A Look at Customer Service - The Good, The Bad, The Barely Noticeable
There comes a time in every man or woman’s life where they need to make a change. They need to take that step to end a relationship so they can move on to something else, whether for the better or for the sake of change. That’s right, I’m talking about quitting the gym.
Shaw Cable has come in and out of my life over the years. One of the perks of not being locked into a contract is that I can come and go as I wish. And I do. Sometimes it’s for economic reasons. Sometimes it’s for amount of usage. Sometimes I just do or don’t wanna have cable. This last go around, highlighted a particular question for me around customer service: How much information should a company tell you about their service costs and charges ahead of time?
Here’s a breakdown my situation:
1) I had internet only, which comes to about $80 a month.
2) I added basic TV for just shy of $20 and a collection of channels for $35 (both monthly)
3) When I got my bill, it came to almost triple what I’d been spending. TRIPLE.
Is the future of our engagement between customer and business evolving right under our noses? What does this future look like? I don’t see flying cars. I don’t see teleporters. I don’t see ray guns. I also don’t see any customer service staff to help me…AHA, that’s the future!
Recently, I was in the market for a new home printer. The one I had had died and though I don’t print often, I didn’t feel like going through the hoops necessary to get other people to help me. New printer it is. Future Shop was on my radar as I, and my girlfriend, had recently bought a computer there. Here’s my story of the future…today:
I’m an idiot, and here’s the story of why and how two related organizations were involved. Once upon a time…
When you set up your Twitter account, you have to link it to an email address. It doesn’t really matter which one, but I would recommend linking it to one you actually use so you can remember certain facts. Like your password. Unfortunately, the Twitter account I’ve put all my efforts into is associated with an ancient account – I was locked out of my email (forgot password and tried to access too many times) and my Twitter (accidently asked for a reset of password…which send an email to my account…which I don’t have access to).
See my dilemma? If I was hacked, which happens a lot on Twitter, or something happened of any kind, I wasn’t able to do anything about it. Nada. Nothing.
So, I had a choice. Get in touch with Twitter to access my account or talk to Microsoft to access my old Hotmail address. I tried both.
I jump off and on the reading bandwagon more times than I care to admit. I’d like to read a lot more than I do and the one topic that seems to have really gotten me passionate again is learning about communications. Crisis, engagement, customer service, social media…it all really intrigues me and I’m always on the look out for others’ recommendations. One of those “others” suggested 2010′s Social Nation: How to Harness the Power of Social. A book authored by Barry Libert, a social technology advisor with a laundry list of board appointments…pretty smart and savvy guy. A thought leader.
HOW WE GOT HERE:
I’m about a quarter of the way in when I read that it’s best for me to take his online Social Quotient Test. Sounds interesting. I’m intrigued and I’d love to play along. I spent the money on the ebook, I want to get as much bang for my buck as I can. And hey, I love those quizzes that tell you something about yourself. So I clinked on the link on the book’s page. It sent me to the Mzinga website, a social business and technology company and one led (not anymore though) by Libert. I don’t think anything of it other than that the test should be on here somewhere. Nope. No where to be found. How was I suppose to know my social strengths and weaknesses if I couldn’t take the test?
You need to upgrade your bank system. You can’t avoid it. You can’t do it in “phases” and you need to shut down your banking services for 2.5 days. Keeping people from their money…this can’t go well. And this is exactly the situation Coast Capital Savings find themselves in as they look to move to a new banking system. What’s a financial institution to do?
HOW WE GOT HERE:
We’re upgrading our banking system Feb 8-12 and most of our services will be unavailable that weekend. Find out more: bit.ly/14aBJJA
— Julie from Coast (@Coast_Capital) January 24, 2013
On January 24th, the face of Coast Capital’s customer service, Julie, let the Twitterverse know that work to improve their banking services would impact their customers over a period of 4 days. This Twitter is used almost strictly to respond to customer queries, doesn’t tweet on the weekends and, during the work week, isn’t overly active either (some days, a single tweet. Average, I’d say 3 tweets). Were they up to the challenge?
Over on Facebook, on the same day, the news was shared as well. As of this writing (Jan. 29th evening), the post has been shared 85 times 47 people LIKE it and 48 comments. The good customer service news is half of those comments were from the bank responding to the the other comments, including a quarter of which were either negative or critical. As an organization, you have to take the good with the bad, and see it as an opportunity rather than something to shy away from. Did Coast Capital respond to all comments? Nope. But for those sharing their thoughts, sometimes there wasn’t anything to respond to. Instead, they just let them speak and left it on their Facebook wall. Nice.
And back on Twitter, the account has been a lot more active since the news of next weekend’s service disruption. Could they be more active? Sure, but they seem to be addressing any tweets mentioning them. They even went further to comment on my previous blog which was where I was originally alerted to this whole thing. Really good to see the outreach goes to not only their social platforms, but also where the discussions are.
@russlol Hi Russ, Thanks for helping us join in on the conversation. And thank you for your kind words! *blush*
— Julie from Coast (@Coast_Capital) January 29, 2013
Well, I should mention that I am a member of Coast Capital Savings and the first I heard of this was a comment from a reader on The Upsell. Is that my fault? A little. I did receive a pamphlet in the mail explaining all the details. But, I found the information readily available once I started digging (it’s right there, clear as day on their homepage). So, whether old school or new school…they were pretty covered in their communications. Sure it sucks that they’ll be cutting services for 2.5 days, but they did a fairly good job of making sure we all knew about it and have any questions answered. Insert something here about lemons and lemonade.
THE CONCLUSION: Going steady – This could be the beginning of something major.
You’re good Coast Capital…oh you’re good. All that listening and engaging and being accessible, all the ingredients to proper customer service, especially during crisis communications. Could you share a little more, connect a little more, during peace time? Sure. But when it came down to when I really needed you…you…you were there for me.
Service Rating System:
Friend Zone - I just don’t like you in “that way.”
Booty Call - If I don’t have anything else better going on, I’ll stop by.
2nd Date – I’ll give you a second chance.
Going steady – This could be the beginning of something major.
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