Logos Service

This is my first post in some time. I don't care for the forums, maybe because I don't understand them but nonetheless I really haven't had much to say until now.

I first became a Logos user in 2001. Things have changed. Today I had an issue and decided to call Washington. I had a relatively easy billing issue, or at least I thought. I knew things were different when the operator CUT ME OFF in mid-sentence twice!! I was told I'd need to speak to customer service and that would be at least a 15 minute wait. The line went dead!!

I called back and spoke with the same woman. I asked to be allowed to finish a sentence before I got an answer. Again, the 15 minutes, no one else to speak to and, no, we don't do call backs any longer.

Wow, has customer service really gotten that bad at Logos? The company charges plenty of money for resources, so is it unreasonable for me to expect decent treatment when I call?

Terry Cook

sDg

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Garrett Ho

I'm sorry for the experience that you've had. I've only had good experiences with helpful Logos staff, on the phone or via email, so perhaps it was a bad day.

Taking your personal experience as context for your question, I would say that Logos support hasn't gotten worse, but they simply are unable to handle the volume of calls generated by their rapid recent growth. Hopefully the next time you call it will be much better.

Incidentally, there may be quite a few calls to Logos today regarding Zondervan products. I know, they should be able to handle their incoming calls, but perhaps it is an explanation nonetheless.

MJ. Smith

I had a relatively easy billing issue, or at least I thought. I knew things were different when the operator CUT ME OFF in mid-sentence twice!!

Are you speaking of the person whose job it is to direct your call to the correct department? They are frequently trained to gently stop people from describing their problem rather than simply identifying the department to which they wish to be connected. So I would not find that surprising or concerning. The 15 minute wait it something that we know Logos is working on; it is a decrease from the worst at the start of the Logos 4 roll-out. As for the line going dead, I have no clue as to why. However, it might be preferable to all the ads I was subjected to last week. Not really - I do think that is a problem that needs investigation.

Matthew C Jones

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/114497#Comment_114497

MJ makes a good point about the call handler trying to redirect calls. Is it possible the call was disconnected when they tried to make the transfer? I know Bob Pritchett mentioned they were installing a new phone system as well as hiring new help. I'm sure the quality control people will take notice and do everything they can to avoid this scenario in the future.

I have been surprised to read some posts that say Customer Service spent an hour or more on the phone walking the user through steps to resolve their problem. I've often wondered how big a staff Logos has to alot blocks of time that big. I sure hope you get satisfaction next time you call.

Don

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/114507#Comment_114507

The person who answers the phone is not trained to answer your questions. Her job is to direct your call to the department that can help you. Personally, I would rather have that person interupt me and send me to the people who need to hear my full story than listen to me at length only to have to repeat my whole story again.

Todd Phillips

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/114531#Comment_114531

The person who answers the phone is not trained to answer your questions. Her job is to direct your call to the department that can help you. Personally, I would rather have that person interupt me and send me to the people who need to hear my full story than listen to me at length only to have to repeat my whole story again.

Yes, it would be like telling the hostess at a restaurant your order before she seated you and sent a waiter.

Dave Hooton

Hi Terry

Sorry to have heard from you under such distressing circumstances. But it has been a while, so drop in again.

Are you still with Libronix (L3) or did you make the jump to Logos 4 (L4)?

Regards,

Floyd Johnson

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/114539#Comment_114539

Yes, it would be like telling the hostess at a restaurant your order before she seated you and sent a waiter.

On the other hand, if I asked for a glass of water or a Diet Coke as I was being seated, I expect that the hostess would see that I did get it. She would listen and respond - not cut me off in mid-sentence.

Terry Cook

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/114694#Comment_114694

Hi Dave,

I've missed you! Yes, i'm still using L3 but I do have an L4 disk here at the ready. I bought a new computer, a real screamer, and I'm still finding my way around W7, plus, I'm wating for L4 to more or less "get finished."

Terry

sDg

Terry Cook

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/114713#Comment_114713

Hi Floyd,

You seem to "get it."

If I were to go to Lowes looking for a tool or a part for a door and I was technically challenged and unable to identify the part by name I wouldn't expect a Lowes associate to cut me off in mid-sentence and direct me to customer service.

Terry

sDg

TCBlack

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/114720#Comment_114720

Terry,

Everyone else has thrown their answer at the first issue so I won't bother, but as far as waiting till L4 is finished......

Ah, go ahead and install it. You'll have a blast. L4 does have some missing features which are still pending, but especially with that new computer, I'd put L4 on there and watch through the video's. Aside from things like printing and PBB support --well whatever is listed in missing features in my sig-- L4 is really quite a good experience for me.

Go ahead and give it a whirl while you're getting use to Win7.

And welcome back to the forums, overwhelming and confusing as they may be.

Dave Hooton

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/114720#Comment_114720

I'm still finding my way around W7, plus, I'm wating for L4 to more or less "get finished."

Take your time - I think 4.0c when it comes out (currently in beta) would be a good intro for you, as it is getting some of the "missing" features like Verse List.

Do post to the Logos 3 forum in the meantime (but my email address hasn't changed).

Robert Pavich

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/114722#Comment_114722

If I were to go to Lowes looking for a tool or a part for a door and I was technically challenged and unable to identify the part by name I wouldn't expect a Lowes associate to cut me off in mid-sentence and direct me to customer service.

As long as we're making parallels, we should make them actually parallel.

The operator is not akin to a Lowes associate but only the "Lowes-doorman" or "Lowes Operator" who; after hearing what kind of shovel you want; points to the proper dept, from there...you get a guy who knows all about shovels. [:$]

Terry Cook

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/114735#Comment_114735

I don't why you misconstrued my statement; it really IS an exact parallell, even if you choose to call an associate a doorman. The doorman would NOT cut me off in mid-sentence. However, you make my point (unintentionally I'm sure) by saying the Lowes Operator "points to the proper dept."

Terry Cook

sDg

Jack Caviness

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/114722#Comment_114722

If I were to go to Lowes looking for a tool or a part for a door and I was technically challenged and unable to identify the part by name I wouldn't expect a Lowes associate to cut me off in mid-sentence and direct me to customer service.

No, but I would expect them to direct me to the Tool Corral! [8-|]

Pat Flanakin

Terry, I understand your experience and frankly am not surprised. Many organizations which have "Christian" attached to them directly, like a church, or indirectly such as Logos are simply "too big for their britches," as my mom used to say. Organizations such as this look, smell, and act more like the world all the time, but Christ predicted this, and the world continues to decay as does the decay of our sin nature.

If I were you, I would not post here, as you will find loyalists abound, and frankly what can they do anyway...I would send a letter to the CEO, Mr. Pritchett; however, as I have seen on his blog, he recognizes the problem and is "working on it." You are likely stuck. If you have a real problem, I suggest praying about it first, then see if you have any buddies in your periphery who can help you. When it comes to billing, I would always use AMEX or some other card where you can file a fraud claim to stop payment if you believe you have been charged wrong.

Overall, perhaps they should stop working on more products and get the rest of the company in order. I know that there are plenty of people employed in the Logos sales department...so for a time, perhaps Logos should flip the level of support from sales to customer service.

I am thankful I have not needed to call them.

Matthew C Jones

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/114782#Comment_114782

I know that there are plenty of people employed in the Logos sales department...so for a time, perhaps Logos should flip the level of support from sales to customer service.

Your definition of "plenty" is different than mine. Logos has made large cuts in the sales staff from a year ago and dramatically ballooned the Customer Service department. Your characterization of the company tells me you haven't talked with any of them one-on-one.You will probably dismiss me as a "loyalist" (guilty [:P] ) but I do know the facts and they differ from your post.

Robert Pavich

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/114748#Comment_114748

I don't why you misconstrued my statement; it really IS an exact parallell, even if you choose to call an associate a doorman. The doorman would NOT cut me off in mid-sentence. However, you make my point (unintentionally I'm sure) by saying the Lowes Operator "points to the proper dept."

Terry Cook

sDg

Terry,

I didn't misconstrue anything. I think your Lowes parallel suffers in that a "sales associate" is not akin to an "operator."

You come to the door of Lowes, and the man says "hello...welcome to lowes" You begin to tell him all about how your roof leaks and has leaked since last year and how many contractors you've called and how you've now tried to fix it on your own....and all he wants is for you to say "I need more roofing nails" so he can point to aisle 27; roofing supplies.

Yes...that's the parallel. I guess it would be rude of him to try and get you to get to the actual point so he can do his job, but as another poster said....his job is to try and figure out what department you need to get to...

My experiences have all been very positive when I've called Logos...during busy times, and slack times...I guess that I'm a "loyalist" for having had my good experiences with them.

spitzerpl

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/114713#Comment_114713

Yes, it would be like telling the hostess at a restaurant your order before she seated you and sent a waiter.

On the other hand, if I asked for a glass of water or a Diet Coke as I was being seated, I expect that the hostess would see that I did get it. She would listen and respond - not cut me off in mid-sentence.

Unless there were 30 other customers waiting to be seated and you were taking 15 minutes to request that Diet Coke or water, describing past ordering history, number of ice cubes, etc. in which case she may interupt for the sake of the other 30 customers and say "I want to make sure you get the soda the way you want it so I will call your waiter over since he will be getting it for you and you can describe it directly to him/her."

Not to say that is what happened, only to say there may be times where such service is necessary.

Bob Pritchett

I knew things were different when the operator CUT ME OFF in mid-sentence twice!! I was told I'd need to speak to customer service and that would be at least a 15 minute wait. The line went dead!!

I'm very sorry about this.

Presently we have one receptionist, screening calls for 180+ people, including around 40 customer service reps. (Several people rotate through the reception desk each day.) At busy times this poor receptionist has multiple lines ringing simultaneously, and so she's trying to get everyone dispatched to the right department as quickly as possible. I'm not sure why she cut you off -- I'm guess, as others did, that it's because she had other calls queued up, and wanted to know where to send you, not the details of your problem.

I'm sorry about that; it's my hope we can move to a system where calls actually go straight to the customer service queue, and then they can help people "at the first voice", instead of requiring a transfer, but this isn't practical yet. (A combination of phone system limitations and other logistics.) I know it isn't really fair to expect the customers to know which department they need -- but I do prefer trying to ask that question with a person instead of an automated "press one for... press two for..." system.

(The shorter term system is connecting a second receptionist, and we're trying to get that worked out in the phone system, too.)

If in the future, you aren't happy with phone service, just call back and say "Bob Pritchett, please" when the receptionist answers. This will get you connected directly to me (if I'm at my desk -- otherwise voicemail) and I'll try to help you as best I can. I don't have any other call-screening.

Again, my apologies.

-- Bob

Bob Pritchett

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/114782#Comment_114782

Terry, I understand your experience and frankly am not surprised. Many organizations which have "Christian" attached to them directly, like a church, or indirectly such as Logos are simply "too big for their britches," as my mom used to say. Organizations such as this look, smell, and act more like the world all the time, but Christ predicted this, and the world continues to decay as does the decay of our sin nature.

Ouch!

I really hope this isn't how we're coming across. If so, I'm sorry. We are getting bigger, and it does make it hard to be as personal in every interaction as we were when we were smaller. But I don't think this is an issue of being Christian vs. being worldy -- I think it's an issue of scale. We are, however, fighting to stay as "small" as we can for a long as we can. That's why we resist policy, don't have a computer answer the phone, and try to stay engaged here in the forums (and elsewhere) as best we can. But there's only so much we can do. In the beginning, we visited beta testers homes (really!) to track down bugs. Today, with hundreds of thousands of customers, it's literally impossible for me to even talk to everyone in a year (or 10 years!). We've had to build structure, as much as we dislike it, too.

Overall, perhaps they should stop working on more products and get the rest of the company in order. I know that there are plenty of people employed in the Logos sales department...so for a time, perhaps Logos should flip the level of support from sales to customer service.

I feel like everyone at Logos is in customer service, in one way or another. In raw head count, customer service is many times larger than sales. Moreover, you'll find marketing people, sales people, and software developers here in the forums, as well as providing direct support to customers via email and phone when required. I understand the attraction of saying "drop everything till you fix service!", but realistically it's not practical and doesn't meet every customer's needs ("drop everything and finish PBB! / the Mac! / sentence diagrammer!").

You can be assured, though, that's it's a top priority.

Terry Cook

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/117138#Comment_117138

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your kind and detailed response. I've been with you since before the turn of the century <smile> and I've called Washington many times and gotten superb service each time. This was the only occasion in which I have encountered an issue. You'll be happy to know I called the next morning, and was connected with a very helpful associate and all my problems were quickly addressed.

Terry

sDg