Sometimes you see good examples of customer service and other times bad, but one thing that seems more common these days is an unwillingness to do something that involves another department. You’d think if you knew a customer was really fed up or had been treated badly that you’d do what you could to make things right. I can remember ringing around other departments, in other cities, trying to find someone who could sort something out for a customer.
Yesterday I contacted a financial services provider to give some feedback. It was feedback (a slight gripe if you like), but it certainly wasn’t a complaint. It was a complaint an hour later when I finally got to speak to the Live Chat person (after spending an hour being first in the queue) and they didn’t want to deal with it. It may not be their department, it may not be something they feel confident on, but to be honest all she needed to do was note down the problem, pass it onto the correct person and ask them to send me a letter, email or give me a call. You’d think it was quite simple really. Instead she just racked me off and it became a full blown complaint instead, which will probably cost them a lot more to deal with.
The other week I was in touch with an Ombudsman and I suggested they might want to call my provider and ask them to prioritise my issue to avoid it me having to issue a second complaint about the same issue. They said they couldn’t do that. I take that to mean they wouldn’t rather than couldn’t. In the past I’ve found that Ombudsmen usually have contacts at providers and a quick off the record call can work wonders. In the past I’ve sorted out some cases after a colleague received a call like that. It makes life easier for everyone. The utility Ombudsman seems to think themselves above that sort of thing. Instead I have a note in my diary for when to contact the Ombudsman again – I’ve heard nothing about my complaint for the last six weeks and I don’t think the next two will be any different.
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