Everyone can recount multiple customer service horror stories. Airlines, cable companies and carriers seem to be the "leaders" in poor service. A historical perspective will reveal that all three industries were either regulated or perhaps a monopoly; hence, there was no incentive to please the customer through service or innovative products. Even though these industries have since been deregulated, they can't seem to escape their past.
My own personal customer service tail involves a carrier. Several years ago I had a single rate east coast contract with the mobile carrier Voicestream (which is now T-mobile). Work took me to the west coast for short term assignment, so I called Voicestream to switch my plan to a nationwide plan. Two months later I came back home to find two monthly bills of over $400 each. I thought a simple call to customer service would do the trick. Obviously they didn't switch me over to the nationwide plan and I had been accumulating roaming charges for two months.
Three months, over 10 calls, and 2 letters later I was still stuck with an astronomical bill. There was nothing I could do. My "lawyer" (I put lawyer in quotes because he's not my personal lawyer, just a good friend who happens to be a lawyer) advised me to pay the bill and avoid problems with my credit history. In my last ditch effort I told Voicestream that I would leave them after my contract expired if they didn't rectify the matter. You can imagine how much they cared about keeping me as a customer.
This past week I had to contact a customer service rep at three different companies: Marriott, Graduate Leverage, and AT&T. I expected great service from Marriott and average service from Graduate Leverage. AT&T? Well even though this is the new AT&T, I expected old AT&T service. To my surprise all three experiences were quite positive. The reps were friendly, if they didn't know the answer they made an effort to find the correct information, and ultimately my inquiries were resolved.
Nevertheless, I wasn't content. Even though I had positive customer service experiences, I maintained negative emotions toward all three companies. At the time I couldn't understand why, but a few days later I now realize what should have been obvious. Each company's product/service failed to meet my needs and it was this failure that necessitated a call to customer service. If each company had executed better in their operations, then I wouldn't have had to waste time dealing with customer service.
Customer service is definitely a differentiator, and perhaps even a competitive advantage for some companies. Consumers have more choices than ever before, and assuming switching costs are low, one bad experience with customer service could be enough to try a competitive offering. However, companies should strive to reduce calls to customer service by improving operations. Unless we're talking about a commodity or a company that competes on price, meeting customer needs at the time of transaction and use is far more important than having shiny happy people in customer service.
Though I prefer good customer service to bad customer service, I would rather be happy with what I paid for.
On a side note, why does the customer service rep always ask for my account number when I've already entered it on the phone?
That's it.
2 comments:
I HATE hunting for my account number, entering it, then having the damn operator ask for it again. Don't tell me they don't have the technology to know what the hell it is.
I love how the new AT&T is the same as the old AT&T.
Hi there! This blog post couldn't be written much better! Looking through this article reminds me of my previous roommate! He constantly kept talking about this. I'll forward this information to him. Pretty sure he'll have a great read. Many thanks for sharing! facebook sign in
Post a Comment