Last week I received two phone bills. One from Vodafone as expected and one from Optus not expected. The way the companies handled the matter is an example of how to win a customer loyalty and how not to.
I had reason to call both companies.
In the case of Vodafone I had a small query on a 90cent charge. The women like me was puzzled about how the charge occured but with some work she identified what she thought the problem was. She then tested this theory by replicating the action. She then waited 24 hours to check billing and sure enough there was the charge. She contacted me again and confirmed the reason for the charge and credited the charge from the message before.
All I can say it was fantastic customer service and while the amount was small in portion to my total account it showed a company willing to investigate even the smallest error.
In contrast I called Optus and had three very unpleasant phone conversations which resulted in a formal complaint. Basically this experience was a reminder of my experience back in January 2008 resulting in moving the service in October 2008.
After speaking with two different people the end result was a formal complaint as they refused to investigate the issue but kept insisting I hadn't been disconnected when in fact the service had been disconnected in late October 2008. However what was interesting was that the service had sometime between late November and now been reconnected without my knowledge. Optus didn't seem to care or wish to investigate this issue.
The end result was the filing of a formal complaint to Optus. As previously no response to the email was received I called them the next day to confirm receipt but was told that this wasn't on file yet and to check in another day. On discussing with the person managing the call it became clear that the earlier discussions were not documented correctly but rather were documented with what Optus wanted to believe happened.
I also asked why instead of transferring me to another department they couldn't send an email to the other department and call me back. I was told that this wasn't possible - the department couldn't call out. This seems to be a common practice of phone companies and other large companies to assume that their time is more valuable than the customers and so refuse to call to their customers but insist you be placed on hold.
End result: Bad customer experience - sufficient to say Optus should be avoided in Australia. If you are looking for a cheaper option Engin Naked ADSL provides a great value service.
Lessons for a business from this:
a) Listen to the customer. Sometimes the customer may rant but that is okay. You don't need to listen to abuse but do allow the customer to express their feelings and emotions if necessary - remember you have come in at the end of the process.
b) Check what the issue is. It may not be what you think it is.
c) Agree with the customer what the issue is - say something like so you are concerned about xyz. Is that correct?
d) If things get heated not call the customer "uncooperative". Take a deep breath and ask what do you want to do about this?
e) Once agreement on the issue is identified then start looking for a solution - in some cases if you don't have an immediate solution the best option is to offer to investigate and call back later.
e) Agree timeframes and means to follow up - does the customer have email - get their details and email them what was discussed so they have a copy.
g) Action and followup.
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