I warn you now this post is essentially going to be one long rant.
I hate customer service online. It seems no matter the company when you send an enquiry or a question about something, the first message may as well be one-line only. I say that because the first enquiry, most often via email is 19 times out of 20 met with a simple copy and paste of some crap from the FAQ or Support pages on their site. You can make your email as detailed as you want, you can even say that you have read those pages pre-empting their response but it doesn't matter, the first response is almost always going to be a copy and paste reply.
Going beyond the first reply, if you actually manage to get a reply that looks like they have actually read the email, don't assume that means they have understood anything you said. You can be as explicit as you want about what you know and what you want to know but the person replying [if it is a person] will more than likely skim the email looking for keywords and then reply with something generic related to it.
On the point of questioning whether they are an actual person - as bizarre a concept that may be to you I can assure you after studying AI at University there are a lot of automated bots online who try to convince you that you are speaking to a real person; the reality is that they are programmed to filter out what you say and try and guess at what your problem is - those "Chat Now" boxes and pop-ups that tell you that you can "speak to one of our customer advisors now"
So I have formed a 5 step programme to deal with customer service online.
1 - Make your first enquiry 1-line only
2 - Detail you problem in the second response
3 - Ask if there is a help number you can call if you haven't had the problem solved by now
4 - If there is no number for you to call, ask how to make a formal complaint in writing
5 - Print the emails, and make a written complaint
From step 3 onward you will be surprised how eager and how much increased effort they will put into solving your problem.
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