When we think of customer service, most of us think of the debacle of communicating our problems with a product to an outsourced agent across the ocean. This person is either reading from a manual or from a computer in their bedroom somewhere that provides answers to frequently asked questions. “Try unplugging it, waiting a minute, and then plugging it back in,” the customer service person frequently suggests for multiple product failure issues. “Really? Don’t you think I’ve tried that already?” is what I usually think to myself when I hear that suggestion. Nevertheless, I try it again anyway to no avail until I become frustrated and demand my money back. Of all the processes to outsource, was outsourcing customer service really a good idea?
In many situations, customer service is not outsourced, but it is simply lacking. This is typically the case with larger companies. Maybe there was a time when the company cared about you as an individual, but then they grew. You have lost your status as an individual and are now just a name in a database. No one knows who you are or that you exist except on that day of the month when the payment is due. Even then you are a faceless name.
Recently, I had two unique customer service experiences that serve as both the best and worst experiences I have ever had. Both, ironically, involve banks. Who would have guessed?
Last summer, I sold a car that I still owed about $3500 on. The woman who bought it was nice enough to meet me at Regions Bank where it was finance at. After giving me $4000, we walked into the bank to get the payoff information from the loan officer. I don’t remember his name, so we’ll call him Robert. Robert wrote the payoff amount down and directed me to the window. When I got to the window, the teller told me that the payoff amount was actually about $100 less than the amount Robert had given me. Great! That meant I had $100 more profit!
I paid the teller and inquired when the title would be sent to me. The teller informed me that it would be sent to me in 10 days. The woman had already insured the car and paid for it, so she drove it home. She had found the listing for my car on the web and had drove 3 hours to meet me at the bank. I told her that I would call her as soon as the title came in and we parted ways. Everything was great, right? Wrong!
After 10 days, I still hadn’t received the title. I called Regions to inquire where they connected me to their corporate office. A nice young operator informed me that she wasn’t sure why the title hadn’t been mailed to me, but she would make sure it got in the mail that day. Since I was the seller, I wanted to make sure that my customer didn’t think I was pulling any shenanigans, so I texted her and let her know of the current situation. She was very nice and we both were happy assuming that we would have the title in a few days.
A few weeks later while my wife and I were enjoying a nice vacation, the woman texted me inquiring about the title. I called my daughter at home to see if it had arrived, and started to worry when she told me it hadn’t. Even though we were on our way back home, I couldn’t wait to get home to call Regions, so I drove through the state of Alabama navigating through Regions’ automated line only to be placed on hold for 25 minutes when I finally got through.
After almost an hour on the phone, an operator informed me that there was a lien on the vehicle. “How can there be a lien on the vehicle? I paid it off!” I demanded to know. “There is a $94 early payoff fee,” the operator informed me. Suddenly, I had recollections of the two different figures that the teller and loan officer had given me. Now, I understood. Somebody messed up.
I paid the $94 over the phone and inquired about the title. The operator informed me that it was a mandatory standard that titles not be mailed out until 10 business days after a vehicle is paid off. Since I had just officially paid it off, it would be another 10-14 days until I received the title. There was no explaining to the corporate office that it wasn’t my fault. I paid what the teller told me to pay. We’ve already waited a month for the title. It didn’t matter. I was dealing with a corporate office. They had programmed answers. I was just a faceless name in a database.
Wanting to at least provide good service on my parts, I called the woman who bought the car and explained the scenario. She did not explode or become irate, but she did explain to me why she needed the title. She had bought the car for her daughter. School was staring back in less than two weeks, and her daughter really wanted to show it off to her friends. I can’t say that I blame her. It was a sharp car. As it was, she could only stare at. She couldn’t drive because she didn’t have any tags. She couldn’t get any tags because she didn’t have the title yet. “Isn’t there something you can do?” the woman asked. “I will sure try,” I promised.
I called Robert the next day. He didn’t remember at first, but then he pulled the transaction up on his database. He did explain that the reason for the different figure was because of a lack of communication between his computer and the teller’s computers. I was thinking that was a serious problem that they probably should get fixed, but I was only concerned about getting my problem fixed. Robert said that he would be in a conference all day, but he would look into it and get back to me the same day.
I had an intuition that I wouldn’t hear back from Robert. I decided to make a trip to Regions and talk to someone face to face. Robert was nowhere to be found. As it turned out, he didn’t even work at that branch, nor did the teller who gave me the payoff amount. Both worked in other Regions Bank offices and filled in on the weekend sporadically at this office. No one in the office had a clue about the transaction!
This is where the story becomes blurred as it takes a positive turn to one of the best customer service interactions I have had. After investigating briefly, the loan officer admitted that they had made a mistake. They also admitted that it would be hard to get the corporate office to change their mind and send the title. However, they promised to try. A few hours later, the branch was calling and emailing me. The title was sent via FedEx to me the next day. I will never forget the service I had from everyone in that branch that day. They went out of their way to fix the problem. I know it wasn’t easy convincing corporate to send the title, but the loan officer did. She put customer service first. I will forever remember the service that I received in that branch.
Ironically, Robert called me the next day. “I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner,” he said. “Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do. The corporate office is sticking to their mandatory standard of 10 days,” he informed me. Imagine his surprise when I informed him that it had already been taken care of. “Oh” was all I remember him saying.
Robert represents everything that is wrong with customer service. He wasn’t one to buck the system. He wasn’t going to go out of his way to help a customer. Why should he? The only thing important to him was advancing his career. He wasn’t going to let one disgruntled customer get in his way. He thought he could rely on his salesman –like bluff and tell me anything to make me happy, or at least go away. The man blatantly lied to me. He is lower than fungus that grows underneath cattle feces. I hope he succeeds and climbs the corporate ladder. I hope he receives the just rewards that eventually befall those that lie and manipulate others to get ahead. Karma.
Another experience happened recently that also began as a lemon, but eventually turned into sweet lemonade. I have been a customer of BancorpSouth’s for over 15 years. I began using their online banking system over 10 years ago to manage and pay my bills. I’ve only had one bad experience previously, but I was partly to blame on that. I had bought a vacation online and hit the “pay now” button instead of the “pay later” button. I intended to pay later as I was due a nice bonus that was scheduled to be deposited in a few days. From that mistake, I was charged over $500 in overdraft fees. I was receiving a substantial bonus, so the $500 in fees wasn’t a problem to recover, but it was $500 less to spend or save. I was virtually giving that money away. I called BancorpSouth and got a similar corporate response like I got from Regions. I realized it was a stupid mistake and it was my fault, but thought that they could surely help me out to some degree. I bit the corporate bullet and didn’t think too much more about it.
I’ll admit that I am guilty of living paycheck to paycheck sometimes. I make decent money, but I spend, spend, and spend. Therefore, I am exceedingly cautious about setting up my budget and online bill pay. I will often set up a bill to be paid on the date I know that funds will be deposited into my account. I am very weary of my weekly budget and plan bills accordingly.
When an overdraft charge for $108 recently arrived in my mailbox, I was stunned. How could I be overdraft? I’m a meticulous planner. Then again, I’m airheaded and forgetful as well. Maybe there was something I forgot. Maybe I had calculated something wrong. I logged into my online banking and there it was. A check that I had scheduled for the 11th was paid on the 10th. How could this be?
I quickly got on the phone and called customer service. A young, female operator answered my call. Although friendly and courteous, I could sense that she was new on the job. Unable to answer my question, she put me on hold to confer with a manager. After coming back live, she informed me that checks are sent to billers a few days before the date. Unfortunately, this biller had received the check and cashed it when they received it. I understood that. It made sense, although I had been practicing the same method of scheduling bills to the same billers for over 10 years and had never had this happen.
I accepted her explanation, but I felt that I was unjustly charged the overdraft fees. Maybe I was playing it too close with my scheduling. Then again, maybe the clerk or whomever sends the checks out sent it out too early. All I knew was that I wanted my $108 refunded. Apparently, that wasn’t going to happen. I was once again dealing with a CSA that knew nothing about be. She was probably reading from a script or had been prepped on how to deal with dissatisfied customers. I can sense these things by asking them questions that they can’t answer from a script or from their training. I was peeved. I would not take my anger out on her, however. She was just a lowly CSA on the corporate totem pole. She had a job to do and was doing it to her best abilities. She couldn’t help me. She didn’t even know who I was. To me, that is where the problem lies.
I wanted to stick it to BancorpSouth. I was guilty of not managing my bills sufficiently. Assuming there wasn’t a clerk who sent out the check too early, I messed up. I messed up. I can admit that. I shouldn’t have scheduled my bills so carelessly. However, should I be treated like a chronic bad check writer? Did I blatantly write a bad check? Heck no! I was a loyal customer who simply made a mistake. I wanted to get them back, but didn’t know how to take on a corporation. Then, it hit me. I’d do what everyone else does when they want to bad mouth someone, but can’t say it to their face. I went to Facebook.
Knowing that anything I posted would be removed quickly, I decided to spam their Facebook page. Unfortunately, none of my comments would post because I didn’t “like” their page. The last thing I wanted to do was “like” their page. Since leaving negative comments wouldn’t work, I decided to send them a message via Facebook messenger. Not that it would do any good, but at least someone would at least see it. In the message, I expressed how I felt and threatened to move to a local bank. Once again, I really didn’t think it would do any good, but I felt better. I also began making plans on switching banks.
To my surprise, I had a voicemail from BancorpSouth the next day. By the time I had listened to the voicemail, they had called me again. I’m not exactly sure what the man’s title was, but he began by apologizing for my experience with customer service. He advised me that I might want to start scheduling my bills a few days out to ensure funds are in the bank and assured me that the $108 had been refunded. When I logged into Facebook, I had a message inquiring whether or not the matter had been resolved to my satisfaction. A few days later, I received a letter via snail mail also apologizing for the inconvenience. To me, this is what customer service is all about. They listened to me, although I did follow unconventional channels. I am 100% satisfied with their customer service and would recommend them to anyone.
As companies have grown global, they tend to focus on stockholders in lieu of stakeholders. They have good reason to worry about satisfying their stockholders. Maximizing stockholder value makes the company money. The young executive typically isn’t concerned with an individual’s minor problems. Individuals are just cogs in the wheel that keeps the money train rolling. They lose sense of the fact that the individual customers are the one providing the coal to produce the steam for the engine. Customer first should be more than a catchphrase or slogan; it should be a manner of business. Whether anyone realizes it or not, all products have a life cycle. The life cycle ends when there is no longer a demand for a product. Customers determine demand. It would be in any corporation’s best interest to embrace a customer first mentality.
Customers are a company’s lifeblood. Maybe that isn’t taught in the fast track to management class that many executives graduate from. Sam Walton probably understood it. To most, it seems like common sense. If you want my money, you’re going to have to earn it.
With the power of social media, a single Facebook post or Twitter feed can ruin a company’s reputation overnight. It’s time for managers and executives to stop acting like Robert, the feces covered fungus, and begin channeling their inner Jerry Maguire. Otherwise, the customer can opt to channeling their inner Dolph Lundgren and break you.
