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Unbeatable Service?
Logic: sometimes it feels good to vent
Where?
I love walking around libraries. You can
learn a bunch of stuff from a book that might be the
culmination of someone's entire life and experience. Many
business improvement books tell of outstanding service, so I
started to wonder about my recent experiences.
1. Telecommunications
It's time to pay my phone bill. I get
five identical emails at the exact same time asking me to
kindly pay my monthly bill. Trouble is, that account is the
one my company took away from me for "our new, improved"
one. I then get two identical emails asking me to pay my new
account. So I go to log in.
My new account requires me to enter various
details, and a particular date. Unfortunately, no one
bothered to explain on the web site in what format the date
should be. Although I know the date and enter it three
times, I don't know if I need dd mm yyyy, or dd/mm/yyy or
even dd-mm-yy. After three unsuccessfully attempts, I am
locked out.
So I call them. I wait for 30 minutes and no one
answers. So I try again 5 times. No one answers. I send an
email. A week goes by and no reply. I lodge a complaint over
their web site. No one responds. I really need to talk to
them. So I pay one of my sons to sit on the phone for 50
minutes, listening in inane music, until someone answers!
They reset my account, tell me the date
format, and I can settle my account. While I am there, I ask
if I can change my broadband plan? "Yes, but we will need to
disconnect you from your current broadband for three weeks
while the order is processed."
I politely say goodbye in
unbelief.
2. Financial Institution
An institution changed some financial
conditions that originally attracted me to them. I phoned the
person I dealt with, but he was on holidays. Fair enough...
anyone is entitled to a holiday. I rang after holidays were
over. He couldn't deal with my query, but promised someone
else would call me. No one ever did.
3. Motor Vehicles
I took my car to a get looked at as it was
using excess fuel. This was with the company who
manufactured the car. They did various things to it, but it
still used too much fuel. I then took it elsewhere and they
found faulty spark leads. That is like trying to light a wet
match! The original company was simply unable to look around
for what might be wrong.
4. Electric Company
I lodged a form on a company website to
inform them of a damaged power pole (termites had eaten into
the wood). The website promised someone would phone back
within five business days. No one ever called back.
5. Water Tanks
Since we have been in a drought, we decided
to purchase a rainwater tank. I contacted a company heavily
advertised on local radio. This was October, 2006. It was
December by the time they got back to me and promised to
visit to give us a quotation. We quickly found out the date
wasn't suitable, so rescheduled with them. No one came. I
called and they told me, without any apology, they would visit that
afternoon while travelling past from another suburb. But the
suburb was miles away and it was impossible for them to meet
that time frame! They promised to reschedule, but never
called back. Two months later, we received our visit, but
didn't receive the quotation. When we finally got the
quote, we were to be placed in a minimum three-month waiting
list. No one ever apologised, and they continued to
advertise how great their service was!
So, "where is the service", I ask?
How good
is our service as communication professionals? Do we send
presentations away to a client when we could have done that
bit extra? How longs does it take us to respond to
requests?
Next time you are in a library and walk past
the business improvement section, keep walking. Go to a
mirror and ask yourself ( as I do) "How good is my service?
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