I am currently on the phone with Vonage, the broadband phone company. I've called to have them transfer my business line over to an extra phone jack on my regular phone account (also with Vonage). I'm doing this because the Fax line on my business account doesn't work correctly, and never has (often we would get partial faxes or none at all). This is the second time I've called to get them to transfer the account. The first time, was about one month ago. They were supposed to get it all taken care of by that evening. Now its a month later, nothing happened with the account, and we just got another bill for $44.19. This time they are telling me that they will get it right, oh but if they don't, here is a phone number that I can call to bug them about getting it right. Its nice that they give me a name and a phone number, but I really don't want to spend my time making sure they get their act together.
If they could only get it right, without multiple one hour conversations, and without being transferred to new people every ten minutes, it wouldn't be so frustrating. I believe that explaining the same problem to several people is the crux of why customer service often fails. In the process of being transferred all of the progress you made in the communications effort is lost and you have to start at ground zero.
To be fair to Vonage, this isn't a problem that is unique to them. In fact Vonage's customer support has a few things going for it. Their phone personnel are very polite and helpful, and they sound empowered to fix my problem (very unlike SBC's phone support, but that is an entirely different story).
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2 comments:
Customer service is long since dead - if it ever existed at all. But who is to blame? If corporate entities or small businesses alike offer substandard wages for customer service professions what type of service should we expect? If customer service professionals are paid a living wage and provided adequate training then perhaps service would improve.
I too have Vonage and have not been pleased with customer service but it is better than most by far. However it too has been outsourced. One customer service representative I spoke with was in the Phillipeans.
Is outsourcing wrong? Not neccesarily. Whats wrong is the race to the bottow regarding pay, benefits and working conditions. NAFTA and other free trade initiatives allow the profit motive to dominate all else. The worst working conditions, least pay and least govt regulation seem to win.
Those who seek goods and services produced in economies not governed by the lowest common demoninator can help reverse the trend towards poor quality goods and services produced by poorly treated, poorly trained, poorly compensated workers.
In short, perhaps a socialist democracy where government more closely regulates commerce would improve your wait time and service issues with Vonage!
Wow! Do you really think so? The notion that increasing regulation will have any benefit on customer service, seems preposterous to me. I feel I actually get far worse service when interacting with Government (e.g. the DMV isn't my favorite place to visit). My service experience in socialist democracies (Germany for example) is far worse than anything I've experienced in the U.S. (Don't get me wrong, I love Germany, I just don't feel that there customer service is anything to write home about).
I also don't buy that it has anything to do with wages. I've gotten great service in South Africa, from those that get paid next to nothing.
Good service is an attitude. Some people may have it as part of their character, but I believe for most it is a function of the working environment. Ask yourself these 2 questions the next time you get crummy service.
1. Is good service rewarded differently than bad service?
2. Are employees given the support they need in order to provide good service?
I believe that If both of these are true, you will see good service. As a thought experiment try to a imagine your worst service experience in a place where you usually expect good service. I will imagine my SBC customer service representative as a waiter/waitress at my local restaraunt.
-SBC Waiter: Welcome to Mels Diner, what can I do to make you a very satisfied customer today.
-Me: I'll take the spagetti internet special.
-SBC Waiter: I'm sorry we only offer the internet special over the internet, I'm afraid you will have to pay double.
-Me: But I tried to order the spagetti over the internet, and your website was down, so can I get the special.
-SBC: No, I'm sorry why don't you leave the restaraunt and try the internet solution in a few hours, I'm sure it will be working then.
-Me: But I'm hungry now. I thought you were trying to make me a very satisfied customer today.
-SBC: Well we can't give you the internet price its just our policy. But If you wait in your booth for the next ten minutes I'll see if another waiter wants to talk to you, maybe they can help you.
...4 waiters later...
-SBC #4-Well in about 3-4 days time you should be able to get your spagetti ordered the way you like it. Expect an email where we will give you further instructions on how you can get it.
-Me: Ok
I leave the restaraunt completely disatisfied. Because they are the only restaraunt in town, I decide to try the internet option again (rather than wait 3-4 days for something that has a slim chance of actually working), and after 4 attempts am able to get my food ordered.
This is clearly an example where the employee was not rewarded based on providing good service (they got paid regardless of how well or badly they served), and the employee was not empowered to solve the customers problems.
Imagine if the SBC representative got paid according to my review of their service, and they were empowered to compete to failrly compete with their own website, or to solve a customers problems in other ways. Unless they changed how they served, they wouldn't get paid very often.
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