Here’s a customer service horror story from many years ago. It’s worth recalling for you…
I went to get the newspaper on a Sunday morning and noticed water flowing from the garage. Yikes! The water heater was leaking, so I called a plumber. After one ring, the company answered and promised a prompt response from a serviceman, and the response came 30 minutes later. I explained that our water heater also heats the house, and after a very cold Saturday night, my wife and child needed a warm house as soon as possible. "Someone will call you back at 8:00 a.m. Monday to schedule a diagnostic check and probably order a replacement," he said. Another cold night ahead…
Nobody called Monday morning, so I had to call them twice. The first time because they didn’t call as promised at 8:00 a.m., and the second time because they hadn’t called back after the first call. The customer service rep couldn’t find a record of my Sunday conversation, so again they logged my information. We scheduled a diagnostic check for that day between 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. At 10:50 a.m., I finally received a call regarding my Sunday conversation, but they couldn’t find a record of the appointment I had set up only one hour earlier.
At 11:05 a.m., I was told that my address was entered incorrectly, and my appointment would have to be rescheduled. What?! For the first time in my life, I asked to talk with the Service Manager. He listened to my situation and sense of urgency, and he called a plumber from another company to come out and install a new water heater. Let’s tally the score:
· 6 people from the first company spoke with me.
· 3 times they logged or updated my personal information.
· 2 times they scheduled me.
· 1 time they got the address wrong.
· 1 time they lost my appointment.
· 2 times they said they’d call back and did not.
For all the nice people, the one ring pickup on Sunday, and all the best intentions, this company was so disorganized that they lost my business to another company.
If you’re going to be judged based on your customer service, you’re going to be judged based on your organization.
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