Call Your Own Contact Center
Call Your Own Contact Center by Dave Michels
As a professional Blogolyst in UC, I regularly write about how modern communications infrastructure can deliver improved productivity and collaboration. Especially, via the contact center which can deliver improved customer interactions and experiences resulting with better retention. This is why I am mystified when I come across companies that have the infrastructure, yet deliver piss poor experiences.
I normally pick on United. They are an easy target. Everyone hates airlines, and United seems to take deliberate effort to make their non-Premier customers experience hell. I think part of it may be intentional as a means to create more value or benefit with being a Premier customer. “Just fly 25k miles per year, and we’ll answer the phone when you call.”
But today I have a new target: Comcast.
For many people, Comcast is the only the game in town for broadband Internet (or cable TV) and that monopolistic thinking is apparent when calling.
I had an experience with Comcast over the weekend that was extremely frustrating. Actually had to call four times and never even got the issue resolved. Each call required both entering and stating my account information for verification - typically two times. I kept getting bounced around different departments (which were actually different companies, but I wasn’t supposed to notice that). Every time I called I had to endure the promotional recording for some PPV wrestling match before I could even select the first menu option. I could go on and list how I was victimized, but that isn’t the point.
The point is that I honestly believe that no Comcast executive would wish this upon their customers, at least I like to think so. Therefore no Comcast executive is likely aware of the problem. My advice to enterprise customers is to experience service, like a customer, at least a few times a year. Dial your own 800 number and see if it leaves you satisfied. The surveys, the stats, and all the analytics available to all the King’s horses and King’s men won’t provide the same information that a simple call will reveal.
After my fourth call I was on the phone with a family member explaining why this was taking so long. Comcast called me, so I put my call on-hold. It was an automated customer satisfaction survey. It was a now or never proposition, and I had a few things I wanted to share. It was not a good time - I was frustrated, late, and on a call, but the customer satisfaction survey did not offer me a means to reschedule or for me to call back.
The survey wanted to know about the agent I spoke with. I had recently spoke with four agents, so I had no idea who I was evaluating. The system wanted to know if the agent stated Comcast’s customer satisfaction policy. Yes, every agent told me that Comcast takes customer service very seriously despite the fact that none of them could help me. I was frustrated by this script each time, unsure if it was ironic or moronic. The survey wanted to make sure that the policy was stated. The policy itself was empty and useless, and I wasn’t even able to escalate to a supervisor. Every agent knew that my problem persisted upon completion of our call.
I was to evaluate the agent on a scale of something like 0-9, but as I didn’t know which agent, and felt that my ultimate frustration was with Comcast and not the agent, I opted to disconnect. Comcast will no doubt conclude from this that they are doing just fine - agents are stating the policy and the satisfaction scores are not low. The survey did ask if my problem was resolved, and I stated no - but it didn’t offer any additional resolution or options before getting into the agent metrics.
Possibly because of my state, I also found the survey painstakingly slow. Each menu had a detailed explanation and example. It felt like the SAT exams where they spend 15 minutes explaining how to fill-in the bubble. If you can’t fill in the bubble, your SAT scores will be highly indicative of potential.
Comcast isn’t alone. The bottom line is current customer interaction solutions can provide amazing insights and experiences. The power and technology to control and monitor the experience have never been greater. But it is up to the contact center’s management to use these powers for good rather than evil. My advice is to experience your own technologies. Experience the service that you offer.