Microsoft Tech Support Rocks!
I just got off a 1 1/2 hour tech support call with Microsoft and I am compelled to report that for the second time in about a month they were awesome. And this has to be in taken in the context of two factors:
#1 The fact that in reality, the 1 1/2 were wasted. The problem and the call were not on my to do list. That alone could be worth a rant.
#2 I am on tech support/customer service overload having had one bad experience after another lately. Typepad is a continuing tech support challenge but last week became a customer service nightmare, also. Although this made for low expectations, it did not lower my requirements.
So, what made it a good experience?
Empathetic attitude and problem ownership. If we believe that the basis for a positive customer experience is knowing what the customer wants, we can go a little further back and say that what we all want is to be understood. The problem that I called about what was my fault….I knew that, but I was never told that; fault didn’t matter. So many customer service/tech experiences begin with finding fault…if it is the customer’s fault, then frequently that grants permission to dismiss the customer with a "sorry but". Further, they apologized for the problem that I was having and assured me that we would resolve it. Computer problems are always frustrating but when there is that underlying fear that one is going to lose everything near-panic sets in…I felt better just because I was reassured that the problem was going to be fixed.
Throughout the long, long call an empathetic manner and determination to find the problem and fix it were the hallmark. I was not transferred to another department or told that the Outlook specific question was not in his purview. When the problem was resolved from my standpoint, the tech wanted to trouble shoot a little more…to make sure the problem was solved. He had more patience that I did with resolving the problem. When the call was over, he said he hoped that my experience had been a good one and he sounded like he meant it…when I told him that he had been great, he seemed genuinely pleased.
Well, now I think I will try and salvage the day…and just because things are resolved with Microsoft and possibly Typepad, maybe I will try those Technorati tags again….and a couple of trackbacks.
Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Typepad, customer, service, tech, support, tags
No. I Don’t Have Time to Read Blogs
I was talking to my lawyer yesterday about what lawyers call my "high conflict" divorce case. Yes, we are divorced but instead of that judgment being the end of the conflict, it became the basis for my ex to escalate the conflict. This is, of course a whole other blog that is under development but this post is about people completely impervious to blogs. My lawyer started talking about the client/attorney relationship in an unusual manner for lawyers that I have actually worked with, as opposed to law professors, friends who are attorneys or those whose blogs I read…he talked in terms of client service and was pondering why, despite what their firm thought were great results in some case, the client did not express gratitude or otherwise provide positive feedback. Well, I could have given him quite a guest lecture on the topic based upon my personal experiences,and experiences of friends and family in the quagmire of the family court system; and I could filter the personal experiences with my marketer’s lens. However, I politely suggested that there was a lot being written about this topic on the web, specifically by lawyers who blawg. I suggested he might want to check out the {non} billable hour or In Search of Perfect Client Service or The Greatest American Lawyer for their insightful and innovative thinking about the practice of law.
When there was silence on the other end of the phone, I inquired as to whether or not he read blogs. His answer? No, I don’t have time to read blogs. My thought of course was: Do you really have time to not read blogs? And I know I am at one extreme with my the answer to all of life’s mysteries can be found in the blogosphere attitude….but c’mon, you want to know why, despite winning a case, your clients seem dissatisfied? Have a conversation with them…and listen; add some empathy. There you go…good start. You are in the service business….did you serve their needs? You say you "won" the case…did you have a discussion with them to define what "winning" the case was so in the end you could agree that you had won. Oh, stop billing your clients for your mistakes, especially when it is because you didn’t listen…ok, I may be going too far.
The New York Times has an article today on blawging lawyers that quotes Scott Turow, "when people think of law, you think of jails and
marshals and corporate executives. But the reality is…it’s all words, and lawyers are verbal people, both in terms of the
written stuff and the spoken stuff." The law is about words…your clients are about words.
But maybe here lies one of the problems in having conversations with clients…the same New York Times article quotes another blawger, Denise Howell, "blogs demystify the law without costing outrageous
sums; lead to more open, frequent and occasionally informed discussions
of politics, law and occasionally morality; and help forge links
between practicing lawyers, law professors, law students and the real
world.
So, one of the problems that I see in client/attorney relationships is that attorneys don’t really want to "demystify" the law for their clients…and certainly not without collecting "outrageous sums". Second of all, in the link being forged above, the client is conspicuously absent from the list.
Empathy 101
This morning’s WSJ had an article titled "Teaching Doctor’s To Be Nicer". I’ve linked to it, but since it is a subscription site, for those who can’t get to it, the point was that medical schools are offering students classes on professionalism, empathy, and communication skills. Mostly the article focuses on examples relating to the "callous" behavior by doctors towards patients in hospitals that medical students observe. Educators note this poor modeling as:
"the negative messages medical students get in
front-line, residency training that seem to contradict everything they
had been taught about ethical behavior, compassionate care and
professionalism. Researchers say the most powerful influence on future
physicians is the behavior they observe on a day-to-day basis in the
medical-school environment. And what they often learn is how to be
cold, intimidating, authoritarian, narrow-minded and disrespectful of
subordinates and patients."
I would like to note that I cannot comment from personal experience in hospitals…fortunately. However, I can comment about the bad manners of doctors from personal experience in waiting rooms as my 9AM appointment is "shared" (aka triple booked) with others because our time is valued less that the doctors
….oh, I know we are told that we wait because the doctor had a medical emergency, a problem patient and so on; check their appointment book!
OK, so the point is customer service, customer relationships, customer experience. Yes, I think it applies to doctors, also. I also think most doctors don’t view their patients as customers. However, if medical schools are offering courses in "professionalism, empathy, and communication skills" someone must be thinking in this direction. When business people talk about poor customer service and poor customer experiences we might use the very sentence "cold, intimidating, authoritarian, narrow minded and disrespectful of subordinates and customers {patients}…not patience, what customers are euphemistically thanked for instead of "thank you for putting up with our rude, inconsiderate, and non-empathetic behavior. Lawyers, I will note are another group of professionals who would benefit from a customer service focus.
The article goes on to mention that there is growing criticism that medical students were not adequately prepared for the changing health care environment where patients "are demanding better communications, concerned with slipshod care, medical errors and patient safety are eroding their trust in doctors". I think what we are talking about is that patients, or consumers of health care, have access to not only medical information and current research but also access to information about medical errors making them better informed, more demanding consumers. (We won’t discuss the the ever circling trial lawyers within the context of this post.)
I think what all this really means is that patients are customers and doctors are professional service providers….and that just as the bar has been raised by consumers/customers of products and services who demand positive experiences and service in exchange for their loyalty and trust, patient/customers are demanding more from their doctors. And the corollary is, if markets are conversations among people/customers then a large dose of empathy and empathetic listening will lead to better relationships for businesses and doctors.
So, now here is the real question: Are things really changing? We read and write about customer focus, creating positive customer experiences. We are now even making doctors learn to be nice. We blog our complaints about this bad customer experience and that bad customer service…we even have conferences on Word of Mouth vs. Advertising that debate this.
But, it still seems to me that if I posted all my close encounters in just one week with the wide world of self proclaimed customer centric corporations: Sprint, Charter Communications, Geico I wouldn’t be telling a different tale than I would have before the Age of Customer Centricity was officially declared…except that now before we receive a bad customer experience we are assured by a recorded voice that tells us "for quality purposes this call is being recorded" (WHAT does that mean anyway?) and then after we receive a bad customer experience we are asked to particpate in a customer {dis} satsifaction survey. I mean, all the data is recorded but into what pneumatic tube does it go ????? Maybe if we added a little emphathy into the customer conversation we would be better customers and providers and have better relationships.
As Jennifer Rice says on "What’s Your Brand Mantra?", All companies are people companies. She goes on to say that what is needed is new people practices not new business practices…"If we’re all
really honest with ourselves, what we really need are psychologists and coaches
and relationship experts". Now where is that Empathy 101 signup?
Bye Bye Vonage
Vonage has 749,999 subscribers as of today. I tried..I really tried to make it work. It seemed to make SO much sense…I told my friends about it. I told lots of people about it. I overlooked the problems with getting my phone number switched over…after all it was new and they eventually made it right with service credits. I overlooked the problem with my alarm system. I overlooked the continuing impossibility of getting technical support. But, the router problems which of course left us without not only phone service but also Internet access that were still all too frequent after a year finally made it impossible to continue. Hello, Charter!
EBay Customer Assistance
Last Saturday when the power went out, on top of everything else, I was trying to sell 2 items on Ebay. One auction ended on Sunday and one would have ended on Tuesday. The auction wasn’t top of mind at first but by Sunday when I finally got to Panera’s Wi-fi there was 1 bid on each item and a number of questions that were of course unanswered. I should have immediately cancelled both auctions but having never been in this situation before I really didn’t know what you could or couldn’t do and since there are no live people in EbayLand in order to navigate their frequently no help answers you have to know the right questions and have lots and lots of time.
So…by Monday when one of the auctions had ended with my item selling for 1/2 of its value I finally was able to figure out how to cancel the other one in the brief moment of Internet access. Well, the one bidder immediately sent me an indignant email referring to my necklace as her necklace….as if her one low bid 2 days before the auction was scheduled to end entitled her to the necklace. In addition, I also immediately began to get email from those who had made inquiries about various things regarding the necklace. All of these people were polite and merely wondering if I was going to re-list the item and if I would be able to answer their questions. I emailed all of them back, including the indignant bidder, and politely explained about the power outage, lack of Internet access, and that my intent was to re-list.
Figuring the various ins and outs of Ebay is an exercise in frustration and of course you can’t just pick up the phone and ask a person…not that being able to ask a person is any guarantee. If anyone has ever talked to Linksys Customer Service you know what I mean…another bonus provided by the power outage from hell was of course having to get my wireless network back up and which required a conversation with the dreaded Links.
Anyway, most people emailed me back and thanked me for explaining the situation to them. Ms. Indignant thanked me for explaining in one email, lambasted me in another, and then another and finally threatened to report me to email. I have no idea for what. And as far as reporting me to Ebay…good luck communicating with Ebay!
I wrote Ebay at least 6 emails in the middle of the whole debacle and each one received an answer…gotta give them credit for that I guess. However, I wondered if any of my emails had been read by anyone that spoke the same language that they had been written in. Or, if they had been answered by some keyword prompted software program. Many of them began with something like this; you are the buyer or seller and may have inquired about or maybe not..but here is an answer to your buyer/seller question blah blah blah.
The truly best one was the one I wrote complaining about the harassing emails I was getting from Ms. Indignant. First of all, they have you attach the email you are complaining about which I did. Their answer made absolutely no sense at all and didn’t mention one time the harassing email situation which was what I was writing them about in the first place. They actually said, we see you cancelled your auction due to a severe ower outage and see that you want more information about the item ..there is no further information about the item. I wanted more information about the item? I don ‘t think so! Then, they suggested I go to Live Chat for help….well, you can guess what happened here, right? "We are experiencing a high volume of requests so please be patient….." Natch!
More Sleaze from Banfield Pet Inhospitable
After being subjected to the attempted deceptive Wellness Plan tactics at Banfield Pet on Thursday and having them abuse my cat earlier today, I opened today’s mail to find yet another example of their tactics. After repeatedly telling them that I was not renewing their plan today’s letter informed me that my credit card was approaching its expiration date and that they needed the new expiration date for my card to continue to use my card for my wellness plan payments.
Hel-lo…..you need my permission to continue to use my credit card which you do not have. My credit card does in fact have an end of August expiration date but fortunately it turns out, it also has a new credit card number since I never received the new card. I assume the number change is the problem that they are having using my credit card…I am guessing that an expiration date wouldn’t have stopped them from charging my card for continuing their Wellness Plan beyond my cancellation request.
My favorite part? "It’s our vision to treat your Pet like family, and we thank you for entrusting your Pet’s health to us." Their vision is my pet and my family’s nightmare. Apparently their tag-line is "Treating Your Pet Like Family". They must have some crazy family!
As an aside, when we adopted one of our cats the adoption people suggested that we have a RFID tag implanted so she would not get lost but not to use the one’s from Banfield because they didn’t "work". A google search for RFID turns up lots of interesting information on this Banfield fiasco…it seems Banfiel’s RFID tags couldn’t be read by the animal shelters . Whoops!
Ban Banfield Pet Hospital
My son suggested the title for this post….On Thursday, I knew I would be writing a post about Banfield Pet Hospital that would discuss their poor customer service and the misleading tactics that they use for their so called Wellness Plan. Yesterday, when their corporate staff seemed willing to right the situation I imagined a different post. TODAY’s post that I am actually writing is about the completely unacceptable treatment of our cat, TJ.
A brief search of the Internet uncovered quite a few complaints about the Wellness Plan, bad service, misleading tactics and mistreatment of animals. This is what happened to us.
We purchased a Wellness Plan last year when we adopted TJ. Over the course of the year, the plan hardly seemed worth the price plus importantly the care at Banfield at Sunset Hills, Mo. was of questionable quality. I informed them on a visit there on 6/26 that I was not renewing the plan. I watched them enter that in the computer. Nonetheless, several weeks later they called and inquired about the renewal and I again told them, no thanks. They REALLY push those plans! If only they treated pets with the same passion that they used for selling products and plans.
A postcard arrived from them postmarked 7/22 informing me to bring TJ on 8/4 for a comprehensive exam, vaccinations, and 2 tests ALL of which the postcard told me were covered by the plan I had all ready paid for this year. It couldn’t have been stated more clearly. So…I took sweet fat TJ in on 8/4. Heather, a Banfield employee immediately informed me that my plan with Banfield had actually expired on 8/4 and that my charges for these services would be $173.00. Huh? I come in for services that they have told me are covered by a plan I have all ready paid for on the day they set up for me to come in and they tell me I missed the expiration day?? Suffice it to say the conversation with Heather deteriorated from there! I left with TJ.
A message awaited me upon my arrival at home…yes of course they had my cell phone number. Heather informed me that maybe they could cover the worm test. I went to the web site and got the corporate phone number, called Sunset Hills back and said I was giving them one more chance before I called their corporate office. They gave me the phone number of their "customer advocacy" department. I called, stated my issues and faxed off a confirming note with the postcard attached.
Several hours later I received a phone call from Aaron who said this was his responsibility and at the end of our conversation agreed to honor the postcard and to set this up at another Ban field. I was not interested in returning to Sunset Hills. And that would have been the end….
This morning I took J into another Ban field location on Manchester Road and there the real problems began. First of all, they also tried to charge me for the services but that eventually got straightened out. I left J with an uneasy feeling. About 2 hours later they called and matter of factly informed me that TJ was ready to be picked up and that I should be sure and bring his carrier because he had gotten so upset that he had defecated on himself and they would not be able to clean him up.
Upset at what? TJ has been to the vet many times and though he doesn’t like it, he has never gotten "upset"…I asked more questions. What do you mean you can’t clean him up? He is so upset they said that he is trying to bite us. OK, TJ has NEVER been upset, never bitten anyone. They tell me I should come immediately. As my kids would say, "DUH!" Needless to say, I was furious and worried. What had they done to TJ?
Well, we arrived at Banfield they took the carrier and returned with TJ inside. He smelled like you know what but this cat was not angry and not looking like he was going to bite. I can only hypothesize about what kind of treatment he got and can only pray that there will not be repercussions for our sweet cat.
As my son Sam said: Ban Banfield…or at least be warned! They cannot be trusted with your pet.
Blog Power
Hugh at Gaping Void, under the directive, "if you care about blogging", suggested reading a post by Rick at The Post Money Value which illustrated clearly that blogs have "main street" influence. The post mentions a conversation between two bank tellers overheard at a food court that chronicles how a blog post by Scoble, who the tellers called "cobbler" cost Dell "at least two sales". The warning: Pay Attention! The end (of the old media) is near!
To paraphrase Mark Twain, When the end of the world comes I want to be in Cleveland because everything happens ten years later there. This seems to be the attitude of so many people I talk to who should care about blogs…they would rather be in Cleveland.
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