1 post tagged “courtesy”

Do you feel the same way I do?  I work full time, and I run a business.  Plus I take care of my kids and dog and house and yard.  I have to take my own trash to the town dump.  I don't have time for people to waste, especially when I pay these people for a service. 

The type of customer service that business are using now, especially on the telephone, is totally ridiculous. I would love to speak to the person who came up with it and understand their rationale.  For instance, when I call your company, don't tell me it's to provide me with better service if I enter my account number before I even speak to a live person.  By the time I get to talk to a real live person, they don't have that information so I have to tell them all over again.

Companies are being way too wordy on the phone.  Instead of a nice brief "Select 1 for this, 2 for that," etc., now it's "In order to serve you better, please tell us why you are calling," at which point the voice recognition system has a 50/50 shot of understanding what I'm saying.  Under normal circumstances, I can expect to go through at least 2 of these menus before actually being routed to a department, where I may or may not have to tell them why I am calling so they can serve me better.

And who the HELL came up with "Please listen to the following menu as our options have recently changed."  NO THEY HAVE NOT!  They don't change!  You have the same options you had 5 years ago!  Just because you say to listen to the whole list doesn't mean I want to or will.

I don't have time to sit around all day listening to what you deem to be important, because to me it isn't.  Their telephone system answers with a whole list of things like "pay your bill", "change your service", etc.  Usually what I want to do isn't listed, and I have to wait until the end.  But then I pushed "0" for operator.  That sort of speeds things up, but then it says "While we transfer you, in order to serve you better, please enter your account number followed by the pound sign."  ARghhhhh!!!!  Verizon customer service goes so far as to almost be a joke.  I called the other day to ask about my son accessing the internet from his cell phone, but I didn't have trouble with it.  The sales rep. said, and I kid you not, "I'm sorry you're having trouble with your son accessing the internet from his cell phone.  I would be happy to help you with that today."  Now the new "thing" is to repeat what the customer said verbatim after the words "I'm sorry."  I told her that it sounded condescending when she repeated me word for word for the third time, and this is her reply, "Ma'am, I'm sorry it sounded condescending to you when I repeated you."  *sigh*

Businesses have also taken account security to a whole new annoying level.  There are a bunch of places that when I call they ask for my name, address with state and zip, phone number, AND password.  I could just be calling to ask a generic question not account related, and they still insist on all this.  Again, w a s t e   o f   m y    t i m e!

Finally, at the end of the call, I don't want to hear how I am an important customer to them and they value my business.  I don't want to complete a short survey, and I especially don't want to hear about one more product that might interest me.  Really people.

Here is what I would like to happen:  I call and hear "Please select 1 for this or 2 for that."  My call is routed to the correct department the first time.  I tell the operator why I am calling.  They say, "I can help you with that," and proceed to do just that.  At the end of the call, they say, "Thank you for calling such and such business."  The end.   Short and sweet.  No time wasted.

Note to businesses who buy into this philosophy of customer service:  Just telling people you're trying to serve them better doesn't mean they'll believe you.  You respect customers more by not wasting their time.  Telling your customers they are important to you in a canned text sort of way is meaningless and a joke.  If you've ever heard someone obviously reading it off a card, you know what I mean.  The best way to make customers feel like they are important to you is to SHOW them by putting their needs first and being nice and respectful.  How hard is that?

And Verizon?  A short note to you:  Whoever is in charge of your telephone customer relations should be fired on the spot.  Hire someone with years and years of real experience.