January 29, 2008
Quality Customer Service (or the lack thereof)
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I recently posted about the efforts my company is putting into improving customer support queries. It’s ironic that right after I posted that, I had to place support calls with 2 of my vendors. Those calls had significantly different outcomes.
Issue #1 - We’ve got a laptop (purchased 11 months ago) that needs a battery replacement. I contacted Dell to get it replaced. I got a little bit of a runaround from them before they told me that the 12-month warranty on batteries begins at the manufacture date, not at the date of purchase, so I’d have to buy a new battery. I pressed the issue, had it escalated, and they’re sending me a new battery. The problem was solved, and the customer is happy.
Issue #2 - We changed our company name last year, and the name that goes out on the caller ID when we make calls is wrong. I contacted CBeyond, our SIP provider, to get control of the caller ID name field. They said they had it resolved, and they closed my ticket. It wasn’t resolved, so I opened another ticket. They said they resolved it and closed my ticket. I called them this morning (rather frustrated) and had the opportunity to speak with a very rude customer service representative. Bottom line here is that my issue is still unresolved, and I’m pretty dissatisfied with CBeyond.
So what do we learn from this?
Do unto others… I’m glad we’ve got a customer service team who is focusing on high quality of support. Customer service is a critical area of business, and if you expect your vendors to treat you with a higher level of support, you should offer that high level of support to your customers.
Every employee is a marketing employee. The lady I spoke with at CBeyond wasn’t there to sell me anything, but if I had to choose a telephone company based solely on my experience with CBeyond this week, I would keep looking. Every interaction with a customer is an opportunity to build goodwill. CBeyond is failing miserably in this area.
Use common sense. I shouldn’t have had to escalate the issue with Dell, but at least the manager used common sense - a 12-month warranty should start at the date of purchase. With my CBeyond issues, most of my frustration stems from the fact that they keep closing my support tickets before I verify that the work was completed successfully. They are so focused on clearing out their open ticket queue that they are missing the mark when it comes to servicing their customer.
What opportunities for improvement have you found when dealing with customer service departments?
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6 Comments on Quality Customer Service (or the lack thereof) »
January 29, 2008
Chris @ 5:24 pm:
Interesting that you posted about this topic. I just got off the phone with Comcast. I actually called them back to tell them that the service technician they sent out to my house this past weekend was fantastic. He was knowledgeable, helpful, and he even took the initiative and time to re-ground my cable when he noticed it wasn’t grounded properly.
So, thank you Mr. Comcast Service Guy (I don’t know that you’d want your name posted publicly on the internet) for excellent service. I took time out of my day to call Comcast Support just for the opportunity to praise you. I know people are more likely to complain than praise, so I try to make an effort to pass along positive comments whenever possible!
The Spine Doctor @ 7:31 pm:
Being in a job where my main duty is customer service, it aggravates me to get even just mediocre service. Bad service drives me bonkers, and argumentative service cause me to boycott the product if it is something I can boycott. (still trying to figure out how to get out of my 2 year contract with Cingular/AT&T they are so awful) However, every time I have a bad experience somewhere, it makes me that much more determined to provide good service to my customers. That being said, there are some nut jobs out there that you can not please no matter what you do.
Thank you Chris for sending in your letter. You are correct, the big guys never hear about the ones that go above and beyond.
The Spine Doctor @ 7:32 pm:
Sorry, that last comment was by the Spine Doctor’s wife…she’s logged into his computer…
January 30, 2008
Tanya @ 12:55 pm:
Oh I hated Cingular with a passion. They NEVER resolved my issues with them and they would taunt you by saying at the end of each call “Thank you for calling Cingular, where one call resolution is our goal”. Things were never resolved in one call.
I think a big part of Customer Service is training the people who talk on the phones.They need to have accurate up to date information that is easily and quickly accessible. I deal with some of the problems that come from the people on the phones who give misinformation. Something that could be resolved easily or simply, will escalate. I work in health care, so things escalate quickly, when someone’s worried about their medications.
February 2, 2008
Doug @ 4:05 pm:
Maybe it is time to get rid of CBeyond. Just a thought.
February 4, 2008
Greg Sailors @ 5:49 pm:
Before going to New Wilderness full time, the foundation company I worked for moved into an office with another company that is the brother of the owner of the foundation company. We moved our business numbers to that location as well as address etc…
For the past 4 months, the foundation company not only is getting the other companies phone bills but all the lines show up on called ID as the other company and not as the foundation’s company. Not to mention that they cut off our service 3 times saying we were not paying our bills which we have.
They still do not have it right and they are trying to charge us a service charge for not paying the bills that we did pay…
I think we need people that are actually competent to do their jobs devoid of their posing.
It feels like they are guessing most of the time. Especially when you go up the chain of command.
I’m IN!