Customer Service

Customer service in the UK seems to be akin to a dirty word. We have all, I'm sure, experienced the terse or casual direction to something wanted in the supermarket, or the seemingly ubiquitous excuse of "it's the computer" when querying a mistake. And have you ever tried telephoning a large company or a public utility? All you get is a series of options to push this or that button depending on the nature of your enquiry. BT must be among the worst for that, and they run a telephone company!

The last time I had cause to call out BT for a line fault I discovered as the engineer was leaving that he had actually made the situation worse. By the time I reached the door to call him back, it was just in time to see his van drive off. Eventually another engineer came a few days later, called the work done by his predecessor "rubbish" and proceeded to replace it. It took a third engineer and his supervisor, many days later, to trace the original fault to a broken extension cable which they replaced. I have had no trouble since, but why did it take them so long to find and to rectify the fault? In the event they decided that they would pay for the work as it was their faulty installation and fault locating which were to blame.

That is not the point. The original call was to report a faulty line. The first guy replaced the line from the street to the house. The second guy replaced the junction box where the extension line enters the house (he also used a box intended only for internal use, so that rain entered it and shorted-out the connection). It took the third guy and his supervisor to realise that the original extension cable was broken and needed replacing, together with the leaking junction box. If the first chap had properly tested his 'solution' and the second one had paid attention to his training on the use of various junction boxes I, the customer, would have been better served.

Across many walks of life opportunities present themselves for improvement in customer service, and generally they are not difficult to see. People, by whom I mean those whose job is to serve the public in some way, need to be encouraged to go the extra mile, to go out of their way for their customer and be pleasant about it. I have long felt that the traditional hierarchical corporate structure would be better inverted so that the staff who daily face the customer occupy the most important positions on the company family tree. It is they who represent the company's image, who have to take the flak when things go awry, and upon whom to a greater or lesser extent the fortunes of the company depend. Sure, the company directors bear the ultimate responsibility, but how many of us actually see them or care who they are? The person in the shop or on the telephone to us, however, is very real and we tend to judge their company by the service we receive on a personal basis.

Training is key. Take a company like MuliYork. Some years ago I replaced our three-piece suite, and went to MultiYork to do so. We were able to spend as much time in the shop as needed without hindrance, swapping cushions for comfort and softness as the whim took us before making our choice. We paid a deposit. Four days before promised delivery we were required to pay the balance, and on the day of delivery we were given a two-hour time slot when delivery would be made. It happened like clockwork. No being pounds out of pocket for weeks while waiting for delivery, no waiting in all day in hope, no wondering if the delivery would ever come, just good solid customer service. If they can do it, why not others?

We have recently bought a new bed. I elected to pay on order despite the delivery date being some three weeks off, but had no complaint about the service and advice received from the shop and its manager. However, when delivered on the appointed day the bed was damaged. Not by being dropped, but by water. It was raining hard that day and the van leaked, and furthermore the tail-gate was so ill-fitting that spray from the vehicle's rear wheels entered the goods compartment. That was bad enough, but the plastic covering of the bed was damaged too so that water had penetrated and soaked the fabric. Maybe these thing happen, but as the driver knew of the tail-gate problem, why had he not taken precautions? Ours was the second bed damaged in that van that day at a cost to the company. The customer service took a further nose-dive when we were asked to arrange a replacement order, to wait for a further 3 weeks for delivery, and then (and only then) to phone back with a claim for compensation!!

Abroad the shopkeepers and company employees are mindful of the fact that ulimately the customer keeps them employed, and so they will go out of their way to see that satisfaction and ease of the customer is well served. It requires some effort, some training, and an awareness from every stratum of the company that the customer pays the bills and no-one is more important. Until we ditch the culture of "I work for the company and it pays me to do so" things will not improve. What is needed is for the front-line staff, those whose job is to deal directly with the customer either on the shop floor or on the telephone, to be properly recognised for the vitally important impression they create. Paying peanuts attract monkeys, so reward them properly, treat them as VIP's make them the focus of continuous serviced-based training and revere them. Equally, discipline those who fall short of the required standard. Teach the executives of the company to test each new idea, innovation, system or change in terms of the customer, in other words think like the customer instead of expecting the customer to fit the corporate model.

The rewards are great for both sides. Let the revolution begin.

Incidental

While browsing some of my books I came across this sonnet. It is to me very evocative of a number of birds we see around where we live, and I find it quite beautiful.

Autumn Birds

The wild duck startles like a sudden thought

And heron slows as if it might be caught

The flopping crows on weary wings go bye

And grey beard jackdaws noising as they fly

The crowds of starnels wiz and hurry bye

And darken like a cloud the evening sky

The larks like thunder rise and suthy round

Then drop and nestle in the stubble ground

The wild swan hurrys high and noises loud

With white necks peering to the evening cloud

The weary rooks to distant woods are gone

With length of tail the magpie winnows on

To neighbouring tree and leaves the distant crow

While small birds nestle in the hedge below.

John Clare

New for 2012

Happy New Year!

Why is it that many things, good & bad, come in threes? and why altogether? We live in the age of the most sophisticated communication media ever, where technology governs in some way every aspect of our lives, and yet things happen that are beyond our ken. I reported the loss of five of our pond fish, presumably to a heron, and that we were continuing to protect the remainig goldfish; well! they're back!!! At least, two of them are. The Wife was checking the pond on about New Year's Day and lo! the two large koi had returned. There has been no further trace of the three light-coloured fish however. We can only surmise that a heron has taken the three causing such trauma in the large koi that they sounded and hid in the foliage, emerging only some three weeks later as thopugh miraculously. Hooray!!!

Then there was the roof. Entering the loft I found two clear signs of water ingress. Two large patches of water-staining on the loft lining and water dripping from the tiles. Inspection of the outside by our local man about repairs revealed an abundance of moss on the roof, some of which has apparently lifted the tiles allowing water to seep in. Furthermore, the ridge of the roof is of a peculiar construction where the ridge tiles are strapped onto a plastic frame which supports the top rows of tiles and is itself secured to the roof trusses. At first inspection it appears that two things have occured, 1 the moss mentioned above, and 2 the plastic has been cut short allowing water to ingress since the house was built! I have commissioned the repairs, but will have to wait until February for the work to be done. Let's hope for a fairly dry January!

Finally, there has been the wind. For nearly a fortnight we have been battered by strong gales gusting up to (we're told) 112 mph. although we didn't lose any trees, it has destroyed my garden gate and some of the flimsier trellis work. It was the work of an our or two to replace the trellis, but the gate needs a new one. Since the lower hinge no longer supports it, I removed the gate and blocked the opening with the dustbins. Portia, number one cat, was not happy. Feeling vulnerable to attack or interlopers she mounted guard from one of the garden benches and was there through thick and thin, stopping only briefly for food. I have taken pity and replaced the original gate pro tem until the new one arrives, but that could take up to a month. We shall have to live with it, emptying our rubbish into the bins via the front door, and the window cleaner  will have to come back!

A neighbour, whom we have known for more than 20 years, invited The Wife & I to dinner last night. There were just the four of us, and an excellent meal was followed by a most convivial evening. The wine flowed, the conversation was funny and stimulating and wide-ranging. We came home just after 11 feeling good. Our own (postponed) soirée is pencilled in for the Saturday before St Valentine's Day. Further news later.