Customer and guest services just aren’t what they should be in most businesses. In today’s world, it’s all about the paycheck and being a ‘warm body’. The pride in doing a job well, well…it’s just not usually there.
I retired from managing a corporate guest service/trainer position with a major gaming corporation when I lived in Las Vegas. Prior to that, I was always in a position one way or the other where I was expected to do my best in taking care of customers for next to minimum wage. It’s called work ethic.
With the high usage of the internet, response time is expected to be quicker than taking days. It’s generally expected to be within a few hours, if not minutes, depending on a company’s expectations. When calling a business number to speak with a customer service representative, you are usually greeted with a recorded message reminding you that you can find the information on the company’s website. That doesn’t help much when you want to actually speak with a live person! I do, however, personally prefer to have everything in writing. And that has saved me over and over again. Most recently in dealing with a travel agent who promised, in writing, to extend a pre-paid gratuity and just days before we embarked were told that it was not paid to the cruise line.
Over the years, I’ve heard and read some pretty horrific stories, from workers spitting on food and then delivering it, to expecting guest services to hang the moon and jump through almost impossible hoops. Sometimes I wonder why some people feel so entitled? The way I feel is that no one forced you to take that job or that pay, you decided to yourself. If you don’t want to do the job as detailed, then quit and find your passion someplace else.
Today’s world presents what should be an easier attempt to receive customer satisfaction over the internet, with access to Contact Us forms. Generally, these are easy to use, unless your current situation doesn’t have a line item in the drop down box and you are forced to choose something similar. This happened recently to me. I received an empty envelope package (that was never sealed). I was instructed to return the item (that I never received). So, I took the empty unsealed envelope down to our concierge desk for UPS to pick up. I was informed they are not allowed to accept empty envelopes, but are apparently allowed to deliver them! I’ve tried contacting 5 different customer service email addresses and they’ve all bounced back without any information on who to contact other than referring me back to where I started. I’d really like a little help here, people. I’m out over $20 for the item never sent or received. I don’t think I should have to pay $20+ for an empty envelope!
UPDATE: Refund received. Threw away the empty envelope!
More unhappiness with my health insurance company. I’ve been fighting a $719 doctor bill since I was in the hospital in July 2019. The reason: The doctor in the hospital is out-of-network. Hardly my doing! I was admitted through ER and a patient in an in-network hospital. I’ve contacted my health insurance company numerous times and filed an appeal more than once. As of December, the doctor is turning me over to collections for non-payment. In talking to the insurance company, I offered to pay the $719, if I would get reimbursed. They did not recommend it as I might NOT get reimbursed because I used an out-of-network doctor! Sheesh!
UPDATE: I received a letter finally from United Healthcare saying they have reversed their decision and will pay the doctor! Months of calls, letters, appeals, perseverance paid off…FINALLY!
Another fun insurance item I’m currently working on is being denied a dental claim from a dentist who has since retired and sold his business. I’m sure you can imagine my frustration and the multiple hours I’ve spent on the phone and writing letters to get them to pay this bill. *sigh*
As I mentioned in another post, we decided to try using a travel agent for the first time in years. All because we wanted to receive extra benefits and discounts (who wouldn’t, right?). Again, no guarantees that you are going to get someone who loves their job and does it well. We didn’t, unfortunately. We’ve had to chase him down for answers over and over again. It seems he was more interested in getting the booking than maintaining it and establishing a good rapport and repeat business. Currently, we are discussing possible solutions with the CEO/Co-founder and the Director of Sales of the company, trying to come up with a compromise we both can live with. No guarantee that we will like the outcome, but at least we are still in the cooperation stage of negotiations.
UPDATE: After multiple emails with the CEO, they finally submitted for our refund. It was like pulling teeth to deal with this company. Definitely not worth it all in the long run.
Whenever I encounter poor guest services, it brings me back to my corporate job, where I supervised and trained almost 90 agents at any given time across the country and helped them achieve excellence in customer service. I just have a hard time dealing with people who don’t know or like their job. It makes me want to develop a business of training people how to be more effective with their customer service attitudes and professionalism. I did write a training manual and tested agents on a regular basis as well as coach them in using correct terms and responses. Yes, I was passionate about my job. If a complaint reached the corporate office and my desk, someone somewhere had a service failure. And there’s nothing worse than a ticked off customer who’s tried to resolve an issue and hit a brick wall. Believe me…I know!
Heres a little advice when trying to resolve an issue. Keep your temper, harsh tone quiet and some words unspoken. That’s not the way to win an issue. All you are doing is setting yourself up for a possible heart attack. If you don’t feel that you can speak calmly and reasonably, write a well-worded letter. The great thing about writing a letter is that you can write and re-write and word-smith the heck out of it to get your point across. Whereas, in a face-to-face discussion, there’s body language and little time to think before you speak. I have hung up on abusive callers who didn’t believe me when I said I would hang up if they didn’t refrain from using foul language! No one gets paid enough to be sworn at by an abusive caller. Years ago, in retail, a male customer called back 3 times before he talked calmly and nicely to me. We then proceeded to resolve his issue to his satisfaction in a much calmer, civilized manner.
There are certainly no guarantees that you will always find someone who enjoys what they do, knows how to do it and does it well. But most people are reasonable and will listen if you state your issue calmly and with a sense of professionalism. No one likes to be on the receiving end of a customer or guest who has fire in their eyes, a red face and is using loud profanity! NO ONE! As always, feel free to ask to speak to a manager or person in charge. Many times the employee is not empowered to resolve certain issues, sad but true.
Accept nothing less than excellence in customer service…always!
Twenty Steps at a Time 