Mastering Customer Service

by Philip M. Anderson
Today’s column falls on both sides of a customer service issue.  Suffice it to say, I’m rather HOT as I write this but I need to write it right away or this little story won’t have the impact it should.

Only ten minutes ago I got off the phone with DirecTV over a billing issue.  Let me set the table:

We cancelled our DirectTV earlier this year for many reasons, the biggest reason being we wanted to cut household costs and it was summer.  Here in North Idaho you’re outside a LOT in the summer!  We went through the requisite processes of sending back the expensive equipment to DirecTV as per their request.

As fall began to settle in there was a glaring priority missing in the house and that was football.  Well, to be honest, HGTV was the other one, not so much for me, but, you know how it goes.  I’m blessed to be with someone that loves football almost as much as I do.  Her USC team and my Husky team (GO DAWGS!) are both teams we follow intently.  Late Saturday afternoons in front of the TV cheering our respective team on have become a tradition.

So, we found an ad in the local paper, called DirecTV and signed up for the least expensive package possible.  No frills, no bells and no whistles.  Happy campers we were!

Until we got the bill and noticed a WHOLE lot of extras on it!  I won’t go into detail but I will say they added these extras without our knowledge.

“….but you’re not paying for Showtime for three months because it’s a promotion.”
“We don’t WANT Showtime.”
“Well, it says you signed up for it.”
“We didn’t.”
“Like I said before, it’s a free promotion so you’re not paying for it.”
“We don’t want it.”

And on and on and on and on it went.

Then they wanted to charge us $10.00 to REMOVE the promotional package we DIDN’T order in the first place!  At one point I asked the lady if she seriously is choosing to argue with me (her customer) over $10.00 that wasn’t even supposed to be on the bill to begin with, and she started with yet another tact.

This went on for almost an hour until I finally said to just transfer me to cancellations because I had had enough.  When cancellations came on the line it took less than five minutes to resolve ALL of my issues AND they offered me a $75.00 credit “for my inconvenience.”

What kind of business model does DirecTV subscribe to?  A model that lures potential customers in with low, promotional offers then “switches” to other extras and if anyone catches it then get into an arguement hoping to outlast their new CUSTOMER (one that pays them MONEY) so that they just give up and pay for those extras?  A model that uses their “customer service department” as a battle ground for people who call in, voicing concerns?  A model that uses their “cancellation department” as the true customer service department?

A BETTER model is that of AT&T.  I am not getting paid a dime by saying this but AT&T has got it right in customer service even though their ACTUAL cell service can lack at times.  In a nutshell, this is how a recent call went with AT&T after I found out a monthly bill was about 50 bucks higher than it should’ve been.  I usually go into the call (it’s way too complicated to check the detailed statement online, sorry) asking why my bill is higher than usual, thinking I will be told it was something that I did and I will just live with it.

This particular time it happened to be that my daughter had bought a ringtone and in doing so signed up for a monthly charge from a third party company.  I asked that her number be blocked from doing that again in the future, without my knowledge, and he (GET THIS!) offered to credit my account!  I didn’t have to ask, cry, snibble, bark, yell, scream OR shout.  HE offered it to me!

Now, I understand you can’t do that ALL the time with ALL your customers as companies will go out of business very quickly that way.  You CAN, however, look at the activity of a customer, see that the customer has been with you for ten years (meaning, he has made your company quite a bit of money!) and has been rather low maintanence.  In this case, he offered to credit my account which, in turn, made me (again) a very happy customer.

Isn’t that what companies want their customers to be?  Happy?

Food for thought, you can use the business model of DirecTV and know there will be a percentage of pissed off customers that “catch” you when you bait and switch and employ confrontational “customer service” people to do battle with them when they call.

OR, you can use the approach that it’s easier and far less expensive to just take care of the customers you have right now.  It cost’s SO MUCH MONEY for companies to get new customers.  Keeping the ones they have is MUCH cheaper.

In reality, DirecTV lost $75.00 they didn’t have to.  That whole dialogue cost me an hour of my day that I won’t get back but at least I have a $75.00 credit.  BUT, I’m still angry.  AT&T ALSO lost some money, about 30ish dollars, that THEY didn’t have to but it was a proactive choice they made.  I lost about ten minutes but it was a warm and fuzzy conversation that I’ve grown accustomed to having when I call AT&T customer service.

There, I feel better, but I still want a glass of wine.  Please feel free to comment.  I’d love to hear from you!

Until the next time a customer service issue strikes a chord in my life, expect the most and give the most!

By the way, I know I still owe you Part II of my travel experiences that are the POSITIVE ones.  I WILL write that by this weekend, I promise.  Thanks for your patience…

aphilip369@aol.com