
The DMV vs Verizon - davewiner
http://scripting.com/stories/2011/08/21/theDmvVsVerizon.html
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kgrin
This is of course strictly anec-data, but my experience has been similar in
dealing with both the DMV and telcos. Broadly speaking, you have pockets of
excellence everywhere, as well as pockets of apathy. But, as Winer says, the
idea that "private businesses will provide a better customer experience
because there's competition" doesn't really hold up when you have so many
distorting factors (de-facto monopolies, outsourced customer service, warped
retention incentives, etc).

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tortilla
Same here. In my experience, if you're dealing with de facto monopolies:
cable, telco, healthcare, or banking it's actually a far worse experience. You
are placed in some ring of hell of outsourced lowest cost customer service,
nonsensical automated phone menus, and customer hostile corporate policies.

In my area, the employees of the DMV or post office employees have generally
provided more friendly and positive customer service experiences.

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rlvesco7
DMVs across several states have improved drastically over the last 15 years.

I remember when the DMVs were utter chaos - prior to automated ticketing. It
used to be a mob scene. One of the reasons why it has improved so much was
that people were furious every time they had to go to the DMV. It used to be
the prime example of everything that is wrong with government. There were
frequent jokes and water-cooler griping about it.

One state, I forget which, started the automated ticketing and improved the
work flow. The other states eventually followed suit because it was an easy
way to score points with the public. I can say the last several times have
been relatively pleasant experiences.

Regarding Telcos, they are still highly regulated, highly unionized operations
and in many areas they are quasi-monopolies as mentioned by kgrin. My
suspicion is that this contributes to many issues when dealing with telcos...

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easyfrag
similar anecdote by Kevin Drum: [http://motherjones.com/kevin-
drum/2009/08/dealing-corporate-...](http://motherjones.com/kevin-
drum/2009/08/dealing-corporate-america)

His conclusion: 'The government might sometimes provide poor customer service
just because they lack the motivation to do better, but corporate America
routinely provides crappy customer service as part of a deliberate and
minutely planned strategy.'

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ianferrel
My experience is that the DMV is fine and reasonably efficient... as long as
something out of the ordinary doesn't happen. Then they're hamstrung by
convoluted sequencing, seemingly arbitrary rules, and zero initiative on
anyone's part to make things easy or pleasant.

The last time I needed to do something at the DMV that I couldn't do by mail,
I made an appointment and showed up on time. Their computers were down. They
couldn't do anything. Could they at least look over my forms and see if there
was anything I forgot so when I came back it would be faster? No. Could they
give me an estimate of how long the problem might last? No. Could they tell me
how long it lasted the last time there was an outage? No. Is there a website
or a phone number I could call to find the status? No. Could they give me the
phone number for this location so I could call tomorrow before I drove all the
way there? No. Could they move my appointment because it was their fault I
couldn't process my business. No (I had to either make another appointment two
weeks out, which would have missed a deadline, or I got to come back and wait
in line for an hour).

Not a great experience. If a business was that lacking in customer service,
I'd go find one of their competitors to give my money to.

~~~
kgrin
So, serious question - how often do people actually switch their cellphone
carrier or ISP due to poor customer service? From what I can tell, they're all
pretty much universally reviled (especially Comcast, Verizon, AT&T), but
manage to retain customers due to [actual monopoly over cable, unsurpassed
coverage, device exclusivity, lock-in contracts, etc]

~~~
essayist
I dropped an CLEC DSL a few years ago because I was spending 2 days every six
months babysitting their repair jobs. Considered Comcast, but just signing up
was an immense hassle - phone reps couldn't find the offers I had in my mail,
or on the web, offers weren't what they seemed - and so I went with a local
wireless ISP that, AFAIK, is a two person operation. They are more expensive
than cable internet, but I've never had to babysit an outage in two years, and
they're always responsive when there is a problem. Recently considered giving
Comcast a try, but have an almost physical aversion to it.

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nhebb
I've had good experiences dealing with the DMV, Oregon Dept of Records, and
the IRS in the last few years. That doesn't mean that the government is the
model of efficient customer service. My father's dealings with the INS on
behalf of a friend were Kafkaesque. More recently, a Politico writer followed
up on President Obama's advice to a farmer to contact the USDA. Here's how it
went:

[http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0811/call_uncle_sam_...](http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0811/call_uncle_sam_5c130fdd-0e34-4b04-99e1-3d923ea3919e.html)

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sneak
You are forced to pay for the DMV. Verizon has to EARN their money. Customer
retention isn't a concern for civil servants.

Please stop comparing apples to oranges.

