Options
M&S UK Customer Services
I need to speak to an actual human being and not a robot - something I've had the misfortune of having to do for a fruitless 20 minutes this morning about my MS credit card.
Does anyone have a UK phone number where I could speak with someone who doesn't stick to a script and who will actually help me?
Does anyone have a UK phone number where I could speak with someone who doesn't stick to a script and who will actually help me?
0
Comments
Good idea, yes there is one so I'll try that - thanks
The fella I spoke with this morning sounded American-ish, not Indian (their call centres were there but I think they may have moved to the Philippines, looking on their website). Very, very unhelpful and completely unwilling/unable to go off script and speak to me as a human.
Ah ok. The problem is I don't think they are trained to do anything but read off the script, so as soon as an issue arises which they haven't been trained for, they panic and keep reciting the same crap they've been taught, even though it may not be relevant to your situation.
That's exactly the problem. Because of personal circumstances - changing jobs, interviews, life in general - I didn't notice my card had expired yesterday until I came to use it this morning. I rang up and explained I need an urgent replacement as I'm going away on Friday but I was told it would be 10 days and that's that, no room for manoeuvre, no discretion, nothing. Admittedly, I should have noticed the expiry date but surely they must be able to process a replacement faster than nearly 2 weeks?! Barclaycard can sort me a new card in 4 days as I have a Barclays account.
With remote call centres it's usually because they won't have the authority to deal with 'off script' issues.
They will have an established course of action for every normal scenario a customer will contact them for and they'll be told not to deviate from that.
I'm curious though - OP - did you ask for the matter to be escalated?
M&S usually send out a new replacement card two weeks before the old one expires.
Very definitely! I asked if he would please go off script and deal with as someone in urgent need of his help but be wouldn't budge at all.
He said a card had been sent in September but I've not received it, so its obviously been lost in the post.
It could be that they've been told to say 10 days in case it does take that long. I would expect that HSBC's card production facilities are used and they seem to be okay speed wise, so you may actually have your card during the week.
To be honest, after speaking with the advisor, being put on hold for over 5 minutes while he supposedly went to see what could be done to rush it through, and then trying but failing to make him realise the urgency, I didn't ask to speak to anyone more senior. I thought it'd be easier to speak with someone at the UK head office tomorrow. Fingers crossed you're right and the card turns up before Friday.
That's exactly the line I went down but I was still told there were procedures to be followed and it would still be 10 days.