Customer Service in the Afterlife
Anyone who has lost a loved one knows that while grieving can be filled with sadness, it can also have blessed moments of silliness and irony that help us cope with the details of putting the deceased’s estate in order despite our grief.
The company in this true story, like so many others, had attempted to cut customer service costs by hiring cheap labor and keeping them working at capacity while keeping quality high and retaining customers through automation. But something went wrong for us…
Days after my father died, my 80-year-old mom and I were trying to cancel his paid Internet fax service. The company, which we shall call “iFaxForAFee”, provided no customer service phone number, so I helped her use the instant text message feature on the company’s website.
Here is the essence of the instant message session. As you read along, keep in mind that most of the rep’s responses were actually 3 beautifully worded paragraphs long, appearing 5 seconds after I sent my reply.
iFaxForAFee’s strategy had backfired in this instance. How could this have happened?
- By heavily scripting their responses to a cancellation request?
- By providing no latitude to override the script when called for?
- By keeping them so busy that they could not register and react to exceptional circumstances?
It was fortunate for Mom and me that we were in one of those silly from stress moments of good humor, and took in stride the impersonal
automation in the face of our recent loss. On the other hand, I really wonder what the customer service person was going through, and how often that demeaning scenario played itself out in his day.
The best customer service interactions and recoveries I’ve experienced always feature a person who took time to really understand what I was
going through, and was empowered by their company to do everything they could to make it right. THOSE are the companies I’ll give my loyalty and my money to.
As for iFaxForAFee and their scripted, outsourced, cost-effective customer service?
Perhaps I’ll consider them in the afterlife…
© 2005 Gary Ralston. all rights reserved
About the author: Gary Ralston founded Ralston Consulting Inc. with his wife, Ann, to help accelerate business growth for their clients – from startups to global corporations – across North America. Based in Columbus, Ohio, Ann and Gary can be reached at 877-724-4099, 614-761-1841, or through www.ralstonconsulting.com.
