eBusiness.Life.Passion

The Complaints Department

I am currently on hold waiting to talk to the second complaints department at my mortgage company. It seems this company is so large that each department has it's own complaints department - so me, the person they don't really want to talk to on the other end of the line has to get the right complaints department before I can air my greivances.

The people are pleasant enough on the phone but I find it odd that they call it a "complaints" department. Surely you would want to call it something a little less negative. I want to disucss something - not necessarily complain. But since I have been told I am being put through to the complaints department - my attitude has changed. I now want to complain. This was not my intention originally - but it is now.

I feel that I have to get ready for war, to be clever and out smart the person that is about to pick up my call - all because of their naming of a department.

I guess there are two points here. 1. Don't have a specific complaints department - it annoys the people that are calling. Empower all staff to deal with customer issues. 2. If you have to have a department - don't call it a complaints department. Call it a resolution department or customer care.

Pope Abolishes Limbo … BT unaware!!

The letter entitled “Dear Cretins” from last week was something that I dredged up from my hard drive from years ago. I always kept it coz I knew there would be another day when I was angry with the phone company and couldn’t do anything about it. Reading it reminds me that no-one can get anything done by phone companies; they are busy ignoring thousands of other customers, and not just me!

The letter was brought out (compulsory reading throughout the office, naturally) last week because I had a line I being switched from TeleWest to BT, and yes, you guessed it, it went wrong. I had over 4 hours of conversations and hold music trying to get it sorted, and still, over the weekend my number was in limbo. Yes limbo, and in the very same week that His Holiness the Pope has abolished it! The number can be heard to ring if you dial it, but it doesn’t ring anywhere. Not with either phone company, at either the old location or the new. Obviously BT are not good catholics.

There is a happy ending to this though. Over the weekend I got through to a BT operator like no other. His words to me were “I want to take ownership of this issue, and I will resolve it for you first thing on Monday morning, myself, personally.” I won’t go into the details because you don’t want to hear them, but he has called me this morning, only minutes after his shift began, to tell me that he has spoken to the relevant people and arranged for it to be sorted at the latest by the end of the day. This is the type of response I think all BT people should give, I’ve been telling them myself, one by one, for years!

If you have an issue with BT, and no-one else wants to help, maybe you should call Sean Woodley. He can be reached on 0800-800-829. Demand to speak to him by name, I know I will be. Mention the blog to him if you like, and don’t be too rude as he might just be our only hope.

Dan Ray

What NOT to do when things go wrong, by Duchy Holidays

OK - here is my rant. It is not something that I want to specifically use this blog for...but occasionally I feel the need to blow a little steam.

Since my post about Audi (no comment from them yet) - things have been quite quiet. But today is a little different.

This morning I should have had a phone call. A simple phone call. It didn't happen. Here's the problem.

Lessons on how to loose customers – by Audi

One of the reasons I like these blogs so much is that you can write about day-to-day stuff that happens to you, which is often much more appropriate and interesting. No need for formal, business like English (God spare us!).

So, in a non-formal way – let me tell you about Audi, and how they are great at loosing customers. It is not because of the product. It is because of the staff they employ.
I am in the market for a new car – an Audi A4 infact. It was a car that I know little about, and it was recommended to me by someone.

So, I look at the website and to be honest, get a little confused with all the stuff they put on there. Why they have to have some many complicated bizarre jargon names I will never know…

…so what do I do? I call my local dealer to find out the answers. I end up speaking to a guy called Matt. Bizarrely, I suppose, but I always like talking to people with the same name as me…but not this guy. He cut me off half way through me asking what he thought were “basic” questions. I might be miss judging him, but wait to you hear the rest.

I call him back. It takes 5 minutes to put me through. I wonder why, had allsorts of theories – but I was, at least, willing to give him the benefit-of-the-doubt.

I arrange with him a test drive for Monday at 3pm. This is on the Friday afternoon. I give him my contact details, and ask him to call if there are any problems

Monday arrives.

Half way through the day, I realise that I have forgotten my driving license. D’oh! So, I go home to get it which causes some minor disruption for the day. Granted, this is not “Matt’s” fault – it is mine, but for “Matt’s” sake, the test drive needs to go well as I am not in the best frame of my given my stupidity.

I get there at 3 as promised. Again, it takes Matt 5 minutes to come out to me. He greets me by saying “Matt, I have had a problem getting you a car to test drive”.

Awesome!

My immediate response – “You have tried for two days, and no where can you get me a car to test drive?”

“No”

“Yet you had my number, why didn’t you call?”

“I did. But your phone was engaged or not being answered or something…” This is where I switch off, and start to loose it.

He is lying to me. I know it straight away - prospects and customers always do.

My mobile always goes to answer phone, and even if he did call (I had no proof whatsoever of this – but let’s give the benefit of the doubt again) – he could have called again…

Given that he is not sure of what actually happened when he called either – all the evidence is stacked against him. He obviously didn’t want to talk to me by the way he kept looking around – so I left.

As I walked out of that door – my decision on whether or not to buy an Audi had been finalised. The answer was no.

Funnily enough, I saw a friend in the car park and immediately related my story to him.

So what can we learn from this?

1. Always show interest and enthusiasm to the customer, regardless of how small you think their order is…you never know who they will tell.
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2. Get their number immediately – so if you get cut off, call them back immediately.
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3. If you make an appointment, stick to it and don’t show up late.
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4. If there is a problem – call.
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5. Be honest, and stop lying, customers see right through it!
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6. If you treat a customer badly – the first thing they will do is tell a bunch of people how badly you have treated them!

So, what happened then? I thought right, blow this – I will stop by the local BMW place across the road.

What a difference. I walked in, and was pleasantly greeted. Immediately, they sat me down whilst they found a person to talk to me, and whilst I was waiting got me a drink of nice fresh orange (not Asda’s cheap stuff).

He shook my hand, looked me in the eye and was interested in what I had to say. Within 20 minutes, I understood all the options that I needed to know about and was driving a model just like the one I was thinking of buying.

They had taken my contact details, and when I got back to my office – I had an email waiting from them.

Such a different experience.

What about Lexus? They were the same as BMW – only better. They lend you a car for a while, “take as long as you need with it” they say.

My advice – forget Audi – get a BMW or Lexus – from a customer service point of few – you will be glad you did.

Oh, and make sure that you give your prospects and customers a reason to say good things about you to other people rather than negative – you don’t know how much business that one person will bring you!