Adventures in Customer Service - A Communications Company

Introduction
Not too long ago, my friend Denise C. said to me, "Maybe you should host training on Customer Service." We brainstormed on how it would work and I began researching how Customer Service is working (or not working) in various industries.  From that came this series: "Adventures in Customer Service".  These are anecdotal accounts of real-life customer service experiences which I, or others close to me, have experienced. 

I imagine many of you will see similarities to experiences of your own, feel free to chime in. Here's the first one: Adventures in Customer Service - A Communications Company.

The Goal
Upgrade communication device services 

The Background
Last year I was surprised with a bill that was $400 more than expected because during a particularly busy month I'd gone over on my minutes.  Since then I'd been monitoring my minutes pretty closely to see if I was really using all of the minutes in the upgraded package.  Additionally, I wanted to look at if I could add broadband access to enable me to work on the train.

The Process
Step One: Contact the Communications Company

This seemed simple enough.  From past experience I knew that I could add services from the website but not remove them.   Given that I was looking at possibly replacing services.  I figured I should call and save myself some steps.  Pull out the last billing statement, look in the contact section - hmm,  no phone number, just a web address.  So much for saving myself some steps.

Launched my favorite browser, typed in the URL and navigated to their search facility.  As I suspected no ability to drop or switch online, have to call.  Again start the search for the appropriate phone number.  In the interest of saving time, I launched the chat service that was hanging out in the right column.  Fully expecting to see something like, "Thank you for contacting us today, how may I be of assistance?"  I was taken aback when instead I was presented with a series of demographic questions before reaching a representative to ask my question - how to drop or switch a service. 

The representative politely told me it could not be done online, the popular refrain, but they would be happy to find the appropriate phone number in my area.  Care to guess what happened next?  They asked me a series of demographic questions - the same ones I answered to get into the chat session in the first place.  I was given the phone number; I thanked the rep and clicked to close the chat window. 

Not so fast...I was prompted to fill out a survey on my chat experience.  At this point, I have grown very tired of my communications company needing to know so much about me, I closed it without answering.

Step Two: Contact the Communications Company

Bluetooth on, number in hand, dialing…pressed 1 to have menu in English, pressed 0 in hopes of avoiding the other prompts.  ERROR, go directly to jail, do not pass Go, well not exactly, "you have entered an incorrect response. Please listen to the menu options and make your selection again."

Ok, so start again..

I listened and made a selection.
I listened and made a selection.
I listened and made a selection.
I listened and made a selection.
I listened and made a selection.
I listened and I made a section.
I listened and I made a selection.

I got tired of listening and hung up.

At this point, I've wasted about 45 minutes in an attempt to upgrade my services, a switch that would in the end net my communications company more money from me.  Yet, they've made it difficult to do this.  Well, technically they made it easy to add to make money but difficult to remove so if I add but can't reach them to remove then they make even more money - maybe that was the point.

I've become stubborn about it no, I got back on the website went to the Contact Us page.  It didn't have any phone numbers but it at least had a form that I thought might give me some level of satisfaction - that is until I noticed it went on for THREE pages and included - you guessed it - the demographic questions I'd answered twice before at this point.   The kicker, the majority of the fields were REQUIRED.

WOW!  I am used to the contact pages which have name, email, subject, and message. Simple.

The Lesson Learned
Are you still with me? Would you want your customers to go through such frustrations?  I feel that in an effort to reduce/control costs companies have forgotten about the human factor.  A lot of this was seen with customer service being pushed offshore with reps reading scripts back to customers.  Some companies listened to the outcry and brought call centers back onshore or at least backed them with US staff.  Others "listened" but solved it with online or horrific phone systems. 

It is experiences like this that motivate me to keep the human touch in customer service.  To respond back personally to customer inquiries and to provide useful/actionable answers.   One of my favorite books is Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin (www.sethgodin.com).  I encourage everyone, especially my communications company, to read it.    Perhaps it would encourage them to be remarkable to transforming their customer service model. Maybe.

The Result
Oh, in case you are wondering, I didn't achieve my goal.  I have not yet reached a representative to upgrade my services.  I am currently investigating other options.