When it comes to dealing with problem customers, or just customers who have problems, many companies just completely drop the ball. It is almost as if employees working in customer service are only allowed to handle problems that are on a pre-printed list. If it isn't on the list of possible complaints or problems, then it doesn't exist. The customer just gets stonewalled, their call transferred to another department or worse, they are told that it will be taken care of (even though it won't be).
Ignoring customer complaints, concerns and problems is a time-tested way to make those customers go away. They will either give up on the complaint or they will just start doing business with someone else. Of course, many companies now force customers into long term, almost unbreakable contracts. For those customers, their choices are slim; pay to get out of the contract or suck it up. Needless to say, they may give up on their complaint, but odds are good that they are going to be very, very upset.
The thing is, even major, reputable companies are guilty of hostile treatment of their customers. Here are 4 things that companies do to get their “problem customers” to go away:
- Send form letters – Nothing can cause me to feel actual, deep burning resentment than a form letter from a company. I call with a problem, nothing gets done about it and then I get a form letter in the mail saying “Thanks for being our customer. We see you had a concern. We hope you liked our customer service. We care about your business”. I realize that these letter are automatically generated, but still, it is like being told you have no choice but deal with it, then you get a letter that rubs it in your face. What's worse is when you send a company a letter of complaint and get back a generic form letter, thanking you for your input. All this tactic will do is cause customers to become even more upset.
- Pretend that the Internet isn't important – There are still companies who think that they should be able to do whatever they want and that no one will post negative things about them on the internet. What makes me even madder are the companies who expect perfect feedback after an online sale. Often, when their were problems, even if they were grudgingly fixed, the company still expects a perfect rating. In fact, some are very aggressive about trying to force you to change your ratings. I don't understand how coercing customers into saying they're happy actual improves the quality of their service.
- Breaking promises – When customers call a customer service center, they are often promised that the issue will be taken care of, that the situation will be fixed, or whatever it will take for the customer to get off the phone and go away. Of course, there will be no record of the call and the problem won't be fixed. This is a strategy that makes customers give up, but also makes them even angrier than just being told “we don't care about you.”.
- Not listening – When no one seems to want to listen to your problem or complaint, it can be hard to know what to do. Fortunately, there are other options – like disputing a charge with your credit card company, filing a consumer report against the company or taking them to court. Of course, no one like to escalate things, but sometimes it is the only option.
In any type of business, there are bound to be customers who are unhappy with a product or service. This is why there are customer service agents who are trained to help customers with their concerns or problems. The issue is that many companies consider unhappy customers as just something that comes with doing business.
That doesn't have to be true. There are companies, like Zappos for instance, that seem to never have complaints published online. I searched for websites devoted to people posting about their problems, and just didn't find any. I did find a few blog post from people who had shipping issues or some other problem. Even though there were only a handful, almost all of the commentors encouraged the blog poster to contact Zappos, saying that they really do care about their customers and their service. People were rushing to tell the poster that they are confident the company will set it right.
That is the type of service every company should strive for. By making customers feel like they are being heard, not making promises you can't keep, treating them like they are a person and realizing that your companies reputation is at stake companies can find ways to provide the excellent customer service that they claim is their goal.
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By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for CustomerServicejobs and Beyond. She enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel. You can read more of her blogs on customerservice jobs blog.
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