Comments on: A Case Study in Bad Customer Service

By: Manjunath Nettem

Manjunath Nettem — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 02:58:51 +0000

Urs blog is one of the must read resource for technology management professionals.Thanx for the great info.

By: benjamyn damazer

benjamyn damazer — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:25:10 +0000

Depressingly familiar story across the developed world. I am based in the UK and could quote fifty similar tales from all parts of the product and service sector. There are a number of issues at play.

Product changes : I used to like a particular brand of peppermint lozenge, made by a long established British company to a recipe it had been using for over 100 years. The flavour then, suddenly changed. I wrote to the company to ask if old flavour still available and of course had the short-term costs response. One lost customer for them.

Transactional servicing : Car hire companies, retail banks and supermarket delivery services all have a very large number of customers and subsequent transactions, often in the millions per day category. Overwhelmingly these go to plan – the cheques are processed properly, my hire car works, the dry cleaner removes the stains and does not damage my suit. Occasionally things go wrong. The payment to my local council for property tax gets misallocated, the insurance renewal has a wrong digit in my car registration or the gas board cuts me off even when I have paid. Statistically, this doesn’t happen often. But when it happens to me, it is a real issue. Organisations respond in one of two ways – either the problem is within the range of scripts held by the call (not service!) centre and can be fixed immediately or the organisation goes into meltdown. Most organisations have no mechanisms nor procedures for dealing with the very very small number of exceptional errors and omissions. Typically, the CEO is powerless as they don’t know how company systems work, so make promises that they can’t keep or do nothing and accept that the loss of my business is less costly to them than putting the problem right.

This is of course difficult if dealing with a real or de facto monopoly. I can’t change gas supplier, nor local authority. I have therefore developed a guerrilla approach. I sent a registered post letter to the CEO and chairman giving them seven days to put things right, following which I go to the small claims court. In the UK this is a truly painless process, all online and very low cost – costs which in any event are recoverable from the other party. I have done this several times and never, ever failed to win. experiences include a train company which spilled coffee on me and offered to pay for the replacement light coloured trousers, for a travel company which cancelled flights but didn’t think to tell me before I arrived at the airport and a car par operator whose staff damaged my car.

By: admin

admin — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 23:38:29 +0000

Bill, Amen to your comments, I have seen the very same things over and over. A really good example with respect to government legislation (which usually eventually hurts everyone involved) is the recent rules put on the airlines with respect to their unbelievably bad customer service practices. It amazes me that companies are too stupid to police themselves and treat their customers like the lifeblood they are.

By: BILL JOHNSON

BILL JOHNSON — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 22:15:34 +0000

I completely understand your frustration; I beleive that we have all been victims of a company that values short profits over long term gains. I am seeing more and more reports from customers who have been treated badly and in some cases out right cheated by nefarious customer service reps (sort of an oxmoron) and or companies in general. With the economy in such bad shape and the fact that consummers usually have many alternatives it seems counter intuitive that there are so many instances of poor customer service, but that sadly is the case and it appears to be getting worse. Not only are companies less willing to give the customer a break and a good product or service but they have really cut back on their customer service depts. Many companies even very large ones have reduced the number of customer service agents/reps, cut he salaries of the customer service people, given them less power to deal with the customer and in general are behaving like they just don’t care what the customer wants or thinks.
I have been a sales manager and national rep for several products in different industries and I can wittness that poor service is epidemic you can find the same mindset in numerous industries…this will eventually hurt these companies…why don’t see or care is beyond my comprehension. The thing that from my perspective is the worst is that when I sell a product or service it is MY REPUTATION that is damaged the most…I am the one that will ultimately be blamed and I am the one that will lose any chance of a referral …I am the one that will suffer the most from losing a customer. For a large company they don’t care if they lose a few customers so what there are more where they came from but for the salesman or woman…every customer is precious…the loss of even one can mean disaster. I have also found that usually there is nothing that I can do to help the customer either…I am (and I have stories from other salespeople who say they have the same experience) ignored even threatened if I raise a stink…
I don’t where this is going to lead but my guess is that we are headed to some place that we will not want to go…..I see very restrictive legislation on the horizon coupled with customers refusing to sign any agreement that binds them for longer than a month…I hope I am wrong but I don’t think so..

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 01:24:47 +0000

Working for DISH Network I see a lot of positive and negative from all companies. But the F rating for Directv leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Direct had three times the number of complaints to the BB then DISH had, now no company is perfect, but wow, 39000 complaints.