Hum. The questions ranged from "Was the repairman neat in appearance?" (Couldn't tell, he was wearing rain gear). "Was he professional in attitude?" (uh, at least he said yes ma'am and no ma'am). "Did he expain to you what he was doing?" (yeah, he said the phone jack had an exta line which wasn't working on it, he'd replace it.)

Yeah, ATT understated the obvious. Imagine the hospital calling after you get home with your new baby. "Hello, your birth process has been completed." Thanks, I wondered why you sent this screaming baby home with me. Or what if the car mechanic calls after you have driven your car home to tell you the repair was complete. Yeah I know and it only cost me $800!

I guess it is progress of a fashion to ask about a service. But after rating the service, what does ATT do with the information? Is this used for performance evaluations for the employees? If the repairman gets a bad review,what happens? On the other hand maybe other companies should consider the customers viewpoint. It couldn't hurt.