What Happened to Customer Service?
With the onset of frustrations with overseas tech-support in favor of saving a buck or two, the topic of customer service has been shoved into the limelight like an kid with his fly open and a “kick me” sign on his forehead at the 6th grade talent show.
The issue of overseas support for me, has been twofold:
- The support from our friends from across the world has been less than stellar.
- The outsourcing of jobs overseas is leading to a dependence on foreign nations, undercutting our own workforce which contributes to America’s job rate decline.
While I would agree that I have had some bad experiences with overseas support from “Nick”, I also have had very good experiences, so my opinion is somewhat positive overall (but then again, I’m usually talking to the 2nd or 3rd level support folks) with the quality of overseas support.
Honestly, these are probably the same results as what you would get if you got support from the “real” Nick located in Austin, TX.
And so, I submit to you, ‘Exhibit A’:
I recently helped out a friend from work who had a 1 1/2 year-old eMachine which was having a lot of spyware and virus issues. Best Buy quoted him $299.00(!) to clean up the problems - at that point, you can just buy a new computer…
The beginning chapter of our little tech support nightmare was that the PC wouldn’t boot after it was sent to the Geek Squad (but I’ll file this under coincidence) for analysis.
Apparently, various eMachine desktops experience an issue where the power-supply overloads and shorts the motherboard. Knowing that eMachine is notorious for not providing support if you have a 3rd party replacement part (and also, the eMachine rebuild disc will not work if it is a 3rd party motherboard), I decided to purchase a factory-direct replacement for the board at a not-too-bad $89 from an online vendor, and use a 400-watt power supply I had on hand at home.
Upon arrival and subsequent installation, I was elated that the PC booted without issue.
Windows XP determined that there was a significant enough change in the computer hardware (this was expected) after the new mobo was installed, and prompted me to activate Windows once again. I could not activate Windows via the Internet (I would later discover there was malware preventing Internet access…yikes!)…so I had to call Microsoft to manually activate.
Or so I thought.
When I contacted Microsoft initially, the friendly Microsoft tech (who sounded like he was about 10,000 miles away from me) told me that this was a special eMachine code (denoted by a truncated number at the tail end of the activation key), and I would need to call the eMachine support number.
I dialed eMachines number, and got a technician on the line.
Call Center or Root Canal…, which would you prefer?
Me: “I need to activate Windows, and when I try to call Microsoft to perform the manual activation, they told me to contact you.
Tech: (We’ll call him ‘Doug’) After giving him the serial number of the PC…“This computer has never been registered with eMachine. Can you give me the owner information?”
Me: “Sure.” (I give him the name, phone number, and address of my friend who owns the machine)
After a few minutes of typing…
Doug: “This computer is out of warranty. You will need to pay us $39 for an out-of-warranty service call.”
Me: “But all I want to do is activate Windows (not mentioning the fact that their inferior hardware and awful QA is the reason that we are at this point in the first place). This is just a quick 5-minute thing. Can you help me with that?”
Doug puts me on hold for a few minutes.
Doug: “We cannot help you with that since Microsoft has all the possible numbers to do that.”
Me: “Uh- wait a minute…What? You should have some sort of program there that will allow you to take my activation code and it will convert it so I can activate the software manually. Its just an algorithm, not a static code.”
Doug basically doesn’t understand how this works, so we go back and forth for a few minutes, telling me that I need to call Microsoft back, etc. - and finally I ask if I can speak with someone else, anyone, a supervisor maybe?
I get put on hold. For 30 excruciating minutes.
Finally, “Mindy” comes on the line (this was the name she used, I’ll never forget it).
Mindy: “Hello Randy?” (the name of the person that I was helping, and now the registered owner of the PC - remember earlier when I gave them this information?)
Me: “Actually, my name is Rob.”
Mindy: “Who are you?”
Me: “I’m the tech-guy helping out Randy with his PC.”
Mindy: “We cannot help you because you are not the registered owner of the PC.”
Me: “I just gave you that information a few minutes ag- Look, Randy is not really able to talk to you since I have his PC at home and I am working on it for him. Nevertheless, this is just a simple Windows activation issue. Can you help me with this?”
I am told again that I will not be helped since I am not the owner.
Me: Exasperation now taking over “You don’t even know that I am not the owner…!”
Mindy: “You just gave us that information, sir, and you said your name was Rob.”
You can see how this is a little frustrating. I really should have recorded this call.
At this point, I am more than just a little agitated, and we go back and forth, with me telling “Mindy from eMachine” (yes, this is how I referred to her on the phone after awhile) that I am a network administrator, and many people come to me asking me to refer them to a good computer to buy, and not only this, but I contribute to various blogs with a decent readership, and she wouldn’t want this customer service experience to affect their bottom line, would they?
Deaf ears.
After a bit more yelling on my part (and she tried to talk over me, quite unsuccessfully, too), I told her that I am just trying to be a nice guy helping out my friend, and why do we need to make this more frustrating that it has to be…she interrupts me with this little gem:”Sir, I am flagging the computer serial number, denying support for anyone who calls in on it, unless they can provide (i.e. fax) information showing they are the registered owner.”
I ask her for her representative number, so I could call in and complain directly to eMachine customer support, to which she replied by hanging up.
Summary
So, what has happened to customer support? It used to be that the company cared about customer opinion, and held them in the highest regard. How do you make money without customers? It seems that I have had more and more experiences like this lately…it wasn’t like this in the 90’s, I’m sure of it.
I spent nearly an hour of my life yelling at the indifference that was so clearly present on the other end of the phone, only to be hung up on, and there was no effort on the part of the technician or manager to reduce my frustration or handle me in an appropriate way.
In retrospect, I’m sure these were not eMachine employees (probably outsourced to a US call center), but herein lies the problem: If you don’t work for the company directly, you will less likely have any loyalty to that company…there’s always more contracts coming in, right? What is the likelihood that the Call Center will lose their eMachine contract because of this bumbled support call? I mean really, what’s one disgruntled customer?
Maybe it should be asked from a different angle: Why should a computer manufacturer spend good money on a US Call Center for sub-par support, when they can get that overseas, right? On paper, the companies you are contracting under most likely have a similar opinion of you which you have of the people that call in for support (and hang up on).
I beg of you, managers of Call Centers, send your representatives to customer service class. If you don’t, you are just as guilty of contributing to overseas outsourcing as the major companies who have gone that route already.
Bad customer service is like a pyramid scheme. It only takes one really bad experience for one person to trickle down to their friends (potential customers) and they will tell their friends (potential customers), etc.
You should always, always, always take care of your customer.
12 Responses to “What Happened to Customer Service?”
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iladelf Says:
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:13 amUnfortunately, once a motherboard “blows up” and you install a new one, Microsoft (sometimes but not always) treats your replacement as a brand new machine, and requires a brand new Product Key.
Ridiculous, I know, but can be true. For my customers, I’ve yet to see that happen with an eMachine (OEM key not accepted by using an XP OEM install disk). But then again, I usually don’t replace a mobo, because by the time I do so, it’s at least $50 for the mobo, plus the labor time of mobo installation, THEN install Windows, THEN install all Windows Updates, THEN install all missing drivers. By the time I’m done, it’s possible I could have spent six or more hours (most of the time around 4) on this, and the customer still has an old computer. For a few more dollars, he or she can get a new one.
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JC Says:
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:52 amHi Rob,
I fully agree with you and it is for that reason that I always try my best to avoid customer support.
The problem here is unfortunately very typical where two companies involved throw the monkey to each other : Microsoft and eMachine.
The customer is at the center and doesn’t know who is actually responsible or what or who is lying about what they’re responsible of.The Doug person was simply clueless, but that Mindy lost her mind for a long time, it seems.
Unfortunately, as you say, the true fault goes to their managers.Based on some reportages I watched on TV, these persons only know to answer planned cases and do not necessarily know anything on the area the company.
They’re just robots speaking because computers can not listen and answer back as well as an human yet, while the support to consumer would deserve people with some clues about what the company is doing.
Sometimes, they even only push button corresponding to the case they’re dealing with where the proper text appear on their screens and they just read it out loud.They’re also checked very often and work underpressure (calls duration is recorded, etc…) and managers roam around the office to make sure everyone isn’t missing one call.
I suppose it is also why this Mindy person didn’t want to help you after you told her your true identity : the call was probably recorded and she probably didn’t want to be held responsible for going against the rules defined by the company and her manager.Obviously it may not be the case for all the centers, but with such an heavy atmosphere, it may be natural for people to get completely demotivated about what they’re doing, especially if they do not understand it well.
Fault goes to management again, indeed…The problem with customer support is that it costs money because it needs a lot of employees because consumers do not like to be on hold (especially on highly taxed numbers as those are usually) but on the other hand, some cases may take at least thirty minutes or several hours before finding resolutions (especially on technical hotlines dealing with more or less complex problems), if the customer service persons are thorough and as helpful as they’re supposed to be.
Customers want prices as low as possible (and companies want to target as many potential customers as possible, not just the wealthier ones) which also forces companies to cut operating costs and the customer services are usually an “easy” place where to make savings.
That said, I’m sure that the companies that keep customers in the long run are those with a profound respect for their customers.
For example, I really prefer to work with smaller companies (where possible, which unfortunately isn’t always the case in the IT field) and/or with companies where I’ll be in touch with a representative assigned from the start who then takes care of all the problems and then dispatch the queries to the proper departement inside his company and come back to me.
That’s in my opinion the best way for a company to work with their customers : people do not want to speak to Doug, then Mindy, then Sabrina, then Mickael, because none of the previous was able to help. People want to call or e-mail their representative Joe and wait for an answer from him after he went through all the hassle himself.While I understand your point is about customer service and not anything else, the opportunity is too good though to not rant about the Windows Activation madness which is a pain in the ass for many IT professionnals and administrators.
Microsoft has been going very far with Activation and WGA (and is going even further with Vista, with no VLK anymore) and to protect themselves from piracy, they put the burden of this to other companies or the customers themselves.
In the end, it isn’t a really great mark of respect from Microsoft to their customers to always assume people are stealers and forward them to another company when they have an activation problem.Out of frustration, I’m sure that many people would have yelled at Mindy, hang up the phone and then looking for an illegal workaround to defeat activation, which was probably the last thing Microsoft wanted at the beginning…
JC
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Rob Dunn Says:
May 23rd, 2007 at 12:39 pmJC - you are right about that (re: Windows Activation), and as much as I hate it, it is something that we have to deal with at the moment.
This being said, however - I was able to use a retail (this is not illegal, btw!) Windows XP Home disc that I no longer used or needed (I run XP Pro on my new computer) to run a repair, then use the Product Code that was on the sticker on the back of the computer to get the eMachine back in order. I then gave the XP disc to my friend since he will more than likely need it later on down the road.
Cheap computers are a wonderful thing, and I suppose it is the Customer Support level where the dollar is really being stretched. After all, out of 10 people that buy a computer, I’m curious how many call it for support? I would guess around half…the other half would contact their tech-guru friends to help them out (and then they would have to call tech support for the advanced questions that Doug & Mindy could not answer).
I’m curious what experiences others have had with the big PC manufacturers (with emphasis on the unscripted problems)?
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Alpinklettern Says:
May 23rd, 2007 at 4:51 pmWe dont call it service, we call it “lets go away, a costumer want an information” here in germany in the last years.
Peter
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JC Says:
May 23rd, 2007 at 5:06 pmI think that people shouldn’t expect much from very cheap computer since the prices have to be compressed somewhere, and as I said, customer service is always a great place where to start compressing costs.
Ironically enough, the problem with these computers is that they can not meet the expectations of IT knowledgeable people who will always have higher requirements, but who are about the only ones to be able to use a PC without ever requiring to call the support line (unless the user has an IT geek as a friend or relative, but the geek is still required).I’ve so far had good experiences with Dell and they’re quite helpful, but it has always been on the enterprise level, so things are definitely different than for normal users.
Once, one laptop that had been bought from a store off the shelve (it wasn’t bought with my consent, but that was done, anyway and I had to support it) had problem with its screen (some internal cables got loose) and I had to call the customer service for them to repair it.
I expected big problems but the person online was quite helpful and the whole process of sending the laptop with a special serial number tag, etc, was explained in a matter of minutes.
This laptop started to have some problems again and the person I spoke to at that time was way less helpful, they wouldn’t take it back again for a repair even though it was still under warranty, etc, so I think that it also depends a lot on the quality and helpfulness of the person who takes care of your case, too…JC
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Larry Keyes Says:
May 23rd, 2007 at 7:03 pm>>>>>>>
Best Buy quoted him $299.00(!) to clean up the problems - at that point, you can just buy a new computer…
>>>>>>>Seems outragious…but consider, if they have an hourly rate of, say, $125.00, that will cover a little over two hours of futzing with spyware removal. Anyone who has actually done this in the real world (without re-formatting the hard drive), knows that two hours is a very conservative amount of time to repair an infested machine. Maybe the $299 will encourage them to update their spyware fixer, anti-virus, and backup systems. And I don’t know about you, but anyone spending $299 for a new computer is just plain asking for trouble. Exibit A: e-Machines.
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ME Says:
May 24th, 2007 at 2:19 amShes a stooge. Why didn’t you just rub your hand on the mouth piece, then in a different voice continue on and state your randy?
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PC-VIP Says:
May 24th, 2007 at 5:03 amRob, you’re right on the money on this (no surprise), AND while what Larry Keyes says about the $299 being not all that unfair is technically true given the amount of time that could be expended, well… “buy a new one” sure does feel like the truth. That said, none of this is news to readers here.
The overseas issue is becoming even more of a concern. And not because I have patriotism issues to air. We’re in the expensive process of setting up our own call center to replace the overseas group we’ve used since start-up (we always knew it was temporary), because when service is outsourced to a place where the native language is different that that of the primary user base there become communications issues that get HUGE. the Eenglish noun/adjective relationship, different that so many other languages, is one example that doesn’t always matter. Misunderstandings about slang and colloquialisms are an even larger one, because they often cause tensions.
Customer Service—truly a lost art.
Jeff Yablon
President & CEO
PC-VIP Inc.
PC-VIP.COM -
Jonny Says:
May 24th, 2007 at 7:04 amI have a couple of rules that I keep up on my screen whenever I have to speak to Support about anything and it seems to help: -
1. Keep it simple - if they don’t ask who you are don’t tell.
2. Be super nice no matter what - they have an excuse to hang up if you get annoyed
3. Tell them at the get go you are recording the call to make sure you understand and remember their excellent advice
4. Always always always get an Issue number even if they close out the problem - their system always gives a unique id and it never hurts to be on their database as long as its not as “angry tech guy”
5. Remember thruout the call “What are you trying to achieve?”
6. Say thank you and if they were really good ask for the manager to tell them what a super employee they have - next time you call ask for them - this really works well.Good luck
Jonny -
Rob Dunn Says:
May 24th, 2007 at 8:19 am“Why didn’t you just rub your hand on the mouth piece, then in a different voice continue on and state your randy?”
I had actually thought of this, but alas, I unfortunately went down the path of righteous tech guy, and couldn’t turn back
My mistake…Jonny, good advice and a great checklist. I will make a note of this next time I call. I have a tendency to get heated when I feel like I’ve been wronged - probably more than I should. I will keep this list handy if you don’t mind for my next call!
Re: eMachine price vs. quality, I would agree, and also would tell anyone thinking of buying a budget computer “you get what you pay for”…the fortunate thing is the computer is working now, and we both have learned a valuable lesson…!
Thank you for the comments guys!
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Joe Says:
May 25th, 2007 at 4:18 pmNow this is an all round thing. I owrk for a company who is very customer driven, I think that is a good thing, however, when the customer knows this hey will try to get more from you, there always has to be a balance. That said I agree with just what you are saying, I am based in the UK and I have on more than a couple of occasions dialed about subject not just PC’s but other things and have had the misfortune of speaking with tech support WOW I once asked you are customer support and so far I have given you he answer what have you done for me the answer was well sir you won’t understand what I have done for you but it was lots. What does that mean!!! The next piece of fun was with another company who said I will pass you to tech support, great I thought how wrong can you be “Hello what your name is” I reply ‘Joe’ “How you spell” - I explain how to spell Joe and I am then asked “what can you do for me” My answer ‘I think we are the wrong way round are you not meant to be helping me?’ “What your problem is then” I started to explain but just ended up being told I would transfered again. I asked why and could this person explain just why I was transfered to “tech Support” and that this person had not helped me it Boom down goes the phone. I did get a ring back from a real ‘Nick’ and the problem got solved. People do need to learn. It is just the same in the UK as you explained in the US.
When will it go full circle we all know it will. Some people are strong at somethings other however are not.
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Kostian Says:
May 28th, 2007 at 12:22 pmI coul not agree more with the customer service comments you guys have made. In fact reading this has prompted me to write my own experience that happened with Tracfone just last week.
Keep up the great work on your blog.Kostian
www.brilliantgeeks.com
