Customer Service

Had an opportunity today to experience customer service close up and personal from two different yet similar organizations. That is to say that they both provide quite different services yet both are large corporate entities with countless layers of control and management.

In the first instance it was to have been a simple transaction. Having taken over as treasurer for a service organization it was necessary to go in to the bank and change the signing authorities. In preparation of this a letter, on letterhead had already been obtained bearing the signatures of the two individuals presently signing, stating who the new signatories should be.

However, the branch officer informed me that those two individuals who signed the letter could not sign on the account according to her computer file records. This in spite of the fact that they have been writing cheques for the past two years. Upon insistence that they were the signing authorities, the manager was called. Again, the same line was given. However, I did manage to prevail upon them to check the paper documents files. To their surprise, the paper files were up to date and the computer files were out of date by two years. Not exactly a glowing report for the "control" of that financial institution is it?

Upon getting back to the office the mail produced my monthly Bell phone bill. Mid June I had talked to an individual and arranged to change the service to reduce the monthly charge. However, to my surprise the bill was not reduced but was rather over $60. higher than before.

This resulted in a call to Bell and a fun experience with voice activated service. After telling them I wanted to be serviced in English a billing officer answered the phone in fluent French.

When he was switched to English the situation was explained and the comment made, "that should not have happened". Understandably that is a valid statement. However, not what you want to hear as a customer.

To be fair, the individual did check into the situation and determine there was an error and provide an instant credit on the account. The question this begs is; what would have happened if it had not been spotted? What if that bill went directly to an accounting department solely charged with tracking expenses and writing cheques?

Overall, these two experiences lead to a serious question:
"What has happened to quality control in large organizations and to customer service?"

For readers of this item, it raises another question. What is your quality control like and what is your customer service like? Errors happen, we all understand that but how they are handled is critical to maintaining a satisfied client base.

Customer Service or Customer Response

Recently downloaded two different applications to my Blackberry. This was the first time I had downloaded anything as up to now the standard applications always seemed to be enough. However, my son was showing me some of his applications and they looked great.

After downloading it was clear that the two applications did not do what was wanted and would end up costing quite a bit. This in spite of the fact that they were free downloads.

One download for GPS mentions, after you download mind you, that unlimited airtime is required of significant costs could be incurred. The other application for audio email was one that spoke your emails to you not one you could voice record emails. Thus it was of little use to me.

Contacted the support / service area of both organizations and asked for instructions on closing out my account and removing from the Blackberry.

In one case the response was a rather lengthy email extolling the virtues of the software. It went on and on for two pages about what the program could do and why it should be kept. At no time did they mention anything about how to cancel the account or delete from the Blackberry.

The second firm sent a very nice email advising they would cancel the account and gave me a specific link to very clear instructions on how to remove the application. Turns out all Blackberry applications can be deleted that same way. This was new to me so a great help.

The difference was that the first firm practiced "customer response". They did not answer the request made nor provide valuable information to make their client satisfied. That email was clearly a sales pitch in hopes you would get so bogged down in the rhetoric you would keep the application on your Blackberry.

The second firm responded with a precise answer to my request. In fact, sent them a email telling them how much their service response was appreciated. You see they were practicing "Customer Service".

Each of us in business could do well to learn from this experience and make sure that when we are contacted by a client that we are providing service not just a response.