Re: What the h*** is with customer service?

erimess of the Cavern #266 howled:

<snip>
I don't want to get you angry further, and I know you don't want to hear
any of the ERP or whatever infrastructure in the company that made customer
service so impersonal (one day you might not even able to talk to a
Mexcican with broken English in fast food drive through), so I'll tell you
a little bit about my past experience as both customer and the service
person.

1. IT people don't trust end-users, so they'll make things "unbreakable",
which makes customer service's job much harder because the system is really
inflexible. If you said you can't do it, customers will just get angry, so
usually we said nothing (some might lie through their teeth and say they
can, or it may even be a company policy never say "can't" to customers).

2. Bad service is everywhere. If you talk to them nicely, they'll treat
you indifferently. If you talk to them angrily even when your anger is
warranted, they'd just put in limbo (or spit in your food). Recall my SBC
experience. They blocked me from calling them back when I asked to speak a
manager because the guy wasn't helping with his attitude. (I was in DC,
and I had my share of bad service beside the heat)

3. Keep in mind most of the low-end service staff receive NO training
whatsoever. On-job-training is the best training according to employers
(yeah, right). When they cut cost, you pay.

4. Take your vacation to somewhere away from "civilization". Besides,
employees who don't take vacation are on manager's red list (especially in
accounting/finance job).

5. You don't even get people from India for technical support now, so that
should tell you something about the the work. It's stressful. Besides,
customers can't yell at a computer. Technology has taken the best of us.
In fact, as tech advances, people are doing less manual work so they can
spend more time waiting (for service, for computer to finish work, for cell
phone to connect, for traffic congestion, etc.)....

6. Assume people are ignorant rather than malicious. I had a customer who
thought I was trapping her to buy Gap and was trying to pick a fight (Gap
doesn't pay commission even). I had to tell her I don't usually wear
women's clothes so I couldn't help her finding another store in the mall
that had something she wanted. Try to speak in another manner and see if
the person is truly malicious or simply couldn't understand your request
(though I think a lot of your experience, like the taxation lady, is truly
malicious or just trying to hide her incompetency).

7. A lot of jobs are cut because of technology and outsourcing, so the toll
are on tax-payers when more people rely on welfare (and more support for
Democrats). Most people who are on their jobs don't care about their work
because for them it's only a transition. Most of them don't put your
concern into their concern and treat it seriously.

8. Some people aren't competant but too embarassed to say so. Some are
held responsible by their managers so they want to help you but can't. In
the past, I usually just told my customers don't tell my manager about it
and proceeded with the most reasonable procedure. Not everyone is a
risk-taker, you see, especially their service is recorded and will get
fired for helping you in a way the company does not endorse.

9. Evaluate customer service based on the effort they put into, not what
they pretend to do. In DC, everyone sounded very nice in words, but they
never really /try/ to help but followed a "standard procedure". It was so
impersonal I felt I wanted to go back to San Jose badly (though there were
a few people who were genuinely nice). There was even once when I called
the lost luggage claim, for a minute or so I thought I was talking to an
automated answering system.

--
Ashikaga -a29
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: What the h*** is with customer service?
    ... I don't want to get you angry further, and I know you don't want to hear ... any of the ERP or whatever infrastructure in the company that made customer ... manager because the guy wasn't helping with his attitude. ... You don't even get people from India for technical support now, ...
    (rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons)
  • Re: MCNGP.com Status
    ... Frisbee® spewed across the ether: ... kind of like hanging up on an angry ... > customer... ...
    (microsoft.public.cert.exam.mcse)
  • Re: Delphi QC Top Voted
    ... From the customer side, the thing is this: ... But bugs, bugs are not the problem of the customer. ... this bastards customers call to OTHERS customers (or post in a NG, ... A angry customer produce 10+ angrys customers. ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: Are you a customer or a guest?
    ... I was at the front desk getting change for the ... washing machine when a customer checking in next to me was getting angry ...
    (rec.arts.disney.parks)
  • Re: Heres one problem
    ... Manager: That code has been in production for years. ... I'll try to avoid the check-list of a psychiatrist, Mr Wagner, and stick ... The concept that CPU and IO cycles cost money is an obsolete one from ... The customer didn't tell us to ignore the new price plan. ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)