Is customer service dead? Or, is business desperate? | Ric Willmot ...

Warning: This is a long post.

Business must be booming when customer service is non-existent. Or, perhaps the reason customer service is non-existent is because the organisation is doing so poorly?

Take my current experience with an internet company. This company had been hosting the domain for a website I considered I may launch, but never did. If you?re not failing at times then you?re not reaching for loftier goals. This was one of those times ? where I failed. When I registered the domain and hosting, I paid in advance for three years. It never saw the light of day because no matter how I structured the concept it didn?t truly support my business model. I therefore forgot the whole idea.

On 14 February this year I received an automated e-mail from the internet service provider, NetRegistry, informing me they would automatically renew the service on March 13. (I could have contacted NetRegistry in the first six months and requested a refund of the unused amount (two-and-a-half years) and cancel the service. I didn?t.)

I replied to this e-mail stating that the service had not been used in the three years, and did not wish to renew. That?s when customer service 101 got the short shrift. A standard reply:

NetRegistry expecting the customer to do their job for them.

Does this response leave you cold? It did me. This was a response wanting me to complete a raft of online forms in order to not ?renew? a service. I might infer it is designed to inconvenience and frustrate exiting customers such that they yield and decide to retain the service rather than transfer to another provider. But I do not know that this is the motivation for NetRegsitry. I clicked on the links and a plethora of information is spewed forth, and I am requested to login using my login ID and password. ? I have absolutely no idea. I never used the service in the entire three years. Trying to use my normal username and password that I use for most everything did not work.

My groans must have been audible. My wife asks what?s the problem and I told her. ?What on earth are you doing taking your time on such matters. Let them handle it for you, it?s just good customer service.? She was right. I replied again asking they make a note on the file not to ?renew?. And, I got this response:

NetRegistry hides behind "Terms & Conditions" rather than exciting customers with good service.

This e-mail above validated my wife?s comments that, ??. it?s just good customer service.?

My response was swift and sharp. My opening paragraph stated that I was not upset with the person writing the e-mails but rather the company policy which approved of such poor service. To quote from my e-mail to NetRegistry:

?Word-of-mouth is a powerful thing.?When customers are delighted they speak positively about their experience when the topic arises.?When customers are satisfied they usually say nothing much to anyone at all.?When customers are dissatisfied they tell everyone they possibly can as often as they possibly can.?Which category do you think I may now fall into?

Rather than hiding behind arbitrary ?Terms and Conditions? NetRegistry could have displayed some positive customer service and attempted to show some common courtesy and good business sense to maintain some level of satisfaction from me to reconsider doing business with you in the future and recommending you to others whom I know. (I know a real lot of people.)?

Here?s the response I received from Daniel. Peter, has now exited the discussion!

NetRegistry finding excuses NOT to do something instead of reasons TO do something

Above, Daniel spends an inordinate amount of time typing a long excuse?(this e-mail goes on for another four paragraphs) as to why he won?t do something to provide good customer service rather than taking just a few brief moments to provide worthwhile customer service to make a positive impression. His point that I would think differently if I met the staff; well, I?m not so sure. They don?t even seem able to pick up the telephone and speak with me, let alone meet with me. I respond, sarcastically:

My sarcastic response to NetRegistry's lack of customer service and goodwill.

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Then Daniel lost all credibility with his final response attempting to bring some type of validation to their poor level of customer service:

NetRegistry Customer Service at its best

NetRegistry are failing to lift a finger to provide any customer service, because I could possibly be ?? an ex-employee? wanting to cause problems. An ex-employee still using the standard and listed company e-mail address of Executive Wisdom with all of the contact points included in the signature file? Seriously, does this make a lick of sense? NO. Daniel could have picked up the telephone, called the number listed in the signature file that corresponds with their records, and asked if I was Mr. Willmot and if I did intend not to renew the service. But instead he sends this sadly pathetic e-mail as an excuse for inactivity and zero customer consideration. By the way, in this instance, he did not even sign off with his name or a ?yours truly?.

This is clearly an example of how NOT to treat your customers. Stay tuned for the next instalment of ?NetRegistry Re-writes the Customer Service Manual?.

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No websites were harmed in the writing of this article.

Source: http://ricwillmot.com/index.php/2012/is-customer-service-dead/

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