Signature Solar Two Hours On Hold Just To Buy an Item!

[robby]

This is insane!
3 different days and each time I cannot reach sales. If you cannot reach sales just imagine trying to get customer support!
I called on Thursday of last week and waited 30 minutes for a sales person and then just hung up.
I called again on Friday and waited 45 minutes and hung up.

Today I really wanted to see what would happen so I left it on Speaker phone and decided I was going to wait it out. After 30 minutes it told me I was number one in the Queue so I thought Ok I am getting somewhere. Well 90 minutes later I have fully memorized the background tune they are playing an I have heard that lady telling me about due to increased demand the hold times have increased Significantly a hundred times while I am still being told I am still number one in the Queue for over an hour!
Now I am not sure how they quantify Significant wait time, but is that like Spock Code where Hours means Days.

Anway after exactly 2 hours I hung up the phone and called it a day.

For all you people ordering via the quick and easy website store front I highly suggest that you try the Sales Dept via phone first before you plunk down your money.
If you cannot get through to a companies Sales Dept. Via the Phone then that means it will be a magnitude harder to get through to customer support on the phone.
I have rarely seen things get fixed via email support, so just know that without phone support your problems are going to be so much harder to fix.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

@BenFromSignatureSolar
@SignatureSolarJames

 

[Ted Katsouras]

This is insane!
3 different days and each time I cannot reach sales. If you cannot reach sales just imagine trying to get customer support!
I called on Thursday of last week and waited 30 minutes for a sales person and then just hung up.
I called again on Friday and waited 45 minutes and hung up.

Today I really wanted to see what would happen so I left it on Speaker phone and decided I was going to wait it out. After 30 minutes it told me I was number one in the Queue so I thought Ok I am getting somewhere. Well 90 minutes later I have fully memorized the background tune they are playing an I have heard that lady telling me about due to increased demand the hold times have increased Significantly a hundred times while I am still being told I am still number one in the Queue for over an hour!
Now I am not sure how they quantify Significant wait time, but is that like Spock Code where Hours means Days.

Anway after exactly 2 hours I hung up the phone and called it a day.

For all you people ordering via the quick and easy website store front I highly suggest that you try the Sales Dept via phone first before you plunk down your money.
If you cannot get through to a companies Sales Dept. Via the Phone then that means it will be a magnitude harder to get through to customer support on the phone.
I have rarely seen things get fixed via email support, so just know that without phone support your problems are going to be so much harder to fix.

You might be able to get them faster from China, half priced.

This product is no longer available.

This product is no longer available.

www.alibaba.com

 

[Danke]

You might be able to get them faster from China, half priced.

This product is no longer available.

This product is no longer available.

www.alibaba.com

How do you know what Robby is looking to buy?

Have you bought one battery from this company, how much did they charge you for shipping?

 

[EastTexCowboy]

This is insane!
3 different days and each time I cannot reach sales. If you cannot reach sales just imagine trying to get customer support!
I called on Thursday of last week and waited 30 minutes for a sales person and then just hung up.
I called again on Friday and waited 45 minutes and hung up.

Today I really wanted to see what would happen so I left it on Speaker phone and decided I was going to wait it out. After 30 minutes it told me I was number one in the Queue so I thought Ok I am getting somewhere. Well 90 minutes later I have fully memorized the background tune they are playing an I have heard that lady telling me about due to increased demand the hold times have increased Significantly a hundred times while I am still being told I am still number one in the Queue for over an hour!
Now I am not sure how they quantify Significant wait time, but is that like Spock Code where Hours means Days.

Anway after exactly 2 hours I hung up the phone and called it a day.

For all you people ordering via the quick and easy website store front I highly suggest that you try the Sales Dept via phone first before you plunk down your money.
If you cannot get through to a companies Sales Dept. Via the Phone then that means it will be a magnitude harder to get through to customer support on the phone.
I have rarely seen things get fixed via email support, so just know that without phone support your problems are going to be so much harder to fix.

I hate hearing anyone having problems with support, much less sales. I haven't called them recently but I did call on some panels I ordered a couple months ago and was only on hold maybe 15 minutes. I ordered a sixpack rack of batteries last Thursday (on sale plus another 5% off and $200 shipping) and received them Friday afternoon. There was a glitch on the order where it didn't give me the 5% discount. I sent an email with a copy of the order - got a response within an hour that they were aware of the glitch and had corrected it. Then I got a follow up email again today from Dustin to confirm I was charged the correct amount. I checked my card charges and confirmed it and let him know.

I can't explain nor am I trying to defend them on your bad experience, but I've bought a ton of stuff from them without a problem, including a panel damaged in shipment that they took care of immediately.

 

[BenFromSignatureSolar]

This is insane!
3 different days and each time I cannot reach sales. If you cannot reach sales just imagine trying to get customer support!
I called on Thursday of last week and waited 30 minutes for a sales person and then just hung up.
I called again on Friday and waited 45 minutes and hung up.

Today I really wanted to see what would happen so I left it on Speaker phone and decided I was going to wait it out. After 30 minutes it told me I was number one in the Queue so I thought Ok I am getting somewhere. Well 90 minutes later I have fully memorized the background tune they are playing an I have heard that lady telling me about due to increased demand the hold times have increased Significantly a hundred times while I am still being told I am still number one in the Queue for over an hour!
Now I am not sure how they quantify Significant wait time, but is that like Spock Code where Hours means Days.

Anway after exactly 2 hours I hung up the phone and called it a day.

For all you people ordering via the quick and easy website store front I highly suggest that you try the Sales Dept via phone first before you plunk down your money.
If you cannot get through to a companies Sales Dept. Via the Phone then that means it will be a magnitude harder to get through to customer support on the phone.
I have rarely seen things get fixed via email support, so just know that without phone support your problems are going to be so much harder to fix.

I'm looking through our reporting from yesterday and the longest hold time of the day was 31 min that went unanswered. There were 2 calls that waited an hour that were answered at 5:46 and 6:18 CST. Was that 2 hour wait time consecutive? The phone system we use doesn't even allow for a 2 hour hold. I'll be placing a call in to their support team to figure out what is going on here. I hear a lot of negative on these forums, one thing I don't hear that often is that the sales team isn't answering. I'm not trying to argue or say that the experience you had wasn't based in reality, but the numbers from our reporting just don't reflect that and I keep the phone queue dashboard pulled up all day to make sure we don't see that length of wait time.

We heard loud and clear the issues that customers are dealing with in not being able to reach tech support. In the past 3 weeks we have nearly doubled the size of the tech support team so we can better answer the calls as they come in. Sales team doesn't normally miss many calls, but yesterday there were more that were missed than normal. We've seen an uptick in calls with the shipping promos that we have running currently.

If there is anyone here who is needing help with sales we can absolutely get you taken care of. Please let me know how I can help you out.

 

[Ted Katsouras]

How do you know what Robby is looking to buy?

Have you bought one battery from this company, how much did they charge you for shipping?

No I did not buy these batteries, I got 6 batteries from SS almost 3 years ago they are working fine and I don't need any more. The prices on Alibaba are very good I was wandering if anyone bought them.

 

[Mattb4]

I'm looking through our reporting from yesterday and the longest hold time of the day was 31 min that went unanswered. There were 2 calls that waited an hour that were answered at 5:46 and 6:18 CST. ...

Just a personal thing with me but I do not deal with holds of greater than a few minutes. Any company that does that to me I go elsewhere. If a company offers a call back option instead of hold I usually take it. The idea of being made to wait on hold for 30 minutes or an hour is simply ridiculous.

One should never justify it by trying to minimize it.

 

[BenFromSignatureSolar]

One should never justify it by trying to minimize it.

I don't mean to minimize the situation, because you're right. 30 min is far too long. Less than 5 min is the goal for a wait time. Can't hide from the fact that we get our calls in big waves and need to do a better job of keeping up. We're actively expanding the team to try and prevent these issues from continuing into the future.

 

[SeaGal]

Just a personal thing with me but I do not deal with holds of greater than a few minutes. Any company that does that to me I go elsewhere...
... The idea of being made to wait on hold for 30 minutes or an hour is simply ridiculous.

... and it's made worse when an announcement says "please hold, your call is important to us... we are doing everything we can to answer your call quickly".... Well, obviously they are not doing "everything they can" or I wouldn't be in a queue!!!

(BTW: I'm not referring to SS at all... just call centres in general)

 

[wopachop]

That would be tricky. Cant hire 5 ladies to sit there and play on Facebook during the slow hours.

 

[SeaGal]

That would be tricky. Cant hire 5 ladies to sit there and play on Facebook during the slow hours.

Doesn't have to be ladies

 

[dcg9381]

Sounds like a good problem to have business wise (substantial sales queue). Frankly, I've never spoken to anyone at SS, but web orders work just fine.

Where SS is located it's going to be tough to find staffing that understands PV solar, inverters, etc. Guess you could hire remote.

 

[Danke]

Doesn't have to be ladies

True, wayward women would probably work too. Ones with sexy voices.

 

[Danke]

I don't mean to minimize the situation, because you're right. 30 min is far too long. Less than 5 min is the goal for a wait time. Can't hide from the fact that we get our calls in big waves and need to do a better job of keeping up. We're actively expanding the team to try and prevent these issues from continuing into the future.

How about an option to leave a callback number?

 

[wopachop]

Doesn't have to be ladies

Girls are nicer. I guess David Spade could be a receptionist. But he would probably pick up and heckle the caller, then place them back on hold.

 

[Adam De Lay]

How about an option to leave a callback number?

They have that option for support, not sure on sales. It’s a great feature…when it works. Tried using it for support multiple times. Never got callbacks.

 

[ShanePowerHouse]

You might be able to get them faster from China, half priced.

This product is no longer available.

This product is no longer available.

www.alibaba.com

Yes and either way you won't have support so make sure you buy plenty of backups.

 

[robby]

I'm looking through our reporting from yesterday and the longest hold time of the day was 31 min that went unanswered. There were 2 calls that waited an hour that were answered at 5:46 and 6:18 CST. Was that 2 hour wait time consecutive? The phone system we use doesn't even allow for a 2 hour hold. I'll be placing a call in to their support team to figure out what is going on here. I hear a lot of negative on these forums, one thing I don't hear that often is that the sales team isn't answering. I'm not trying to argue or say that the experience you had wasn't based in reality, but the numbers from our reporting just don't reflect that and I keep the phone queue dashboard pulled up all day to make sure we don't see that length of wait time.

We heard loud and clear the issues that customers are dealing with in not being able to reach tech support. In the past 3 weeks we have nearly doubled the size of the tech support team so we can better answer the calls as they come in. Sales team doesn't normally miss many calls, but yesterday there were more that were missed than normal. We've seen an uptick in calls with the shipping promos that we have running currently.

If there is anyone here who is needing help with sales we can absolutely get you taken care of. Please let me know how I can help you out.

It was two hours straight starting at about 4:30 CST.
Honestly Ben when have you ever called sales at a company and waited more than 20 minutes before deciding this is probably not a company i want to take a chance spending my money with and just hung up. I do it anytime I have that issue unless they are the only people who sell what I need.
Consumers are pretty much use to getting bad treatment when it comes to support from companies but the Sales dept is usually very fast at answering calls.
For those wondering, Yes they do have a call back feature but I hate those. It will typically ring hours later when I am in my car or shopping. When I call a company I am typically right on my PC and have the questions I need to have answered right in front of me.

 

[BenFromSignatureSolar]

It was two hours straight starting at about 4:30 CST.
Honestly Ben when have you ever called sales at a company and waited more than 20 minutes before deciding this is probably not a company i want to take a chance spending my money with and just hung up. I do it anytime I have that issue unless they are the only people who sell what I need.
Consumers are pretty much use to getting bad treatment when it comes to support from companies but the Sales dept is usually very fast at answering calls.
For those wondering, Yes they do have a call back feature but I hate those. It will typically ring hours later when I am in my car or shopping. When I call a company I am typically right on my PC and have the questions I need to have answered right in front of me.

I get it, I absolutely understand this concern. I'm not going to make excuses for the phone not being answered, none of them would be any good anyway. The focus has been on Tech Support of late so we can improve after sales support, we've made some hires and are solving problems at a greater rate than we ever have before. Sales is the next focus. We are moving to have more educated and driven sales people so you can be confident that when you do call SS, you are going to get to talk to someone that can answer your questions and fulfill all your solar needs.

Robby, I know you aren't our biggest fan and I hate that we missed an opportunity to give you a good experience.