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Service Sucks!
Not By My Lights (Um, Keyboard)!
Fact is, I made a small fortune in the mid-80s bitching and bitching and then bitching some more about customer service shortcomings. I was commonly referred to, from CA to Timbuktu, as the "king of customer service"—and given too much credit for putting this critical strategic issue on the map.
Therefore I applaud Steve Yastrow's post on Hilton's misbehavior. And applaud even more wholeheartedly the fantastic discussion responding to his Post—you'd do well to read all the Comments. (I did.)
Still ...
I got to thinking about all the sophisticated ideas stirred by the Post. And thinking about all the reporters who almost automatically ask me, "Why does customer service uniformly stink?"
Whoa, chummies!
Fact is, I think customer service is a pure marvel:
**On 21 December 2007 (today), a day before leaving the country, at 4 a.m., from my bed, in West Tinmouth, VT, iced in, wireless working, I readily finish my Christmas shopping. Sure, a lot of stuff can't make it by Christmas—but a lot can, enough to get the job done. (And the rest will arrive by the 27th or 28th, not bad by my shabby standards.)
**Last week at this time I was in Dubai, and woke up to the electronic news that a good friend and mentor had passed away. The memorial service was 72 hours later, in LA. Within the space of 20 minutes I had totally re-organized my 3-continent travel, made hotel reservations in LA, and was set to be where I wanted to be when I wanted to be there. (The email received about the service had of course included a map.) (Also, within a half hour, I'd arranged to meet a couple of good friends, one from England whom I hadn't seen for 10 or so years, at my hotel in LA to drive together to the service.) (Some elements of "customer service" are beyond the Web's power—despite my prayers, God decided to do his "blizzard thing," my travel plans imploded, and I missed the service.)
**Two interesting fellow speakers I met in Dubai and I are already at work on creating a mini-conference next Spring on the Web. (I'm almost certain that Spring will come, in spite of my VT picture above—if I light enough candles this Christmas at San Marco's in Venice.)
**Yesterday morning I read a squib on an unusual, older, out-of-print technical book that sounded cool. I'd ordered it 20 minutes later from some guy who lives in that most common of places these days—God Alone Knows Where. (Oh, and there's a 93% chance he'll come through.) (Another book I came across I decided not to order, thanks to 5 minutes perusing 10 or 15 peer-reviews at Amazon; the formal reviews—Publisher's Weekly, etc.—weren't worth a shit, as usual.)
**Talking to VT friends last week who recently finished building a small recreational house in Colorado. This summer they furnished the whole thing, good stuff for an insanely low cost, courtesy eBay—and on the trip out from VT had a jolly time collecting their acquisitions at various places where the eBay sellers lived. (Batting average with purveyors: 100%.)
**Guy who drove me from the airport to my hotel a couple of weeks ago had just started a wee business that involved very sexy recording equipment—in a 6-month period he'd acquired, from various addresses on the Web and after incredible Web research, about $75,000 worth of equipment, in mint condition, for a touch less than $10,000.
To be sure, one of my colleagues ordered her daughter a computer for Christmas, a big deal and total surprise. Delivery was absolutely, positively promised by today—when she checked yesterday, dear, dear Dell informed her it wasn't gonna happen. (Too bad she didn't consult with me earlier—I could have told her how much Dell service sucks; it's even worse post-purchase.) Susan's and my Christmas trip to Italy will be courtesy frequent flyer miles, and I don't need to tell you yet another tale of the pain involved in cashing in "customer loyalty" FF miles—on the other hand, it did work out in the end and enormously lessened our guilt about this indulgent trip.
So, yes, service horror stories, real "head shakers," abound. But as for me, circa December 2007, I am in "shock and awe" at what I can get done in the way of services (breadth and depth) that would have been unimaginable a scant decade ago.* (*And I do love it that a new Web service, boardfirst.com, will allow me, for $5, to automatically get "A" group reservations on Southwest for my insanely inexpensive post-New Year's Albany-BWI trip to see my 93-year-old aunt.)
Merry Christmas—my presents to you, dear close colleagues, will be arriving on time!
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Comments
A very, very merry Xmas to you and your family, Tom - have a great time. Many thanks to you and everyone at the TP website for their posts, for the behind-the-scenes work etc etc. I've enjoyed reading and posting again this year - here's to another great year in 2008.
And a merry Xmas to everyone whose posted, responded and contributed as well.
Posted by Mark JF at December 21, 2007 11:43 AM
Tom, I believe this is why social networks and blogs are so important. They service as consumer reports for various products. Before purchasing from Dell or another company, you can easily ping a friend on LinkedIn. If you get bad service, letting other people know about it is a post away.
Thanks for sharing,
Dan Schawbel
Posted by Dan Schawbel at December 21, 2007 11:45 AM
"I've enjoyed reading and posting again this year - here's to another great year in 2008."
Mark JF, thanks for your kind words. In the simplest and most obvious terms possible ... this site wouldn't be worth a jot were it not for the effort that you and others have made in turning it into a discussion, not a TP rant platform.
I think we've had our occasional disagreements this year--but were that not the case I'd stop Blogging in a flash.
My best to you in 2008.
Posted by tom peters at December 21, 2007 12:18 PM
Here, here Mark - Seasonal greetings to all associated with this Blog and thanks again Tom for providing the platform for us all to have our discussions and friendly disagreements.
Posted by Trevor Gay at December 21, 2007 4:35 PM
Sounds like Tom has mastered the concept of customer self-service. Ponder this y'all: New York State recently passed a law mandating air, water and working (not overflowing) toilets for all passengers stranded on the tarmac for longer that 3 Hours. That's longer than three &%$#@ hours. The airline industry, through their trade association, fought it in court. (Please don't tell me Southwest Airlines had any part in this.) The request for injunction was thrown out of court. Ruled a public safety issue that the state had the right to regulate. Some airlines were selling bottled water in these situations. No wonder the pilots want those locking doors. Isn't this customer service devolution? Seems to me there's still gold in the bitching mine.
Posted by Daniel McKittrick at December 21, 2007 9:05 PM
Tom, I think the rage we feel about lousy customer service is because the great companies have raised the bar. For instance, our shock and awe at being able to select and order a Xmas present at Amazon.com in under 2 minutes raises expectations so that when we encounter a cluelessly-designed shopping website that requires 5 minutes to navigate we want to toss our laptop out the window. Or, worse, blog about it.
Posted by John O'Leary at December 21, 2007 11:56 PM
Dell sucks on the other side of the world too:
Two-month old laptop ($1200) was dropped by she who shall remain nameless (:-). A replacement screen was quoted at approx $3000. Believe that or not. And not just bad, stupid too. Lost opportunity to replace the WHOLE laptop (even at full price) and gain a happy customer...
Posted by Dennis at December 22, 2007 12:21 AM
A Texas judge's ruling has shut down boardfirst.com.
http://aviation.beloblog.com/archives/2007/10/more_from_boardfirstcom_founde.html
Posted by Eric at December 22, 2007 7:12 AM
John's got the point: the world has separated into the "they do its" and the "they don't do its." Products can barely differentiate anymore, and product advantages will evaporate quickly. So when Dell and Hilton don't do it, we notice ... in a big way.
Posted by Steve Yastrow at December 22, 2007 8:24 AM
I also think it's about more than customer service. So Dell and Hilton get stupid about basic service ... fuggedaboutem'. But so many companies deliver great customer service now, as Tom points out, that even customer service becomes a commodity.
True customer engagement, beyond basic service, when you evolve from doing things "for" customers to doing things "with" customers is highly differentiating.
viagra online overnight Posted by Steve Yastrow at December 22, 2007 8:26 AM
Despite 'serving himself', what Tom received was still customer service. Customer service isn't just when you're 'serving' a customer.
When your accounting department charges the right price for the right product, that's customer service.
When your IT department provides a website that works how it's supposed to when it's supposed to, that's customer service.
Yes, as customers, we often focus on the two higher levels of customer service, partnership and advice (what I call "give 'em a share" and "give 'em advice")
But if you don't provide the entry levels of accuracy and availability ("get it right" and "get it out there") you'll never have the chance to provide the higher levels.
And, in my book, giving customers the ability to manage the process themselves is excellent service.
I really am glad to see continued discussion on the exceptions to good service. Because that's how most are beginning to view them; that's why the horror stories still carry the weight of horror: they really are becoming unexpected instead of the norm.
As mentioned, excellent companies are raising the bar. 'bout time, too.
Posted by Joel D Canfield at December 22, 2007 11:14 AM
purchase generic viagra on line without a prescription "This call may be recorded for quality control purposes". This isn't raising or lowering the quality bar - its smearing it with excrement. BTW why did the corporate world adopt this kind of "stuff" so quickly?
Posted by Daniel McKittrick at December 22, 2007 6:45 PM
Reading comments of both posts on customer raises the question for me as to what is the customers' responsibility for a positive customer experience. Whether on the phone or in person, I rarely have difficulty with customer service people. I engage them in a problem solving conversation that is focused on helping them help me. They usually want to help. Company rules often make it hard to do so. I don't know how many times I've gotten a better room, a better seat and rental car upgrade, all because I was nice and respectful. When they do something nice for the customer, I ask for their name and supervisor's name and respond with a call or a note. Customer service is a relationship not a transaction.
Posted by Ed Brenegar at December 23, 2007 7:30 AM
Tom...I to would like to add my thanks for your providing this forum and for the years of coaching and development you have provided me through your work. "A Passion for Excellence" was responsible for the skills I have developed when presnting this type information and the "attitude" I use when presenting it to my peers and above.
I would also add a very special thanks to the folks who take the time to share their experience and expertise here. I learn something from each post because, it's not about agree or disagree, it's about thinking and learning, looking for things that I can apply in my day to day. Next year...shorter posts and my first book (if I ever figure out how to start that process)
buy viagra cheap usa best buy on viagraMr. Brenegar, thank you sir! If more people took that approach I gurantee you that more issues would be resolved for so many different reasons.
buy a brand viagra Happy Holidays....
Posted by Dave W at December 23, 2007 5:50 PM
Daniel
I am trying to understand your comment about recording for Quality control purposes.
It's legislation that means that you have to say those words not management. Most situations I have seen with this kind of approach was a genuine attempt to improve the quality of the service by using recordings as a coaching aid.
I am interested in the EBAY experience. I have bought a number of things of EBAY and I have had nothing but perfect service from ebayers. I know that there is a scoring system on ebay but I do think it is down to individuals wanting to do the right thing.
Posted by PaulH at December 24, 2007 4:26 AM
Congratulations - thanks for all - best wishes from Poland. Ill bee back soon.
Posted by Mielno at December 24, 2007 7:40 PM
Paul,
free viagra online without prescriptionMy point about "recording for quality control" is that it has nothing to do with quality. Legislation requires that you inform people that you are recording a call. The quality control wording is nothing but deception. Setting the right price for the right product is good marketing (Joel's comment). However the effort can still be subverted by poor customer service. Customer service is about how employees treat the people they interact with; internal and external customers,everyone. With some exceptions (Marriott, Southwest Airlines) I believe the customer service bar is being systematically lowered. The actions of the Home Depot shareholders to revolt against creeping poor service was extraordinary because of its uniqueness.
Posted by Daniel McKittrick at December 30, 2007 9:11 PM
Tom, re: Dell, I was just blogging about their situation today and have in the past commented on what a "Dinosaur", they've turned out to be...such a sad waste...
Posted by Walter Schwabe at January 3, 2008 6:14 PM