Customer Service

Michael's experience with Vonage recently made me think about customer service. Well, it made me think about the kind of service I'm receiving. Since I work in tech support, I think about what kind of customer service we're providing all the time. Since I'm moving, I'm in the process of canceling a lot of services at my home. I anticipate in the near future, I will be setting up a lot of new services. Both of these things mean I speak to a lot of customer service people. Here are today's experiences.

DirecTV
DirecTV has a few too many menu options to wade through. I was annoyed that I had to enter my telephone number then my account number. Shouldn't one be enough? The first person I spoke to apologized that I wanted to cancel my service. There's no need to apologize, I'm happy with it, I'm just moving. He transferred me to another person whom I had to wait approximately two minutes for. She was very helpful and explained that I could put my account on hold for any length of time. They would then process turning on service in Arizona like a move (so I'd get a free dish and such). I hesitated, because I'm not entirely sure that I want DirecTV when I move because it's a lot of money. Right now I split it with Kristen and don't really mind, but I don't think I watch enough TV to justify $72 a month. Anyhow, she convinced me to put my account on hold by throwing in an extra free month of service if I do start back up. I figure why not, I won't get billed in the meantime. Interesting model DirecTV is using to get people to stay with them.

SBC
SBC has a wonderful voice recognition system instead of menus. You only have to say a brief sentence of what you need. For example, I said, "I'd like to cancel my service" and the system asked me if I wanted to "Disconnect your phone line?" I confirmed and it transferred me immediately. I waited approximately five minutes for a representative, which is a little longer than I want to wait but such is life. When she answered, she gave me her name and immediately asked what she could do to make me a "very satisfied customer." Wow, that's exciting to know that she wants me to be satisfied even before the call begins! Talk about starting the conversation off right. She took care of everything quickly and efficiently. It was a completely hassle free conversation. I am very satisfied!

Comments