Customer service

I've long contended that customer service has clearly fallen by the wayside and today's experience seems to confirm that. As many of you know, I was rear-ended several weeks ago. Since the guy who hit me (or his insurance company) is a bunch of bone-heads I had to file a report with my company to have the issue resolved. Both companies are in a holding pattern awaiting the results of the ever-elusive police report. I decided I would try to find out where the report was so I decided to make some calls. It was about 0845 and I decided to call the local police department's records division to see why the report wasn't available in the 10 business days they claimed. It had been almost a month and they still hadn't published the report.

Attempt 1: I called the phone number and, after navigating through automated phone hell, finally got the "press 9 to speak to someone" option. It rang once followed by a recording that I would need to call back during normal business hours of 0800-1600. WTF?!?! Didn't they get the DST memo? *sigh* Ok, I'll wait and call back in a bit.

Attempt 2: 0905 I called the phone number again. Being the smart guy I am, I had written down the options so I quickly traversed the phone menu. I pressed 9 for a live person and the phone actually rang... ring, ring, ring... "I'm sorry. Due to call volume we are unable to help you at this time. Please try again later." Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Attempt 3: 0919 same outcome as Attempt 2. Considered throwing the phone.

Attempt 4: 1022 Rinse and repeat. I tried again and after pressing 9 I got a live person. "Records," she answered. It's probably better that a live person caught me off guard because I would have most likely replied with something rhetorical. I explained that I was trying to find an accident report from almost a month ago. Her response was, "I need the CAD number." I replied and she put me on hold without saying anything else. Of course, nothing but the best customer service! After a couple minutes on hold, "Records" came back on the phone. She said that the police department hadn't filed the report in the system yet. Before I could start cursing she continued that the reports usually take 1 to 30 days and there was nothing she could do to speed up the process.

Well, that's it. I got everything I need except some lube and a slap on the ass... Oh, right. I'm getting that from the insurance companies.