Is it just me or is customer services just tumbling to an unacceptable levels?
Today I tried to contact my bank after being told when I tried to log in online that they couldn’t display my details.
I was given no clue as to why, yet when I looked to call them each and every number was associated with a specific problem, lost car, fraud, stolen card, opening a new account, etc,, etc.
Given I had no clue why my account was unavailable I didn’t know which number to call so I decide to try just any of them, and see if they could put me through to the right department.
At least the system allowed my to use the key pad to input my choices, rather than using the terrible voice recognition systems used by some companies.
After having input my account number, to help identify me and speed up the process, I waited 15 minutes until someone came onto the phone who immediately asked for my account details, the exact same ones I and keyed in previously to help speed up the process.
After another wait on hold whilst they looked into the account, I was told my problem was not one they could deal with and they said I needed to get in touch with web chat.
Having spent 30 minutes waiting for web chat I then went through a process where I was told to call one of the original numbers again, so back to square one.
It’s not so long ago that many companies said they wanted to put the Customer at the heart of everything they do, that they wanted to focus on Customer Service.
I can certainly say that for me, this is not something I feel, I feel as a customer I am more and more treated like a commodity. Almost as if there is an endless supply of customers and if one customer is dissatisfied and leaves, so what, there are plenty more where they come from.
Having finally got through I found my account had been placed on hold. It had been put on hold because the bank had accidentally cancelled one of my payments to them, which then went on to cause a problem, which then made them cancel of of my other payments, and then block the account.
They apologised profusely, and told me that they would look to correct everything.
Unfortunately it would take 14 days for my account to be usable again by me, and that I would need to recreate all the payments which they had cancelled !!!
The easiest path for me now is to just move to another account, that would take less than 14 days, but to be honest I am not sure that the poor customer service is limited to just this bank.
This is not an isolated issue, I find each time I try to contact a company it’s practically impossible to get anywhere and when I do the service is appalling, and I often here the same complaints from others.
Too often companies talk about providing good service but then don’t. It’s not that I object to budget services, I don’t, it’s more that I object to companies making claims that they don’t back up.
The companies don’t walk their talk, they are not authentic. Which then causes me to lose trust in them, in the same way I would with any leader who doesn’t walk the talk.
Maybe the problem lies with us, that we don’t complain enough when we get poor services, we just expect it and therefore accept it.
Although my complaints just fell on deaf ears. Maybe companies just don’t care, or their staff aren’t motivated enough.
Whilst good service might cost more and therefore might put companies off providing it, what I can say is that I appreciate good service and whenever I get it, I will always consider coming back and also recommend that company or service.
Apologies for the rant, but enough is enough!
Gordon Tredgold
Customer service should be the founding building block of any organization Gordon and this is why I am very pleased to be responsible for delivering technical solutions for my organization’ s contact centres globally. The contact centre is normally the only contact experience that a customer will have with a company so you have to “get it right – first time”! We have embedded core KPIs into our contact centre platform including a GoS of 90:10 – this means that we do everything to answer 90% of calls within 10 seconds including automatically making other advisers available to protect this KPI. Our Global CEO sees these KPIs every day from everyone of our 250+ contact centres & if the target is not met he needs a detailed explanation along with a service improvement plan. Multi-channel integration is also key to ensure that an agent has a true 360° view of the customer. One of our core strategies for 2014 is called ICCC Insanely Customer Centric Culture and this is driven from the Global Management Board down to every country. We have also implemented an initiative on every country website that allows a customer to fill in a form and this will generate an email to the CEO & CS Director immediately so our customer knows that their words are being sent “Straight To The Top”. “Customer service is to business what water is to humans – you can’t survive without it & you can’t dilute it!” Excellence Simply Delivered
David, i really appreciate that, i think your customers will too. People will pay for quality, if we don’t believe that then someone needs to explain why iPhones sell so many.
I would love to see more and more companies take this approach, Insanely customer centric is the way to go. I have to say that in my interactions with DHL the service has been excellent 🙂
Evolving forward in speed and technology is somewhat one step forward and two steps back. I had a lengthy reply and deleted it, I can’t compare myself to a CEO or to be college educated, however do have some farmer fruit stand wisdom. 😉
I am sure it would have been a great reply Michelle and you are right technology & speed are only a part of it. At the end of the day it is about having a passion to deliver great customer service 365 days a year.
Not all are or will fit into the 90/10 and making the “person” the customer feel like they are a percentage % well hmm sounds ouch read it again and listen with your family or your boss as the “person” being waited on. Not all persons need hurried to get satisfied its a plus, but not a must. Taking the time to over achieve and satisfy will get lots of applauds vs the adverse letter or phone call.
A special mind set on satisfaction needs applied for each transaction with out crossing boundaries. Webster’s dictionary here we come.. is satisfaction guaranteed posted, written or said but then not applied to each transaction? The mind set needs to be we said it, we must be honor and keep it.
This release tension from both parties your employees aren’t exhausted and the customer know your trustworthy. Win ~Win for everyone, keep it simple.
Satisfaction:
: a happy or pleased feeling because of something that you did or something that happened to you
: the act of providing what is needed or desired : the act of satisfying a need or desire
: a result that deals with a problem or complaint in an acceptable way
Guarantee:
: an assurance for the fulfillment of a condition: as
: an agreement by which one person undertakes to secure another in the possession or enjoyment of something
: an assurance of the quality of or of the length of use to be expected from a product offered for sale often with a promise of reimbursement.
Customer Service departments are rated by one of two metrics: 1) The number of calls handled,and, 2) The number of problems solved. You have dealt with the former.
With respect to the notion of dissatisfied customers moving to competitors is indicative of a Markov process, and the company you dealt with is counting on that phenomena to continue in their favor.
What were once considered State-Of-The-Art services have become the new ‘budget’ services, ala Kano.
Finally, good customer service doesn’t cost anything.It is poor customer service that is costly.
I personally hate to be on hold and be transferred many times to different departments, what make it worst is the person that they will transfer you to cant even help you. Workforce Management should find an innovative call center solution if they wanna retain their customers, as we all know that the new marketing is customer service.