A lot has changed for businesses over the years but one thing has remained the same, the need for good customer service. No matter how much I like a company, its products, or its prices my patronage depends largely on how I’m treated by the employees. That doesn’t mean I expect be pampered like a princess but being treated in a polite and respectful way makes a HUGE impact on my overall shopping or dining experience.
This applies to online dealings as well.
There have been some times when I was pulling my hair out just trying to get the representative to listen to, let alone understand, the matter I was calling about. Have you ever stopped buying from or going to a certain business because you just had a horrible experience with a rude, arrogant employee or a callously mean manager?
On other occasions, the people I spoke with were so friendly and exhibited such a genuine desire to make things right that I could breathe a sigh of relief once the matter was cared for. One time I called company about the loose stitching on my daughter’s toy. The gentleman said, “No problem. I’m sorry that happened and I’ll get another one to you right away.” A few days later we got the replacement and, to top it off, he even included a couple of extra accessories! That experience alone made me a huge fan of that company.
Some big companies go to great lengths to contract a quality customer care call center. It can be quite taxing to be on the receiving end of an upset, or even irate, customer. Still, encouraging representatives to treat every customer like ‘they are right’ means that person will continue to be a customer, a loyal one at that.
2 comments
I know the feeling! My biggest problem is understanding what they say. I use to work for an IT company who’s partner had horrible customer service because each customer service rep had horrible language barriers. No pun intend on deep accents, but if I can’t understand you, will you understand me? Eventually they dumped that call center from all the complaints from customers. .If I can’t understand you, I usually hang up and call back when I can get my message across more clearly.
Its frustrating, but it’s so crucial if you want your customers to be heard. You can’t hear them online and “tone” and email play an imperative role in making sure you don’t come across rude.
That is so true. There’s a huge difference in knowing the language versus speaking it fluently with full colloquial understanding. IRL you can interpret body language but, as you mentioned, that is null in online chats, email, or even over the phone. Another reason I think it’s so important is the fact that people are already frustrated or peeved when they call and there’s no use throwing oil on the fire.
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