So a week or two ago, I receive an email from PPL, stating that they have redesigned their website and in order to remain enrolled in paperless billing/ automatic bill pay, I must click on this link and follow these steps...
It also said, "You will need a copy of your most recent bill to re-enroll; click here to get one!"
Brilliant, people! Just brilliant! I just love to go through extra hassle in the name of convenience! I just love to get bills MAILED TO ME! That's why I'm a paperless billing customer in the first place!
So, I remembered that a year or two ago (Showdown with PPL, Episode 1), after the dust had cleared, I put our account number in Yahoo notepad, where I wouldn't lose it. So today I thought, maybe, JUST MAYBE, I can get this set up again without having to have the bill mailed to me.
So, I clicked on the appropriate link and dutifully created a new username and passwork ("must contain a character"- great! I'll never remember it! But maybe Firefox will remember it for me.) I selected a security question and answer. Then it emailed me and I responded to the email. Then I got the option to link an account with my username and password. Glitch: the account number must be 10 digits long. What I recorded in notepad was 9 digits. Try adding zero to the end...? I figured if it was wrong, it would tell me right away, right? I didn't get an error message! Woo-hoo! Maybe I am hooked up now.
Next screen: Log-in again. Okay. Next: No account linked to your username. Add an account!
Sigh. Why do I even try?
Yours always,
Irritated Customer
PS Beautiful Graphics, PPL. Well-done! Because you know what I love the MOST about online billpay is GOOD GRAPHICS! Not ease of use or anything like that!!!
UPDATED to add: HA HA HA HA HA!! I have outsmarted the system! I used the Secret URL Passageway from my earlier blog entry to find my log-in spot under the old system, then found my account number (there was a zero in front), amount due, and due date, entered them in the NEW system, then patiently reentered my bank info to sign up for automatic payments again!! YES!!
The point is: if no information has changed on MY end of things, but YOU decide to update your website with prettier graphics, you should not ask ME, the customer, to waste 15 or 20 minutes of my time looking up information that should be STORED IN YOUR DATABASE!! Do you see the point? You KNOW my bank account number! I've been a customer for years!
In a few months, we will move away from you, PPL. But if you didn't provide us with the sweet, sweet air conditioning, I would consider CANCELING YOU NOW and living in the dark! (Oh, and also, Caffeina-Starbuck can't run without you.)
CLEAN UP YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE.
Love, *VICTORIOUS THIS TIME* Irritated Customer
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2 comments:
Really awful customer service is part of the definition of a utility company. If they had better srvice then they would be mistaken for a small business. If they had worse service they would be in hospitality.
I just went through this with my cable/internet company. Time Warner sold out to Comcast, and my account number changed BEFORE the switch happened. And then when it happened, I had to go to Comcast's website separately to instate automatic payments. Thankfully, their site was at least easy to use, but it's "up to 45 days" til the payments take effect so I've got to remember to keep checking on it til then.
And then there was my mortgage company that suddenly decided I needed a $900 flood insurance policy, regardless of the fact that I already had one.... They had one of the more interesting automated voice ladies on their phone system. When I lost patience and pressed zero to talk to a human being, she politely told me that it would take a while for a RHB to be available and that she could answer my questions faster herself. I just kept pressing zero til she gave in and transferred me to a RHB. I think that's the first time I've had an actual *argument* with a Fake Human Being.
(But the RHB's were exceedingly polite and helpful, so I can't complain too much. I guess.)
Congratulations on your utility company victory.
~Bizun
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