I just tried to order my 10gb model, and they now say it's Out of Stock. Any word on this? No more 10gb models?

I doubt they're really out of stock. It's probably just a stock location issue.

I could be wrong though.

Rob

PS All models are in stock at the international store.

The answer to your question is covered in the FAQ, here.

It looks like they are really in stock.

They've called to confirm the order and made no mention of it.

*fingers crossed*

Nester -- you managed to actually get someone on the phone? Every time I've called lately (to change my 20GB to 10GB) I've either been told the queue is full, or the wait would be 15-20 minutes...

Does their call center usually suck, or is it just because of the season?

Digital River appeared in the following Forbes magazine article on customer profiling and providing customers with what they likely want. They're compared to the likes of Amazon and Buy.com. They are described as "doing all kinds of things that might not be possible." Digital River explains their part as '[we have] scale on [our] side, with 10,000+ clients for which [we] process millions of transactions." They're recording the customer behaviors, watching what sorts of things customers buy on a cross-company basis, and then using the customer information to "oversee marketing campaigns" such as e-mail advertising. They can then gauge whether the e-mail ads they send out are converting to sales. They say "we can spot a trend before it happens. it's not a hunch it's a fact. We are Amazon on Steroids."

FYI: They have 97 10GB Rio Car players in stock as of 11:20am PST, December 11, 2001.

!@#$ -- I just called and had a rep cancel my order for the 20GB, so that I could order the 10GB from scratch, and a half hour later I get an e-mail confirmation of the 20GB order having been billed and shipped.

They called me..

I could post the caller id.. if you like. :)

That's a hoot! Worst damn service I've ever had buying online, and that included the 30 minute wait on the phone to have a conversation with a real person that went absoutely nowhere. I gave up on ever recieving my merchandise and one day it suddenly shipped...

I'm not suggesting it's acceptable by UK standards, but is 15-20 minutes so unusual for a US call center? Most US customer service lines I've called have kept me waiting for that kind of time - apart from United Airlines who kept me on hold for an hour and 45 minutes last time I need to speak with them urgently.

The SB hold time target is FAR lower than that, but I guess they're undergoing some difficult restructuring at the moment.

The wait time for the UK line pretty much depends on whether David is at his desk, or making an espresso when you call.

Rob

but is 15-20 minutes so unusual for a US call center?

Depends on what the call center's purpose is.

If the purpose is to sell products, then most company presidents would turn white as a sheet if they discovered that their customers had to wait 20 minutes to make a purchase. Imagine how many people would hang up the telephone and dial their competitor after the first five minutes.

If the purpose is after-sales support, then no, 15-20 minutes is not unheard of.

For support, I don't mind waiting that long, provided that the end result of the call is a positive one. If I waited that long but didn't have my problem resolved, then I'd start to get upset.

What makes me really angry is telephone systems which make me punch through twenty levels of menus before I can reach a human being. Three levels of button-pushing, tops, it what I consider tolerable. I've reached the point where, with most places I call, I pound on the "0" key repeatedly until an operator answers, then I tell the operator where to send me. If that doesn't work, sometimes just staying on the line without pressing any buttons is enough to drop to the switchboard operator. This might sound rude and selfish, but there are many places where that's the only way I've been able to reach my desired destination without getting disconnected.

And that's what I get the MOST angry about: When I do punch through several levels of menus, only to get disconnected because of a poorly configured telephone system. This has been happening to me with increasing frequency. In the past year, I think about one in three times I've called a major vendor looking for help, I've been disconnected during the call. That is the most inexcusable thing I can imagine.

If the purpose is after-sales support, then no, 15-20 minutes is not unheard of.

My division has a goal of 80% of the calls answered in 2 minutes or less. And this is not done by pushing the length of the call times either. It's taken delicate shift balancing, plus some other factors, but it does happen most of the time. And our customers appreciate it. I've caught several people not even ready for the call because they thought they would be waiting

You must work for a very forward-thinking company which realizes that after-sales support is critical to success because it helps generate repeat business.

My order has shipped! WOOO!

I am one excited geek.

You must work for a very forward-thinking company which realizes that after-sales support is critical to success because it helps generate repeat business.

Heh, yep. Probably one of the reason we are number one in the product segment we implement this support in.

My last company had a similar policy of answering the phones quickly, but they also implemented short call times, leading to tons of callbacks. I believe this is one of a few reasons the companies stock took a huge dump right before the tech sector, and also had to recently pull out of the worldwide market and layoff 25% of their US workforce.

Nester -- mine has shipped too! Now I get to burden FedEx by hitting their site every half hour to see if my package has been scanned at some new point! Bet you Canada Customs holds on to it a couple days just to !#@$ me off.

I'm almost as excited as the day my number came up in the queue and I got the e-mail from empeg UK saying I could place my order for my first MK2!

Regarding actual wait times -- I called them back several times this afternoon and was told the queues were full and to call back or use the web-sites' facilities. I was not even able to wait the 15-20 minutes.

Mind you, the two times I did get into the call queue, the waits were about half of the estimated time.

It will usually be at any major point in Canada the next morning. But it probably won't be delivered to your place until the day after that. So that's 2 days for what they still call "overnight."

I also got conflicting reports from people at FedEx. It was held for taxes and the FedEx said it wasn't going to be released until I made arrangements to broker it. Duh. Then later I called and found out it had been processed by FedEx but wouldn't be delivered until the next day sometime. I just went to the airport depot and picked it up myself.

They'll also charge you $7 for the pleasure of collecting your tax money. And even though they used to always bill me, they seem to want to be paid at delivery time now. At least they're not trying to extort $30-50 like UPS for brokerage (I've banned UPS).

Bruno

Hey all - Thanks for that update. Just ordered my 10GB online...I can't wait! Now I've got to sell my Blaupunkt Toronto to try to pay for it. Here's my one shameless plug......

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1307072513

Wes

Yep. When I made a comment previously about IVRS (interactive voice response software) not being mature to the point that they're frustrating still stands. As it is, IVRS is used today as a bandaid for service, to keep people from getting directly to the humans on the other end. Probably due to shortage of resources perhaps, and buying an IVRS is cheaper than hiring 20 or 30 more people. Some of the IVRS software add voice recognition ("please say 1...") (what is the point of that?!!) and some of them, like Sprint's, ask you to state the problem in english ("I would like to find out why the touch pad on my phone is causing a lockup? ... "i did not understand that?" "why is the phone locking up when i use the touch pad?" .. "transfering you to parts and accessories, thank you for calling!").

Sonic Blue's is among the worst. You and punch through the menus for quite some time, and when you finally get the answer, it tells you to call ANOTHER number, then hangs up. You call this different number and it is *another* IVRS!

Some of them like my bank, configured the 0 key to specifically hang up the line if you press it multiple times!

Some of them are configured to hang up if you are on hold for too long (!!!!).

Calvin

Yep! And to add some salt to your misery, your purchase from Sonic Blue is going to lead to a *mess* of Spam!

Yay!

Calvin

I design IVRs for a living, and I agree wholeheartedly. Nothing bugs me more than a customer that wants to use their IVR to replace CSRs rather than to add value to their customers experience. IVRs, if done well, will aid the caller to getting information from the customer's database or speaking with the right CSR (as in a call director).
If done poorly, they're designed only to save the customer actual dollars per month, while sacrificing customer experience. Granted, I don't have much choice in what my customer wants, but part of my job is teaching my customers about GOOD IVR design.

Sorry to go off like that, but I hate bad IVRs more than most people!

if $header_from: contains "sonicblue.com"
then
seen finish
endif


or something like that. :)

> It will usually be at any major point in Canada the next
> morning. But it probably won't be delivered to your place
> until the day after that. So that's 2 days for what they still
> call "overnight."

You're right -- it was in Vancouver the next morning, and FedEx called around noon to get a VISA number so they could pay the tax on it (ack, for the full amount -- thanks SB) plus a $7 brokerage fee (not bad I guess.)

Pathetic that the package makes 90% of the journey overnight (less than 24 hours!) and the last 10% takes another 24 hours. I guess if I lived in Vancouver, I could just go pick it up now.

Never keep a geek waiting for his hardware purchases. ;)

Hi.

Some of them are configured to hang up if you are on hold for too long (!!!!).

Yeah, I absolutely hate those. I mean what is the point with that? They are only causing someone who waited for a long time to have to line up at the end of the queue again.
"As you waited for too long, we will now hangup trying not to tax your patience too much."
Now if that doesn't tax my patience too much, what else could do so?

cu,
sven

IVRs, if done well, will aid the caller to getting information from the customer's database or speaking with the right CSR (as in a call director).

I'm sure you tell your customers not to do this, but it's always annoyed me when I enter all of this information to the IVR, like customer IDs, what my problem is, etc., and then, when I get a person to talk to, I have to repeat all of that information to them. I mean, what was the point of telling them the first time? Stalling?

*machine* : Please key in your credit card number now..

*machine* : Please key in your pin number now.

*machine* : In addition to your pin, please key in your password now.

*machine* : Finally, enter your zip code.

*machine* : Now that we proven who you are, you can manage your account, move your funds around, cancel your account, do anything you want to your account, or press 0 to talk to the operator. *0* 45 minute wait...

*operator* : what is your credit card number? and your social security number? the computer verified you but we don't believe you, let's start ALL over again...

Typical, typical..

Calvin

Yeah, I hate that too. Usually, it's because customers don't see the Return On Investment for CTI (Computer Telephony Integration). CTI is the only way to get this info to the CSRs, but for many customers, that's all they'd use the CTI for. Again, caller satisfaction just isn't worth the thousands it would cost for decent CTI. Of course, there are also security/privicy issues about having to speak a credit card or bank number aloud at all, ever. Most people can't understand DTMF from someone's cellphone in the next seat on the bus, but speaking all that stuff in public? No, thank you.

It's a shame, but like any other aspect of customer service, the only way we can make it better is to complain LOUDLY to the companies that don't consider customer satisfaction as a top priority. So, if you have the patience, always ask for a supervisor (who has to make notes of customer complaints) and explain how annoying it is to enter all your info just to have to speak it all again.