Living Lifeskills

Right Customer Take 6

2005-04-25T18:09:00.000+10:00

This is the last in my series on customer service.

Not because there isn't a truckload of stories but just because I am going to do something a little different.

It's amazes me how often the phrase "customer service" comes up only when someone doesn't get what they want. Usually they cannot get what they want because its either physically or legally impossible or both.

The only good news is that 'polite' people use the phrase customer service as they work themselves into a frenzy.

Less polite people just start swearing and threatening.

A few examples to give you the picture:

A customer asked for a phone to be connected but wasn't sure what the name of the street was she was moving into. She knew the suburb but not the street and it was poor customer service I couldn't find it.

Another was upset we hadn't turned the phone off when she moved and the new people in the house could have been making calls. I asked had she called us to say they had moved? Well no but can't you tell I wasn't making any calls?

Many customers don't want to pay to have their phone connected and threaten to go to another company. Which they think will mean we will offer to connect for free. The problem is that's illegal and the other phone company will charge them the same connection fee anyway.

People call up and say why is my bill so high? The simple answer is in 99% of cases because your making telephone calls.

I worked today, ANZAC day, and one of the customers who called was upset. It was poor customer service I couldn't get a phone working for her today. The facts are it's a national public holiday and nothing could be started today. My company had 90 people taking calls for customers to answer their queries and set things up for tomorrow. I was able to get her phone working at 5:00 am tomorrow. Not withstanding the fact that most people who move house know weeks before they do. The reality was the only reason her phone wasn't working today was because she didn't call to make the arrangements when she could have.

So the usual comment from 'polite' people came out.

This is poor customer service I will call xyz... and they will help me.

My response is always the same on public holidays. We are happy to have your business but you are free to call another company. But please be aware the call centre at xyz... is almost definitely closed so you will have to call back tomorrow. In the slight chance they are taking calls they cannot place the order for you today, we use the same telephone exchanges. So instead of your phone working at 5:00 am you will have to wait till the end of the day.

Right Customer Take 5

2005-03-28T21:32:00.000+10:00

Some customers live and breath conspiracy.

There is a sad obsession some customers have with a X-File like obsession with conspiracy theories. A growing number of people feed on conspiracy theories until they trust no one they talk to face to face or over the phone.

They follow every Today/Tonight, A Current Affair, Radio Shock Jock, program and forget one important fact. The only reason these shows exists and keep their customers tuned in is to fill their program with the worst of people and the most overblown and exaggerated stories that turn rational customers into snarling I-don't-trust-you- people.

The sad fact is a customers experience with a customer service consultant is often less that satisfactory simply because they have an antagonistic dismissive mindset. Their contact is marred by a sour-puss view that is reinforced by the chalk-on-the-blackboard conversation they engage in.

In the same way the aggressive drunk at the bar is spoiling for a fight, a growing number of people enter a telephone conversation with a consultant looking for a fight to 'prove' they won't be ripped of.

The truth is out there.... The problem is its a lot less like a Robert Ludlum novel.

Right Customer Take 4

2005-03-25T19:17:00.000+10:00

Customer Service 21st style is a bit "Home and Away."

By that I mean for many customers the prevailing attitude is everything is a drama.

Unfortunately the advent of Soapies and 'reality' TV has bred a undercurrent that every challenge, delay, or restriction is a drama. The most popular TV shows work hard at keeping their customers interested by getting the storylines and actors/participants to be upset, arguing, fighting, complaining, making the small problem into a major life changing disaster

Many customers subconsciously or consciously carry that drama mindset around with them. It makes life better or more interesting to turn every little thing into a huge issue.

There are a increasing percentage of customers who rage at something that cannot be changed and then descend into abuse of the most offensive manner simply because they are mimicking the 'drama' of the age.

Others react to challenges or delays as if their whole world has come crashing down and the customer service consultant is personally responsible.

That truth that its not what happens to you but how you respond to it has never been more topical in a society gone drama crazy.

I had one customer this week working herself into a state of panic after babbling on about the situation. She had worked herself into such a state that in the end she wasn't making any sense. So I called her by her first name to get her attention and said you need to relax and take a few deep breaths to calm yourself down.

So after she had taken those deep breaths she became more rational again and we were able to come to agreement on what course of action needed to be taken to get what it is she wanted.

Home and away customers, "You know we belong together..."

Right Customer Take 3

2005-03-15T19:38:00.000+10:00

What's in a name?

Everything. It still amazes me how after four years of the privacy act 'customers' still get upset when they are not authorised on the account.

Every day someone wanting to access confidential information, or make changes to the account that will cost someone else money, or ask a question that is illegal to answer, and get upset by the consultant enforcing the privacy law.

Would you want your bank to let anybody including family members withdraw money from your account without your agreement? Would you like them to be able to sign up for a personal loan you have to pay back? Would you like the bank letting them know what money you have, where you spend your money, and all manner of private information unless you specifically said they could?

Customers (who unless they are on the account aren't actually customers) should take a deep breath, listen to what is required, and realise that while it might be inconvenient we cannot take your word its OK because it not.

In my call centre we respectfully ask to speak with the primary account holder when we have too. We offer to call the primary account holder on any work, home, or mobile number to get their OK for a transaction or question of any kind. But we have to specifically speak with them first.

We know the account holder is your husband, wife, partner, mother, father, brother, sister, relative, someone who can't speak, is ill, cant speak english, is out of the country, in the country, at work, at home, too old, in the car, has a sore throat, asked you to call, is too busy, on the toilet, in the shower, asleep, out the back, fixing the car, down the back paddock, you pay the bill anyway, you always call, they are moving into a nursing home, etc.

It's not personal its privacy.

Right Customer Take 2

2005-03-12T16:46:00.000+10:00

Sorry for the delay in writing more stories of customer service.
This is another continuing saga of customers.
Most days I get least a couple of customers irate because their phone isn't working.
They usually start by saying; Why is my phone not working?
With three million possibilities I wish I was a mind reader but you have to dial 1900 predict my future to get that service. (At $5:95 per minute, but that is another story).
So I have to say; Can you please give me the telephone number you are talking about?
When they give me the telephone number the service is normal temporary disconnected.
That means they haven't paid their bill.
No customers are surprised many say they will call; A Current Affair, or Today Tonight , or the ACCC.
But the point is obvious pay your bill.
Now I don't do billing calls thank goodness but to get to this stage the customer has;
Received a bill with up to 17 calendar days to pay it. Haven't paid it for a further 9 days, incurred a late fee (that's another story), had a reminder letter sent, and for the past 5 days every time they pick up the phone there is a recorded message telling them to call a particular number before the phone is disconnected.
Plus at any time they could have called and asked for a extension on the due date and possibly a payment plan.

Right Customer Take 1

2005-03-07T18:52:00.000+10:00

Anonymous echoed the feelings of many people who think customer service is a quality issue. The service provider and especially their representative is unresponsive, uncaring, incompetent.
The following stories sum up the 24-28 of the 30 interesting conversations I have each week.
Story #1 -
The first call of my day.
Hi my name is ....... How can I help you?
After asking four more times what my first name was the male customer had a request which I completed.
When that was finished I asked was there anything else I could help him with?
He said; Yes, apologise to my wife.
I said excuse me? He said; apologise to my wife. Since I had only spoken to him in this conversation I said why?
Because my wife called earlier and you were rude to her. I know it was you because I recognise your voice.
So I questioned him more. When your wife called where you with her? No. Did you listen into the conversation on another phone? No.
So you weren't at home and you didn't listen to the conversation so how can you recognise my voice?
Because my wife said it was a man.
All the stories you are going to read are true...

The customer is always right

2005-03-06T21:08:00.000+10:00

I am always amazed at people who believe when they are "The Customer" they are infallible.
That the slightest inconvenience requires abject apology from the customer service consultant and of course no charge for the service provided. They feel free to shout, scream, swear, exaggerate and threaten.
It seems to many people to be a game. What can I get by being obnoxious? Hasn't everyone heard a friend or relative happy to talk about a bad experience on the phone.
Having spent the last few years earning a living in customer service in a call centre as a consultant and trainer of consultants the bad news is a growing percentage of customers are not right.
When I am on the phones I usually talk to around 50 people a day, 250 people a week.
I would have professional and often very pleasant conversations with around 220 of those customers, even if they don't always get exactly what they want.
The other 30 are what makes life interesting...

Birth

2005-03-04T23:03:00.000+10:00

This is my first Blog. I have been introduced to this by Scotwise, encouraged by Angel Wiv Attitude, and seen a few other blogs that have caught my attention.

Living Lifeskills is about me, what I believe in, what interests me, what I can share from my experiences.

Enjoy life, enjoy the journey.