An Open Letter to Customer Service Professionals

An Open Letter to Customer Service Professionals,



Ever since I returned from Toronto via Delta Airlines several weeks ago, I have had the opportunity to interact either in person, on the phone or via computer chat a number of customer service professionals who represent companies as diverse as Delta Airlines, Best Buy, AT&T, DirecTV, LinkSys, Charter Communications, and BBVA Compass.


Because of these interactions, I’ve decided to make a series of recommendations that may be obvious to some but are clearly not obvious to many of you in the customer service field. Quick note: These are in no particular order but are considered to be of equal importance.


Please Listen to the Question Being Asked


This recommendation could be adjusted by removing the words "to the Question Being Asked" and still be true. In any event, this seems like an obvious request, but I would be hard-pressed to tell you the number of times I spoke on the phone with a customer service professional who would not allow me to finish my question or my description of the problem before offering a solution or trying to sell me an upgrade. My guess is there are certain words that trigger scripted responses. As a result we waste a lot of time going down dead-ends.


Please Be Patient


While he was trying his best not to show it, I could tell the young man from Linksys was getting more and more frustrated. It was late at night. My router was not working properly. And nothing this guy had me do was fixing the problem – constant drops of my internet connection. After about an hour and a half, we tried one more solution and when I told him it didn’t work, he hung up on me. I understand the idea of trying to get a resolution to a customer issue as quickly as possible, but there has to be some understanding that if you show patience and resolve the issue at that moment, you have, in the long run, saved time.


Please Be Sympathetic


I suppose I could substitute the word “be” with the verb “act” because actually asking you to be sympathetic might be asking too much. I would give kudos here to the AT&T lady who patiently walked me through the process of installing my AT&T DSL service. She was patient. She was sympathetic. At the opposite end of this spectrum would be Delta. For those of us who travel regularly, we understand stuff happens – weather issues, mechanical issues, etc. However, my flight from Toronto was one of those travel days where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. And how did Delta handle it? Beyond poorly. Each customer service rep I spoke with unhelpful, and it was patently clear that they simply did not care. For all intents and purposes, Delta left my companions and me stranded in Atlanta with no realistic way to get to Birmingham. Granted, there may not have been anything that the Delta agents could actually do to resolve the issues facing all of us, but they could at least act like they cared.

Please Allow Me to Make Suggestions

After finally being liberated from Charter Communications (television and internet), which boasts some of the worst customer service on the planet (edged out only by Delta Airlines), I was pleased to be moving to DirecTV. While there’s been no single overwhelming issue to resolve, I have found myself on the phone a lot with DirecTV customer service. Illustrative of this particular recommendation, I was connecting an HD-DVR to my television with the help of a customer service rep on the phone. As we walked through each step, it was clear that she was following a specific script. Each suggestion I made was not acknowledged and I was asked to simply follow the next instruction. At the end of the session, the DVR was not working properly but I was told that our time together had come to an end and that I should go to the website for more direction if needed.

Please Do What You Say You Will Do

After all the folderol of trying to connect to my new router or use my new DVR or trying to collect my lost luggage or getting my computer fixed, virtually every customer service rep I spoke with promised me some sort of follow up either by phone or email. My own unscientific observation would be that these promises actually are fulfilled about 70% of the time. Not horrible but not great either. I would offer kudos to DirecTV here who follow-up so much as to border on annoying. At the other end of the spectrum, again, is Delta who said they would deliver my lost luggage to my home. Let’s just say that if I had not decided to simply drive to the airport and find my suitcase, the luggage would still be sitting in the Delta office gathering dust.

Please Know That I Am Not Lying

Honestly, this is one of the stranger recommendations. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings but I promise you that I don’t call customer service reps just to kill time. As was often the case, my cable service being delivered by Charter Communications ceased functioning on some random Sunday. I called and asked a young man when the service would be restored. He let me know that there was no outage in my area. I let him know that none of my televisions was getting service and it was clear that there was indeed an outage. Again, I was told there was no outage in my area. After about 10 minutes of this mind-numbing back and forth, his computer screen updated and – lo and behold – there was a reported outage in my area. When I asked my original question: When will it be fixed?, I was told that they did not give out that type of information and was there anything else he could do to help me. This happened to me not once – but twice. I kid you not.


I appreciate your review of these recommendations. I know we can’t all be perfect and I know stuff happens, but I am a good customer who is only looking for good customer service. Let’s face it – competition is too aggressive for me to have to put up with being treated poorly.


Sincerely,




Bret Pippen