Thursday, November 09, 2006
Like a sledgehammer?
"I'll take my business elsewhere!"
My favorite refrain in the customer service world. People figure that really, what a business cares about is getting your money (true). A business doesn't care about you as a person, how you're doing, how you're feeling, what you're thinking, except insofar as it affects you parting with your money. Consequently, the threat of taking your money with you is supposed to get a business' attention.
One problem is that you aren't really talking to a business when you're making that threat. You're talking to a person. Some people care more than others, and people care about different things. You might be talking to a jaded individual who couldn't give two craps about whether or not you come back to eat at Burger King (or whatever).
Another problem is that your money might not be enough to offset the cost of dealing with you. Let's say I'm at a hotel. I'm really demanding. I haggle and push at the desk, trying to get a better room than I was originally booked into. I get to the room and find some miniscule problem, then complain to the desk that it's unacceptable and demand to be upgraded. When I get to my new, upgraded room, I proceed to ask for everything I can think of that I won't be charged for, and I do it all on separate calls, maximizing the amount of time that it'll take the staff to bring it to me. I order room service, don't tip, and after eating the food, call down to the desk to complain about the quality of the service and food. Through the night, I constantly call down to complain about noise, even though it's just people walking to their rooms and closing their doors. In the morning, I complain about the quality of the stay and demand a discount on the room. I get my discount, and when the housekeeping staff gets up to the room, it's a disaster, although nothing is technically broken or permanently damaged.
The sad thing is that I'm personally aware of people who deliberately do this at hotels (and probably with other businesses) in order to never pay full price. What frustrates me is that there are some businesses who will accomodate people like that.
We don't. It's not worth our time to repeatedly deal with people who constantly complain about things way beyond our control. Other times, we'll reach an impasse with someone who doesn't like the way a certain policy is, and who doesn't like that the policy won't change on their behalf. Obviously, we'll try to figure out a solution to any problem that comes before us, but the nature of our business means that sometimes there's nothing we can do.
For example, if your computer is configured incorrectly and won't start, we can't help you. Yes, it's true that this means you can't get connected, but that's like calling your microwave company to fix the power outage that's preventing you from nuking your burrito.
Yesterday, a woman called us because she's installed a new piece of software. When she installed it, her connection died. We suggested uninstalling the software to see if that fixed the problem, and then possibly reinstalling that software afterwards. She did so, and the connection worked fine when the program was not on the computer, and died again when it was. She called back, so we suggested she check the software's documentation or contacted the vendor for support on why that might be happening, and leaving the program uninstalled in the meantime.
"So you're not going to help me?"
Some people believe that we should do everything in our power to ensure that our service is working for them. I think it's reasonable to expect us to help up to a point, but beyond that point, it's not reasonable anymore. If you've bought some random program that's supposed to speed up your computer and it's causing problems, how are we supposed to know how to help? If we suggest that you uninstall it and the problems go away, then I think we have helped as much as you can reasonably expect us to.
"Fine, then I'll cancel the account and go with someone more helpful!"
OK. You've got to realize that sometimes you're asking more of someone than you can really expect them to give. Sometimes it's worth a company's time to go further and try to retain the customer, but sometimes it's just not worth the trouble.
"I'll tell all my friends to cancel, and I know a lot of people who use your service!"
I hear that threat levied sometimes, and you know what? For all of the calls I've handled where someone wants to cancel, not one person has ever cited a friend's "poor" experience as the reason they're ending their own service.
It isn't that I don't care. I do like to help people fix their problems when I can. It's just that sometimes you bump up against an obstacle that isn't going to budge with the tools you've got at hand, and at that point, all you can recommend is that they go get a better tool.
My favorite refrain in the customer service world. People figure that really, what a business cares about is getting your money (true). A business doesn't care about you as a person, how you're doing, how you're feeling, what you're thinking, except insofar as it affects you parting with your money. Consequently, the threat of taking your money with you is supposed to get a business' attention.
One problem is that you aren't really talking to a business when you're making that threat. You're talking to a person. Some people care more than others, and people care about different things. You might be talking to a jaded individual who couldn't give two craps about whether or not you come back to eat at Burger King (or whatever).
Another problem is that your money might not be enough to offset the cost of dealing with you. Let's say I'm at a hotel. I'm really demanding. I haggle and push at the desk, trying to get a better room than I was originally booked into. I get to the room and find some miniscule problem, then complain to the desk that it's unacceptable and demand to be upgraded. When I get to my new, upgraded room, I proceed to ask for everything I can think of that I won't be charged for, and I do it all on separate calls, maximizing the amount of time that it'll take the staff to bring it to me. I order room service, don't tip, and after eating the food, call down to the desk to complain about the quality of the service and food. Through the night, I constantly call down to complain about noise, even though it's just people walking to their rooms and closing their doors. In the morning, I complain about the quality of the stay and demand a discount on the room. I get my discount, and when the housekeeping staff gets up to the room, it's a disaster, although nothing is technically broken or permanently damaged.
The sad thing is that I'm personally aware of people who deliberately do this at hotels (and probably with other businesses) in order to never pay full price. What frustrates me is that there are some businesses who will accomodate people like that.
We don't. It's not worth our time to repeatedly deal with people who constantly complain about things way beyond our control. Other times, we'll reach an impasse with someone who doesn't like the way a certain policy is, and who doesn't like that the policy won't change on their behalf. Obviously, we'll try to figure out a solution to any problem that comes before us, but the nature of our business means that sometimes there's nothing we can do.
For example, if your computer is configured incorrectly and won't start, we can't help you. Yes, it's true that this means you can't get connected, but that's like calling your microwave company to fix the power outage that's preventing you from nuking your burrito.
Yesterday, a woman called us because she's installed a new piece of software. When she installed it, her connection died. We suggested uninstalling the software to see if that fixed the problem, and then possibly reinstalling that software afterwards. She did so, and the connection worked fine when the program was not on the computer, and died again when it was. She called back, so we suggested she check the software's documentation or contacted the vendor for support on why that might be happening, and leaving the program uninstalled in the meantime.
"So you're not going to help me?"
Some people believe that we should do everything in our power to ensure that our service is working for them. I think it's reasonable to expect us to help up to a point, but beyond that point, it's not reasonable anymore. If you've bought some random program that's supposed to speed up your computer and it's causing problems, how are we supposed to know how to help? If we suggest that you uninstall it and the problems go away, then I think we have helped as much as you can reasonably expect us to.
"Fine, then I'll cancel the account and go with someone more helpful!"
OK. You've got to realize that sometimes you're asking more of someone than you can really expect them to give. Sometimes it's worth a company's time to go further and try to retain the customer, but sometimes it's just not worth the trouble.
"I'll tell all my friends to cancel, and I know a lot of people who use your service!"
I hear that threat levied sometimes, and you know what? For all of the calls I've handled where someone wants to cancel, not one person has ever cited a friend's "poor" experience as the reason they're ending their own service.
It isn't that I don't care. I do like to help people fix their problems when I can. It's just that sometimes you bump up against an obstacle that isn't going to budge with the tools you've got at hand, and at that point, all you can recommend is that they go get a better tool.
# posted by Terry @ 6:31 AM 
