How To Get Good Service
We expect good if not excellent customer service. Whether we go out for a meal, go grocery shopping, join and internet dating site, purchase a home or (heaven forbid) contact the phone company. We have an expectation that the person on the other end of the transaction treats us with courtesy and respect, but all too often that is not the case.
Companies spend millions of dollars a year training their staff in the fine art, and yes, it is an art, of customer service. So called experts are brought in for staff training and employees perform role playing exercises intended to simulate real world experiences. But is it working?
For me personally, yes, in most cases it is. I've found that, generally speaking, store clerks, wait staff, and those with whom I do business respond in kind to a friendly hello and we go on from there. Treat people the way you want to be treated, make some benign remark about the weather or some local news story, and there is usually no issue. The phone company however, was a totally different story.
Like a lot of us, I contracted (please note the use of the past tense) not just phone services, but also internet and satellite services from one of Canada's telecommunication giants. I spent the not inconsiderable sum of about $200 per month for the privilege. When my supposed high speed internet connection started to slow to that which I used to get on dialup, I contacted customer service. I spoke with a very pleasant young woman who was most sympathetic, offered me a credit of that month's internet service on the spot, but who was unable to assist me with the technical side of things. Fair enough, we can't all be experts in everything, so she transferred me to the techie side of customer service.
After waiting on hold for about five minutes (still not a big deal), I was greeted by a man's voice, so thickly accented as to be almost indecipherable. I had to repeatedly state the problem I was experiencing because he couldn't understand why I considered my slow "high speed" internet connection to be a problem. What's to understand?? I pay for high speed, I'm getting slow speed. Finally, after twenty minutes of back and forth, he agreed to test my line. "Where are you located?" I asked. "Not in Canada", he said. Not being that well versed in the wonders of all things high tech, I wasn't going to ask how he was going to get this done, I just assumed he would. With a promise that he would call be back the following day with the results of the line test we said our goodbyes.
The next day, I made sure that I stayed within hearing distance of the phone, even going so far as to turn up the ring volume to maximum. The clock ticked on, and no phone call came that day, or the next, or the day after that.
Four days later, I called customer service and was told that "oh well, yes, it does say here that we called your number twice that day, but there was no answer". And that's when I'd had enough. That kind of blatant excuse is simply unacceptable.
I contacted another provider, switched ALL my services to them, and will NEVER deal with that other telecommunication company again.
Article Source: Daily Digest Magazine
About the Author
This article was written by Shawn Wilson, who is part of the customer support team at Datepad, an Internet Dating website.