Comments on: Customer Service Retention Example A Chance for Redemption

By: venkatesh srambikal

venkatesh srambikal — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 04:00:18 +0000

I wish this was captured in a book

By: Clemens

Clemens — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:37:04 +0000

Pete, reading your story reminds me of a funny “failed redemption story” I experienced with Alice DSL, a HanseNet/Telecom Italia company:
Before I moved to my current flat I had a DSL internet connection with Alice I wanted to keep. So I checked out the new location on the Alice website and got green light “DSL available at this location”.
I moved and got my new phone line with DSL. The phone worked but not DSL. After 2 visits of the Alice technician I was told that the signal strentgh was too weak – no way to get DSL. So I quit the DSL contract but stayed with the phone contract which costs me 20 bucks for the contract change. For internet connection I used an expensive UMTS cell phone access, spending ~750 USD over the DSL rate since then.
Then by chance I talked to my neighbour living in the same house, telling me from his fast Alice DSL connection … The technician had told me nonsense.
I called Alice customer support and asked to try again to switch on my DSL but they asked for another 20 bucks for the new contract change – as well as the mail support. I send a fax the office of the president stating that I am not willing to spend even more money on their failure and that I will either get it fixed or quit. The response: They still wanted 20 bucks due to their high effort switching it back and completely neglecting my extra costs and effort – and I quitted.
With the new DSL company I plugged in the router and could access the internet instantly via DSL. No weak signal.
Two weeks later came the funny thing: Alice’s retention team reached out to me and when they noticed that I had a poor customer experience they gave me a redemption: Guess what: 20 bucks(!)
Lessons learned:
More customer orientation and empowerment in CS would have created the same costs but hold me back as a customer

By: Jeff Walsh

Jeff Walsh — Sat, 23 May 2009 16:09:41 +0000

Pete, your story about Home Depot rings very true, I am a frequent shopper of both HD as well as Lowe’s and the customer service experience at both of these locations in my hometown of Parkersburg, WV are almost always below-par. The one constant that I almost always walk away from at the stores is feeling that any questions I may ask are viewed as bothersome, perhaps the most troublesome aspect of this is the complete contrary message both of these retail ginats use in their marketing and ad campaigns although maybe their recent change indicates they have given up on being a customer-centric organization going from “You can do it, we can help” to now being “More saving, more doing” (which to me, the latter is the epitome of an “empty” slogan. I am proud to work for an organization that puts the customer first, not just in ads/marketing, not just in the board room or internal meetings, but real accountability to do it on the front lines. I enjoy getting feedback that my branch provides service that is unparalleled, but at the same time, I’m puzzled as to why it’s unparalleled.

By: Ben Foster

Ben Foster — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:48:25 +0000

It’s unbelievable that companies aren’t staffing for this type of thing. The math you used to calculate the number of people that received your feedback should be one of THE TOP METRICS that companies use for Social Media efforts. Any thoughts on how we could apply Six Sigma to get better metrics and control over customer feedback processes like this?

Bloggers know the space really well and your post, as well as ones like this from Allstate http://www.handshake20.com/2009/03/modea-twitter.html, goes to show the POWER that companies can have by using this properly.

Right now, companies do this as a source of competitive advantage…but soon, it will be a competitive necessity.

By: Venkatesh Srambikal

Venkatesh Srambikal — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:26:33 +0000

This is simply brilliant. I read it twice , very profound!
Thanks for sharing

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:25:50 +0000

Pete
This is Sarah from The Home Depot. I received your email and your feedback has been shared with the store and folks here who are able to take feedback from customers and put it to use to improve customer service in our stores.

We absolutely do not want you to continue to experience this type of service from us, and detailed feedback like you provided after we took our conversation off twitter goes a long way to help us make the necessary changes at the store level.

Sorry I did not respond more quickly to your email, but I want to assure you that your feedback has been shared internally, both with the store you visited and folks on our customer service team who are in a better position than I to resolve this matter with you.

I am sorry we let you down, both in the store and in my lack of follow up after we exchanged emails Friday.

Sarah, Home Depot Communications
information(at)homedepot(dot)com

By: @netpromoter

@netpromoter — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:38:10 +0000

@NetPromoter

@shmula that is a brilliant example of poorly managed close-the-loop process. Thanks for sharing it!

By: Joe Rawlinson

Joe Rawlinson — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:13:16 +0000

Great analysis of your experience and its far reaching impact.

I agree with your “Hippocratic Oath for Customer Experience.” If a company is going to start the conversation with disgruntled customers, they need to finish it. Otherwise the already damaged relationship can go into a death spiral.

By: Bob Collier

Bob Collier — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:11:57 +0000

I recently blogged about my terrible retail experience buying a replacement refrigerator lamp. The failure was stupendous. See link.

I made it clear to company management that my experience was a wasted opportunity for profit because they wasted my time. In doing so I tried to give them advice on how they could serve me and people like me better. I hope it helps.

I really appreciate the link to the NPS studies.

By: Royce Williard

Royce Williard — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:48:43 +0000

This is an excellent post regarding your experience with Home Depot. You do an exceptional job of demonstrating how comments like this on your experience spread quickly. I also liked how you cite the monetary value of both positive and negative comments.

I am particularly impressed that Home Depot was monitoring and picked up the Twitter comments and then just as disappointed that they failed to follow up. While their original email does state that their Customer Care may contact you, as you point out, they missed an opportunity for redemption. By asking for the additional information (as they did), there is an implied expectation that feedback will be acknowledged in some form or fashion.

I always think that posts involving examples that everyone will recognize help serve to make the point. In fact, my next post that is already written and scheduled for later this week also uses a major retailer as an example of the lean over processing waste.