Saturday, November 26, 2011
Spec Savers - Customer Service #Fail
I have to replace my glasses and got a script from an eyespecialist. Spec Saver is around the corner from our office, so I decided to head to them to get the glasses. I am very conscious of time and wanted to make an appointment - hmmm, they don't make appointment. In order to not waste time I called to find out what their opening hours are and was at their shop the next day at opening time. ... They had failed to let me know that on Tuesdays they have staff training for 2 hours and don't serve customers till 2 hours later ;-( .... I came back later, chose a frame and signed the quotation. A while later I received an email with banking details and a one liner that I owed R1700 (Medical Aid did not cover the total amount). I expected that - but I expected a professional email from SpecSavers too - the email did not even have a name/signature - only banking details and the amount. When I followed up the lady on the phone told me that I should trust her on that. Maybe.. but in todays world email scams are rife... so should I ??? They send me an official email and I paid. The following day I received a call - from Spec Saver - apparently now I was owing another 2000 Rands. I requested them to send me the formal statement explaining how this came about - 2 days later, still no email. I followed up with a call, the lady insisted that she had emailed me. I asked her to please check who she sent the email to - and an hour later I received the email from her. Yes, she had sent about 10 emails - but all to an incorrect email address. And her worst mistake was that she forwarded this to me - I could see all the email forwards!! Very unprofessional. That was the tip of the iceberg for me - I asked them to reverse my payment and cancel my order. And they actually had the cheek to email me whether I don't want to come in and choose something more affordable.... I told her that its not affordability that is the problem - its customer service!! I went to Mullers optometrists the next morning before work... a totally different experience. The optometrist insisted on confriming the prescription with a short retest - he wants to make sure he does the right thing. He offered advise, took time to measure the lenses - and his quote was less than Spec Savers!! And... I did not have to pay anything upfont! Pay on delivery!! No that is what I expected from somebody who takes pride in their work
Update on Customer Service at Audi
.. in about 5 days I will drive a "new" car. Audi Claremont was fantastic. I know they smelled a sell, but they also did it right. They brought the car for a test drive, they had all documentation ready, they offered to put leather seats in at half the cost - provided I signed this week. Hey, I was sold anyway, why wait... I had a really busy week at work, but they still managed to get everything sorted between my meetings. Great service!! Wow!! I can highly recommend working with them.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Customer Service at Audi
Its been a while since my last update.... hmmmm.......
In the recent months I have played with the idea of downgrading my car. Not for financial reasons at all - rather because I am very aware how uneconomical my car is. It’s a great drive, awesome performance and I love it - but when I see how much fuel we are using, then I get a bad conscious. During the week, on my way to work I stopped at Audi at the V&A Waterfront. I went to the pre-owned section to see what they have in stock. Yes, I want to stay with Audi - I love the cars. But I want to have a more economically car. I have been driving Audi’s for 10 years and always been a customer of Audi Cape Town – yes, the branch at the Waterfront. Both my cars were pre-owned and purchased from them.
I spoke to a representative of pre-owned. I explained to him that I wanted a more economical car, a car with similar mileage to mine (+/- 50000k) and ideally I did not want to pay in. He was very friendly, took down my details and advised that he will get back to me later than day. I was surprised that he never event went outside to take a closer look at my car. I never heard back from him – not that day, not the following. So eventually I followed up. It was obvious that he had not really spent any time on my request. I explained to him again what I had asked for, and a little later than day I received an email from him. With the details of a car which cost quite a bit and has only 2000 ks on the clock. Not a bad car, but it was definitely not what I had asked for. This is almost a new car, and I would have to pay in …– not a sideways “downgrade”.
Slightly frustrated I phoned Audi Claremont – I am known to not give up so quickly. The representative I spoke to provided me with quite a bit more information and seemed a lot more helpful. He advised that I should bring my car in so that they can assess the value and see what they can do for me. On Saturday morning I drove through to Audi Claremont. The guy I spoke to on the phone was busy with another customer, so I dealt with his colleague. I explained my idea to him. And he promptly explained to me what they can do for me. They would do a proper valuation of my car, work through the financials to see what the target price would be to keep my payments constant. And once they know this, they will see if they can find a car for me in that price range…. Wow – what a different experience. They understood what I wanted…. They listened to my request and offered to do just that. So why did Audi Cape Town not do that?
As the customer Audi Claremont already won my support… now I am curious if they will follow through… let’s see what the week will bring. And it will guarantee another blog update from me.
In the recent months I have played with the idea of downgrading my car. Not for financial reasons at all - rather because I am very aware how uneconomical my car is. It’s a great drive, awesome performance and I love it - but when I see how much fuel we are using, then I get a bad conscious. During the week, on my way to work I stopped at Audi at the V&A Waterfront. I went to the pre-owned section to see what they have in stock. Yes, I want to stay with Audi - I love the cars. But I want to have a more economically car. I have been driving Audi’s for 10 years and always been a customer of Audi Cape Town – yes, the branch at the Waterfront. Both my cars were pre-owned and purchased from them.
I spoke to a representative of pre-owned. I explained to him that I wanted a more economical car, a car with similar mileage to mine (+/- 50000k) and ideally I did not want to pay in. He was very friendly, took down my details and advised that he will get back to me later than day. I was surprised that he never event went outside to take a closer look at my car. I never heard back from him – not that day, not the following. So eventually I followed up. It was obvious that he had not really spent any time on my request. I explained to him again what I had asked for, and a little later than day I received an email from him. With the details of a car which cost quite a bit and has only 2000 ks on the clock. Not a bad car, but it was definitely not what I had asked for. This is almost a new car, and I would have to pay in …– not a sideways “downgrade”.
Slightly frustrated I phoned Audi Claremont – I am known to not give up so quickly. The representative I spoke to provided me with quite a bit more information and seemed a lot more helpful. He advised that I should bring my car in so that they can assess the value and see what they can do for me. On Saturday morning I drove through to Audi Claremont. The guy I spoke to on the phone was busy with another customer, so I dealt with his colleague. I explained my idea to him. And he promptly explained to me what they can do for me. They would do a proper valuation of my car, work through the financials to see what the target price would be to keep my payments constant. And once they know this, they will see if they can find a car for me in that price range…. Wow – what a different experience. They understood what I wanted…. They listened to my request and offered to do just that. So why did Audi Cape Town not do that?
As the customer Audi Claremont already won my support… now I am curious if they will follow through… let’s see what the week will bring. And it will guarantee another blog update from me.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
...draft thought dump ...
... its been too long since I added something to this blog. What is my excuse? There were a lot of things on my mind, keeping me preoccupied. But before I forget, finally, after multiple calls to Vodacom's customer care, three attempts to illicit a response via twitter, I reverted to "HelloPeter.com"... and Voila - they called me back and answered my questions. Why did it take so long, and why does it have to be such a horrendeous customer experience? Makes me wonder.... why are the agents who answer the customer's calls not trained to answer these questions (as it turned out there was a simple explanation to this all). ? Makes me wonder....
Back to the notes I do want to record - in August I sent an email to a representative of for Genesys in South Africa (ICT/Customer Service Technology). Based on what I experience at work, and based on what I read online, I asked him whether they ever considered introducing the tools functionality (for Social Media engagement) also to the Marketing teams of companies - in particular in those companies which already have an investment in Genesys? And as "the conversation is changing" so should the audience for the solution. The latest G-force conference would have been perfect - markting teams could attend and understand what it is all about.... what the solution can offer - and how SM is not only of value to Marketing, but perfect channel for customer service.
While investigating all of this, I also discovered that companies (Vodacom as an example) have more than one Social Media identity... if you want customer service, then sent a tweet to @Vodacom111 (owned by Customer Care) and if you just want to contact Vodacom, then its @Vodacom (owned by marketing). ... At the moment, Vodacom's Customer Service team monitors @Vodacom111 and not really the @Vodacom account. But would every customer out there know which account to use? If I have a complaint, it is very likely that I send the complaint to the main brand /company name. And it should also simply be one contact ... But if this account is not monitored, customer complaints and issue will go unnoticed, potentially harming the brand image. A powerful tool such as Genesys can support a "one account contact"... and route based on configured business rules... a very powerful functionality.. but do they know and realise the power of this? The engineer and techies in the ICT division probably do know this...but I doubt marketing or decision making executives have a clue of what's possible.... and the engineers are not the right people to market this... engineers were never sales people ;-)
Today I stumbled on Tom Eggermeier's Blog ( Head of Global Enterprise Sales & Field Operations at Alcatel/Lucent) He promised that as of next week he write about "what the future of Customer Service can become when we think about how to engage the 750 million customers using Social Media with great Customer Service." - am looking forward to reading this...
Ok... I will probably edit this blog post a bit in the next few days...until then - treat it as a draft...
Back to the notes I do want to record - in August I sent an email to a representative of for Genesys in South Africa (ICT/Customer Service Technology). Based on what I experience at work, and based on what I read online, I asked him whether they ever considered introducing the tools functionality (for Social Media engagement) also to the Marketing teams of companies - in particular in those companies which already have an investment in Genesys? And as "the conversation is changing" so should the audience for the solution. The latest G-force conference would have been perfect - markting teams could attend and understand what it is all about.... what the solution can offer - and how SM is not only of value to Marketing, but perfect channel for customer service.
While investigating all of this, I also discovered that companies (Vodacom as an example) have more than one Social Media identity... if you want customer service, then sent a tweet to @Vodacom111 (owned by Customer Care) and if you just want to contact Vodacom, then its @Vodacom (owned by marketing). ... At the moment, Vodacom's Customer Service team monitors @Vodacom111 and not really the @Vodacom account. But would every customer out there know which account to use? If I have a complaint, it is very likely that I send the complaint to the main brand /company name. And it should also simply be one contact ... But if this account is not monitored, customer complaints and issue will go unnoticed, potentially harming the brand image. A powerful tool such as Genesys can support a "one account contact"... and route based on configured business rules... a very powerful functionality.. but do they know and realise the power of this? The engineer and techies in the ICT division probably do know this...but I doubt marketing or decision making executives have a clue of what's possible.... and the engineers are not the right people to market this... engineers were never sales people ;-)
Today I stumbled on Tom Eggermeier's Blog ( Head of Global Enterprise Sales & Field Operations at Alcatel/Lucent) He promised that as of next week he write about "what the future of Customer Service can become when we think about how to engage the 750 million customers using Social Media with great Customer Service." - am looking forward to reading this...
Ok... I will probably edit this blog post a bit in the next few days...until then - treat it as a draft...
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Vodacom listened ;-)
"Vodacom surprised their BlackBerry subscribers today when they announced that BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) subscribers who exceed 100MB of data usage per month will be throttled to a lower speed (3G to 2G).".... I saw this announcement on the 12th September. Did not really understand what this means. On the 13th Vodacom posted an explanation on Facebook - apparently it only impacts 5% of the users - and only those who abuse the system.
Late last night (13th September) the Pieter Uys, Vodacom CEO sent out the following tweet... “I hear your concern on BB. Not throttling anything now – working with BlackBerry to find solution to manage the massive bulk file downloads.”
I love it - the company listened to the customers!! (Apparently twitter was buzzing with #Fail comments - and even #EpicFail to Vodacom.... )...
...and on the other hand: I am still waiting for Vodacom to explain the June invoice to me....have been phoning them a few times.
Late last night (13th September) the Pieter Uys, Vodacom CEO sent out the following tweet... “I hear your concern on BB. Not throttling anything now – working with BlackBerry to find solution to manage the massive bulk file downloads.”
I love it - the company listened to the customers!! (Apparently twitter was buzzing with #Fail comments - and even #EpicFail to Vodacom.... )...
...and on the other hand: I am still waiting for Vodacom to explain the June invoice to me....have been phoning them a few times.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Just a little of that "Human Touch" in Customer Service
Recently a friend send me a link to a very good article by David Lazarus in the LA Times. It’s all about Customer Service experience – good and bad.
In summary the article is all about the difference in customer service a lady received when she had to change a flight reservation and a phone contract due to the recent death of her mother. Although different s industries, both times she had to speak to a contact centre agent and explain her situation. The article does not really go into the details of the process that the consultants had to follow – but rather focuses on the reaction and communication with the consultant. The subheading of the article reads” Why is it so hard for some companies to show a little human decency when a customer has a problem”.
(http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20110823,0,2211925.column )
While in both instances processes and procedures had to be followed, it was the way the consultant responded which shaped the experiences for the customers. The JetBlue consultant listened to the customer’s story, and heard what she said – while it seems that the Verizon consultant only heard what s/he was trained to work with. The Verizon consultant might have followed the procedure to the T, and based on this, believes that s/he provided excellent customer service. The customer however will always remember her interaction with Verizon as a really bad customer service experience – and in all likelyhood reflect this bad experience on the company as a whole. The line between good and bad service; between a good and a bad customer experience or between a good and bad company reputation is really fine … the line can not be defined according to processes and procedures, it requires a little bit of a human touch…and just the right kind...
The article reminded me of my recent experience at a South African Airways check in counter. Given my line of business, I travel on Stand by. After having said "good bye" to a special friend of mine, I was in a very tender emotional stage. I managed to hold it together and went to the SAA check in counter to find out when I could get a flight. The gentleman behind the counter greeted me with a big smile and asked how my day has been so far. Needless to say, this triggered me to loose "control" and my guard to come down, the tears started to roll down my cheeks… He was an absolute gem, looked at me and simply said: “it’s ok no worries – the flight does not look good, but let's see what I can do for you….”… I apologised for my tears to which he camly responded: ”.. If it does not kill us it will make us stronger.”… he gave me a tissue and a little later a boarding pass for the next flight out. I was eternally grateful that he did not ask too many questions, and that I got on the next flight out. Even if this probably was not the first time that he had a tearful passenger checking in, his response was personal and not scripted. For me, it stands out as one of those moments in life… an act of kindness from a total stranger … Did he bend the rules that day – very likely … did he stick to procedures… probably not quite ...but he showed a human side, he showed compassion. …., he did make me feel better and smile... to this day I remember the kindness in his voice and the great experience with a South African Airways representative…. they cared, SAA cared...... and is that not what we want all our customers to experience – that the company cares about them?
It shows how little it takes to shape a great customer experience .... and how quickly it could go wrong...
Do we provide our consultants with the insight and knowledge, the tools and training to be the judge of when is bending the rules and/or procedures ok and how far can they go...
Not a question I can answer, but one I think about quite a bit....
In summary the article is all about the difference in customer service a lady received when she had to change a flight reservation and a phone contract due to the recent death of her mother. Although different s industries, both times she had to speak to a contact centre agent and explain her situation. The article does not really go into the details of the process that the consultants had to follow – but rather focuses on the reaction and communication with the consultant. The subheading of the article reads” Why is it so hard for some companies to show a little human decency when a customer has a problem”.
(http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20110823,0,2211925.column )
While in both instances processes and procedures had to be followed, it was the way the consultant responded which shaped the experiences for the customers. The JetBlue consultant listened to the customer’s story, and heard what she said – while it seems that the Verizon consultant only heard what s/he was trained to work with. The Verizon consultant might have followed the procedure to the T, and based on this, believes that s/he provided excellent customer service. The customer however will always remember her interaction with Verizon as a really bad customer service experience – and in all likelyhood reflect this bad experience on the company as a whole. The line between good and bad service; between a good and a bad customer experience or between a good and bad company reputation is really fine … the line can not be defined according to processes and procedures, it requires a little bit of a human touch…and just the right kind...
The article reminded me of my recent experience at a South African Airways check in counter. Given my line of business, I travel on Stand by. After having said "good bye" to a special friend of mine, I was in a very tender emotional stage. I managed to hold it together and went to the SAA check in counter to find out when I could get a flight. The gentleman behind the counter greeted me with a big smile and asked how my day has been so far. Needless to say, this triggered me to loose "control" and my guard to come down, the tears started to roll down my cheeks… He was an absolute gem, looked at me and simply said: “it’s ok no worries – the flight does not look good, but let's see what I can do for you….”… I apologised for my tears to which he camly responded: ”.. If it does not kill us it will make us stronger.”… he gave me a tissue and a little later a boarding pass for the next flight out. I was eternally grateful that he did not ask too many questions, and that I got on the next flight out. Even if this probably was not the first time that he had a tearful passenger checking in, his response was personal and not scripted. For me, it stands out as one of those moments in life… an act of kindness from a total stranger … Did he bend the rules that day – very likely … did he stick to procedures… probably not quite ...but he showed a human side, he showed compassion. …., he did make me feel better and smile... to this day I remember the kindness in his voice and the great experience with a South African Airways representative…. they cared, SAA cared...... and is that not what we want all our customers to experience – that the company cares about them?
It shows how little it takes to shape a great customer experience .... and how quickly it could go wrong...
Do we provide our consultants with the insight and knowledge, the tools and training to be the judge of when is bending the rules and/or procedures ok and how far can they go...
Not a question I can answer, but one I think about quite a bit....
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Let's see
In the past few weeks, I have read a lot of interesting articles, blogs and notes....and then I have my own thoughts and oppinion to some of these. I have now decided to start keeping note of these - for myself, and .... whoever else is interested. So - here goes - this is the start.
I made the following commitment to myself: one meaningful update per week... and all about the professional aspect of my life ... Customer Service, Customer Service Technology, Customer Service in the Airline industry, Online shopping (travel , Shoes, etc.) and the customer service around online interactions.... email, chat and Social media...
Let's see if I stick to this....
I will be back
I made the following commitment to myself: one meaningful update per week... and all about the professional aspect of my life ... Customer Service, Customer Service Technology, Customer Service in the Airline industry, Online shopping (travel , Shoes, etc.) and the customer service around online interactions.... email, chat and Social media...
Let's see if I stick to this....
I will be back
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