This would be so sad, if it was unpredictable. But Metro’s customer service is predictably bad, as we all know from reading Laurence Simon’s adventures.
Laurence mentioned this classic Metro-moment, courtesy of a Chron.com blogger:
Me: Hello? Hel…Yes, I’m calling to see if you can dispatch a message to the driver of bus number 4237?
Metro: What is the problem?
Me: We are on I-10 and there is a major accident that has the freeway shut down. If we divert to the Washington exit we can go through the Northwest Transit center and avoid the shutdown.
Metro: There’s a wreck?Me: Yes, on I-10.
Metro: Where is the accident?
Me: I-10 Westbound at TC Jester.
Metro: Outbound?
Me: Yes, outbound. Westbound. Heading out of town.
Metro: Um, no ma’am. I’m not showing any blockages?
Me: (Oh, you’ve got blockages alright.) You mean you haven’t heard about the overturned truck? Don’t you people own Transtar?
Metro: Well, yes ma’am but we don’t have access to it.
They don’t have access to Transtar! Hahahaha!
Follow the link to read the rest of the sad (actually, hilarious) conversation. I don’t think the familiar corporate refrain of “Make it happen!” is a part of Metro’s training.
Now would be a good time to hit the archives to revisit Laurence’s thoughts on Metro’s customer service:
Folks, I’ve never talked to a live human being on that number. Ever. I’ve waited for over 30 minutes at times and never gotten anyone. In fact, as an experiment, I tried to call from my desk at work and left it on the hold tape for almost and hour and never gotten anyone.
What a useless piece of crap it is.
Thank you, Laurence.
