Remarkable, right? In that entire message, they don’t even take the time to say “I’m sorry.” Instead, they tell you to “please stand by,” which is quite comical, because that implies stand around and do nothing. If they really appreciated your time, like they said they do, they wouldn’t expect you to “stand by.”

Remarkable, right? In that entire message, they don’t even take the time to say “I’m sorry.” Instead, they tell you to “please stand by,” which is quite comical, because that implies stand around and do nothing. If they really appreciated your time, like they said they do, they wouldn’t expect you to “stand by.”

Liz,

Completely AGREE – this is lame – but all too common and unfortunately, all too “accepted” by us, the consumer. The beauty of social media is that now the customer has a much “stronger” voice in the market and can drive changes and responses like never before in the history of business. This is powerful.

My brother and I wrote a book a few years back, “Creating and Delivering Totally Awesome Customer Experiences” where we discussed exactly this issue – customers want “consistency” and to “treated like people” by the company – much of the rest takes care of itself.

The other issue is people are not used to being “transparent” – they would rather throw a bunch of smoke bombs at us and hope they can get their act together before the smoke clears. Today, there is a constant wind blowing so that doesn’t work and gets called out.

Thanks for sharing your experience – you aren’t alone and voices will be heard. BTW, FWIW, BlueHost has been great for me. There you have it – Word-of-Mouth…

Blaine
http://www.wom10.com

Liz,

Completely AGREE – this is lame – but all too common and unfortunately, all too “accepted” by us, the consumer. The beauty of social media is that now the customer has a much “stronger” voice in the market and can drive changes and responses like never before in the history of business. This is powerful.

My brother and I wrote a book a few years back, “Creating and Delivering Totally Awesome Customer Experiences” where we discussed exactly this issue – customers want “consistency” and to “treated like people” by the company – much of the rest takes care of itself.

The other issue is people are not used to being “transparent” – they would rather throw a bunch of smoke bombs at us and hope they can get their act together before the smoke clears. Today, there is a constant wind blowing so that doesn’t work and gets called out.

Thanks for sharing your experience – you aren’t alone and voices will be heard. BTW, FWIW, BlueHost has been great for me. There you have it – Word-of-Mouth…

Blaine
http://www.wom10.com

Nothing frustrates me more than when companies hide behind big words or corporate policies instead of just speaking candidly about something. I’m sure this was just a canned response he was given when someone realized the outage had occurred… but that doesn’t make it acceptable.

Companies have to take a hard look at their customer service and how they communicate with customers… getting the customer is simply not enough. I’ve written about bad customer service experiences a couple of times on my blog and still rank on the 1st page of Google for “Levi’s customer service.” That experience alone has turned me from a brand evangelist into someone looking for other options… after 20 years of loyalty to that brand!

Every single point of contact with a company needs to live and breathe the brand, and they need to understand how important their email, phone conversation or twitter message can be.

Nothing frustrates me more than when companies hide behind big words or corporate policies instead of just speaking candidly about something. I’m sure this was just a canned response he was given when someone realized the outage had occurred… but that doesn’t make it acceptable.

Companies have to take a hard look at their customer service and how they communicate with customers… getting the customer is simply not enough. I’ve written about bad customer service experiences a couple of times on my blog and still rank on the 1st page of Google for “Levi’s customer service.” That experience alone has turned me from a brand evangelist into someone looking for other options… after 20 years of loyalty to that brand!

Every single point of contact with a company needs to live and breathe the brand, and they need to understand how important their email, phone conversation or twitter message can be.

Hi Derek,
Yeah, like I have a choice to do something else with regard to my blog. I don’t mind if folks have problems. I mind if they act as if I work for them and that their problems are automatically mine.

Hi Derek,
Yeah, like I have a choice to do something else with regard to my blog. I don’t mind if folks have problems. I mind if they act as if I work for them and that their problems are automatically mine.

Brandon,
I’m back to “When you think the world revolves around YOU, the universe shifts out of balance to tell you, you’re wrong.”

See the update I’ve just posted. Guess they’ve not read the link to this post I left in reply to the support ticket response.

Brandon,
I’m back to “When you think the world revolves around YOU, the universe shifts out of balance to tell you, you’re wrong.”

See the update I’ve just posted. Guess they’ve not read the link to this post I left in reply to the support ticket response.

Hi Blaine!
I have four blogs with four different hosting companies … five and five if you count one I never update. I watch the service at all of them. Some have never had a problem. One solves every problem immediately and personally. This one, not so much.

Hi Blaine!
I have four blogs with four different hosting companies … five and five if you count one I never update. I watch the service at all of them. Some have never had a problem. One solves every problem immediately and personally. This one, not so much.

That is what happens when an Engineer is assigned to a task that an Engineer is clearly not qualified to perform in any shape or form. Pay attention to who signed the message you received from the provider. Why is an Engineer performing a customer service task once way of thinking of successful Engineer is completely aloof to “alien” concepts like customer satisfaction and dealing with human emotional responses to facts and numbers? That’s what causing your feeling of not being valued by your provider: The person who wrote this message is clearly thinking like a successful engineer would.

Your provider is probably feeling “smart” about how much money they are saving by not having a Marketing staff.

That is what happens when an Engineer is assigned to a task that an Engineer is clearly not qualified to perform in any shape or form. Pay attention to who signed the message you received from the provider. Why is an Engineer performing a customer service task once way of thinking of successful Engineer is completely aloof to “alien” concepts like customer satisfaction and dealing with human emotional responses to facts and numbers? That’s what causing your feeling of not being valued by your provider: The person who wrote this message is clearly thinking like a successful engineer would.

Your provider is probably feeling “smart” about how much money they are saving by not having a Marketing staff.

Hi Liz

Great example of how too often service folks think that the problem is just part of their workflow or just another bug to close. People just want someone to validate their issue and treat them well. I can have massive problems with a service, but if I believe that they are validating my issue and treating me with concern, the actual problem becomes an obstacle that they are helping me overcome, rather than a negative I attach to them.

I still don’t understand how so many companies and service people don’t get this concept.

Hi Liz

Great example of how too often service folks think that the problem is just part of their workflow or just another bug to close. People just want someone to validate their issue and treat them well. I can have massive problems with a service, but if I believe that they are validating my issue and treating me with concern, the actual problem becomes an obstacle that they are helping me overcome, rather than a negative I attach to them.

I still don’t understand how so many companies and service people don’t get this concept.

Hi Liz

Think the matter starts with what they recognise as their core business. It seems to me this company thinks it supplies IT infrastructures – a product, not a service.

If you look at their website all you can read is features and a lot about them. Not about the benefits their clients will have when joining them – buying from them.

It’s a mind-set that eventually effects all their communications and “accountability” in a negative way. Words, meaningful words and customer care starts with knowing what your product/service means to your clients, not what your product/service means to producer of the product/service.

Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)

Hi Liz

Think the matter starts with what they recognise as their core business. It seems to me this company thinks it supplies IT infrastructures – a product, not a service.

If you look at their website all you can read is features and a lot about them. Not about the benefits their clients will have when joining them – buying from them.

It’s a mind-set that eventually effects all their communications and “accountability” in a negative way. Words, meaningful words and customer care starts with knowing what your product/service means to your clients, not what your product/service means to producer of the product/service.

Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)

It makes me feel ‘old’ to reference the way customer service ‘used to be’ – but it does seem to me that so many companies have forgotten that they are dealing with actual people.

If you want your customers to ‘hang with you’ and come back, you need to give them a reason to do so. I’m confused that Layered Tech chose to hide behind big words/tech verbiage rather than apologizing for the inconvenience, taking responsibility and letting you know they actually care.

It makes me feel ‘old’ to reference the way customer service ‘used to be’ – but it does seem to me that so many companies have forgotten that they are dealing with actual people.

If you want your customers to ‘hang with you’ and come back, you need to give them a reason to do so. I’m confused that Layered Tech chose to hide behind big words/tech verbiage rather than apologizing for the inconvenience, taking responsibility and letting you know they actually care.

Maybe it’s just me, but the “sorry for the inconvenience” line that everyone tags onto messages like this is the last thing I want to hear. It’s a canned, meaningless, insincere line used by CS reps in lieu of an actual response. Consider the words you use – don;t just spit out hack phrases! Give me the facts, clearly and concisely, and tell me what you’re doing about it. Don’t tell me you’re sorry because we both know you don’t mean it. I don’t CARE that you’re not sorry – I really don’t expect you to be. But I do expect you to use words that mean something.

Maybe it’s just me, but the “sorry for the inconvenience” line that everyone tags onto messages like this is the last thing I want to hear. It’s a canned, meaningless, insincere line used by CS reps in lieu of an actual response. Consider the words you use – don;t just spit out hack phrases! Give me the facts, clearly and concisely, and tell me what you’re doing about it. Don’t tell me you’re sorry because we both know you don’t mean it. I don’t CARE that you’re not sorry – I really don’t expect you to be. But I do expect you to use words that mean something.

[...] How Not to Talk to Customers When Something Goes Wrong @ Liz Strauss [...]

The internet has such a big effect of how people read, write, and perform even daily tasks.

People seem to be more indifferent to what other people want and more concerned about their own wants and needs. This is visibly seen in the way people go about their work and play. This is seen in customer service and relations.

With the internet, people have gotten used to having it now, whether it is information, self gratification, etc. When it comes to being the one, who has the responsibility to handle a customer service issue, they just want to get this issue behind them, rather than being the problem solver, who just made your day!

Whether the problem is with the local fast food joint, that messed up your order, or the light company, customer service training is obviously lacking on many fronts. No doubt, this again, a result of someone being put in an uncomfortable position as a trainer. Not comfortable with this position, they want to quickly get all this behind them and move on to a more self-gratifying experience.

The internet has such a big effect of how people read, write, and perform even daily tasks.

People seem to be more indifferent to what other people want and more concerned about their own wants and needs. This is visibly seen in the way people go about their work and play. This is seen in customer service and relations.

With the internet, people have gotten used to having it now, whether it is information, self gratification, etc. When it comes to being the one, who has the responsibility to handle a customer service issue, they just want to get this issue behind them, rather than being the problem solver, who just made your day!

Whether the problem is with the local fast food joint, that messed up your order, or the light company, customer service training is obviously lacking on many fronts. No doubt, this again, a result of someone being put in an uncomfortable position as a trainer. Not comfortable with this position, they want to quickly get all this behind them and move on to a more self-gratifying experience.