Customer service, how I hate you. Let me count the ways. The endless loop of bad hold music. The pressure to buy new products and services. Poor quality, outsourced call to a distant land.
A call to customer service can be an irritant to end a frustrating experience. You're upset and looking for empathy, but everything I find is disappointment. Would Company X has done something different? Probably, but if you follow these tips when it comes to customer service, you will be in the driver's seat of the dispute to come.
1. Be prepared.
It seems basic, right? Unless you have called several times the company X, you're probably not familiar with the required information. They have all the tracking number, account number, itemized statement, and order number before calling. Customer service representatives are responsible for call handling torture management metrics designed by a masochist. Call duration, resolution (if the customer calls the company within a given amount of time), and random calls are measured rigorously controlled. In short: they want help quickly and completely, for a superior crack of a whip.
2. Be nice.
Customer service representatives talk to people annoyed, irritated, and / or angry all day. Every day. You may not agree with the denial of credit, but shouting "the customer is always right, (expletive)" will not help. Be pleasant and the rules may be malleable. Another customer to be unpleasant and guidelines will be of stone.
3. Knowing when to call, knowing when to write.
If you need to request a quote, add / remove function, or request an explanation of a bill, e-mail is the most efficient route for your correspondence. The concerns and requests for credit repair, call customer service. Repair specialists are needed to solve problems and get access to information that a technician needs to be dispatched. Credit applications can be handled via e-mail, however, is easier to respond with a "credit denied" model letter to deny credit to a real person, alive.
4. Get on the register.
If something is not working properly, call the company immediately. If a cable, satellite, telephone or cut, company X will only be able to diagnose and correct the problem if they are notified that a problem exists. This also establishes a record of the communication in case you need to request a credit or refund at a later date.
5. Be persistent, but not unpleasant.
Many companies have guidelines for the distribution of credit that require the denial of a first for any application that is not a previously reported issue "out of service" billing error or an acquaintance. The second time you make a credit application, these guidelines can relax. If you followed the "be nice" tip above, you may be rewarded with your credit application.
After these five tips will help you get what you want in the most efficient way possible. Stay tuned for the next installment to see how it can aggravate the customer service experience and, in fact delay the resolution!
Topic: Battling with Customer Service: How to Win the War, Part 1 of 2 (Read 1423 times)
