Some companies make you feel as though it’s a privilege to be their customer. What they fail to realize is there’s always a choice. Always another company who provides the same service or product. People stay with a company because they choose to not because they have to. Trust takes a long time to build up and quickly unravels with one misstep.
Comcast is no stranger to these customer experience mishaps. Last summer, a routine cancellation call turned ugly for 20 minutes when the representative became aggressive, condescending, and simply refused to turn off the service. I’ve had my own frustrations with the cable provider, primarily multiple missed service appointments with no explanation or apology. We eventually solved the problem by switching to Verizon FiOS.
You’d think Comcast learned their lesson. As a result of the negative publicity over the cancellation call, a public apology was issued. Except the embarrassment continues. A few months ago, a man was transferred to other departments and placed on hold for over 3 hours. If that wasn’t painful enough, calling on another phone at the same time discovered the service center had closed!
This past week, a customer with the last name Brown wanted to scale back on the service and had his first name on the bill changed to “A-hole” (except not the abbreviated version). Then, I read about these Philadelphia residents who suffered through 14 missed appointments (including days off from work to be home for the rep). Ultimately, when a newspaper columnist helped the connection finally happen, the company shamed them by sharing that another customer would suffer via a cancelled appointment because of their good fortune.
This can happen to you. You’re not the only one out there. Make a personal connection with your customers and give them a reason to stay with you.
Eric, those stories are appalling. It’s unreal how arrogant a company can be. I heard the 20-minute Comcast call a few months ago. Not good customer service.
My cell provider, which I won’t name, has terrible customer service, but not because the reps aren’t friendly and seemingly helpful (if you call getting told different things by different reps, and taking hours to get a problem “solved” helpful), it’s that their system doesn’t work. The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, and I could go on and on …
This is a lesson for me as I prepare to launch my own (small) business in a couple of days. Remember that customers and clients are PEOPLE. They are the reason I’m in business.
Thanks for the timely reminder.
Eric, those stories are appalling. It’s unreal how arrogant a company can be. I heard the 20-minute Comcast call a few months ago. Not good customer service.
My cell provider, which I won’t name, has terrible customer service, but not because the reps aren’t friendly and seemingly helpful (if you call getting told different things by different reps, and taking hours to get a problem “solved” helpful), it’s that their system doesn’t work. The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, and I could go on and on …
This is a lesson for me as I prepare to launch my own (small) business in a couple of days. Remember that customers and clients are PEOPLE. They are the reason I’m in business.
Thanks for the timely reminder.
(I found your site via the Your Turn Challenge page on FB.)