My wife and I got notices on our phones that our security alarm was going off while we were out of town a couple weeks ago.  So, we call the security company back, by the alarming (pun intended) notice on our smart phones.  What could be wrong?  What could have happened?  Was it the ‘wet bandits’ from Home Alone?  Did they take our silver?

Did they take our pictures and mementos?  Did they steal a car or two?  Did they take Sandra’s golf trophies?  All kinds of horrible thoughts were going through our minds since the security company called because the alarm went off . Were we going to return home to our house with no computers, pictures, rugs, lamps, televisions, Netflix remote, Derby photos, graduation and wedding pictures???  How horrible is it going to be?

So, we dial the number to the security company and just when you think you’ve heard it all, just when you think that America’s Customer Service Disaster can’t possibly get any worse, it happens. We dial the security company number and get a recording.

Let me repeat. We are in Texas. 

We have received notice that our home alarm is going off.  Our home has our things in it.  We call the home security company back and we get a recording.

We are alarmed (pun). We just got a recording while thieves and burglars are taking everything out of our home.  A recording like this: “‘Thank you’ for calling home security.  Your call is important to us.  Please enter your password.”

After we enter the password, which is not easy since you are nervous about losing your belongings as you fumble around on the iPhone as the numbers get smaller and smaller, the unimaginable happens.  A second recording . A second recording while thieves and burglars are emptying our home.  The second recording says “please hold, your call will be answered in the order it was received.”

Your call will be answered in the order it was received.”

Can you believe that?

Doesn’t matter if the calls that came in before ours were sales people selling the security company a new system while our home was being robbed.  After all, that call came in first.

We were in the back of the line. What a wonderful use of technology—they knew what cell numbers to send the alerts to but when those cell numbers dialed back in to the security company, questions and ‘hold’ alerts were more important than the safe and secure protection of the customers’s home.

But the bigger question is this; where does this stuff stop?  It has become commonplace to deal with these miserable phone tree recordings while agonizing with cable companies, cell phone providers, calling the church or a retail store or the bank or the insurance company or the airline BUT NOT the security company!!

Where and when does all this end, or does it just keep getting worse?  Is it just a matter of time till the 911 services put in voice recordings?

Maybe they will go like this:

“Thank you for calling 911 . No one is available to take your call at this time.  Please hold for the next available attendant.  If you are currently being accosted by someone with a firearm, please press 1.  If the assailant is wielding a knife, rather than a firearm,  please leave your name and number in the general mailbox.  Thanks for calling 911, and remember, your call is important to us!”

Is it just a matter of time before this happens?  How did all our businesses get drunk on this stuff?

At the end of the day all this provides us with the opportunity of a lifetime.  An opportunity to stand out as an individual and stand out in business.  As the customer service disaster in our country gets worse and worse, the opportunity to stand out and excel gets bigger and bigger.

The companies that are figuring this out are going to the right to the top . And so are the individuals that work for those companies or work for their own company.

The ‘Misuse of Technology’, the second piece of America’s Customer Service Disaster has hit a new service LOW with using recordings at security companies.  And the opportunity to excel has reached a new HIGH!