Recent Customer Service Experience

[danoodle]

I recently had an amazing customer service experience with the company AR North America who sells electric pressure washers that I felt I had to share. Basically, I called their number and after picking from the options, was immediately (literally, no hold time) connected to a fluent, native English speaker who troubleshooted my problem quickly and said he would mail me replacement parts right away. No hassles. No charges. This is how customer service should be and it's sad we've been desensitized to such bad customer service that an experience like this stands out to me. After looking at their site, I was actually talking to their service manager.

Also, I recommend the book Raving Fans as a good resource on customer service. Feel free to share your opinions on recent customer service experiences you've had, either good or bad, as further insight into this issue. Or you can share how your company handles customer service and how effective/ineffective you think it is. Any thoughts or opinions are appreciated!

 

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[socaldude]

fluent, native English speaker

American Express and Amazon are now out sourcing(I called/emailed). It think it hurts the company because its always a challenge explaining my situation.

There is always Fastlane opportunity in customer service. These days it is horrible horrible. You will be surprised how quickly people become loyal when they have a great customer experience with you. Sometime they will even write you a letter telling you how happy they were to use your service.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Also, I recommend the book Raving Fans as a good resource

Definitely, it is on my recommended book list here at the forum (at the bottom of all pages.)

This is how customer service should be and it's sad we've been desensitized to such bad customer service that an experience like this stands out to me. After looking at their site, I was actually talking to their service manager.

I've come to the conclusion that there are 2 types of companies...

1) Those that serve money. (These are the companies that put shareholders #1 and treat customers as inconvenient nuisances.)

and

2) Those that serve customers. (This describes your positive scenario above.)

 

[Pinnacle]

1) Those that serve money. (These are the companies that put shareholders #1 and treat customers as inconvenient nuisances.)

For example: Is HP Committed to IT Outsourcing? CIO.com

 

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[JAJT]

I used to work for a company that sold internet faxing. We were #2 in the industry for size but #1 for support. Every employee worked in our office - no outsourcing. All sales, support, networking, everything was in house.

I must have made 60% of my sales with NOTHING other than being able to answer the phone promptly and speak fluent English. To hell with the price, features, up-time, etc... our clients were sick and tired of dealing with pushy, script-reading, heavily accented people from the Indian call centers our competitors used. Our online chat was me, talking like me, to them. Our competitors's chat service was pre-scripted marketing lines that never answered the client's questions.

People called in with this pent-up rage expecting to have a fight on their hands but when I answered with "Hello, Jason speaking, how are you?" they wouldn't know what to say. I got a LOT of "Holy shit, you aren't in India? Sign me up!" (dead giveaway I knew who they were migrating from...).

Our competitor didn't care that their individual users were leaving in an exodus to us - they were focused on HUGE B2B deals, locking up IBM for 10k fax numbers, not Sally Realtor who just needs to be able to receive a fax for her business.

Our competitor offered to buy us out multiple times (when they weren't trying to constantly sue us) but we kept rejecting offers and winning lawsuits. We finally got to be such a big problem that they offered one of those "impossible to refuse" offers and purchased our company (HUGE Fastlane for the owners).

I think there is HUGE money to be made in customer service right now. Put people in front of phones and poach "the big guy's" customers, believe me - their clients want an alternative.

 

[Likwid24]

Also, I recommend the book Raving Fans as a good resource on customer service.

Added to my list. Thanks!

I just finished reading "Delivering Happiness" - The Zappos Story. Great book! When I imagined my company, I always pictured the work atmosphere and customer service to be similar to theirs. I Love what Tony Hseih did with Zappos and I would love to model my company after them. If you haven't read it, add it to your list.

American Express and Amazon are now out sourcing(I called/emailed). It think it hurts the company because its always a challenge explaining my situation.

I know they save a ton of money doing this, but is it really worth it. I have stopped doing business with companies just becuase of this reason alone. There's a major language and culture barrier. It really is such a turn off.

I think there is HUGE money to be made in customer service right now. Put people in front of phones and poach "the big guy's" customers, believe me - their clients want an alternative.

Exactly!

 

[Runum]

To add to the list of great customer service....

I have had 2 different positive experiences with Discount Tire. My kid had a flat in her college town. She had some fix a flat and pumped it in and I sent her to the local DT. I called the store to arrange for the tire to be fixed. I was on the road 300 miles away. We bought the tire there, no extra warranty. They fixed it free, quickly, no hassle.

A couple of days ago I had a tire flat on my beater. Took it to my shop and found it had a valve stem failure. Did not buy it from DT.Carried it to a different DT and they fixed it for free.

Not sure how long they can keep that up, but it sure was nice.

 

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[socaldude]

All of the best customer service experiences I have had had have been with Amazon and Apple. I ordered an HP financial calculator from them and it was lost in transit. They quickly responded to my email within minutes and they sent a free replacement via overnight mail ALL for FREE. I was like WOW I freakin love Amazon.

My iphone was having issues and I brought it into the apple store. I told them I tried restoring it and everything. My first thought was "Damn i might have to shell out money for a new phone" Nope they replaced it for free. They even automatically upgrade me to the iphone4S instead of the iphone4 i had previously.

If it means losing money on a customer issue(free replacement, free overnight delivery) in the short run. Its always worth it the long run as you win their loyalty.