I hate calling customer service. Especially for big evil corporations with more money than good sense. In general, if I have a problem with a product and make the call, I first must wait on hold for an eternity while a computerized voice reminds me intermittently (in between bars of painful-to-the-ears muzak versions of pop ditties that weren't that good in their original form) how important my call is to them. Also, they will answer my call in the order in which it was received and could I have my order number at the ready so as not to waste any of their precious time once they deign to pick up the line?
Recently I was forced to call Samsung in order to get a replacement for a product I ordered that no longer worked. The original call took the route described above before a snarly gentleman took my call, argued with me about my product, and promptly disconnected me. The second time I called I was routed to a call center somewhere no doubt very far away and the person I spoke to had a heavy accent that was difficult to understand. However this was a short-lived problem as I was immediately disconnected once again.
So, the faulty gadget sat on my desk for several months after this because I had decided it wasn't worth a $40 item to call them again. I gave you the short version but understand that in reality this was incredibly annoying. Eventually I did summon the courage to give them one last call, which turned into 2 last calls, and they did finally agree to let me send them the part, which I did.
Samsung is no better or worse than many of the other companies I've dealt with. For the few that you can get past the computer and talk to a living, breathing, human - that interaction is no more satisfying than the robotic voice was. The person on the other end will insist they haven't the power to help you with anything, no matter how trivial. All they can do is apologize.
The whole point of this drawn-out story is to simply illustrate one of the many painful interactions I have had with customer service departments so that I can congratulate a couple of others with whom I've had awesome customer service interactions.
The following companies almost always have humans pick up the line very quickly, and without fail, the person you end up speaking to is friendly, upbeat, and willing to help in whatever way they can.
So...the envelope please...and the highly coveted Andie Murray Pleasant Customer Service Awards go to...Netflix and Progressive Insurance! That's right, a couple of giant corporations who worship the bottom line and have enough customers that they can afford to treat us like numbers, but they choose not to. I have had reason to call both these companies on several occasions and have always received fast, top-notch service from a real live person. So, thank you to both.
Do you have customer service horror stories or pats-on-the-back for your favorite company? Leave a comment. My audience (aka myself) will appreciate it!
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