One of the things I strive to receive in my work and personal life is good customer service, yet all too often I find myself having to complain about awful service. I don’t like to name and shame companies but when my experience has been shockingly bad, I feel compelled to tell others, so they too can be on the watch out.
On the other hand, to balance things up, this morning I received an excellent level of service from another company, so I have given below some of details, so that you can see the differences.
Company 1
I have an i-Phone and I have phone insurance, I also run a business and have to complete VAT returns every quarter, so naturally everything I pay VAT on, I need to have copies of. So I phoned my insurance company to retrieve this information.
2 phone calls later, totaling around 45 minutes (mostly on hold with ear-bleeding loud hold music) I was initially informed that the monthly premiums ‘included VAT’ but when I asked if I could be sent a copy for my VAT return, I was informed that a) they didn’t usually do this and b) they couldn’t provide anything showing the VAT breakdown, but c) that VAT was definitely included in the monthly payments and d) they could send me a statement but it would only show payments, not VAT.
Both people I spoke to didn’t really understand what I was asking of them and had to keep ‘putting me on hold’ so they could ask ‘their manager’. I thought the request was simple enough, so after not receiving a resolution, I ended the conversation (and contract) by saying “I’ll make this easier for you, I would like to cancel the contract” to which the answer was ‘OK sorry about that, let me take some details’.
The result, I didn’t get a resolution to my query, they lost a customer (and I don’t think they even cared about it either – which was worse).
The company was: The Geek Squad (Part of Carphone Warehouse).
Company 2
Being a keen runner, I rely on my equipment, so when the USB connector for my GPS running watch failed to work, I phoned the company, explained the situation. They asked me for my serial number, email address and postal address and informed me they would send out a replacement. Gave me a case number and asked ‘is there anything else I can help you with today?’. I was put on hold, but only for seconds, and the total time of the phone call was less than 5 minutes.
The result, a happy customer, who will tell all her running friends how good the company was at dealing with the issue.
The company was: Garmin
So 2 sides of the coin there, 2 different days, 2 different companies, 2 different experiences. I do ask myself if this was down to the experience (or inexperience) of the customer service advisers or whether ‘company policy’ comes into play at all in these situations.
If I do receive bad service on the phone, I usually ask if my phone conversation is being recorded ‘for training purposes‘, and I will say ‘I hope this is being recorded, and that you will use it in future to teach your staff how not to treat your customers’.
I may be a tough cookie, but after having spent a lot of time developing and teaching people in the workplace, and working with call handlers in customer service centres, I know that most companies would cringe if they heard the way their front line staff are talking to their customers.
In summary, don’t put up with bad customer service.