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kaichi_satake writes,
"But what's the point of working in customer service, if you don't want to give the customer service?!"
I think that's a really fabulous question and I wanted to answer it in depth here.
For starters, there are some pretty demotivated people who work in customer service. CS jobs pay fairly well for the amount of actual labor involved-- sitting in a chair in the air conditioning will ALWAYS win over lifting things in the hot sun or climbing ladders, for some folks. It's just an inconvenience that the job also includes those pesky customers.
But what about people who are motivated and want to make a difference? They probably start out by trying to give the customer everything they want. This actually works pretty well, because most people just want help using the company's products or services. It may even be beneficial to the company directly, if information filters from CS back to the rest of the company, in fixing instructions that are unclear or faulty merchandise.
However, this comes to a screeching halt when you get a customer who wants one of two things.
1. They want "something for less than nothing." That is, they try some tactic that ends up with their being PAID to use the company. Here's a complicated example: I was working in AOL billing when a customer called in and said he hadn't enjoyed the service and wanted a refund. I looked at the account and saw the following:
January: Account started with 2 free months.
February: 2nd free month.
March: Caller called to cancel, was given 2 free months. (surprising, the policy at the time was 1)
April: 2nd free month.
May: Membership fee charged.
May: Caller compliained of technical problems & requested refund. Membership fee for May refunded.
May: Chargeback from credit card of May membership fee.
June: Membership fee charged.
July: Membership fee charged.
A "chargeback" means that you went to your credit card company and said that you didn't want to pay whatever the charge was (disputing the charge). The company goes to whoever it was they paid and takes the money back from them, too. So, in other words, we charged him the fee, refunded it to him, and then he took back the payment too-- meaning that WE PAID HIM $22 to use the service that month.
So, I politely explain to the customer that at this point, he has paid $21.95 for 7 months of service, and if he would tell me the company that is providing him service for less than $3.14 a month, I would be interested to know, but he was absolutely not getting a refund under any circumstances, and we were not going to provide him any more free time ever again. If this customer had cancelled his membership in May, he would have ended up being paid to use the service.
Did I provide good CUSTOMER service? Not according to that customer. He wanted a refund and I wasn't giving it to him.
It's fair and right to give people something in return for a real inconvenience. If they bought a case of your product and one jar was cracked, you can replace it with two as a return for the time they spent telling you about it. But is it right to give people stuff when there really isn't anything wrong? Isn't that like giving in to a child's tantrum when they don't actually need anything?
2. The second thing a customer can want that is just no good is when they want other customers to be inconvenienced. For instance, a customer who cuts in line makes everyone else wait unfairly. A customer who screams profanities or harasses other customers may make you lose more business than you get from them. Do they deserve whatever they want if you have to take it away from another customer to give it to them?
So, even if a CS rep is committed to giving the customer what they want, there are times when they either can't give it without pissing off another customer, or shouldn't give it because it's not a good idea for business.
And, after all, who pays the CS rep's salary-- the customers? Or the business? One may say "I pay your salary!" but I've never had a customer offer me a job* if what they want me to do gets me fired. My job is to work with what my company wants, the toolset they give me, and make as many customers content with what we're willing to provide as I can.
And *that* is what customer service is about-- being the liaison between the business and the customers, making wrong things right.
*except that one offer to "come out and keep me company, I may be in a wheelchair but everything still works if you know what I mean, and I'll share my pills with you." (Sadly, it was the best offer I'd had all week.)
kaichi_satake writes,"But what's the point of working in customer service, if you don't want to give the customer service?!"
I think that's a really fabulous question and I wanted to answer it in depth here.
For starters, there are some pretty demotivated people who work in customer service. CS jobs pay fairly well for the amount of actual labor involved-- sitting in a chair in the air conditioning will ALWAYS win over lifting things in the hot sun or climbing ladders, for some folks. It's just an inconvenience that the job also includes those pesky customers.
But what about people who are motivated and want to make a difference? They probably start out by trying to give the customer everything they want. This actually works pretty well, because most people just want help using the company's products or services. It may even be beneficial to the company directly, if information filters from CS back to the rest of the company, in fixing instructions that are unclear or faulty merchandise.
However, this comes to a screeching halt when you get a customer who wants one of two things.
1. They want "something for less than nothing." That is, they try some tactic that ends up with their being PAID to use the company. Here's a complicated example: I was working in AOL billing when a customer called in and said he hadn't enjoyed the service and wanted a refund. I looked at the account and saw the following:
January: Account started with 2 free months.
February: 2nd free month.
March: Caller called to cancel, was given 2 free months. (surprising, the policy at the time was 1)
April: 2nd free month.
May: Membership fee charged.
May: Caller compliained of technical problems & requested refund. Membership fee for May refunded.
May: Chargeback from credit card of May membership fee.
June: Membership fee charged.
July: Membership fee charged.
A "chargeback" means that you went to your credit card company and said that you didn't want to pay whatever the charge was (disputing the charge). The company goes to whoever it was they paid and takes the money back from them, too. So, in other words, we charged him the fee, refunded it to him, and then he took back the payment too-- meaning that WE PAID HIM $22 to use the service that month.
So, I politely explain to the customer that at this point, he has paid $21.95 for 7 months of service, and if he would tell me the company that is providing him service for less than $3.14 a month, I would be interested to know, but he was absolutely not getting a refund under any circumstances, and we were not going to provide him any more free time ever again. If this customer had cancelled his membership in May, he would have ended up being paid to use the service.
Did I provide good CUSTOMER service? Not according to that customer. He wanted a refund and I wasn't giving it to him.
It's fair and right to give people something in return for a real inconvenience. If they bought a case of your product and one jar was cracked, you can replace it with two as a return for the time they spent telling you about it. But is it right to give people stuff when there really isn't anything wrong? Isn't that like giving in to a child's tantrum when they don't actually need anything?
2. The second thing a customer can want that is just no good is when they want other customers to be inconvenienced. For instance, a customer who cuts in line makes everyone else wait unfairly. A customer who screams profanities or harasses other customers may make you lose more business than you get from them. Do they deserve whatever they want if you have to take it away from another customer to give it to them?
So, even if a CS rep is committed to giving the customer what they want, there are times when they either can't give it without pissing off another customer, or shouldn't give it because it's not a good idea for business.
And, after all, who pays the CS rep's salary-- the customers? Or the business? One may say "I pay your salary!" but I've never had a customer offer me a job* if what they want me to do gets me fired. My job is to work with what my company wants, the toolset they give me, and make as many customers content with what we're willing to provide as I can.
And *that* is what customer service is about-- being the liaison between the business and the customers, making wrong things right.
*except that one offer to "come out and keep me company, I may be in a wheelchair but everything still works if you know what I mean, and I'll share my pills with you." (Sadly, it was the best offer I'd had all week.)
