The three institutions' customer problem resolution processes have a number of eerily similar features that seem purposely designed to delay, confuse and frustrate customers to the point that they just quit trying to resolve the issues and give in to whatever the bank says is the truth. In my case, this would have meant paying thousands in interest, fees, and “penalties” on unpaid debts that I simply did not owe.
Below are problem areas these processes have in common. So let's look at the problem areas:
Have Only One Publicly Available Contact Phone Number. Too many numbers might confuse your idiot customers. All three companies have just one single contact phone number listed on their web sites (and with directory assistance). Google searches for alternate phone numbers were unsuccessful (their internal security seems to work, though!). This single number is listed as a “customer service” number and it routes all customers to the same call center. This is great for cutting costs and for making it easy to put customers into an endless "do loop". Of course, it can , but horrible for helping customers resolve problems.
Make Sure Your On-line “Contact Us” Form Provides No Feedback. Remember, “ignorance is bliss” and they're just ignorant customers anyway. Feedback might confuse them, or worse, be able to be used against you in a court of law (see items 7 and 8 below). None of the three lists a contact e-mail address on their website, instead they offer an on-line form with no information as to where the form will be sent, nor any feedback other than a “message sent” notice.
Make Sure Your Customer Service Reps Have No Authority. Giving authority to anyone but senior executives will cost you money! You can make them responsible for keeping customers happy, though. This way, you can save money on call center personnel, by making sure you always have new hires working to resolve customer issues. Customer service personnel staffing the call centers have little to no information and virtually no authority are to correct any real problems / errors.
Make Sure Your Customer Service Reps Have No Access To Operational Departments Who Might Actually Be Able to Resolve The Customer's Problems. Customer Service Personnel are not allowed to forward the call to anyone within the company, nor to give out any contact other than that available on the company's web site (refer to #1 and #2 above). All contact with other departments (if any) is done out of sight of customer. It is only through the individual initiative of individual customer service reps willing to “skirt the system” (and, in some cases, risk their jobs) that customers get any satisfaction.
Don't Allow Problems to Be Escalated More Than One Level Above The Customer Service Rep. The customer might actually get his or her problem resolved! In all three organizations, customer service personnel informed me they are only allowed to escalate problems to the call center shift supervisor. The call center shift supervisors for all three informed me that (a) they are not allowed to escalate any problems to a higher authority; and (b) they are not allowed to give any contact information to the customer except the phone number to the Customer Service Desk (which I had called to reach them) and the web form with no feedback (see items 1 and 2 above).
Do Not Keep Any Promises to Follow-Up With The Customer. Most will just give up and quit trying. Call Center Shift Supervisors for all these companies seemed to have been provided with a first name (and sometimes, an initial to a last name) to give me once it became obvious that I was not going to go away. I can only assume these names are all fictitious, since not a single one of these individuals ever called me back, even though In some cases, I was provided a date and time for the call-back.
Force Your Customers To Hire An Attorney If They Want To Talk With Anyone Beyond The Help Desk. Nothing makes a customer cave in and pay than being forced to choose between paying a few hundred / thousand dollars and getting involved in a long, drawn out legal battle. Customer Service Personnel at all three banks informed me that the companies only released contact information for other departments (including Legal) to attorneys. This means that in order to resolve any problem that Customer Service personnel are not able/allowed to resolve (see items 1 through 6 above). The customer is forced to hire an attorney. I can think of only one reason for this policy: to push customers who have the temerity to press their claims to cave in and just “pay the damned money”.
Ignore the Law and As Many Government Rules, Regulations and Regulators As You think You Can Get Away With Avoiding. All three banks ignored certain aspects of the Fair Debt Collection and credit reporting laws; as well as various federal rules and court processes, and ignored a court orders. For me it was a great lesson in the benefits of three bank bailouts over three decades; we've taught these organizations that the laws and the rules don't apply to them.
I'm a cynical guy, but I'm not one who sees conspiracies behind every little coincidence I encounter. Unfortunately, sometimes “coincidence” just doesn't seem to cover the realities we encounter in day-to-day life. The amazing similarities between these three banks' problem resolution processes; their myopic focus on getting money out of me; and the almost identical excuses offered by their customer service reps each step of the way makes it hard for me to believe these processes weren't specifically designed to reduce their customers' “will to fight” and allow the banks to collect unwarranted fees pretty much “at will”.
Having said that, however, whether you share my cynical view of these institutions' processes or not, companies looking to build solid, useful, customer-friendly problem resolution processes can learn a lot from these banks' bad example. Avoiding the these eight elements will go a long way to ensuring your company remains a reasonable, rational, responsive organization.
Scott Adams might just have it right: http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2010-05-15/ .
_______________________________________________
If you have questions about designing and implementing effective customer service processes, post your questions here, or send them to my e-mail: tomfawls@council4smallbiz.com .
Do Not Keep Any Promises to Follow-Up With The Customer. Most will just give up and quit trying. Call Center Shift Supervisors for all these companies seemed to have been provided with a first name (and sometimes, an initial to a last name) to give me once it became obvious that I was not going to go away. I can only assume these names are all fictitious, since not a single one of these individuals ever called me back, even though In some cases, I was provided a date and time for the call-back.
Force Your Customers To Hire An Attorney If They Want To Talk With Anyone Beyond The Help Desk. Nothing makes a customer cave in and pay than being forced to choose between paying a few hundred / thousand dollars and getting involved in a long, drawn out legal battle. Customer Service Personnel at all three banks informed me that the companies only released contact information for other departments (including Legal) to attorneys. This means that in order to resolve any problem that Customer Service personnel are not able/allowed to resolve (see items 1 through 6 above). The customer is forced to hire an attorney. I can think of only one reason for this policy: to push customers who have the temerity to press their claims to cave in and just “pay the damned money”.
Ignore the Law and As Many Government Rules, Regulations and Regulators As You think You Can Get Away With Avoiding. All three banks ignored certain aspects of the Fair Debt Collection and credit reporting laws; as well as various federal rules and court processes, and ignored a court orders. For me it was a great lesson in the benefits of three bank bailouts over three decades; we've taught these organizations that the laws and the rules don't apply to them.
I'm a cynical guy, but I'm not one who sees conspiracies behind every little coincidence I encounter. Unfortunately, sometimes “coincidence” just doesn't seem to cover the realities we encounter in day-to-day life. The amazing similarities between these three banks' problem resolution processes; their myopic focus on getting money out of me; and the almost identical excuses offered by their customer service reps each step of the way makes it hard for me to believe these processes weren't specifically designed to reduce their customers' “will to fight” and allow the banks to collect unwarranted fees pretty much “at will”.
Having said that, however, whether you share my cynical view of these institutions' processes or not, companies looking to build solid, useful, customer-friendly problem resolution processes can learn a lot from these banks' bad example. Avoiding the these eight elements will go a long way to ensuring your company remains a reasonable, rational, responsive organization.
Scott Adams might just have it right: http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2010-05-15/ .
_______________________________________________
If you have questions about designing and implementing effective customer service processes, post your questions here, or send them to my e-mail: tomfawls@council4smallbiz.com .
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