What Does Great Customer Service Look Like?
There are plenty of sites these days dedicated to customer service horror stories, but I think it’s even more important to point out customer service victories. This one is personal.
It started with my first phone bill from AT&T. This was, of course, followed shortly thereafter by a tweet:
(Needless to say, I got some interesting responses. Also, I’m sure you noticed that is not my real hair – Happy Halloween!)
Because merely projecting my frustration aimlessly into the Twitterverse wasn’t going to get the $694 charge taken off my phone bill, I followed up with an email directly to the saleswoman who had sold me the phone and data plan. This is customer service success #1 — she had given me her direct info when I made the purchase, so I didn’t have to wade through general AT&T customer support. I’ve used her real name, because although she may never read this, she deserves the credit. My email read:
Hi Yashira,
I purchased an AT&T Tilt from you at the Cambridgeside store on September 6th (phone number 617-[removed]), and signed up for a new contract at that time as well. The phone has been great, but I was surprised when I received my bill this month to discover $695 in data charges. At the time I purchased the phone, you had told me it impossible to even sell me the phone without a data plan, at a starting rate of $70/month (which I wrote down as we spoke about it). I noticed on my bill that my monthly plan was only $50, so between these two discrepancies I have to assume that somehow the data services were not added to my account, resulting in the $695 charge for data usage in the past month.
Since you sold me the phone, and specifically recommended I contact you directly if I had any problems, I would appreciate it if you could call me at your earliest convenience and suggest the best way to remedy this situation. I already called the mobile number on your card (it went to voicemail) after I had trouble getting through on the store line just now.
Thanks, hope to hear from you very soon.
Jamie
Within 24 hours, Yashira called me back. She also had the courtesy to follow up by email, since I still hadn’t set up my voicemail yet (doh! having two cell phones can be a challenge). Here was her thoughtful response:
Hello Jamie.
I apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused. I tried calling your cell phone number but your voicemail box has not been set up yet. I can help you set that up if you need assistance. I have done some research on your account and it seems that there was a system error at the point of activation. I have requested a credit to your account through the customer care department and it should take no longer than ten business days. I am truly sorry that your bill came up to be so high but I will do anything in my power to rectify that. You can give me a call at your convenience if you have any further questions. I will inform you when the credit is applied to your account.
Thank you,
Yashira
Does customer service get any better than that? A huge, frustrating disappointment turned into a fantastic experience.
Now more than ever, a company’s relationship with a consumer does not end with a completed sales transaction. Consumers have Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, Consumerist.com, and countless other forums to express their satisfaction or displeasure with a brand. There are studies coming out constantly that argue the potency of one or another of these mediums over the others. But for me at least, a personal recommendation still goes the farthest when it comes down to where to make a purchase, or who to call for a service — especially if I can get a recommendation of someone by name.
And since I have a blog, which a few people do in fact read (hey thanks!), I can make one such recommendation myself. If you’re in the Greater Boston Area and ever have AT&T Wireless questions, you now know of a real person who verifiably goes above and beyond the call for her customers.
Hope you all have a fun, safe Halloween weekend!
Comments
3 Responses to “What Does Great Customer Service Look Like?”
Leave a Reply
Subscribe via RSS
I’ve got a good one for you… I was having trouble with my GoDaddy account earlier this week, and posted a frustrated Tweet about it. An hour later, I got an e-mail from someone at GoDaddy apologizing for the error. He said that he had looked at my account and found the problem. He then walked me through changing settings to fix it.
I’ve found that good customer service is not just about fixing the problem; it’s about going that extra few inches to please — and keep — the customer.
I agree, that’s better than average customer service, but it illustrates a problem that’s pervasive in the telecommunications and utilities industries and that’s inaccurate billing and ordering information. The problem should never have happened in the first place. Their systems and business processes should be set up such that they minimize these kinds of errors. The service you received is really the minimum level of service you deserved considering it was 100% their fault. I realize that in today’s world of poor service, we like to herald the good stories, but quite frankly it was the least she could have done.
ATT has won me over. I used Verizon for 2 years, after 5 years with T-Mobile – my decision to go with ATT had to do with my ability to bundle my package with land line and DSL service, as well as their flexibility in changing plans from month to month. Not to mention, they’re the only ones who offer rollover minutes. I called Customer service just this week and I have a brand new phone after the display on the original product went kaput.
Verizon begged me to stay with them, after 2 years of hassles and no respect. I wouldn’t go back to them despite their offers of free month of service. ATT has been fantastic, and my salesman remembers me whenever I go back to the store.