Why Everything Sucks – Customer Support is not ready to support the customer.

Posted on the November 16th, 2009 under Just ranting by CarolW

Here is Craig Fergusen’s take on why everything sucks which I include in part to arm you with some laughter induced endorphins to help you through any pain caused by the tale of my miserable customer support experience.

After finding out that the pictures I send from my phone, cost 50 cents each, I started to look for an alternative way to get them to my computer. I started to follow the directions in the Motorola Razr 3 motomanual, but got bubkis.

I called T-Mobile, my carrier, to get the handy dandy automated voice that asked me what I want.  I answered “Technical Support”, but it was too late to avoid the IVR vortex of failed expectations. “So you have problems with your network, tell me more about your problem so I can get you to the right person, does the problem happen everywhere or just in some places?” Are you kidding me?  Where did these assumptions came from? I figured it would get me to a person faster if I said “everywhere”, and I did – “Connecting to Sales” was the next thing I heard. I guess only sales folks can resolve really serious problems.  It would be funny if it was not sooooooo pathetic. I did get a live guy  who said that I needed to get “Mobile Tools”  from Motorola, that it should have come loaded on the phone, but would be a free update.

My first instinct was to look online for a download and “get er dun” myself, but I thought it would be better to get a kosher copy and not to risk a virus. I normally avoid the joys of calling for support for some of the following reasons, however my memories of past experiences did not kick in until it was too late.

So, I called Motorola, and I got a rep who was “Englishly challenged”, (for starters).  He said I needed second tier support and he would connect me. As I was by my computer at the time, I simultaneously opened a chat window on Motorola’s support page, the window told me I was # 6 in line and the estimated wait would be 1 min. 9 sec. After about 15 min of holding Mr.Tier One gets back on the line to tell me that they have a lot of calls and maybe I would want to call back. I asked him if he pulled my call out of the queue to tell me that – “Yes” was his answer, I realized that in addition to his language proficiency he also had some intellectual challenges, or perhaps lack of basic training.

I only had 6 sec more to wait for help on chat so all was not lost. A full 25 min later than the estimated, I got “Denise C” asking how she could help me.  I told her what I needed and she disappeared for 5 min, after an “r u there?” and a “Hellloooooooo” she comes back and apologizes for the delay. I ask her what IS the delay and she tells me she is chatting with 7 people at once, and She sent me several broken links. This agony goes on for a full 22 min and then she sends me a link that works, but that will cost me 49.99 for software that was supposed to be on my phone to start with, or a free update, according to both T-Mobile and Mr. Tier One. That is a full hour of my life I will never get back. 

I was pretty happy with my Razr till this point, but given the pitiful support I experienced with a problem that is not a critical one, my next phone will likely be from another manufacturer. T-mobile, while they had some laughable breakdowns in their VRU interface, once I got a person, I got my questions answered.

Who wants to play; “How many breakdowns there were in this unfortunate Customer experience?”

First off, T-Mobile:. Why have voice recognition software if it does not, well, recognize voices? When I said “technical support” , it heard Network problems, after which it connected me to Sales?  Nothing about it worked correctly.This was a turn off and a frustrating beginning that cast a shadow on interactions to come.

Mototola Support, Mr. Tier One: He did tell me it would be a while till tier 2 could take my call, nonetheless, he felt compelled to take my call out of the queue to suggest I call back when they are not so busy. This was probably well intended, but idiotic and made me angry. I could have decided that for myself or, hung on till they answered. He only made matters worse.

The “Chat” function on Motorola’s Support page told me I was # 6 in the queue and the expected wait was one min. 9 sec. That is not bloody likely, is it? It was over 26 min till I got Denise C. and another 5 min before I got any response from her besides “sorry for the delay”.

She sent me several broken links before getting me one that worked, and that one wanted to extract 49.99 from me for software that was suppose to be loaded on my phone as a part of original purchase.

This experience drew  heavily from the “bank of goodwill” that I had for Motorola and my all over phone satisfaction.  I consider the support a manufacturer provides a critical factor in making purchases. I can not be sure if it was Mr. Tier One or Denise C which gave me the incorrect info regarding the Mobile Tools being a free update, or $49.99. In either case Motorola needs to train support staff better.

T-Mobile Customer Service has pretty good reputation, but not because it is good, but because it is less pathetic than that of their competitors. And while I would have probably waited to upgrade my phone till it started to show signs of age, I am planning on choosing a new phone tomorrow. It will most likely NOT be a Motorola.

Unlocking the Value of CRM Enterprise Software – Part 3

Posted on the November 9th, 2009 under Business Risk, CRM, Change Management, Organizational Transformation, Sales Force Automation by Gregory Yankelovich

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882)

images5. Build “Eco-system” for Adoption Management. Most CRM initiatives are launched to change way of doing business in organization – if they don’t, the economics of such an initiative should be questioned. However concerns about adoption challenges often shift the focus to functions and features from processes and economics.

Commentary on “What’s On the Mind Of Chief Marketing Officers”

Posted on the November 1st, 2009 under CRM, Customer feedback, Noise to signal by Gregory Yankelovich

I just re-read an excellent post by Jeremiah Owyang, Partner, Customer Strategy, Altimeter Group. Jeremiah used to work for Forrester Research and just recently joined the Altimeter.  There are a couple of quotes that started me going

Beyond monitoring, insight from the social sphere is untapped. Social media monitoring is just the first baby step, most companies haven’t tapped into what the data actually means.

We all, more or less, know what monitoring is. Here is an example of definition that come reasonably close to the marketing context after the word “enemy” is replaced by something more appropriate, like “customer” or “consumer”, depending on what is one monitors.

The act of listening, carrying out surveillance on, and/or recording of enemy emissions for intelligence purposes.

So presumably obtaining “the insight” and/or “intelligence” is the purpose of the exercise. The most interesting question for me is – what are we going to do with this precious intelligence when we get it?

The second quote from this post, used here out of sequence, is

… marketers were used to ‘Bowling’, where marketers could easily throw a message down the aisle and hit the pins with great confidence. Now, he eloquently describe, it was more like ‘Pinball’ where a marketer could load the message up, shoot it out, but have no idea where it will end up.

It seem to me that despite all the talk by the “enlightened” marketers, by “listening” they still try to figure how to control the flow of messaging, rather than to “hear” and engage into conversation. “Listening” without deep desire to “hear” cannot yield any insight or “Aha!” moment, and these are the ones that lead to meaningful and measurable actions. No wonder there is so much yearning for a magic ROI formula for Social Media investments. It is very difficult to figure a return on knowledge you didn’t bother to learn yet.

Learning is not compulsory. Neither is survival.