(Please ignore my weird spacing/formatting. Once again, the blog is being unkind to the blogger, and my fingers are too sore to attempt any further formatting.)
I've worked in every area of customer service over the years and one concept that is just impossible for some reps to comprehend (and yes, their companies, too) is not so much that the customer is always right, but that their feelings are NEVER wrong. Whether a customer has truly been screwed over or just thinks they have is completely irrelevant - the bottom line is that both the rep AND the company need to address the way their customer feels. If a rep can't (or won't) do something that a customer feels they should, then sometimes there truly isn't anything else that can be done, but they can still ALWAYS address the customer's feelings and VALIDATE them. Anyone in customer service (and again, by extension their company as well) who doesn't or won't do this has no business being IN that business. As usual, my suggestions on how to resolve a sticky issue is an essay, but if it helps anyone resolve an issue that's just frustrating them to no end (and seemingly has no positive end in sight), I'm happy to share my advice on how I usually can get companies to work with me when it seems like it's hopeless.
I just went through this w/a new dryer I was buying, which has played out this week a bit on social media). As someone who has helped customers from the lowest rung of the ladder, the top rung of the ladder, and just about every rung in between, I know how it feels to be unable to do much for a customer (e.g. resolve money disputes, fees, change services), but I also how it feels to be able to do almost everything for them. I've been able to feel the frustration of wanting to help, but having my hands tied, and I've also experienced the satisfaction of resolving an issue and making a customer happy, which is truly how every person in customer service should get to feel just to keep them willing to show up every single day to work and not end up in an empty lot beating the shit out of an office printer. The advances in social media to have your voice heard is such a powerful tool we have now that we didn't in the past, and it needs to be utilized (again, as I've been {ahem!} known to do in the past) when traditional avenues fail. So here's some advice that usually helps me get my issues resolved:
1. Start respectful and kind, and STAY respectful and kind to every single person you interact with. Do this as long as you possibly can, preferably until resolution of the issue. The getting angry and ranting and raving stuff HAS to be only when everything else has failed. Chances are, no matter what problem you're having, not a single person you work with from here on out will have had even a grain of salt's worth of contribution to your issue and these people are just a means to an end for you now in the form of a person. No one you talk to did this to you, so always remember they really ARE just doing their job and they have NOT done anything TO you (unless they honestly did run you over with their car or they stole your wallet with your credit cards; in that case, rant and rave away!). Acknowledge that and then work WITH them and include them in the issue, such as phrasing things to make it sound like you're working TOGETHER to solve a MUTUAL problem, not "you" and "you people" and "your company," but "we" and "How can we figure this out?" and "What's the next best way for us to get ___ done?"
2. Understand how escalation REALLY works. You can "get me your supervisor!" all day long until the cows come home, and chances are you may just be getting passed around a call center from one person to another, and not one of them will ever have the ability to do much for you. If it's a big company and there's a local branch or store, try to contact them directly and ask to talk to a store manager. With my dryer, the person I spoke w/at Best Buy was whoever happened to answer the phone, but when he couldn't help me any further, I asked him, "Who should we try to reach next who can actually do ____?" Even though HE couldn't do it, he could tell me who COULD, and he gave me a couple of options. If you've supervisor'd your way up to the end of the line or you've been to the store and been denied, find out if they have a consumer relations/affairs dept. and reach out to them. Don't hesitate to work from different angles and involve as many different departments/people as you can at once. I was dealing with their online customer service, a local store manager, someone from FB, someone in Corporate Customer Service, someone in the local warehouse.....I had my finger in a LOT of pies trying to get my issue resolved! If that doesn't work, then it's time to involve social media.
3. Do NOT pull a Donald Trump w/social media. No name calling. No vague threats. Address them just the same as if it was another person on the phone. Yes, you CAN be sarcastic (as I VERY often tend to be) because this is where you want to grab someone's attention. Once you've got it, USE it. They usually want to see your issue publicly resolved so they can look like the hero publicly, so LET THEM. Encourage them to a discussion with you. Tell them you're hopeful that they can help you get the resolution you're seeking. Compliment them on prior interactions or purchases or experiences you've had (if you can). Invite them to talk to you and work it out together. Suggest that they help you come to a quick resolution. Yes, if you feel it's a last resort, you CAN threaten to take your business elsewhere, and if you've been a good customer and spent a lot of money with them, go ahead and bring it up (especially if it's verifiable). BUT.....don't threaten unless you're willing to back it up. When Best Buy quickly addressed me publicly on FB, but then behind the scenes stuck me right back in another long metaphorical line, I let them know I would use that lengthy wait to shop elsewhere for the dryer, and the longer they took the more time I had to reconsider my purchase with them and possibly even return the item and take my $600 elsewhere. I absolutely was willing to back that up, and you have to be, too, or don't bother.
4. Sometimes, you just can't win. It's true that more and more companies are becoming too large to care about the little customer. Outsourced call centers become more about just trying to figure out someone's name, never mind trying to resolve a dispute. The convenience of online purchases results in the inconvenience of not being able to speak to a live person anymore. It feels more often than not that the customer is NEVER right and often we think why even bother to try? I myself had a HORRIBLE experience with Dish TV several years back. Godawful. I did EVERYTHING I was supposed to do. I called. I was polite. I documented every snippet of every discussion with every single person. I escalated. I got angry. I even got Jay on the phone and let HIM get angry (and he's like a bull in a China shop when he's angry; I only unleash him for very RARE occasions when I want someone to BLEED). I blogged about it. I posted about it for weeks on FB. It didn't matter. I was NEVER able to get it resolved. I lost a lot of money due to their deceptive sales practices. It was a lot of stress and a lot of frustration. When I finally gave up, stuck my tail between my legs, and called my old cable company, ready to start begging to come back, I explained why I was returning and what had happened. When they heard my story, not only were they SO wonderful and sympathetic (which is truly the ONLY thing I needed at that point after feeling like I'd been emotionally assaulted for days upon days by the horrible treatment from Dish), how amazed was I when Charter offered me a $250 credit to "buy me back?" It was a credit they were allowed to offer to customers who were leaving another company to come to them, and in my case they were happy to have me back and were willing to pay up front for my promise of loyalty. This was a single yet TREMENDOUS act of customer service that I will never forget, and because of it they have a customer for life.
And that brings me to my last piece of advice. Again, when you're being nice and respectful in all of your dealings during these situations, you just never know when something good might occur. Keep the faith and keep at it, but when it becomes something so stressful and so frustrating that it takes up all of your time and all of your mental and emotional energy, and there's truly no satisfactory end in sight, you have to take a deep breath, take a big bite of your caveat emptor pie, and move the hell on for your own sake and sanity. Sometimes it really just ISN'T worth the fight.
