Bad customer service from Major League Baseball

Earlier today, Major League Baseball proved that bad customer service can sour even a great product.

First, let me give Major League Baseball credit for their MLB.TV product. They let you stream any game throughout the season, right online and live. It’s a great way to keep up on out-of-town favorite teams. It includes archived games, condensed highlights, great games of the past, radio from local affiliates and more. Very cool product.

I signed up last night but had trouble using the product. So I sent an email to their Customer Service email address, explaining my problem and asking for help.

Mid-day today, here’s the email I got back:

Dear Customer,

This is where u would need to go:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mediacenter/index.jsp#20070301

That…was it.

Problem #1: Despite the fact that they knew my name, they addressed me as “Customer”. It’s lazy, generic, and proves that they think of me as a number and monthly paycheck, not a true customer.

Problem #2: Did the customer service rep really just abbreviate “you” as “u”? Is their customer service department staffed by text-messaging teenagers? Unprofessional and amateur. Doesn’t strike a high degree of confidence.

Problem #3: The link they sent is exactly the link I couldn’t get to work last night in the first place. So after the first two condescending problems, they didn’t even solve my original problem.
There was no offer for additional information, not even the name of a real-live customer service rep I could call or email for follow-up. The response from MLB was completely anonymous. And incomplete. And frustrating.

I’ve finally figured out how to make the service work properly, on my own, but can only hope Major League Baseball cleans up their customer service act, and soon.