2 posts tagged “customer service”

When I began this new job, information & requests came at me and I reacted like a deer in the headlights.  I expected it, I did not stress over it and I adapted to it.  Soon when new information & requests, more and more the latter, came to me, I attacked immediately.  If it was familiar to me, then I already had the pattern down and proceded.  But some of what I do still requires figuring out what I am going to do.  And I am good at that, figuring out things, so I enjoy the tasks.

But what I get stressed out about now is when my very clear goal is stymied by someone else.  Yes, another customer service rant. 

Today I got a simple request, and attached was a guide on how to finish that request.  There was a definate possibility that someone else should perform this task but I went ahead anywayz and researched it.  Quickly, I found the steps to solve the task and went on with them.  But based on the original communication, and it seemed to be very accurate considering it was a MS FAQ on the subject, I should have found what I needed very quickly.  It was very clear that this requested tool needed to be attained by their Volume Licensing dept.  It even told me how to find it there.  But was it there?  No.  It was not.  Sure, five different sources referenced the item being there but it wasn't.  So I called the Volume Licensing number as was suggested on the site. 

I realize that people answering phones in call centres are often the least experienced people in reference to the subject at hand.  And yet realizing that doesn't make me understand it.  If someone sits at a desk and answers emails and phone calls relating to a subject, I feel they should know the subject.  I never heard so much of, "I don't understand what you want."  I even directed them step by step through the webpages I was reading.  But no, they didn't know what I wanted because they didn't understand the product they were dealing with.  They transferred me.

A shorter conversation later and I was transferred again.  This time I was told very quickly that I had to call my MS Rep.  No one understood me or wanted to help me.

I hunted and hunted and hunted on the MS site looking for someone to help me or some way to connect.  But the only way is to actually go to MS support.  And that costs money.  For an email.  An email from them to tell me why the steps they tell me to follow do not work.

It made me think about how I could have a goal in life.  I could get involved with Customer Service Consulting.  I could work for, or help build, a company that provides working models for customer service and how to implement it within your environment.  But then I remembered, companies do not want to provide good customer service.  They want to provide the illusion of working on it but the actual activity of providing customer service is metered by the number of clients you close down. It doesn't matter if you actually helped them, as long as the ticket is closed, you have succeeded.  And even if the company actually cared about Service you would have to man the lines and desks with people who cared.  And people who understood the service or product you provide.  And actually wanted to do their job.

Yeah right.

The purpose of Customer Service is assist your customer in accomplishing things.  On the front line, such as the cashier in a store or the CS Rep in a call centre, there is usually not much you can do.  But when encountering a problem you cannot assist or supply an answer for, you should be willing to either forward to an applicable person or do your best to find someone who can help.  The worst possible answer is, "I am sorry but we cannot do that."  Very rarely is someone going to ask something of a customer service rep that has not been asked for at a previous time.

Here is a simple request I had to make to Network Solutions.  The company I work for has about 4 dozen domain names, one for every possible permutation of a product name that we carry or produce.  Ninety percent of these domain names have a single contact listed, but that contact is not a person but a department.  For some reason, there is not one account but many accounts, and I imagine that it was Network Solutions contributing to this reason, not ourselves.

I ask for a list of all domain names associated with our company name, the dates they are going to expire or the dates they recently expired on.  A list.  Have someone query the database, as I imagine it's all in a database, produce a list with the needed information.  Nope.  Cannot be done.  The only way for ME, and they were very clear they would not provide ME with any information but I would have to get it myself, the only way for me to get this information is to log into every account individually and find out the information.

Obviously the CSR could see this information, as she agreed with me that we had a lot of accounts, but she would not provide me with it.  It was not a security reason, for I had requested the info be sent to the account associated with the domains.  It was simply because it was not easy to do.  She did not know how to get that query off her screen and to me.  Because she could not do it herself, it was considered impossible.  That is soooo not customer service.

All too often these days this is the answer.  There were days before when account managers would babysit a client and do anything within their power to make the client happy.  You would think that Network Solutions would love to keep the three dozen accounts we have with them under their umbrella but you and me know, that their money is not made in the registration for one client but having an amorphous public opinion draw more clients their way.  One client doesn't matter; thousands of new clients matter.  One customer doesn't matter when there are thousands of customers in the pipe who need new accounts and want them now.  Once they are signed up you just hope they never need assistance again.  But that is not customer service, that is sales. 

Luckily not everyone is about that.  We are buying software and hardware from one company who still remembers how to keep existing clients.  They do their best to keep us happy.  They will go out of their way to get me, the new guy on the block, the information I need.  They want to keep our business.