Art of Turboing

The Art of Turboing at http://www.macwhiz.com/articles/art-of-turboing.html: I’ve never called it “turboing” before, yet Rob Levandowski lists approaches for dealing with technical and customer support that do work.

Recently, I had a situation with First USA’s valuemiles program. I used miles to order a Toshiba 27” TV for my son’s birthday. After ordering it on the web, the confirmation email said “6-8 weeks for delivery.” Jeesh, we could have built it from spare parts in less time. But, okay, we’d survive. It would arrive within a week or so of my son’s birthday.

It didn’t.

Their customer service was a nightmare. Outwardly helpful people with no information. Their second tier support had no authority to do anything. There was one woman, “Jen,” who was never available. I was told by three people that they would have her call. No call. I finally was given her voice mail, where I explained the urgency. One week, no call. So, I spent time working nicely and cooperatively through customer service depts. Finally, someone gave me the switchboard, and the switchboard was great and took 10 minutes to finally connect me with the Office of the President. I followed the processes described and finally did get the to “upgrade” the TV to a Sony and promise it to me within 10 days. God knows whether it will indeed arrive. I have zero faith that if I had not turboed that I’d have any chance whatsoever of getting anything for my points.