Everyone I know has a customer service nightmare story, and things seem to be worsening. Several months ago, one of my cousins began having a problem with her cell phone. She called her wireless carrier numerous times concerning the issue. Then, one day, she and a phone rep, whom I’ll call Agent Jekyll, had a quibble. Instead of handling the matter professionally and trying to resolve the problem, Agent Jekyll became agitated and transformed into Agent Hyde. Frustrated with the bickering, my cousin ended the call. Subsequently, Agent Hyde, perhaps still fuming, did something that might have gotten him fired when good customer service was standard. His action is proof that no matter the occupation, power in the wrong hands can be misused and damaging.
My cousin’s health issues make reliable phone service essential. So she bought a new phone and was baffled when she began experiencing connectivity problems with it. In the meantime, she would often use her daughter’s mobile, which is on her account. Finally, a few months after purchasing the new phone, my cousin inadvertently learned the source of the problem.
While out running an errand one day, her daughter tried to phone her mom and received a “No mobile connectivity” message from her mother’s phone. She rushed home and told her mom, who then used her daughter’s phone to contact the carrier. Fortunately, she lucked up and got a patient and empathetic agent to assist her at that time. After troubleshooting the issue, the agent discovered that (unbeknownst to my cousin) the last agent, Jekyll-Hyde, had disconnected her line. My cousin resolved to report the matter to the Corporate office.
Aside from my personal experiences, I learned from research and conversations with friends that lousy customer service is widespread in many companies. Unprofessional reps sometimes show poor judgment or malintent by doing something impractical, like disconnecting a customer’s phone line without justification.
As bad as my cousin’s phone episode was, I discovered, on sites like helpcrunch.com, examples of poor customer service that are even worse than what my cousin experienced. In one instance, an Amazon customer bought $90 worth of toilet paper and was charged more than $7000 in shipping costs. Getting that overcharge refunded was a major challenge.
An article on Forbes.com, “The Decline of Customer Service in America,” blames poor customer service on “a lack of training and failure by businesses to invest in basic customer service training skills.”
I know I am not the only one who longs to return to the days when providing excellent customer service was a business priority. Innovative companies know that providing good customer service helps retain customers and generates new business when satisfied customers spread the word about the service they received.