Overstock's customer service line hangs up on consumers: Call centers go dead

[mandy]

A week after Overstock.com blamed a bad software rollout for its swelling third quarter loss, the company continues to suffer from massive technology problems.

Overstock's customer service line hangs up on consumers who try to navigate their way through the painful menus. Once customers press a button to reach a service representative, the line goes dead. It's a charming way to deal with complaints.
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"IT is looking into that," one representative told us after our fifth attempt to get through worked. "There is something wrong with the phones."

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/04/...ones_down/

[mandy]

2 years later...

Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne refuses to believe that technology doesn't matter. The outspoken CEO watched as his computer systems crumbled in 2005, resulting in a customer service nightmare. Then, he watched data warehousing specialist Teradata barge into his computing center and save the day.

Before Overstock.com's IT meltdown, the online retailer had enjoyed a run of success thanks to its bizarre ads where a babe talked about "the big O" and thanks to solid customer service. That flirtation with good fortune ended as Byrne pushed his team to install a new Oracle ERP (enterprise resource planning) system in record time. As many of you know, Oracle is not to be trifled with and demands months, if not years, of fine-tuning. Byrne learned this lesson too late...

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/15/...overstock/