The worst thing about being a therapist is having to follow your own advice. I wrote a previous article about "Unrealistic Expectations can Lead to Frustrations" and I'm afraid this is the cause of my frustration now. I expect a customer care specialist to be accessible, helpful and logical. Big mistake.
The recorded voice prompts me, for the fourth time, to enter my account number, the last four digits of my Social Security Number and my date of birth. I do so. A person answers 10 minutes later and asks me for the same information I just entered into the phone. (It is especially fun to give out all this information when you work in a cubicle.) I ask why I entered all that information just so they could ask me again. They assure me it is for my security. I fail to see how punching it in then saying it serves that purpose. Silly me. We spend another hour trying to resolve the problem without success. Again, more canned responses that have nothing to do with the questions I am asking.
But the first problem you encounter when using "customer care" is simply getting to a human. Negotiating the numerous entries you have to make in the phone tree (the automated answering system) can use up multitudes of patience and possibly carve another 30 minutes off your life span. The website "GetHuman" gives you the phone number and the steps you have to go through to get out of phone tree hell and actually get to a human. However, even this inside information doesn't always solve the problem. For instance, for Bank of America (nationwide) you are told the number to call, then advised what will happen if you try to access a human: "Press 0 at each prompt, last prompt will be 8, but then it disconnects". I had to laugh. This is my bank and I've actually experienced this. This is probably why Bank of America is #2 in the nation for poor customer service.
But let's assume you do get a living, breathing human on the line. The results are often unhelpful at best and infuriating at worst. Canned responses that make no sense, transfers to other departments without telling you where they are transferring or the number, the complete inability to understand what the problem even is, denying responsibility and the pervasive tactic of blaming the customer. When calling Netflix to say that the movie I returned to them was not received, they actually tried to blame me. Right. Are they suggesting I am delusional and only think I mailed the movie back when really it is sitting at home? That I'm reporting the movie missing just to spite them? Or do they actually think I'm holding the movie in my hand and spending 45 minutes working my way through to a customer service rep to report the missing movie for fun??? When I refused to accept blame they then moved on to the Post Office. Ironically, I was trying out Blockbuster's movie service at the same time and had placed a movie to each company in the same post office box at the same time. When I asked Netflix how the Post Office managed to deliver Blockbuster's movie safely but lost theirs I got the same ridiculous canned response, that they could not help it if the Post Office lost things. (The movie was mysteriously "found" a week later by Netflix in the wrong department.)
(I love the Post Office excuse. It seems to be a customer service standby. The Post Office has not yet lost anything I have sent through them so I don't why it's such a common scapegoat. The most ludicrous Post Office excuse I ever heard was from the Social Security Administration. I had helped someone fill out disability applications for SSI and SSDI in April. The SSA mailed back receipts for both the SSI and SSDI in May. They mailed a denial letter for the SSDI in June. When I called in July to check on the status of the SSI application, they claimed they never received the claim and blamed the Post Office! When I asked how they managed to mail two receipts and one denial letter for claims they never received they stuck to their position that they never received it and blamed the Post Office. Uh huh.)
I thought emailing customer service might be easier since it would eliminate the long hold times. Nope, wrong again. In an article about email customer service, Forbes.com reports, "When consulting firm Marketspace Advisory tested 30 companies with e-mail queries, fewer than half even answered the questions. Moreover, for those who did bother to reply, the answers were often confusing and offered no method of pursuing inquiries." I believe it. Most email responses I have received are canned responses quoting the FAQ and which have nothing to do with my question.
What can consumers do? You can vent on the Complaints Board. If you are creative, you can make a video spoof such as Dave Chappelle's critique of Kinko's called "Popcopy". You can vote with your wallet. Before making a purchase Google customer care ratings for the product you are planning to purchase or the company from which you plan to buy it, i.e. J. D. Powers' "Wireless Customer Care Ratings".
In the meantime, lower your expectations of what you will accomplish by calling customer service so you don't blow a fuse. Settle in for a long wait, have a back up plan when your issue is not resolved and keep the phone number of a family member or a friend nearby to vent to when you are done.
Or write a blog article...
Read more about how your expectations can affect your mental health in the "Expectations" section of this blog.
Customer service should be on the forefront of every company's mind. I recently had an experience with a company that moved their customers through like cattle. This is very unappealing for customers in any industry. In the dental industry patients are customers. Dental practices should never fall to the tendency of cattle driving patients through their treatment or checkups. http://www.platinumrecall.com
Posted by: Kristoper Dunne | July 22, 2011 at 02:56 PM