A while back, I got off the phone with AT&T “customer care”. It was an unusually frustrating experience, even by the standard of dealing with a multi-billion-dollar corporation that has roots as a regulated utility. I had been transferred among 6 different departments over the period of a couple of days. I’d finally had enough. […]
The Return of Customer Service?
Bad Customer Service is one of my hot buttons and what I feel is an undervalued area for many consumer and B2B tech company CEOs. As a result, it’s not considered a “core” area of the business and receives far too little attention from senior management. I’ve said in the past that not only is […]
A Case Study in Bad Customer Service
In my opinion, the quality of a company’s customer service is BY FAR the most important ingredient of the numerous factors that go into a company’s brand reputation. Unfortunately too many companies, even those of the large, successful variety, just don’t get it. I wrote previously about The End of Customer Service. It doesn’t appear […]
The End of Customer Service
No one answers the telephone anymore. What does this signal about the importance of customer service? At least, technology companies in the US surely don’t answer the phone. Not many, anyway. With big companies, you are either presented with an endless phone tree–“press 1 for a company directory”–or that “favorite” communications technology. Yes, the cheerful […]
Software and Hardware Customer Service
An underrated competency in software and hardware companies–which should be considered MUCH more important– is the customer service function. I suppose that’s only natural; tech companies are very focused on gaining strategic advantage via technological advances and product differentiation. Once the product is in good shape, companies tend to shift their primary focus from product […]
