Where have all the Bucks gone?
Created | Updated Dec 12, 2010
I think we have all passed the buck at some time in our life, hoping that our comrades would lend a hand, and we had the knowledge that it would stop somewhere in the end, probably with our boss. (who would send a note down to pay him/her a little visit).
But nowadays, the tendency seems to lend itself to forever passing it around, from Dept to Dept, from underling to underling, until it lands firmly back in your lap, the customer.
Now, it's not just me is it? but recently, those people who are Heads of Departments, will not accept responsibility for their position or their decisions or the Company they work for. The buck might stop there, but for some unknown reason, it becomes transparent and disappears. And a denial of its existence ensues that will frustrate anybody trying to tie up loose ends.
Have you ever tried to talk to a manager? You think you've got through to one, but it's just a temp or a deputy, or the cleaner even. They give you assurances that they will sort the matter out and that "someone" will get back to you.
It never gets sorted, because the buck gets passed around again and they won't call you back; they've forgotten all about you, they are so taken up with making sure the bucks pass them as quickly as possible.
Its all too much bother and not worth their time.
But it makes me wonder: who is sitting there, with a mound of bucks all around them? Where is this pariah, this sucker, this nice idiot?
Do we ever get to talk or this person... 'No', is the answer, because the mound of bucks is so broad and high, he/she can't find the phone, let alone hear it and they probably work in the basement, surrounded by all the out of date equipment that was supposed to be thrown away (that might explain the endless "waiting" for the call to be transferred). They wouldn't have a clue what we would be talking about, either, since time has ceased to exist for them, answering calls from far flung countries, hearing unfamiliar tongues and having to contend with unworkable "company policies on how to evade the question" manuals.
If this scenario seems familiar to you and you just had a look around your office, the phones are huge and the computer has a green screen, change jobs asap.
Last week I had a problem with my fridge/freezer. I rang the "have a problem?" number on a little sticker inside the fridge. All I got was the discontinued message from BT (company no longer trading to you and me), so I Googled "Frozen Assets" and got the name of the new company that had taken over the "rights" to the old one "WeBuyAnyCompanyOffTheShelf.com". I was told that, even though they had bought the Company, they didnt have to fix it for me, as the insurance I had to cover for this fridge was null and void when the company went bust. So I phoned the insurance company "QwikBust"(...... jeez, they'd gone down as well, taken over by someone else "NotSoQuikBust" and it was a nightmare trying to decipher their shenanigans).
Eventually, I was put back to the new company, who said, "in that case we have to ask for the literature/contract from the new insurance company"; so guess what, back and forth between the two companies and never actually getting anywhere. In this case, I felt like the buck, alone and deserted upon the shore of uncertainty, endlessly going round in circles in a whirlpool of confusion.
It never did get resolved, so I dumped the fridge and bought a new one, it just wasn't worth the hassle to fight for my rights any more.
Now far be it from me to criticise Companies for their inability to resolve problems with customers, but I'm going to anyway, I can not see how they can justify their prices/profits, when the customer is, seemingly, just an asset to their gain.
Many companies continually purge themselves of any responsibility, by pursuing a course of customer treatment, (that more resembles an Ice Hockey match without any goals) in denying the customer any replacement or recompense due to their constant deviations, mis-directions and the "bouncing" of the problem back and forth. It never comes down to earth and this is what a lot of companies rely on, the customer giving up in the end, their resolve dissolved and coughing up blood.
Because a lot of companies now outsource their products, not just in the country of origin, but abroad, this now affords more hassle for the customer and more pain and heartache for them. It adds to our problems, but it also serves to give more impetus to a company's habit of passing the buck. Send it to the other side of the world, we'll never see it again, bye bye buck, problem solved.
We can only learn the hard way, from our mistakes, and it will cost us in the end, but it's a shame that there are organisations out there who care less for the customer, than they do their own employees, and that's saying something, believe me.
The moral of this story is... Don't buy equipment from a Company you've never heard of, don't bother with the extra five yrs insurance, either, unless it's with a reputable firm of manufacturers.
And for god's sake do not buy badged equipment from DIY stores, they are probably Chinese in origin, and you will never get any spares for them, even if you go to the store and ask for a phone number or address to get spares; they will just give you the same info as on the little cards in the box you get, which are worth about as much as the buck you'll end up trying to pin down.
For something as recognisable as a buck, it sure is amazingly difficult to find one these days.
