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Is TOO MUCH Customer Service a good thing?
BarbR
subscriber Posts: 5
Now I admit, it makes me sick when I experience bad customer service. Ever since majoring in public relations in college, and really even before that time, I have been a stickler for good grammar and at the very least, halfway-decent communication from those that I do business with. In school, they sort of shoved the whole "communication" thing down my throat, which I have come to appreciate in a world of bad communicators. I even work in the field of communications, and you wouldn`t believe the lack of communication that goes on within these companies.
Anyway, getting to my point....has anyone ever experienced customer service that was just way over the top and extremely annoying?
My husband and I just finished putting a sunroom on our house that we had a HORRIBLE experience with. We were told from when we signed on the dotted line that "we will be able to enjoy our sunroom practically immediately after the 3-4 days it will take to get the room put up, way before winter". Well, we signed on the dotted line in July, and it is now February and we just were just able to put carpeting in this room two weeks ago. We dealt with leaks from the roof, leaks from the windows and leaks coming from we didn`t-know-where. Thank goodness Winter came late to Michigan this year! After months and months of having no specific point-of-contact at this company, a new contact, Bill fell out of the sky and in our laps. Bill, our "project coordinator" Bill didn`t really show up on this project until the problems were mounting. In each discussion, he "assured" us over-and-over that the problems would be taken care of, and a few times, swore on his own life! Bill was the best thing that happened to us in this situation, because we were very near finding a lawyer to help us out of our mess, since we were getting zero customer service from this company, until Bill. He was great, and we finally had someone at the company who cared, but he also had way too much customer service training and used too much "lingo" that came across as too much to both of us. Although he could be really annoying, I did like the fact that he over-communicated. That is something I would favor, vs. lack of communication, in any circumstance, even if it is coordinating a family get-together! On a brighter note, we haven`t had any problems thus far with our room (knock on vinyl siding!) and we are looking forward to using it soon, once winter leaves Michigan! Not once did we hear from anyone higher than Bill in this company, even to thank us for the business we gave to them. Just one of my many experiences in this area.
Anyway, getting to my point....has anyone ever experienced customer service that was just way over the top and extremely annoying?
My husband and I just finished putting a sunroom on our house that we had a HORRIBLE experience with. We were told from when we signed on the dotted line that "we will be able to enjoy our sunroom practically immediately after the 3-4 days it will take to get the room put up, way before winter". Well, we signed on the dotted line in July, and it is now February and we just were just able to put carpeting in this room two weeks ago. We dealt with leaks from the roof, leaks from the windows and leaks coming from we didn`t-know-where. Thank goodness Winter came late to Michigan this year! After months and months of having no specific point-of-contact at this company, a new contact, Bill fell out of the sky and in our laps. Bill, our "project coordinator" Bill didn`t really show up on this project until the problems were mounting. In each discussion, he "assured" us over-and-over that the problems would be taken care of, and a few times, swore on his own life! Bill was the best thing that happened to us in this situation, because we were very near finding a lawyer to help us out of our mess, since we were getting zero customer service from this company, until Bill. He was great, and we finally had someone at the company who cared, but he also had way too much customer service training and used too much "lingo" that came across as too much to both of us. Although he could be really annoying, I did like the fact that he over-communicated. That is something I would favor, vs. lack of communication, in any circumstance, even if it is coordinating a family get-together! On a brighter note, we haven`t had any problems thus far with our room (knock on vinyl siding!) and we are looking forward to using it soon, once winter leaves Michigan! Not once did we hear from anyone higher than Bill in this company, even to thank us for the business we gave to them. Just one of my many experiences in this area.
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I also just took my car to a different dealer which is closer to my house and DaimlerChrysler will not stop calling me to take a survey on my entire experience, which was a tire rotation! They have called every day for the past week. Hopefully they will realize that I do know it`s them off of my caller ID, and they will leave me alone. They even call after we have brought the car in for an oil change, which I think is overkill. It would be fine for them to randomly call a group of people each day, but not everyone. That is too much.
I wish that there was a nice balance when it comes to that, but as we all know, Chrysler has had their problems in the past with quality, so they go overboard with getting their customer`s opinions on EVERYTHING! Crazy.
I guess when I feel that when I have truly had a bad experience, I do tend to write letters all the way to the top of the company. This all started when my Atari broke when I was a kid. My dad couldn`t believe that a young kid would sit down and write a letter to the President of Atari, and I did. That must be where that comes from with me. And, I got a response, and got my Atari fixed at no charge!
I don`t want to come across as a chronic complainer. I am not. I am just relating examples that, in my lifetime, have happened to me from a customer service perspective that didn`t go the way they should have. For the most part, I have had EXCELLENT customer service from most everyone that I have ever done business with. I assume that if you had a room, like ours, that leaked from every angle and had puddles on the floor in the middle of, luckily, a mild winter, in a room that you paid a lot of money for, you would be mad as heck, as I was at the situation. My husband, who is a very mild mannered person, like you seem to be, got just as annoyed as I did with the whole situation. Remember, we agreed to having this room built in July, 2006. Our vinyl, pre-fabricated room was finished and livable (we hope!) in January, 2007. We would have been better off just putting an addition on our house, rather than having this room put up. And yes, I have dealt with contractors before, so don`t even bother going there with the discussion.
Let me stress that I don`t expect the world, but I do expect at least a smidge of customer service with whom I spend my money as a consumer...that`s my point of view...
And I am very happy that you are able to live your life with nothing bothering you. I wish I could go through life that way, but there are just some instances when action is needed.
Barb is annoyed by what she terms "over the top" customer service (CS), but wants that over no CS at all.... so annoying service is actually good?
CraigL is correct in saying that most of what is being discussed here is not really CS. True CS lies with resolving problems, e.g. I want to purchase a product; I need to have something fixed; I need more information; etc. Of course, the CS rep is also instructed to upsell, but that is a sales function, not a true CS function. Many times, those two functions are confused for one another.
Bill solved Barb`s problem. That is the heart of CS. We complain that companies don`t meet our needs yet we can`t be bothered to communicate what those needs are. Add to that the fact that many CSRs are minimally paid, inadequately trained people doing the best they can - the "lingo" is right out of the manuals from which they get most of their answers and procedures.... translating that into language that is "dummied down" for the masses is not part of the training (an oversimplification.... perhaps).
The challenge for CS is the need to meet the needs of a broad base - having, in many cases, to cater to the least common denominator. For every person who is able to keep track of their oil change dates, ten will need reminders. With my company, we have given the customer the choice of whether or not to receive such notifications. Even this sparks issues, as people are "too busy to be bothered" to even check a box.... but that is another topic altogether!