Setting the Bar for Customer Service? 275
meburke asks: "Computer repair, copier repair, customer support: It seems to be mostly done the same way for the last 40 years. That is: 'Something breaks, call the repair guy.' But customers expect more, and they can't tell us what they expect, so where do we develop guidelines for customer service and how do we improve? I've searched the net for three days now, and I haven't found a comprehensive list of actions or standards that distinguish the excellent tech from the average tech. Can anyone point me toward some sources?" It seems that as our technology becomes more complex, the service that is offered to customers continues to fall shorter of the mark. What kind of service do you expect from your vendors, and how close is reality to your expectations?
As an aside, shooflot wonders: "If the definition of 'news' includes 'rarity' then good service must be news. My usual experience includes the kind of sulky and dismissive attitude I got from an Apple rep when my new iPod wouldn't charge (I eventually got him to exchange it). However, I was recently surprised by Rogers, my cellphone provider, when I followed up on some charges for ringtones I'd never downloaded. The service rep not only cancelled the charges but discovered I'd been wrongly charged an extra air time fee for the whole last year and credited me for the entire amount plus tax! What great service stories does Slashdot wish to share which (I hope!) may inspire all those other reps in the trenches?"
ITIL (Score:5, Interesting)
And to blantantly plug the message board in my sig [smallbizgeeks.com]... this is a topic that we discuss there frequently as well. "What's the difference between a 'computer guy' and an 'IT consultant'? [smallbizgeeks.com]" was one of the threads that comes to mind. I know that one of the more frustrating aspects of my job is having to clean up other techs' messes. And worse: having to charge the customer for my time to do that when they already paid the last guy a pretty penny. With PCs now in the magical $300 range, the divide between the two types of techs seems to be growing. I don't know whether this is helping my business or hurting it yet though.
BicycleRepairman! (Score:5, Insightful)
The obvious example of excellent tech support to follow is...BicycleRepairman! Quoted from a bicycle web site:
Re:ITIL (Score:3, Funny)
Saw a billboard a couple of weeks back off-strip in Las Vegas: "We repair what your husband fixed."
Can't find all the answers in a book (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Can't find all the answers in a book (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Can't find all the answers in a book (Score:5, Insightful)
Oops. 8)
Re:Can't find all the answers in a book (Score:3, Insightful)
In IT (Score:4, Insightful)
That sets the bar pretty low and is kind of a sad commentary on the state of IT customer service.
Re:In IT (Score:5, Interesting)
The first company I called came out and fixed the AC. When I called them, the office assistant was short (almost rude). I had to take the day off waiting for the technician. When he arrived, the technician grunted and mumbled a lot. He did his work and left.
The second time my AC broke, I called another company. The office assistant was very pleasant to speak with. She offered to call to my cell phone to let me know when the technician was "on his way". So, I was able to work most of the day and saved a vacation day. The technician was also pleasant to talk with. Not only did he fix my AC, but he explained how it failed and how I can catch it in the future. He also went over some preventative maintenance tips with me.
The next time I have any AC problem, I will call the latter company. I passed along this info to my friends. Good customer service. Repeatable business. Referrals.
Re:In IT (Score:2)
I don't think that it's a good state of affairs, but that's the way that it seems to be.
Re:In IT (Score:4, Funny)
Perhaps the editors should call that guy he seems cool
Re:In IT (Score:5, Informative)
1) Stand by your work. If the problem is not fixed on the first visit, return to fix it free of charge.
2) Follow up with your customers to make sure that the problems are resolved.
3) Send customers an email detailing the problems they called about, the cause, the resolution, and actions they can take in the future to reduce the need for service calls.
4) Err on the side of the customer when there is a dispute. Note that the customer is NOT always right (after all, if they were, why would they need us), but see disputes as opportunities to build goodwill.
5) Repeat after me: most customers aren't stupid. They feel lost amid the technology and they are frustrated. Try to explain things in everyday language so that they can feel that the mystery of the technology isn't so overwhelming.
All this takes discipline, and I even find myself slipping up on it from time to time. There are more points here that I use for my business, but these are the main substantive ones.
Re:In IT (Score:3, Insightful)
most customers are willfully ignorant. no, i can't fix my car, but i
a) learn the terminology - i don't call the wheel the engine or the gas pedal the go-faster button. (all those words like hard drive, modem, etc that the computer gets called. plus the ones who think the mo
Re:In IT (Score:3, Interesting)
but how do you make someone understand the signal won't reach 30 miles? i tried the radio station analogy - if you go 100 miles away, you get different radio stations. he blew up and said that i told him it would work anywhere.
i'd meant anywhere in the house.
Which is what you should have made clear to teh customer when you installed it. You know it won't work 30 miles away, I know it won't; but someone who pays to have a newtowrk setup *probably* doesn't realize it won't work 30 m
Re: (Score:2)
Three letters baby... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Three letters baby... (Score:2)
N.
T.
L.
NTL are the epitomy of shit customer service. They are AOL on steroids and crack. They will fuck up and they will bitch and they will moan and they will NEVER apologise when something is clearly their fault, and when all is said and done you have to threaten to switch to BT (British Telecom for the England-deprived) to lift their fucking fingers out of their arseholes and fix your fucking Internet connection.
There are so
Support? (Score:2)
Not having to call support in the first place.
This, of coursed, implies assuring high quality, durability and ease of use, in both software and hardware. But sadly, it seems companies are more focussed on producing and manufacturing as cheaply as possible.
Re:Support? (Score:2)
Human Behavior Defies Classification (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Human Behavior Defies Classification (Score:2)
The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Just look at the cover and "Don't Panic"
Re:Human Behavior Defies Classification (Score:2)
No, really. This is serious. 8)
Re:Human Behavior Defies Classification (Score:3, Insightful)
No tech can really be expected to know ALL of the answers, but there's no excuse for not having the skills to look it up using google, etc.
These days, except for providing and installing replacements for defective parts, most computer service is really about straightening out OS glitches, finding updated/proper drivers for devices, and removing software causing malfunctions.
You can buy yourself a surprising amount o
Re:Human Behavior Defies Classification (Score:2)
Well, not sure about the patience, but the book "Comedy Writing Secrets" is full of neat tips and tricks with writing comedy--which also helps a great deal in conversation.
One of the coolest ones that has helped my humor is: leave the punchline until the last word, or if not possible, the last few words. This makes it funnier, because it sets up the listener to expect to hear something, and they instead hear something else.
Example: "Great minds thin
And here, I was going to say... (Score:4, Funny)
The exact opposite of everything you wrote down is exactly what customers would really like.
Re:And here, I was going to say... (Score:2)
It's just that geeks, I consider myself one, are likely to overlook the human side. I'm sure we've all seen brilliant engineers who needed to be roped off from end users - and higher management. Often the technical problem can prevent you from seeing that the real solution is organizational or personal. Geeks like to sneer at "politics,"
Service vs Replaceability (Score:5, Insightful)
Do I want companies to offer good quality and stand by their work? Sure. Do I expect it? Ha. It's bad enough that I generally just hope the price point is low enough that when it breaks I can afford a new one rather than talk to some unhelpful jerk on the phone.
Look at what's happened to watch repair shops. No one repairs watches any more, they just replace them. Same with shoe repair. Heck, in some regions of the company, away from big cities, it's hard to find contractors to repair houses because the people who know how to do the relevant work find it both easier and more lucrative just to build new ones. Other "technology" will probably follow suit, if it hasn't already.
Re:Service vs Replaceability (Score:2)
Re:Service vs Replaceability (Score:4, Insightful)
Although I live in a big city, I think I have a relevant comment on the house repair issue.
I recently shut down a handman service I was running for the past five years - because of the customers (mostly).
Why? People don't want to pay for quality service and work. People would complain about my prices (25-35 an hour) by saying that the day laborers in the Home Depot parking lot are cheaper.
Yes, you can get one cheaper, however (at least in LA) they:
1) Don't have tools
2) Don't generally speak English
3) May claim skills they don't have
4) Don't have transportation
5) Can't be found again if there's a problem
So, you can pay $10-$15 for a guy you can't communicate with, who you have to pick up and return *and* buy/rent tools for them.
So for about twice the price, you get a card with my name and phone number (and I answer it). I drive to the job. I can pick up things at Home Depot on the way. I bring tools to the job (and the cost of the tools is usually more then the cost of the job). I speak fluent English and passible Spanish. I'll tell you if part of the job isn't in my skill set.
And people still ask for big (25%) discounts.
Sometimes good customer service simply costs "too much" for some people.
good question ... speakeasy good, dell bad (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't know what customers expect, but if the service was modeled after Speakeasy, I can't see many people complaining. I think part of the trick is that it's a very flat support organization - you don't need to escalate to a level 2 or level 3 person on the phone. The person you get on the call can do everything short of showing up at your door.
Dell, on the other hand, makes people jump through hoops when they call in with a problem (like a dead hard drive). This even happens on corporate accounts - the field techs at work have been known to spend 4 hours on the phone going through dell's script.
Dealing with Dell (Score:2)
I'll run tests (their diagnostics and others such as memtest), then do a detailed writeup of what I've tested, what the results were, what I think the problem is and any steps I've taken to try to resolve it (e.g. removing & reseating the memory). Then I go to the support site, put in the service tag, and go through the contact us bit and "Email Product Support." It may take a day o
Re:Dealing with Dell (Score:2)
Re:good question ... speakeasy good, dell bad (Score:4, Informative)
Now, as I type that out, I think therein lies an additional piece of truth - they're able to adjust their skills and apply their knowledge to MY level of geekitude. Since different people are going to have different levels, flexibility in explaining things and providing transparency in what their doing would go a long way in customer service.
So for example:
Me: I have problem X, and have tried solution A, B, and C. Can you help me out with this problem?
Them: Okay, we're going to have a tech look at D, and depending on D's status, we'll do E, F, and G. In the meantime, check H. We'll call you back in an hour with an update.
Me: Great!
Now, if they're talking with say, my parents...
Parents: I'm having a problem with X. Can you help me with that?
Them: Absolutely. We'll send out a tech to check a few things, and get back to you in an hour with some solutions. It's probably just Problem Y, but we'll check over the whole thing for you, just in case.
Parents: Okay, we'll wait for the next update.
Re:good question ... speakeasy good, dell bad (Score:3, Insightful)
starts out by warning you that it will cost you if (Score:2)
Re:good question ... speakeasy good, dell bad (Score:2)
I used to work in the support department for a company a few years ago. Any time I had a problem with a Dell system, I would just diagnose the problem myself then call their support line. Since I knew what the problem was I would just answer their qu
Re:good question ... speakeasy good, dell bad (Score:2)
He called a friend of his who spent an hour on the phone with Dell trying to determine the cause of the problem, and they concluded that Windows was completely hosed.
At this point, the friend calls me for a second opinion. I listen to the story, that it happens the same way in Safe mode, and that it
Re:good question ... speakeasy good, dell bad (Score:2)
I never seem to have problems with technical support and I suspect my own attitude has a lot to do with it.
I don't go in pretending to be a Geek, or spoiling for a fight. I don't mind admitting to some stupid mistake. USB plug in an Ethernet socket. That sort of thing.
Re:good question ... speakeasy good, dell bad (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes, Dell support sucks. I got my Dad a Dell PC, and the CD burner didn't work properly - it was intermittent when burning CD-RWs - sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't. Seemed pretty obvious to me that the drive was screwed in a hardware type way, esp. as sometimes the burn would 'succeed', but the disc would be blank (using media from the same batch).
Anyway, rule #1 with Dell support - you do NOT have an intermittent problem. It goes wrong all the time, every time, ok? If you have to lie, then lie. Otherwise as soon as it works, they say "Oh, it's working now, sir - bye!"
Then I tried CD-Rs - XP cd burning failed every time. I call back, and get passed from pillar to post - they kept wanting me to reinstall the POS burner software they ship out with the system, I keep insisting on keeping it simple and using XP's built-in burning software. They bitch about this because they are not 'trained' to use XP burning software. WTF? You put a blank CD in, open the CD drive, drag some files on, click 'Write to CD'. How much training do you need?
Also one of the guys I talk to tries to tell me that they don't test the drives with XP burning. I point out that it should still work, no? He says they don't test it, and tries to wriggle out of helping me. I ask him if Dell has sold me a burner that doesn't work with XP. "XP is made by Microsoft, not us, and we don't test the XP burning software." So I reply, "So you're telling me that you've sold me a PC with a CD burner that you know doesn't work with XP? Your product doesn't actually work? Isn't that illegal? You've even put one of those 'Designed for Windows XP' stickers on the box and everything." Not surprisingly, he backs down.
Eventually they say it's a software problem, so I'll have to pay for a software call to resolve it. This pisses me off no end, but I confirm that if it turns out to be a hardware problem, then I won't get charged. They try to convince me that it's not a hardware problem because the Dell diags program tests the burner drive and reports success (despite it stating that it does no burning testing).
So anyway, I call the software team and explain the situation. I am told that it can't be a problem with the hardware because otherwise I wouldn't even be able to read normal CD-ROMs, which I can. I query this in-depth analysis, but they are adamant. Riiiight.
Anyway, surprise - the software team fail to get it working. They tell me to reinstall XP. I hadn't realised that people still do this. I tell them this is a pretty unreasonable thing to ask me to do, but the guy says it should only take an hour and a half to reinstall XP and set up all my apps and data again. Sure.
So in frustration I install XP on a scratch hard-drive. Hey guess what, CD burning still fails every time on CD-Rs.
I call the hardware group back, they grudgingly admit my initial diagnosis of hw failure might be correct, and arrange for an engineer to visit the next to day to replace the drive.
He arrives, changes drive, new drive works perfectly.
Total time on phone - about 5 hours, talking to about 8 different people.
For a duff optical drive. Hardly rocket science.
Before anyone replies with "Dell aren't a service company", well, they sure charged me for the next-day on-site service contract.
And before you tell me I'm a mug for paying for that, I live about 120 miles from my parents, and the alternative is to ship the PC back to base, where Dell could sit on it for 6 weeks. My Dad cannot afford to have no PC for 6 weeks.
In summary, I have the service agreement so if they need to repair it, they will come to my Dad, and
Re:good question ... speakeasy good, dell bad (Score:2)
"done the same way for the last 40 years.." ?!?!? (Score:3, Insightful)
In the early days of microcomputers, we used to do component level repair, for example, diagnosing and replacing individual memory chips, or replacing individual chips on disk drive controllers. It's been many years since that was discontinued in favor of swapping out whole circuit boards. And now that is becoming rare, it's rarely cost effective to replace boards, now the techs just tell you to throw the whole unit away and get a new one.
This is a major problem, the IT industry is not manufacturing technology products, they are manufacturing garbage heaps full of unrepairable electronic junk. I would rather buy repairable products that have a longer life, than to pay less for disposable junk.
Re:"done the same way for the last 40 years.." ?!? (Score:2)
When a computer motherboard costs less than 15 minutes of qualified electronics repairman's time, there is absolutely no point in even trying to repair it. Just ship it to distributor/manufacturer for replacement.
Someone in some low-wage country will probably one day take a look at it and fix it, if its easy to fix... but in the western world, you can't find a person who'd work cheap enough repairing these things to make it worth it even when compared to the retail prices (let alone wholesal
Not limited to computers. (Score:2)
And if you manage to track one of them down and carry in a product made after 1990, they'll likely tell you that it's unfixable because things these days "aren't made to be serviced" and there are "no parts available from the man
Computing has become a commodity product. (Score:2)
Computers are no longer crafted like they were in the glory days of DEC and IBM. They're more like a carton of milk or a bag of chips. What you're advocating would require a return to the days of "computer carpenters". That won't happen as long as China and India are designing and producing most hardware used in North America a
Re:"done the same way for the last 40 years.." ?!? (Score:2)
Re:"done the same way for the last 40 years.." ?!? (Score:2)
I agree with you, unfortunately most Americans do not, which is why most stuff now is cheap junk designed to last about 3 years. People buy the cheap WalMart special as opposed to the higher quality product from a small electronics store that costs twice as much.
There are some weird expectations out there. (Score:4, Interesting)
Having also worked on an ISP helpdesk, some of the customer expectations there are equally insane. One business had thousands of business cards, letterheads and other stationary printed with their email address listed as "http://www.businessname.com/". Who did they immediately phone? us - demanding that when someone sends email to "http://www.businessname.com/" that it get to them.
Pity their hosting wasn't with us, even if their net service was.
The technically clueless just want someone to blame if something doesn't work to their satisfaction - and that's entirely fair - however when they come on all insistent that their problems can be fixed by places they can't, or they don't realise their expectations are entirely unrealistic it's when service providers just turn off and want to go "piss off, idiot"
Youth prank calling Dell call centers in Delhi. (Score:2)
Indeed, if tech support people have to face such
Re:Youth prank calling Dell call centers in Delhi. (Score:2)
Crank calls pre-date the tech sector by about as long as the telephone has been in existance. They are not a valid excuse for sub-par support response.
While working in a pizza shop, I've had my share of crank calls. In a one-location, moderately busy shop (~60 delivery orders, about 100+ calls in a typical night spread be
Re:There are some weird expectations out there. (Score:2)
Where do you get off telling the GP he is part of the problem? It's like bitching at your electrician because you have to actually plug devices in to power sockets instead of having power delivered wirelessly or wanting the car dealership to trade in your 2004 chev
Personal Experience (Score:3, Informative)
There are three basic lines of support, which I appreciate - and a methodology that is very important.
Go the extra mile. Thats what I look for in support and customer service.
Re:Personal Experience (Score:2)
NetApp are a bunch of chronic liars, and no amount of support can cover up that problem.
Insource Call Centers (Score:2, Informative)
Trying to purchase some Dell notebooks this week was an excrutiating excercise. The online credit application initially rejected me and gave me a number to call. The person I spoke to was very polite but had absolutely no authority/ability to assist me in getting my credit line established or switching my order to use a credit card instead of the credit line. The order ended up getting cancelled, and the two notebooks I selected from the Dell Outlet site ended up going to somebody else by the time I ende
Re:Insource Call Centers (Score:2)
It's more fundamental than that. The culture in India is one of extreme politeness, but self-directed thinking just isn't a part of their culture. They know how to follow instructions. As a culture, they don't know how to think and act
Re:Insource Call Centers (Score:2, Interesting)
I would disagree with this, and for a very good reason. I work for a very small (read: Boss, Me, New Guy) general PC Repair/System Builder type store (you know the type). For the last six years the company has had 25-35% growth every year, precisely because people don't want to call India to find out why their AOL connection isn't working. They call us. These are the same people that se
Depends (Score:3, Insightful)
Worse, I've been at a lot of clients where customer satisfaction is not systematically measured, where there's no incentive for reps to do the right thing, and where there's no awareness that future sales depend on the company's reputation for service as much as on the product itself. This includes some well-known companies where you'd think they'd know better.
The FPP anecdote about Apple is a great example of how great products aren't the end of the experience for customers. The other side of the coin is the somewhat pricey ISP I use. If cost and connectivity were the only drivers, I'd dump them in a heartbeat since broadband is a commodity product. But their tech support and customer service are much better than the (admittedly lousy) average, so I keep on paying the premium.
Re:Depends (Score:2)
This 'method' of saving costs is the easy way to ensure the customer support is total CRAP.
No sane person with any knowledge of the product/service/area of expertise will stick around in a workplace where short call > resolved call. All you get is drones that do their damnest to end calls and/or bounce them around so their 'minutes per call' is kept low and they seem 'l33t support techs'
Book: Cutstomer Satisfaction is Worthless... (Score:3, Informative)
I would highly recommend the book: "Customer Satisfaction Is Worthless, Customer Loyalty Is Priceless : How to Make Customers Love You, Keep Them Coming Back and Tell Everyone They Know" [amazon.com].
This is required reading at my company. The book has a lot of self-hype, the author can't seem to grasp the concept of ordinal numbers, and is a bit condenscending, but if you get past that it has a LOT of REALLY EXCELLENT customer service advice for all businesses.
Another book I'd recommend ... (Score:2)
For anyone who works at repairing or developing just about anything: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance [amazon.com]
Don't just limit yourself to examples from IT (Score:2, Insightful)
Here's the answer (Score:2)
Excellent tech = me.
Average tech = you.
Lousy tech = the one who still does that for a living.
Great Service Story: Staples (Score:5, Interesting)
A nice man helped me get it all set up for delivery, and gave me the information on some people that can assemble it for me. Wonderful. He says they can email me a delivery time estimate, and that he knows personally they don't sell it or anything like that, so no spam even from them. Very cool.
Yesterday I get a call on my cell, its the delivery guy at my apartment and the managers office won't take delivery or let him in (even at my request) to drop off my stuff. The delivery guy is very friendly, especially considering he's gonna have to come back. He gives me the number I can call to reschedule.
I'm dreading this call. Ohhhhh gawd I think, I'm gonna have to talk to some phone jockey retard who couldn't care less about helping me. So I call. It asks me if I want English or Spanish. BEEP! For a moment, I start to groan to myself as the customer service hoop jumping is about to begin. Wait? What's this? Hello? Holy smokes! A live person, right away! He's friendly and asks me for my name and whats wrong before my order number. He tells me he's going to have to get someone from another department. My stomach sinks again, oh junk, here we go, its the run around. I get about a minute of hold music, and then, woah wait a minute, its the same guy! He's doing a warm/live transfer, and the new guy already has all my info and knows my situation! WOW!
The new guy is friendly too, he gets me set up for a new delivery time, and we part ways.
What's the moral of this story? I mean you'd think it sounded pretty plain. These days, it doesn't. I've come to expect to be punted, lied to, have to jump through 3 dozen hoops until I yell at a manager, just to get the simplest requests past the call center guys that are paid to reduce the amount of customers that want stuff that costs the company more money. Treat me right, give me a little customer service with no bullshit, don't get in arguements with me over who's fault it was I didn't get the email, answer the phone when I call, don't cold dump/punt me, and I am now a Staples customer for life (or at least until they go down the shitty customer service is cheaper route).
~Rebecca
Great rebate service too (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Great Service Story: Staples (Score:2)
Sorta like medicine? (Score:3, Informative)
1. Is the problem resolved?
2. Was the resolution as efficient as possible?
3. Will the fix make it harder to help the person/fix the device in the future? (You want a 'no' on that one
4. Did the fix put the person/users of the technology through any unnecessary hardship? (Another 'no', hopefully.)
Good support is like pornography; you know it when you see it, but it's hard to define.
Customer Service in the real world (Score:2)
There's an organization based on improving customer service, but you have to join to get access to most pf their material: http://www.socap.org/ [socap.org]
It took me years to figure out why my father came home in a bad mood every night from his TV repair shop. All the phone calls he receives were from people who were (1) angry because their TV was b
Wrong approach (Score:5, Insightful)
1: Do a little more than the support contract says you have to. If it's a serious problem, call the customer a couple days after fixing it to see if it's still fixed.
2: Have your support people educated. Flowcharts and checklists for solving common problems are fine, but don't let anybody answer your phone who doesn't understand the product.
3: Don't use your support system as a sales channel. Solve the customer's problem without fobbing more product on them.
4: Don't put a mediocre support person on first-tier phone support because it's "easier" than the levels for more complex problems. First tier interacts with almost everybody who calls in, it's an important job, get somebody good at it.
5: If a support person in the field calls the home office, the office guy drops everything and deals with it. Make sure you support people know this is an option.
6: If possible, have your field support people familiar not just with your products but with your customers' processes. This helps communication. It's a nice perk when your customers are rather homogenous, but probably doesn't matter for something like photocopier repairs.
Re:Wrong approach (Score:2)
That's a tough one. From my experience, any one who is good at doing first level tech support will get bored with it so quickly that their initial enthusiasm will drop and you're left with someone about as effective as one who knows nothing about the problem.
Good organi
The best answer (Score:2)
When they break, people are stressed, and quite often they will be trying to get services that they have not or are not really willing to pay for.
Given that these seem universal truths when customer service is required, the best answer is a combination of all answers. Polite and helpful C/S agents who are both knowledgable and able to help customers no ma
Most customers don't want to pay for a higher bar. (Score:2)
customer satisfaction is satifsying the customer (Score:5, Informative)
So, this is something studied for years, and companies still don't get it? I guess especially in technical arenas I've seen they really don't, though I can't begin to imagine why not.
It's really about satisfying the customer... treat 'em like they're people, don't lie to them, do any and everything you say you'll do, don't make promises you can't keep.
My best experiences with any support be it on-line, by phone, or in person have little (if anything) to do with final resolution of the problem, but more to do with whether I was treated respectfully. Some of my best "support" experiences have come from people who clearly didn't know the answer to my problem, but knew steps to take to ensure my problem was addressed.
Companies who drive support to "bottom line" criteria are missing the much bigger picture of what an unhappy customer base does to the bottom line. I go out of my way to stay loyal to businesses who care enough to have a relationship with me. On the other, for example, a bank whose exponential growth over the last 10 years has grown at the cost of their local flavor and service has lost me as a customer... I've moved all of my accounts from them to another friendlier local credit union.
Not sure why this is such a hard problem for businesses to solve...
Not in my case (Score:2)
If someone's computer breaks, they usually end up calling me because I'm the "computer expert" who knows more than the store techs, and I work on the barter system. I'm talking neighbors, parents, cousins.
Is that how it usually works anyway? Something breaks and they call the local computer geek in the neighborhood who'll fix it as long as a steady supply of Dr. Pepper is on hand?
Consumer Reports (Score:2, Informative)
More what? (Score:4, Informative)
More what exactly? Psychic predictive repair? Technicians dressed as 1950's pop icons? Free balloons for the kids?
Look, it's computer repair. You can talk about making computers more reliable or easier to use, but there's always going to be a need for the "call the repair guy" option. At that point, the customer just wants their computer fixed. Quickly and efficiently, and preferrably cheap or free.
Yes, there are a lot of companies out there who are horrible at computer service, but there are also some good ones as well. The focus needs to be on improving that level of service, not redefining or creating new services.
More something (Score:2)
Good service hasn't really changed in the past century. Don't make your customers hate you, and tell prospective customers how you're going to prevent
They want it FIXED. (Score:2)
The Best Article... (Score:3, Informative)
I don't think there is an answer (Score:2)
- I want it as cheap as humanly possible and will frequently switch providers the minute I spot the opportunity to save a small amount of money on support costs.
- I want the best experience possible, I want the service tech to fix it even before it breaks but if that's not possible I want expert and friendly service that goes above and beyond the minimum required to provide a basic c
Business Process Helps (Score:2)
No seriously, AOL (Score:2)
(a) prompt to respond -- short hold times
(b) accurate
(c) willing to admit what they do and don't know, and that they have to go ask someone (rather than just, 'hold please'
(d) willing to call back
(e) surprisingly consistent in calling back!
(e) is my biggest pet peeve with my hosting ser
quite simple. (Score:2)
Answer the phone. In well spoken and understood english (or whatever the native language is for the region that the hardware was sold)
Respect the fact that I am an experienced system administrator, and I don't need to be told to reboot the machine. Granted, there are people that need to be told that - those customers should be given a different number.
Get me on and off the phone quickly. I'm busy. If you can't get to me right away - thats fine, but maybe you could call me back or e
Expect no service but lip service and marketing (Score:3, Interesting)
At the end of my hourlong session on the phone, the lady then asked:
Can I interest you in our phone
At which point I cut her off stating I was a life-long non-customer of AT&T based on this experience. Then she launched right into:
How about broadband
At which point I said again something like: "I'll never ever even consider AT&T - I want you guys to delete me from your DB completely, don't just flag me as closed. Never call me, never send me mail, don't email
The lady on the phone actually giggled when I said "don't even think about me!"
I'm sure I'll get to reuse the joke next summer when the AT&T bills start coming again (I ignore them and wait for the calls to start -- I figure it costs AT&T more money that way).
Re:Expect no service but lip service and marketing (Score:2)
Re:Expect no service but lip service and marketing (Score:2)
Re:Expect no service but lip service and marketing (Score:2)
"Raising the bar (Score:2)
A good book on the subject... (Score:2)
I think its just the whole attitude in IT (Score:3, Insightful)
It's Quality, they're after. (Score:2)
Be honest (Score:2)
Bring: Friendly smile and understanding
Don't Bring: Muttering about the peons lack of knowledge when it's an easy fix
Bring: Assumptions that they don't know shit about computers
Don't bring: The idea that I have to make them realize that if they don't a
the easy hints (Score:2)
- Listen to them. You may have heard it all before, but if you let them babble for several minutes they might divulge some critical little factoid that suddenly clears up the problem and makes a solution apparent. Interrupting or cutting a customer short on their description of the problem can make it very difficult to pry the necessary information from their head once they're in "ok I'll shut up now" mode.
- Be patien
SonicWall is the new Dell (Score:2)
Say hello to SonicWall.
Nice hardware, good OS, don't even think about calling them before 2100EST because if you do you will get what must be the WORST support in IT.
Classic:
SWS: I need you to download this file.
Admin: I
Excellent Customer Service (Score:2)
It's Xerox having a machine that lets the company know that there is a problem - and a tech fixing it before the client even knows about it.
It's the waiter getting you the refill before you even asked for it.
It's when you boot up your computer and you can do your work - without calling the tech guy.
From that point of view, your question
Read: "The Fred Factor" (Score:2)
Anyone can uninstall a moutain of spyware, but not many people make sure that the customer really enjoys the expereince of having spyware uninstalled. That is, most often tech don't take time to educate without condescending or to really connect with the customer on a personal level.
I highly recommend the book The Fred Factor [fredfactor.com] by Mark Sanborn (ISBN:
Low-Tech Customer Service (Score:2)
I am amazed at how many dozens of calls I take each day where the customers have no idea what part is broken, certainly no idea of what part they need, and they expect a 1-800 number to be able to solve their problems.
Them: "My mow deck isn't working"
Me: (looking through my mower database) "Do you have the model number of your mower?"
Them: (pa
What's bad? (Score:2)
To be good, work out what is bad, and then avoid it.
I've been a bad customer support person, and the main thing that makes bad customer support is anonymity. I could literally tell a customer to 'fuck off' and hang up and they would have no recourse. They didn't know who I was.
I've also been in the situation where they were ringing or emailing and greeting me by name cause my name was listed on the website as support. Even at m
nature of customer service (Score:2, Insightful)
Take auto repair centers. Cars have been around for over a century now, and yet the average schmoe who brings
Re:be able to tune to the pace of the called (Score:2)
big lungs = big mouth.
Cut your sentences down to short and to the point, only THEN you will get results.
I've cut dell support techs off at their knees say ingthat i'm their system tech and have done this, this and this. So guess what? I need this part and that part. Clear cut and concise. The indian/paki has to scramble thru 20 pages of scripting to get the order parts page and then calls his shift super over to authorize it.. 5 mins later the part is en route.
Re:It's all in the deliverables (Score:2)
Re:I've always had excellent service at Apple Stor (Score:5, Insightful)
I told that kid, "Fuck off, moron,"
So you counter ignorance with rudeness and wonder why Customer Service is piss poor?