Don’t hang up on customers

customer service comic

I worked for a company that had a major problem and people weren’t able to use the Internet service. It turns out that when I called the service provider, their technical support said in a robotic voice “There is no one to answer your call. Goodbye” and hung up on me! I couldn’t believe it. That company paid that company thousands of dollars per month.

I was able to solve the issue by noticing a brief status message in the browser and then investigating the computer in that company’s network that was integral to that service. Turns out that the service caused a problem on the computer and the computer just needed to be rebooted to fix the issue. I was lucky. Not all status messages are visible, and since it was a simple network then it was simple to reboot the computer.

More importantly, however, is that if your service isn’t staffed appropriately, then don’t hang up on the customer. At least allow them to leave a Voicemail and if the voicemail gets full, then have a dedicated person writing them down and deleting them to make more space. Or have an outsourced company take calls if you can’t staff your business appropriately.

When that business hung up on me, they cemented my decision to switch from them. There is no excuse for bad service. I suggested to the boss that they needed a better-supported solution, and they trusted me to fix the problem. I fixed the problem and the company is thrilled now. You can not treat people badly and expect them to come back. It just doesn’t work.

See also  Everyone is accountable. Its just a matter of time.