Recently I contacted Salesforce with a question regarding my account. I own two "group edition" platforms for two separate business's. With that platform comes a standard set of reporting and dashboards. You get the dashboards that are pre-set only. If you want to customize dashboards you must move to a higher offering etc.

Salesforce lists this feature as one of it's key benefits for the platform.
One of my accounts was not showing the dashboards at all. The page that accesses the dashboard was showing a dead page.

I first chose the "chat" service for help. In the chat I stated:" My account does not have a dashboard. I own two accounts that are the same services. One has a dashboard and the other does not. We need help."

There was not chat person available. It kept telling me someone was coming soon. After 40 minutes, I went on to something else. When I returned, there was a " This is John how can I help you (type message) and then a sign off and recommendation to re-engage for help.

I then called and got a service representative on the phone. He had an "accent" so I am not sure if it was this shore or some other shore. I explained my problem. He repeated it and then asked for access to my salesforce live account.  I gave it to him. He verified that we did not have dashboards. He then asked if he could see my other account to see what "that one had set up since it had dashboards..." I informed him that this was a feature that Salesforce had listed as a top benefit of their service offering. This could not be unique. He insisted on seeing the "other account". After opening the other account, he verified that I did in fact have a dashboard ( I told him I did...). He then put me on hold. After three minutes ( we have now been at this 45 minutes...) he came on and told me he talked to his supervisor and although what I was asking for was not supported, he would help me. He then led me into their APPE exchange and found two vendor solutions and neither worked. ( Why Salesforce has a feature offered as a key component and they do not own it or load it ahead of time is another issue here...) I then asked for someone else to help and he told me that he had escalated the problem and someone would call me back in 24 to 48 hours.

After hanging up I sent an email to my sales person. Within 30 minutes my sales person sent me an email telling me that they were no longer my sales person and gave me the new name ( copied her as well). In the letter he stated that because of "growth" I had changed.

30 minutes later my "sales person" sent me a note and told me they were no longer my sales person, due to growth it  was now a new person.  About five hours later, sales person number "two" verified that I was indeed the being supported by sales person number "three" and they would be getting in touch with me.

No response from either the escalation or the "third" sales person.

Some thoughts:
1. It is blatantly obvious when you get someone on the phone for support that does not know what they are doing. He had no clue how to verify the problem let alone fix it. What was so painful was that this is a key feature of the program and he had no clue what it was. Recognizing that every call center has to have new people which means a learning curve there must be a standard to "get on the phone". New and "learning" is okay. Customers are patient and recognize that people can be new at something. In the right situation a new person can build loyalty by trying to solve the problem. In this situation a quick escalation is needed to not lose the customers support.  New and "clueless" is unacceptable. Having to prove they offered the feature was craziness.
2. For the consumer- I stayed on the phone with the guy way too long. My gut told me he did not know what he was doing. I hate to ask for a supervisor/second level too early. Some people just ask immediately, I don't. At the same time, I waited too long and slowly started to get mad at myself for investing my time. (Thus the long blog...)
3. There is a reason that call centers measure first resolution. It makes a difference. When a customer calls with a problem and hangs up with the same problem you have serious dissatisfaction and a loss of confidence. Not getting the answer or outcome they wanted is a different experience then not accomplishing anything. I have the lowest service level at Salesforce so they delay of 24-48 hours can easily be solved by me paying more money for quicker support. No problem there except my"problem" is a standard everyday feature that should not have to wait two days to fix. Hopefully you see the difference. Service people must have the ability ( companies need to have the process) to escalate or "transcend" the standard support terms when the problem is so basic to operations. In other words, they should have escalated me anyway right at that moment with or without a "premier contract".
4. On the selling side, there is just no excuse. I appreciate the "second salesperson" following up however I am still waiting on the 3rd....

I would tell you how it all ended but I still do not have a "dashboard" so the results are still pending....