7.30.05
Digging yourself into a Customer Service hole
It's bad when an entire industry can be categorized as "terrible". You name it; cable, telephone, even fast food all have the reputation of expecting the worse results from customer service representatives.
Fortunately, poor customer service doesn't completely translate into poor total service. Often, the only time you call into customer service is when there is a problem that needs attention. By that time, though, the last thing you would want to deal with is the run around of non-helpful, timer watching script readers. Now, here is where the real problem starts...the run around.
What starts the run around? From my personal experience, it's one of two things: 1) the rep's total unwillingness to help, or 2) bad information given by the rep.
Example 1) I had an occasion where I had to call into Charter for an install that was going to be missed. Foreseeing this, I called in and asked for a status. The rep essentially stated to me when I asked for a supervisor , "the only information available is what I see in front of me and the supervisor can't tell you anything different." Wha?!?!
After calmly thanking him for his "help", I hung up and went on to:
- call #2 (2:15 pm - sincerely nice older lady who worked like she had a hand chopped off, but took my info so a supervisor could call me...make a mental note of that)
- call #3 (rep who put me on hold so long I dropped back into the queue)
- and call #4 (at 4:50 pm of a 5 pm install deadline) who actually got the install set up for the following day and credit for the missed install. All the while still waiting for this supervisor to call back.
This 2 and a half hour of wasted time could have been resolved if the first I spoke to had any type of work ethic.
Example 2) With my recent cell phone issues, I decided to suck it up and get a new handset (still having a bit of call drops after all). One of the calls into Sprint lead to a rep telling me I had a $150 instant credit on my line. Well, taking that info to the Sprint Store, it was clarified to me that it was only a $75 credit for now. When I left the store, I called Sprint to verify this information (which turns out to be true).
At worse, I wasted a bit of gas I rather not have and I'm still stuck with this current model for the time being. But, something else came from that phone call. Maybe it was just the way the CSR presented the information to me, but they had everytime I called into them about every issue I've had. Yeah, I know that type of data can be useful in solving service problems, but if everytime you call in about an issue (even 3 repeat calls due to unhelpful CSR's) they have it sitting right there in front of them.
So, going back to the thought that most calls are a result of some aspect of your service not working, 75% of these reps (assuming it takes 4 calls for a resolution) are potentionally looking at you in the worse light. Keep in mind, you don't know what personal remarks they leave about you when your patience is stretched to its limit...and it reflects in your voice.
What are your options? Never call? That's not realistic. Change providers? That's not always possible. Try your best to remain calm? You're not the one in charge of what record about you is left. It's almost like a being in a real life Seinfeld episode.
3:51 pm in life | 1 person viewing2 ramblings so far