My mother's restaurant been a very loyal customer to this company. She's Chinese, doesn't speak…read morefluent English, but she came here looking for a better future for myself and my siblings. She even became a small business owner.
Today, she called the accounting center to pay her bills (844-839-9593). She dialed the wrong extension number and got to Danielle (x 26831) instead of her normal accounting person. Immediately after Danielle picked up, my mom apologized and tried to explain that she was trying to reach a different extension number. My mom doesn't speak fluent English, but she was polite and soft-spoken. Instead of saying, okay m'am, I will reroute you OR just tell my mom to call back, she half-assed her customer service and curtly said "HOW CAN I HELP YOU???" She didn't bother listening to what my mom was saying. My mom then told her, well you guys spelled my last name wrong, and again, Danielle VERY rudely said "WELL M'AM, HOW CAN I HELPP YOUUU?!?!?!" (I don't feel like I can properly translate the attitude this lady felt she needed to convey to my mother, who worked three jobs to raise her children, and sacrificed her whole life to be here, JUST to be disrespected and discriminated against?) My mom then moved on from the last name issue and began to try to pay the bills. Danielle asked my mom what she'd like to pay, and my mom asked how much the bill was - and Danielle then again, rudely saId "WELL YOUR BILL IS $$$ IF YOU WANT TO PAY $$ THEN THAT'S YOUR ENTIRE BILL?!!?!??!" I was pretty appalled by this time, but I decided that perhaps Danielle was just having a bad day and Danielle wasn't trying to be rude. Then my mom said okay I'd like to pay the entire bill. Danielle said Okay what is your name on the credit card? My mom took out her credit card and tried to read Danielle the number of the credit card and Danielle RUDELY cut her off and went on a diatribe about how my mom was impatient, and told my mom to "LISTEN TO MY QUESTION!?!" (even though this lady ignored what my mom had to say from the beginning). Then my mom asked her okay what is your question and her response was "OH MY LORD."
By this time I was pretty ticked off. I don't think I'm being sensitive when I have seen this kind of treatment often and when I constantly hear about our Asian American elders being SLAUGHTERED and ASSAULTED daily just for being Asian, and nobody ever stood up for them. While Danielle did not physically assault my mom, her discrimination was evident in her attitude and her words. She only treated my mom the way she did because of my mom's accent and imperfect English, and she only treated my mom the way she did because she knew that my mom, an Asian American immigrant with imperfect English, would not file a complaint.
I took over the phone and asked Danielle for her name and last name and badge number. She gave me her first name, and said she didn't have a badge number and couldn't give me her last name. She told me to call customer service if I had a complaint but it is unrealistic to call customer service to report that a person with a common name was rude. (By the way, Danielle was noticeably more polite as soon as I picked up and spoke to her in fluent English). Then I asked well who do I call to lodge a complaint, and instead of giving me the number, she constantly cut me off to justify her behavior and then hung up on me.
I called back to the correct extension line and the accountant was polite and agreed to bring this incident to his supervisor's attention. While I appreciate Western Exterminator's effort to rectify this issue, I can't help but wonder: how many Asian immigrant business owners have suffered the treatment by Danielle? It is especially concerning when I know that Asian Americans normally let things slide. My mom was going to just finish the transaction with Danielle without filing a complaint had I not been around. I'm not writing this review with the hope that Danielle would be disciplined or fired, I am writing this review to raise awareness and hope that Danielle would become a better person (although I know it is only wishful thinking).