Covid customer service, ugh

spikedaddy99 said:
At the time (09) a friend's brother was losing his house to foreclosure. His reason? "The bank shouldn't have lent me money knowing my income"
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I always cringed at the term "predatory lending". In my life I've never been to a closing that involved me signing a promise to pay at gun-point. Perhaps I'm one of the few and fortunate...
 
OllieC said:
I’m sure the (insert industry) snapped up the good available employees and the others good ones make more sitting on ass collecting taxpayer provided checks.
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And those are the same 20's to 30's people you see standing at the corner with a sign that says "Out of work, need help, God bless".

They're healthy but they're lazy.
 
I was at the self check out at Lowes yesterday. Woman next to me was evidentially trying to use her "Lowes Card". I heard her say to the "cashier" standing there to help self checkout folks "Can you tell me the balance on my Lowes Card?". "Cashier" said "Did you get a receipt the last time you were here, it's printed on there" and went back to her phone.

I asked a kid stocking in a aisle where I could find Muriatic Acid (for my engine zincs) . He pulled out his phone and did what I did prior to driving there, looked it up on Lowes.com. He said "is this it?" I said yes and walked away. Customer overheard him and said "Try concrete" which is where I was already heading to.

I was recently at West Marine looking for a replacement bulb. I showed it to the guy, he said "I will do what you will do and look and compare to what we have in the store. Go buy it online".
 
There are a couple types I would never ever hire. Millennials and Gen Zers, and the other I can't say.
Neither of them work but you can only fire one of them. :cool:
 
Stee6043 said:
I always cringed at the term "predatory lending". In my life I've never been to a closing that involved me signing a promise to pay at gun-point. Perhaps I'm one of the few and fortunate...
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While I agree with the sentiment, many of the new home builders of the early 2000’s were in cahoots with lenders (if they didn’t own the lender) and appraisers, putting folks in mortgages they were likely to default on with the buyer not understanding that the loan interest would increase 1% each year for the first two years and that the property taxes were not yet assessed.

A $500 payment at closing rose to $900 after the first year, then to $1200 the second. Then having no financial literacy and feeling like they were well off with that $500 payment they then bought or leased two new vehicles and had plenty of money. Might have even bought a boat. LOL

Then the call to pay the piper came and suddenly that $1200 for the house and two vehicles became $1900. The mortgage was approved on the $500 payment, not the $1200 payment it would settle in at in 24 months.

Everyone in the industry knew this was a disaster in the making but still did it over and over. There are dozens of neighborhoods in Indiana that had 50-60% foreclosure rates, most by the same handful of builders. (Most went out of business in the downturn.)

To me, that is the poster child of predatory lending.
 
The new American way of life...

For a guy and his girlfriend with two kids, all you have to do is follow these proven steps:

1. Don't marry her!

2. Always use your mom's address to get your mail.

3. The guy buys a house.

4. The guy rents out the house to his girlfriend with his two kids.

5. Section 8 will pay $900 a month for a 3 bedroom home.

6. Girlfriend signs up for Obamacare, so the guy doesn't have to pay for family insurance.

7. Girlfriend gets to go to college for free for being a single mother.

8. Girlfriend gets $600 a month for food stamps.

9. Girlfriend gets a free cell phone.

10. Girlfriend gets free utilities.

11. The guy moves into the home but continues to use mom's address for his mail.

12. Girlfriend claims one kid and guy claims the other kid on their tax forms. Now both get to claim head of household at $1800 credit.

13. Girlfriend gets $1800 a month disability for having a "bad back" and never has to work again.

This plan is perfectly legal and is being executed now by millions of people!

A married couple with a stay-at-home mom yields $0 dollars.

An unmarried couple with a stay-at-home mom nets $21,600 disability + $10,800 free housing + $6,000 free Obamacare + $6,000 free food+ $4,800 free utilities + $6,000 Pell grant money to spend + $12,000 a year in college tuition free from Pell grant + $8,800 tax benefit for being a single mother = $75,000 a year in benefits!

Any idea why our country is over $20 trillion in debt and half the population is sitting around letting the other half pay their way?
 
MonacoMike said:
While I agree with the sentiment, many of the new home builders of the early 2000’s were in cahoots with lenders (if they didn’t own the lender) and appraisers, putting folks in mortgages they were likely to default on with the buyer not understanding that the loan interest would increase 1% each year for the first two years and that the property taxes were not yet assessed.
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If you signed up for a mortgage were the first letter in the type of mortgage stood for the word "ADJUSTABLE"...I have a hard time believing you were taken advantage of. You were just ignoring the risk. And like you said, people were doing it over and over and over again.

I really like whiskey. I don't consider Blantons to be a predatory brand even though I'm now compelled to ask every party store owner if they have a bottle somewhere hidden in the back...those bastards. I've wasted a bit of fuel this year trying to find a bottle. You know how much gas costs right now? :)
 
Quiz time!

Victims of 'Predatory Lending'

A) Can fog up a mirror
B) Don't realize/care that their new house payment is 75% of their monthly income.
C) Will never take responsibility for singing on the bottom line.
D) All of the above.

I almost sank a great friendship by calling my friends son stupid for buying the house he did and eventually having it foreclosed upon. (Got in way, way over his head!)
"He's just a kid - they took advantage of him! How was he supposed to know!?"
I stared him right in the eyes and said nothing back to him. He became rather angry when he finally realized I was blaming him for raising a financially retarded child.

I cant tell you how happy I am that states are now putting basic financial skills courses in to schools.
There are probably millions of people on this planet that will take advantage of you if YOU let them.
 
mrsrobinson said:
Back to the subject gents...please :)
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Agreed.

Please forgive the explosion, but between 'predatory lending' and and people that go through 'X' years of college and then are shocked to find out it's expensive and think someone else (read you and me) should pay for it, I'm a bit beyond angry with people that are financially ignorant.
 
I agree with ‘it’s your responsibility’, and I was saying that during 2007-2008. I cringed when Sara Palin mentioned she’d go after those ‘predatory’ lenders during her campaign. No one forced you to take on a mortgage. The rule is, ‘All Debts are Paid’…period. Someone pays for it.

We have a jackass cousin my immediate family affectionately named ‘Cousin Eddie’. He’s a real piece of work and we are blessed with his presence at the cabin one week every Summer. Back then, Cousin Eddie got himself a $400k home on an interest only mortgage. Way above his pay grade. Of course, when his family came up, he told us that we were doing our mortgage wrong (15year) and we should be doing it his way…his way would get us in a larger home. At the end of his interest only term, he’d just go out and get a standard 30 year, you see….weird, that the market crashed and he couldn’t get that 30 year :rolleyes: to cover the original loan. The only saving grace is that he is still paying for the home and didn’t walk away. However to this day, he’s and his family are still house poor.

Anyway, had great customer service on the golf course yesterday.
 
Stee6043 said:
If you signed up for a mortgage were the first letter in the type of mortgage stood for the word "ADJUSTABLE"...I have a hard time believing you were taken advantage of. You were just ignoring the risk. And like you said, people were doing it over and over and over again.

I really like whiskey. I don't consider Blantons to be a predatory brand even though I'm now compelled to ask every party store owner if they have a bottle somewhere hidden in the back...those bastards. I've wasted a bit of fuel this year trying to find a bottle. You know how much gas costs right now? :)
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I did not describe an adjustable rate mortgage. I described a 2-1 buy down mortgage. Big difference. All the mortgages had a legitimate purpose if one was savvy enough to use them properly.
 
MonacoMike said:
I did not describe an adjustable rate mortgage. I described a 2-1 buy down mortgage. Big difference. All the mortgages had a legitimate purpose if one was savvy enough to use them properly.
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Apologies. I'm being overly dramatic in my posts, I'm likely far too biased due to all the media coverage I was victimized by at the time :)

$hit, what do I even know. In my 20's I used a HELOC to buy my first boat. Can you even imagine! :):)
 
mrsrobinson said:
I was at the self check out at Lowes yesterday. Woman next to me was evidentially trying to use her "Lowes Card". I heard her say to the "cashier" standing there to help self checkout folks "Can you tell me the balance on my Lowes Card?". "Cashier" said "Did you get a receipt the last time you were here, it's printed on there" and went back to her phone.

I asked a kid stocking in a aisle where I could find Muriatic Acid (for my engine zincs) . He pulled out his phone and did what I did prior to driving there, looked it up on Lowes.com. He said "is this it?" I said yes and walked away. Customer overheard him and said "Try concrete" which is where I was already heading to.

I was recently at West Marine looking for a replacement bulb. I showed it to the guy, he said "I will do what you will do and look and compare to what we have in the store. Go buy it online".
Click to expand...

Yesterday, went to McDonald's (drive thru) and ordered 3 coffees and one muffin and said, "I have two coupons for two free coffees". Told me the order was $2.65 or something - good enough. Drive up to the window and the girl there says $4.69 to which I say no, two of the coffees are free and gave her the two coupons. She seemed annoyed and punched some buttons and then said "that's $5.89. I then say with some attitude, "no - the price for my order cannot go UP by simply removing 2 of 3 ordered coffees, it should be less". She says, "it's more due to tax"! I say try again, there is no way that makes any sense. She calls over the manager looking really ticked - it was $2.65, but no apology or even an acknowledgement that she was wrong. Brutal.
 
Jimmy Buoy said:
Yesterday, went to McDonald's (drive thru) and ordered 3 coffees and one muffin and said, "I have two coupons for two free coffees". Told me the order was $2.65 or something - good enough. Drive up to the window and the girl there says $4.69 to which I say no, two of the coffees are free and gave her the two coupons. She seemed annoyed and punched some buttons and then said "that's $5.89. I then say with some attitude, "no - the price for my order cannot go UP by simply removing 2 of 3 ordered coffees, it should be less". She says, "it's more due to tax"! I say try again, there is no way that makes any sense. She calls over the manager looking really ticked - it was $2.65, but no apology or even an acknowledgement that she was wrong. Brutal.
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The fact that she took the items off and stated a higher price says all we need to know about our future -- we're doomed. :)
 
So, referencing the subject of this thread, we are bouncing around 3 different subjects. The subject of "COVID Customer Service" is what was started. However, Customer Service has been dying for some time now and long before the pandemic.

Prior to retiring 6 years ago I was a Corporate Trainer for about 15 years. I worked primarily with service-based companies or said another way, companies that provided a product or service(s) to other companies or individuals. In most cases, these service companies had competitors that provided the same product or service for a comparable price. The only real thing that kept their customers coming back was how the customer was taken care of.

In our industry we defined great Customer Service as, "Service that exceeds Customer expectations". But, a number of years ago, as businesses were forced to operate leaner, Customer Service training was one of the areas we saw reduced or eliminated. As a result, there is a generation or 2 that truly do not know what the saying, "The Customer is Always Right" means. And they don't give a shit. However, in their defense, (and I hate defending them) it's their employers, and parents, that have failed them. If a company has price-comparable competition, and the only thing that makes a customer want to return is how they are treated, you'd think they would be doing all that's possible to make that buying experience pleasurable.

And we used to evaluate employees. If you didn't follow the company policies, you were coached, retrained or processed out. We don't do that anymore because (A) people are too hard to find and (B) we certainly don't want to offend anyone because if you do someone sues for wrongful termination and blames everyone but themselves.

Now that I got that rant out, I wish I knew what the solution was. I read the other day that the problem with the generations that have come after us (I'm 72) is they have never truly experienced hardship. No war, no depression, no cell phones, no instant everything, only 3 or 4 TV channels, no "downloads". If we wanted to listen to music we got on a bus, went downtown to the music store and bought a record that we took home and played on a record player. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for technology but we screwed up by wanting things to be too easy for our offspring and theirs.

My time on this rock is drawing to an end but I truly fear for the generations to follow and hope they can get it figured out.
 
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