A Personal Thank You to Great Customer Service out There.
Oooooooh how I love me some excellent customer service! Seriously, in a consumer driven society shouldn't we be getting this all the freakin' time anyways? (the answer is Yes). Being a Customer Service Manager myself, I understand and appreciate the role the customer plays - without them, I wouldn't be sitting here right now typing away on my work's computer ;) Shhhh...
But the sad truth is that there are some real big idiots representing companies out there, and most of them flat out suck. But why? I mean, our whole job is to help out the CUSTOMER! That's our #1 goal, to make sure they're happy - or at least resolve whatever it is they have an issue with. It's really not that hard. But I digress.
Today's post is more about those sexy reps who know their ish, and know how to treat their lifeline. Unlike those flying mythical unicorns, GOOD customer service agents are in fact out there :) And I've been lucky enough to come across a few lately! Sometimes you might only be able to find them by speaking up, but they do exist.
Here are two recent stories that restore my faith in people, all relating to finance of course:
It's also good to offer ways in which agents can address your complaints. If you tell them their products are crappy and you'd like them to "do something about it", don't expect great results. Instead, let them know what you'd like to see happen and be calm about it. If it doesn't work, you can always do the popular thing and simply ask for a manager. And who knows, maybe you'll get lucky and I'll be the one who picks up! Awwww yeahhhhh.
But the sad truth is that there are some real big idiots representing companies out there, and most of them flat out suck. But why? I mean, our whole job is to help out the CUSTOMER! That's our #1 goal, to make sure they're happy - or at least resolve whatever it is they have an issue with. It's really not that hard. But I digress.
Today's post is more about those sexy reps who know their ish, and know how to treat their lifeline. Unlike those flying mythical unicorns, GOOD customer service agents are in fact out there :) And I've been lucky enough to come across a few lately! Sometimes you might only be able to find them by speaking up, but they do exist.
Here are two recent stories that restore my faith in people, all relating to finance of course:
- Amazon.com - Always a pleasure to work with, whether directly w/ them, or with a private seller using their store solutions. I recently ordered the book "Your Money or Your Life" through Portland Books, and let me tell you something, these people don't mess around! I unfortunately got an older version of the book, probably due to my own fault, and within hours of emailing them they offered to give me 100% of my money back! I responded that i actually don't need that, I just wanted mail it back for the newer one, and they said " Oh, well i already returned it - so just keep the book anyways :)". DAMN Gina! A+++ service.
- ProductsWithPersonality.com - I have two love stories with them. The first was when a pair of cuff links I ordered arrived w/ tiny dents in them. Not the biggest of issues, but since i was giving them away as presents, it's kinda tacky. I emailed over and an associate named Heather apologized quickly and sent out another pair to replace them, again stating I could keep the others! (if anyone would like them, just holler and they're yours - they're currently sitting on my desk collecting dust). The 2nd part was that I had to place a second order for only 1 pair of cufflinks as I had left someone out the first go around - totally my own fault. But the shipping was the same $7 bucks whether i ordered 1 or 10. So, being the frugal one I am, I shot over another email on the off chance they'd hook me up with a discount. And they did! They actually just wiped the entire charge off, so I ended up paying $0 for shipping :) That's what I call "above and beyond".
It's also good to offer ways in which agents can address your complaints. If you tell them their products are crappy and you'd like them to "do something about it", don't expect great results. Instead, let them know what you'd like to see happen and be calm about it. If it doesn't work, you can always do the popular thing and simply ask for a manager. And who knows, maybe you'll get lucky and I'll be the one who picks up! Awwww yeahhhhh.
Labels: customer service, speaking up
posted by J. Money at
11:28 AM
6 Comments:
It's always nice to experience (or hear that someone else experienced) good customer service -- it can be so rare these days. I agree that Amazon has great customer service -- they are awesome. Sprint CS, however, is not.
I've had so many dropped calls in my first several months with Sprint, and have been on and off the phone with customer service and even in and out of the store a few times for the last few weeks trying to get things fixed. I want to just get out of the contract without early termination fees since it's the worst cell phone provider I've ever used, but they refuse. I've gotten a few customer-service follow-up calls, which I didn't expect. The first one truly was that -- the guy was calling to see if things were resolved. Two days ago, I got another such call. The woman asked if everything had been resolved, and then she asked if we could go over my bill to make sure I wasn't being charged for something I wasn't supposed to.
How nice of her, right? Wrong. Her intentions were to sell me on a higher-paying plan! "I see that you are paying $5 a month for 300 text messages. Is that correct?" "Yes." "Well I can put you on a plan for another $10 a month, and you will get unlimited texts!" I kept telling her I was fine with my plan and wasn't going to spend any more money on Sprint. I just couldn't believe it that she called me under the guise of being my advocate and ended up just trying to upsell me over and over again, especially knowing I had so many problems with their service. Arghhhh!!!
I was just reading an article about companies with the best customer service - Amazon was one, and American Express was another, which surprised me because I had a terrible experience with them earlier this year and wrote a post about it.
Alright, alright. I'll take the dented cuff links.
I had an impressive customer service situation last night myself.
http://savingmoneyrocks.blogspot.com/2008/07/borders-coupon-and-my-free-movie.html
Seriously, I'll take the cuff links!
My worst customer experience EVER has been with Time Warner Cable in NYC. Each rep tells me something different when I have to call back several times about a persisting issue, the actual technicians never come during their window (which aggravates me when I have to take off of work... and then take off MORE work), and they don't try very hard to accomodate you, nor seem to care about it. And when I moved, they mishandled my accounts and I ended up getting double-billed for three months because they forgot to close out my old account, even though it was clearly booked as a transfer. I was so fed up that I wrote a letter to customer service and they offered me three months of free HBO. Unfortunately, my roommate then got hooked on our freebie and now we pay for it... oh well, I guess they got what they wanted.
My best customer service experiences (surprise, surprise!) have been with USAA! (sound fanfare music!) I once was in a semi-fradulent situation where I paid an apartment broker for listings, where they offered a refund if you signed a lease with a different broker. When I went to collect my refund, the business had disappeared and would not answer any phone calls, emails, etc. (it appeared legit at first). I had paid for the service with my USAA debit card, and after I faxed them a copy of my contract and detailed the business' disappearance, they refunded me the money and even called me when the refund was deposited. I was really at a loss when the situation first happened, but USAA made it all better! Also, whenever I call they are just so darn friendly.... one of them even asked me how the weather was in New York (having pulled up my address/profile, I assume. Otherwise, USAA hires stalkers, which is NOT cool)
Emily - Sprint = The Devil. I'm sorry i couldn't have warned you earlier. I hope you can get out of that contract soon though! I know alot of carriers are pro-rating it now so you won't have to pay the full termination fee like before, but that may not help ya much.
I had Sprint for 1 full day and it never worked, thus making me the un-coolest teenager alive at the time. I had to have people "page me" - remember that?
Carrie - Sucky about American Express :( I'll check it out on your blog and then leave some sort of snarky comment. will that make things better?
Earnie - They're all yours baby, get ready to have some bling! (I'll email ya)
#1HB4BD - Cable companies in NYC drove me CRAZYYYY too! Don't know much about Time Warner, but I had plenty of runs in w/ Cox....actually, i was about to get into it, but i'm gonna stop before i get heated all over again...even though it's been 5+ years! haha...
And USAA? Forget about it - Best customer service of ALL TIME. I'm telling you, one of these days i'm gonna buy that company :)
My best customer service experience was actually with JC Penney's. I followed the care instructions on a shirt I had purchased there and worn a number of times - and the shirt MELTED to the iron! I sent a customer service comment through their website and got a call from a customer service rep at my local store. Not only did she meet me that weekend when I came in and help me find a similar shirt to replace mine, she also helped me pick out a new iron to replace the one with melted shirt stuck to it!
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