If you are in the telecom business, you most likely have heard the recording of the Comcast CSR berating a customer for choosing to cancel his service.  Instead of taking the information necessary to cancel, the CSR tries to interrogate the customer about why he is cancelling – which gets a reply of “Because of customer service like this.” (Listen to the call here.)

Wow. Has customer service turned into a last-effort sales pitch? An upsell opportunity? Is Customer Service Dead?

Generally speaking, the large telcos have a problem with customer service. The American Customer Satisfaction Index, which is put out quarterly by the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and is considered the most comprehensive customer satisfaction survey in the United States, shows that once again Comcast and Time Warner Cable have the lowest customer satisfaction ratings of any ISPs in the United States. 

These results may have a few mitigating factors. To quote the Huffington Post: “Many of the most-hated companies have millions of customers and hundreds of thousands of workers. With this kind of reach, it’s important to keep employees happy in order to maintain decent customer service. Often, poor job satisfaction leads to poor service and low customer satisfaction.“

In addition to that reality, the effect of social media cannot be overestimated. Unhappy customers can easily influence public opinion and have resorted to very clever ways to do so. Remember the musician who saw airline workers mishandle his expensive guitar? He wrote a song that went viral (to the tune of 14 million views!) entitled “United Breaks Guitars.” (Click here to view the video). United had no choice but to respond and today uses the video and the experience when it trains its service representatives.

But does this low standard really apply across the board? Are large operators and national companies giving the rest of us a bad name?

Well, as a consumer myself, I would like to point out some pet peeves that may help you determine the answer at your organization. These are little things – but they are a slippery slope that turns your customers from raving fans into arch enemies.

Entering your information multiple times. I understand the rationale of an automated answering service, where you can get a quicker response by entering your account number, etc. before speaking to a representative. What ticks me off is that once you reach a human being, they re-confirm every bit of information you just entered. What’s worse, if they have to transfer you to another department, you have to again relay the same information. Talk about dual entry – where’s the love here?

Muzak and only muzak. It drives me crazy when on-hold lines do not tell you what number you are in line or how long your wait time should be. Perhaps this is unrealistic for smaller companies to estimate or deploy, but it certainly helps my patience level by knowing what to expect.

Unknowledgeable reps. I recently called a very large web hosting company to help diagnose an FTP issue. It took 3 different calls across 2 days for me to reach someone who could actually fix the problem. The other two calls resulted in email instructions being sent to me (that didn’t work) and being told that it was a software issue (incorrect.)

Now, let me also throw out some customer service best practices that I’ve seen:

Take the Ritz Carlton approach. Known for its exceptional customer service, the attitude at this world-class hotel is that no matter what your job description, if approached by a customer with an issue, that issue becomes your own. As a Ritz Carlton employee, you are required to stop what you are doing and immediately help the customer. Enough said.

Use Technology. I recently took advantage of a “Live Chat” on a consumer website that was informative, efficient and professional. That’s a great example of how technology can be harnessed to improve the customer experience.  The telco industry has seen the development of software that can integrate business and customer service systems to provide quick resolution to issues that affect subscribers. ETI Software has products designed specifically to improve service assurance through improved response time, proactive monitoring and work order management. Catching problems before your customer does is a good thing!

Empower Your Team. Knowledge is power, so they say, and giving your CSRs the right information allows them to resolve customer-facing issues more effectively. Giving them the power and the know-how results in a happier employee .. and definitely a more satisfied customer. Telecom tools such as TR-069 ACS software and GIS overlays can empower CSRs to easily handle the most common forms of calls without the help of a specialist.

Gone are the days where if you have a complaint about your service, you write a letter and put it in the mail and hope for a response. (Although back in the day, my father did that and got a brand new TV out of it!) Take advantage of today’s technology and make sure your customer service department never ends up on any “Worst of” list.

Got your own horror or success stories to share? Leave a comment.

photo credit: Tammra McCauley  via photopin