What I Heard Is Not What I Got
Okay, so I experienced some rather disappointing customer service lately. I wont mention company names this time around, but I will say I actually hung up on the person to whom I was speaking. I was that angry. And, honestly, I cannot remember a time when I ever hung up on someone like that. I might say thank you but no thank you and return the receiver to the base of my phone, but Ill never hang up in anger. Well, until early last week that is.
So I was thinking about the fact that while I was on hold the FIRST time during this unsatisfactory conversation I listened with interest and surprise, too, as the looped message told me how very important I was to the company and how they would resolve my problem and I thought, this is sort of cruel, because I dont think theyre going to fix this at all. So at the end of the conversation, after the manager informed me that they werent going to help me I said, So for $20 youre going to leave me very unhappy and no longer a customer for life? He said that he understood how I felt and that even he had had a similar experience with another company.
Okay, so I wondered about the training they get and what happens when the looped recorded message becomes a big lie. Do some companies give their people more latitude when it comes to attempting to resolve a problem, a problem that originates because of a mistake communicated by the company to a customer?
What happened that afternoon is something we should all think about when it comes to employee development. No matter how great an investment you put into an employee the minute that person is unable to achieve a satisfactory resolution, well, a part of that investment goes up in smoke. That coming from a disgruntled customer. I think I wouldve felt better even had the manager not told me he understood and not shared the fact that he had had a similar experience at another company. That made me sad actually and it left me with a huge void in my faith in this company.
Im not suggesting that this person send me a check for $20, but I wondered wasnt there a little room for some kind of solution that hadnt appeared on a page of a particular customer service module. When were trying to develop employees do we give them the space and opportunity to fix a problem that may not have arisen elsewhere? Do we encourage them to take risks so that theyre never put in a position that leaves them responsible for losing a customer? Is there something so wrong with telling a customer, You know, Ive never run into this problem before and Id like to be able to help you, but Ill need a little more time?
Maybe Im incredibly naïve, but I have to believe that one of the reasons that successful companies get to be that way is because somewhere along the line the ones who have direct contact with their customers makes fixes out of tools they never thought they had.