Results: This is part 2 about customer service and how some employees seem to work in the "Business Prevention Department " Their customer service skills are so bad that customers take business elsewhere, post negative reviews online or initiate legal action.
I have just had a week of bad customer service where staff in the "Business Prevention Department" almost made me close my bank account after 30 years of good service, almost prompted me to close my account with an Internet company after only a week of service and even prevented me from opening a new account with a heating company In 2 of the cases a minor customer service issue that could have been easily resolved became a time consuming and goodwill damaging escalation that required a manager to resolve. The 3rd example killed instantly any chance of doing business. What we have here is "A failure to communicate" - or perhaps it's just me?
1.
1.
In this first example I had paid a bill using online banking and received a confirmation of payment from my bank. The payee however did not get the money. The funds went somewhere but as a customer what could I do to track it down? I did the obvious. I contacted my bank. The issue was eventually resolved by an account manager but only after a blood pressure raising exchange with a customer service clerk. Here are some excerpts from our exchange. Which ones would have raised your temperature like it did mine?
"You must have entered the account information wrong" versus "Have you verified the account information is correct?"
34%
•
774 votes
"The process is all handled by computer and we do hundreds of these every day." versus "This process is usually very reliable, let me investigate to see what went wrong."
24%
•
553 votes
"I suppose I will have to run a trace. It could take 3 or 4 weeks and there is a $15 service charge." versus "Let me run a trace to get to the bottom of this. When computers mess up we require humans to fix it but it could take a few days to investigate." (no question if a fee until the cause of the error is known)
41%
•
937 votes
Since I had done my part correctly I questioned having to pay $15 to fix what to me was the bank's mistake. The response was. "So you don't want me to run a trace?"
38%
•
865 votes
Other (please specify)
1%
•
28 votes
Not Applicable
34%
•
775 votes
- I would have gone in person and been so loud someone would have to help me.
- Yes
- The same
2.
2.
This 2nd situation involved the installation of my new Internet service. It advertised Internet 60 at 7 Mbps download speed for $60. My download speed with my previous carrier was up to 11MBps for $95, faster and more expensive than I needed. 7Mbps seemed about right. When I downloaded one of my regular programs however I found my speed was 900KBs, considerably slower than I was expecting. I phoned the ISP and here are excerpts from that exchange. Here again the issue was escalated to management when it needn't have. Which of them would have stoked the flames a little?
Our software shows you are getting full speed on your downloads. (so why even bother calling?)
28%
•
652 votes
Are any trees blocking your signal? (irrelevant if I am getting full speed)
23%
•
535 votes
Disconnect and reconnect all the cables. (irrelevant if I am getting full speed)
26%
•
603 votes
We upgraded to Internet 80 which had 20 Mbps download speed but I got "only" 2.5MBps (no point in upgrading is there?)
19%
•
443 votes
In a conversation with my IT expert son he said. "Are you talking about MBps or Mbps? ISPs advertise speeds in Mbps but your browser shows speeds in MBps." I asked him what the difference was. He replied "A factor of 8." Then the penny dropped. 20 Mbps is (divided by 8) the same as 2.5MBps which was exactly what I was getting. By this time the manager was involved and I POINTED OUT TO HIM the difference between MBps and Mbps and suggested this was something they would know but few customers would and we had wasted all this time because of it.
30%
•
696 votes
Other (please specify)
1%
•
20 votes
Not Applicable
40%
•
928 votes
- Yes
- Definately.
- Yes
3.
3.
We recently moved to a location where winter heating is fuelled by propane. Several neighbours have opted to lease what is called a "pig" - a propane tank of 420lb capacity compared to the typical 30lb tanks I was used to. The supplier remotely monitors propane usage and tops up the tank if it gets down to 30% capacity. The cost of the propane is discounted at a bulk buying rate. I decided I would get the tank in the spring rather than wait until nearer winter and contacted the supplier. My question was as follows. "Some of my neighbours have arranged to buy propane in bulk from your company and I would like to do the same. What do I need to do to get this set up?" What do you think of their response? How would you feel and what would you do next?
The reply to my question was "We don't have any tanks." That's it. So what now?
20%
•
465 votes
Does this mean no tanks now but maybe later?
15%
•
340 votes
Will they have tanks in time for winter?
18%
•
403 votes
Why do they not have tanks when this is their business?
21%
•
494 votes
Will they ever have tanks?
15%
•
340 votes
Other (please specify)
1%
•
28 votes
Not Applicable
43%
•
996 votes
I asked for clarification The answer "We don't have any tanks and don't know if and when we will be getting any."
29%
•
657 votes
- You really don’t want to know!
- F*ck you !
- Do you have any brains, will you be getting any soon?
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