GovPlanet Customer Service Wait Times

[98G]

I call. I wait through the count down until I'm number one. The line goes live, I hear voices in the background. My call is disconnected. This happened twice on Wednesday and 6 times today.

90+ days waiting for a title. I've got another guy waiting for the title from me. I told him when I grabbed the truck it'd be 90 days. He calls GP and gives them the item number. GP customer service tells him they sent me the title on Oct 23 and gives him the FedEx tracking number, which shows delivered. Yes, I received a title on the 23rd, BUT FOR A DIFFERENT TRUCK!

I still don't have the title on this one, can't get GP to answer my calls, and the guy probably thinks I have his title and am lying about it...

I'm pretty tolerant when it comes to poor customer service, but if you're going to divulge my account information to third parties, you could at least refrain from providing them false info.

 

[OilfieldRoughneck]

I call. I wait through the count down until I'm number one. The line goes live, I hear voices in the background. My call is disconnected. This happened twice on Wednesday and 6 times today.

90+ days waiting for a title. I've got another guy waiting for the title from me. I told him when I grabbed the truck it'd be 90 days. He calls GP and gives them the item number. GP customer service tells him they sent me the title on Oct 23 and gives him the FedEx tracking number, which shows delivered. Yes, I received a title on the 23rd, BUT FOR A DIFFERENT TRUCK!

I still don't have the title on this one, can't get GP to answer my calls, and the guy probably thinks I have his title and am lying about it...

I'm pretty tolerant when it comes to poor customer service, but if you're going to divulge my account information to third parties, you could at least refrain from providing them false info.

Thats BS. I think they are auctioning off too much too fast. If your admin office can't keep up, then it is time to pause to catch up. Honestly after the last two I bought from GP, I don't like having to wait so long before I can sell the trucks.

 

[auctionaddict]

I call. I wait through the count down until I'm number one. The line goes live, I hear voices in the background. My call is disconnected. This happened twice on Wednesday and 6 times today.

90+ days waiting for a title. I've got another guy waiting for the title from me. I told him when I grabbed the truck it'd be 90 days. He calls GP and gives them the item number. GP customer service tells him they sent me the title on Oct 23 and gives him the FedEx tracking number, which shows delivered. Yes, I received a title on the 23rd, BUT FOR A DIFFERENT TRUCK!

I still don't have the title on this one, can't get GP to answer my calls, and the guy probably thinks I have his title and am lying about it...

I'm pretty tolerant when it comes to poor customer service, but if you're going to divulge my account information to third parties, you could at least refrain from providing them false info.

Same here !! 3 times last time I called !! Its like they are picking up the phone and hanging up on me !!

 

[98G]

Same here !! 3 times last time I called !! Its like they are picking up the phone and hanging up on me !!

A couple of words on call center management. A few of the performance parameters measured are "average call handling time", "call abandonment", and "time in queue". By deliberately dropping calls you introduce some really low duration calls into your average, you give less opportunity for callers to give up and hang up, and you also reduce time in queue. This makes all your measurable numbers look better than they actually are, with the added bonus that you piss people off and send them to your competitors. Except in the case of GP, there's nowhere else to go.

Wheelspinner, the very last thing you want to happen is a seperate number for payment. The result of that will be that the payment number will be well staffed with zero hold time, and the customer service number will be understaffed and worse than it is currently...for upper management sales will always be a higher priority than customer service.

A lifetime ago I managed a call center...

 

[98G]

Jwade, if your wait time is suddenly improved and another explanation isn't staring you in the face, the reason may well be that a sizeable percentage of the calls aren't being actually serviced, just deliberately dropped as they come up.

You're looking at "time in queue" and seeing 5 minutes. This measurement is subject to manipulation and may not reflect actual performance.

Either you've got a software problem dropping calls, or you've got an individual dropping calls. You've got a large enough sample size reported on just this thread to tell you it's an ongoing problem...

 

[98G]

Thats BS. I think they are auctioning off too much too fast. If your admin office can't keep up, then it is time to pause to catch up. Honestly after the last two I bought from GP, I don't like having to wait so long before I can sell the trucks.

Bluntly put, you're not using the same set of priorities in your assessment that upper management uses. If your only priority is sales volume, then there is absolutely no reason to pause.

Look at GP's business model:

They have no competition, so there's no worry about driving customers to their competitors.

They have your money before you experience customer service. You have no recourse to demand good customer service.

They have almost no production costs. Any sale produces a profit. This removes much of the incentive to make each sale larger, and provides a large incentive to simply maximize volume. You see this played out with them using destructive means to transport vehicles. You can move more vehicles and have a higher number of sales by grabbing the bumper and crushing the hood with a wheel loader than you can by using towbars and moving vehicles without damage. Granted, you reduce sales price by half, but if VOLUME is the goal, then this practice makes sense.

The underlying problem is that the wrong performance criteria are being measured. At least with GP, it isn't life or death. In the Healthcare industry we are literally killing people in order to meet performance numbers that are government mandates, instituted by someone who has never seen a patient but has the authority to make their mandates stick....

rant mode off...

 

[Jwade]

Jwade, if your wait time is suddenly improved and another explanation isn't staring you in the face, the reason may well be that a sizeable percentage of the calls aren't being actually serviced, just deliberately dropped as they come up.

You're looking at "time in queue" and seeing 5 minutes. This measurement is subject to manipulation and may not reflect actual performance.

Either you've got a software problem dropping calls, or you've got an individual dropping calls. You've got a large enough sample size reported on just this thread to tell you it's an ongoing problem...

I just now saw this sorry it must have all slipped by me on the timeline. I was out of the office part of last week. I pray nobody is dropping calls intentionally but I will investigate. Will let you know what I find out.

 

[buckroseau]

New Guy here, first post. Just saw this thread, thought I would post my experience today. Bought a Humvee on 1/13/16. Sent in the EuC and HHA the same day, paid 2 days later. Got the automated email the same day I sent the EUC saying it would be 8 to 12 weeks. I hadn't heard anything on the HHA so I thought I would follow up with a call today just to confirm the HHA was received.

I called at approx. 4:30 pm, CST. A gentleman by the name of, "Steven" answered the phone right away, no wait time. Told him I was calling to see if they have received my HHA. He asked for the item #, about 30 seconds silence then he responded with a, "we received it". I thanked him, was just about to hang up and asked since I have them on the phone could he confirm that they got my EUC and if it was ok? He said that wasn't his dept. but he could check. About a minute went by, then he said they got it but a few things still needed to be filled out. I asked if he had a few minutes to walk me through what I missed, he said absolutely. I printed off the EUC I sent in last week and he walked me through the couple things I missed. I asked if I could write those things in on the original EUC I sent in vs re-doing the entire form online and he said that was fine. I could tell he was asking someone else questions on the EUC while he was helping me, but I was cool with that, he was getting it done. I finished filling it out, scanned it and emailed it back in. I asked Steven if I could call tomorrow to make sure they got it and if it was ok, he said absolutely.

I don't have a completed EUC or my truck......but, when I called they immediately answered the phone and Steven seemed very helpful. I hope I get him tomorrow when I call again.


Matt

 

[wheelspinner]

I just now saw this sorry it must have all slipped by me on the timeline. I was out of the office part of last week. I pray nobody is dropping calls intentionally but I will investigate. Will let you know what I find out.

JWade Any word on what's going on here. The last entry shows phenomenal work. Hoping this is a trend.

 

[Jwade]

We made a few adjustments on how the calls were being handled. Basically we made the decision to combine the customer service teams. We have had some issues as we get all of the customer care people up to speed on the GovPlanet specific issues that tend to come up (especially the EUC's) so when he was taking time to ask that is exactly what he was doing and been instructed to do until he feels comfortable answering the questions! I am glad that we ar seeing some positive progress. I will inform Steven and his manager of the kind words!

 

[sully199]

Called yesterday to see if my EUC had been shipped off as of yet, it had and I was informed that since I had bought a HMMWV previously, it will come back quickly. I only had to wait 2 minutes, to speak with someone. Excellent customer service.

 

[buckroseau]

We made a few adjustments on how the calls were being handled. Basically we made the decision to combine the customer service teams. We have had some issues as we get all of the customer care people up to speed on the GovPlanet specific issues that tend to come up (especially the EUC's) so when he was taking time to ask that is exactly what he was doing and been instructed to do until he feels comfortable answering the questions! I am glad that we ar seeing some positive progress. I will inform Steven and his manager of the kind words!

Hello Jwade,

Anyway to follow up on my EUC today? I got my i.d. sent in, but then I found out this morning a revised pen version isn't acceptable (please let Steven know). I re-submitted an online version (with my i.d.) this morning and have attempted a follow up call a couple times today, but each time I've called the 3 people that handle EUC's aren't at their desk and the customer service rep says there nothing they can do.

I would prefer this doesn't go another 8 days and having me to call in to confirm there was a mistake. Not trying to be jerk, just trying to be diligent. Not sure how much info I can share over the net. I will PM you my info.

Please let me know.

Thanks, Matt A.

 

[Jwade]

Someone should reach out shortly.

 

[buckroseau]

Someone should reach out shortly.

Dakota just called. Got it and everything is good to go. He said 10-12 week wait now, bummed but is what it is.

Thank you sir!!

 

[rumplecat]

Under 2 minutes yesterday when I called to pay for a M105A3, first time purchase from them, you would think they would have the on line pay up and running by now???

 

[Jwade]

I know the time frame sucks right now but I have instructed everyone here to be as up front about the wait as we possibly can.

 

[buckroseau]

I know the time frame sucks right now but I have instructed everyone here to be as up front about the wait as we possibly can.

All good. Under promise and over deliver.....well hopefully over deliver.

Thanks again for the help.

Matt

 

[Jwade]

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up. The wait times this week may be a little crazy. Cat Auction Services(an IronPlanet company) is having the biggest live/online auction in our history and it is a full 5 day sale so times could be a bit longer than usual.

 

[cq141]

ill say your business has picked up.
I was at the last auction what was just a few ppl bidding had multiplied to as much as hundreds cant imagine how long it takes a for a first time euc
that wait time as got to suck

 

[Jwade]

Progress-average wait times

Just wanted to show the progress that we have made to shortening the wait times. As you can see we have drastically lowered the wait time over the past several months. Call Volume was on the rise during these periods as well.