This is the story of an unthinkable customer service experience . . .

I was excited. I had just sent out an update to my 22,000 readers about a new teleclass I was conducting. I sent the message using a great service called CoolerEmail.

I decided to check my website to make sure everything looked okay for people that might want to register for the class. OH NO! The site was down.

I called Aplus.net, the company hosting all of my sites. I spoke to a customer service rep. there. He informed me that my website AND email had been shut down. He explained that I had sent more than 600 messages in a 30 minute time period and their “policy” is to shut down all services of customers doing this.

Only problem is I hadn’t sent ANY emails using Aplus.

I explained, “You must be mistaken. How can I get this site back online?”

He proceeded to explain that I must send an email to a special address stating that I promised not to do what I did again.

I raised my voice, “That is absurd! You mean to tell me I must admit to doing something I never did to get my service back online?”

I explained that I was losing money by the minute.

He insisted I must send the email.

I asked to speak to a manager. Of course, none was available.

I proceeded to craft that email. What else could I do?

After about 30 minutes, I noticed that email was still in my outbox. I checked the website associated with that email account and it was done also!

I called back. They said this other account had also abused the rules and sent 600+ messages.

I went nuts! “How the *&%&* do expect me to send an email if you have taken away my only way to send an email!”
I asked to speak to a manager… None was available.

I was told as soon as that message was sent, things would be fixed.

I had to use an old AOL account to send the message.

In that second message, I demanded proof that I had committed these acts.

A few hours later both of my sites and email were back online.

I never received a phone call. No apology.

Here is what I did get, “I’m going to release the second account also, but please try to not send more than 500 email messages in 30 minutes. If the account get suspended again I will not be able to release it.”

Summary for consumers: Use Aplus.net at your own peril.

Summary for businesses: If you have a policy that holds your customers at gunpoint, you might want to re-examine it.

This was by far the WORST service experience I have ever had. Forcing a customer to admit guilt AND requiring only one way to deliver the message might work in the former Soviet Union, but this is America!

Tell me about your nightmare customer service experience? How would you respond if you were me??

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 9th, 2007 at 2:22 pm and is filed under Random Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.