Sub-Standard Service: Are Your Customer Service Reps Mistreating Customers?
:From ooBdoo The Free Information Database
By Steve Lehman, Service Checkers - Customer Service and Tech Support Evaluation(1).
I am a customer service advocate. I go into companies to correct
their customer service.
I train them, and I estimate the number of complaints they have, and
find the reps in customer service that have mistreated customers.
It’s my job to finding them and rid them from the team.
We have computer engineers who check tech support customer responses
and submit reports.
My company is a third-party independent service with nothing to lie
about. We submit the truth.
Contents |
30 Years In Customer Service
In my 39 years in customer service I have seen many changes to the customer service standard operating procedures. Lots of things have changed over the years, but there’s one procedure that should never have changed. We all see the same old thing…
How Most Companies Handle Customer Complaints
Customer service reps who want to handle the entire call, even when
we ask for a manager.
This happens especially when we have a complaint about a rep. A customer
service rep will insist on listening to your whole complaint before
escalating it to a supervisor. After that, the call gets dark and
ugly. The rep shouts at the customer for being angry, and the customer
just wants to speak to a manager and the reps just wants to hang up
on the customer!
The worst reps are willing to cut off a customer after a customer
waited on-hold for 45 minutes!
THIS is how MOST companies handle their customer’s complaints.
Lots of companies actually allow this type of behavior to happen each
day. Why?
Customers are reluctant to complain because customer service suppresses
complaints, and, customer service actually believes that upper management
will never hear about their behavior.
This is where I come in. I go into a company and submit my own complaints directly to the upper executive level. Without me, their upper management would NEVER hear the truth about what’s really happening in customer service. I have been hired to fire service-reps for doing exactly as I have described above because executives are not willing to fire a customer service manager.
I advise customers to write a letter and send it directly to the executive level - the CEO. That’s the level that actually cares about your complaint. Get their name and write them!
Here’s the facts:
Typically less than .05% (less than one-half of a percent) of their
customers will ever complain.
Executive upper management wants to hear more of these complaints
but they never get them. Customer Service is a data gathering area
– but they rarely gather complaints for upper management. They’ll
be fast to say they do, but they do this, rarely.
For 39 years I have watched how Supervisors have submitted biased
reports to upper managers. Supervisors will suppress complaints which
concern reps. At least 99% of customer complaints which are heard
within the customer service arena will never get to senior management.
In some cases it could be more. Senior management misses out on critical
input when making decisions. Service managers don’t want complaints
about their own team that may reflect as poor service among supervisors
and service managers, and thus, will result in firing them.
It’s worse with outsourcing companies. Call centers ensuring they’re
getting the complete story can be a bigger challenge. Some parent
companies have begun to hire third party professionals such as my
own company, Service Checkers. We evaluate customer service levels
in outsourcing companies, and submit accurate reports, and advise
rep training needs.
It’s the ONLY way to get to the TRUTH of their customer complaints.
External Links
Steve Lehman, CEO, Service Checkers.e-Mail: steve[AT]servicecheckers.com (replace 'AT' with '@')
Footnotes
(1)Steve Lehman; a Microsoft MCSE, with 39 years, Customer Service. Service Checkers specializes in complete Tech-Support and Customer Service Evaluation.