Customer Service - A Technology Nightmare Revisited
August 1, 2004

Recently, I had a horrendous customer service experience. I detail it in this month's article because I think it is applicable to any business involved in the business of satisfying customers.

What I want to illustrate is that electronic commerce should not be perceived as a panacea for dealing with customer problems, head on, and resolving issues quickly and satisfactorily. Rather, electronic commerce is a tool to enable companies to perform, but is not an end unto itself.

My horrendous customer service experience involves my new laptop, which, by the way, I am not using to create this article. I am using my 6 year old desktop that I bought at a store. I decided to purchase my new laptop over the Internet. My initial experience was not overly challenging. I was able to go onto the major computer company's website, detail my needs and specifications, determine pricing, and place my order. There was no need for a human being to speak with, at least in this decision and order placement phase.

My first electronic commerce problem lifted its head when the delivery date was confirmed, direct to my email address, for two weeks later than initially promised. I decided to check the shipment status for myself. When reviewing the status of the order shipment on the on-line UPS site, I found that one of the two packages had been expedited, and would arrive on time, as promised. Good news. The two week lead time was just an "under promise/over perform" technique. The second package, regrettably, was destined for Japan. After I discovered the error, I contacted the computer company directly, navigated through voicemail barriers, and actually got a live customer service person who acknowledged that what I saw was correct. After suggesting that she expedite the order, miraculously, the second package, (the laptop itself), arrived the next day after spending the night in Anchorage, Alaska. A live person was able to intervene after I spotted the problem and suggested the solution!

Sounds simple. Problem solved. Not quite. Two weeks later, while using my new laptop, the screen decided to dim to a shade of midnight. After going online to try to solve this problem, I decided I would have to use the telephone to speak to a "live" person. After going through multiple voicemail queries and several minutes of canned music and commercials, I was able to get to a technician who guided me through the process of determining that indeed, my two week old computer's screen light needed to be replaced. Tough luck, but he offered solutions. One, I could send it back to Texas for free repair. Good news, as it was less than 30 days old. Or, a chassis could be sent and I could replace the hard drive myself. Impressively, he promised that he would call my office number the next evening when he got on shift, and let me know how he was proactively solving my problem. I asked how I could contact him, but he advised that while he could call me, customers could not directly call the computer company's technicians.

The next night, as promised, the message was left that a chassis would be sent next day, and a number was given to call them when the chassis was received in order for me to get help transferring the hardware. OK, I thought. My computer would be up and running in 24 hours! Wrong. I received an email shipment confirmation, indicating the unit would be shipped, and was due to arrive in two weeks.

OK, I said. I will email back, although the email address on the confirmation auto replied that it could not receive emails. I would have to use a separate address. After determining the correct address, I sent an email suggesting that a 2 week lead time was not consistent with the next day promise I had previously received. The good news, I guess, was that I got an email back. The bad news was that the unit I had paid for, but now was unable to use, could not be serviced in the manner that I was advised, and the unit would have to be sent back to Texas. Further, I now had to go onto a different site to get technical support, which meant I now had to reenter serial numbers and a whole array of information to accurately describe my problem. Then, a manager would be able to authorize the unit to be shipped to Texas, or maybe, replace the unit entirely.

Normally, I would not be this patient. However, I had already paid for the unit, and after all, who was I going to speak to about these episodes? The emails were responsive, but only shared information that was clearly unacceptable. The senders of the emails, unfortunately, were just electronic names. They weren't people. They were just providers of information.

My point, I guess, is that electronic commerce did not provide a good customer experience. In fact, rather than enable me to do my own research, and attempt to answer my questions before actually disturbing anyone, the Internet became a method for this major computer company to dispense inaccurate information, and to put up so many barriers that I felt like I was the person being paid to solve the problem, instead of feeling as if the company took control, analyzed the problem, and provided a satisfactory and fair solution.

From automated voicemails, to email senders who dispense information but don't allow responses, I am convinced that technology is enabling certain companies to provide significantly worse customer service than they did when people actually answered the phone. The winning companies, in my opinion, are those who do not compromise their commitment to servicing the customer, and who think through, from the customer's viewpoint, how they feel when technology is used as a tool to make their experience and perceived value better than when purchasing from their competitors.

Be sure to consider the golden rule when evaluating technology in your business. Take a journey through your technological, email and voicemail experience to understand how your customer feels when he takes the same journey. Determine if technology enables your employees to be more productive and responsive, or if it becomes a barrier to using logic and good communication. If you don't, I suggest, you may find your customer's going "moo" and shopping for other competitors.