We value your business!
Earlier this week I wrote about my pal, DONOTREPLY @Verizonwireless.com, and how the company was missing a great “customer touchpoint” with me to create loyalty and sell me more.
Well, in my latest efforts to get the $50 “Loyal Customer Rebate” I should have received months ago, I spent about an hour on the phone with a customer service rep last night. Now, I’m not doing this just to be a crank (really); I strongly believe that if we’re ever going to improve the service in our so-called service economy, we must all be individually accountable, as both providers and customers. And, it’s great background research for my writing and work with clients on customer service and loyalty programs.
So, net-net, last night the nice woman (and she was) finally told me neither she nor her manager could help me as the matter had been marked “resolved” by the Executive Office. She did end by saying “We value your business.” (Heh) I ended by wishing her luck in what must be an awful job. And, today, I’ve got a call into my contact at the Executive Office to see what we can do to really resolve this.
The kicker? Bernadette, the good woman in the Exec Office, actually got me the other rebate to which I was entitled. But she stopped at the loyal customer rebate, throwing it back to me to resolve with the third party that manages the program for Verizon. I’d already spent many hours trying to do just that, which is why I wrote to the Verizon Wireless CEO in the first place. So, I’m perplexed. She was almost there - could have transformed me from feeling rooked, cheated and dissed to feeling valued. So, I’d talk ‘em up to everyone as a great company. Comes down to Rebate: $50; Positive Customer buzz: priceless.
Finally, three relevant rant points to keep in mind in dealing with your customers:
1. Third party quality control and management. If you outsource any type of service, from order fulfillment to technical support - make sure the third party can and will deliver. At the end of the day, it’s your name (and company) the customers will love (or hate). Test the process as a customer once a while in addition to your due diligence and operations agreements. (And, test, test, test the process before a single customer is involved.)
2. Do a cost-benefit analysis for customer service recovery. Give your lowest level, first line employee the ability to make things right, up to a given amount (of effort or money). Back that with a smooth process for escalation past that amount.
Discover card has always done a great job for me with this - the very first person I talk to (or email) can help me, up to and including adjusting fees and handling disputed items with vendors. And, they’re human yet professional. I’d give them all my business if only more places accepted the card.
3. Don’t add insult to injury. Allow your employees to be human. The service rep last night had to give me that programmed insincere “We value your business.” I felt badly for her as I’m just one of hundreds she deals with every week. There’s a reason call center turnover is so high, folks. Having been on the receiving end of unhappy customer calls, I can tell you it drains the brain and soul. By the end of some days, you want to hurt something.
And, don’t have cheery little messages on hold telling customers how special they are if you’re not backing it in reality. I was fuming by the time I listened to all the canned happy talk last night.
So, we’ll see if Verizon decides to finally step up.
Related Post: Silence is NOT Golden.
View the Blog Roll
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:22 am
[…] I’ve been posting about Verizon Wireless and my having to jump through hoops to get rebates. Well, the latest is that Bernadette from the West Coast Executive Office returned my call and took care of the final $50 Loyal Customer rebate (?!) with a credit to my bill. […]
July 25th, 2006 at 9:17 pm
My girl friend purchased two phones with $100.00 rebates each from verizon. I am very familiar with the difficulty with rebates, so I took it upon myself to make the copies and send them out myself. After not receiving any rebates I decided to contact Young America to see where my rebate was. The gentleman was very courteous to me and told me to send out the original receipt for the phones and I would receive my rebates shortly after their receipt. I did not want to do this as in order to get my insurance if my phones were lost or damaged, I would need original receipts. I did send out the original and waited. After one month I received my letter un-opened with the words time has expired for this rebate. I called young America only to be told that it was too late and I was out of luck. So I asked to contact a supervisor and was told the same thing. This was after talking with a very courteous young man who had said there would be no problem and just send in the original receipt. Now I feel I was lied to and wasted all the time I invested to receive this money promised to us. Very Disappointed and upset with the customer service that I received. I will copy this letter to the President of Verizon and to various consumer blogs (http://www.uspirg.org/consumer) and websites until this problem is resolved.
President
Lake Tahoe Enterprise
Glenn Flores
July 31st, 2006 at 10:03 am
[…] Of course, the sorry state of Service America is something to which millions of us – both as company employees and customers – can relate, as evidenced by the responses (here, here, and here) to my rants about – er, analysis of – poor service. […]
August 11th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
I have received my rebate after sending a letter of demand that I received from the office of consumer affairs.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/consumerism/rebate_madness04.html )I mailed it to the office of the president of Verizon regarding my rebates. I had planed on blogging more websites and submitting duplicate letters to other consumer affairs and the federal trade commission . Instead I waited to hear a response before my next action, here is a copy of that letter for other that can be of help.
Rebate Processing Department
Company Name
Address
City, State, Zip
RE: Failure to Receive Rebate by Offer Date
(Date)
To Whom It May Concern:
I purchased a (product details), on (date) at (store) in (city and state). My decision to purchase this product was based upon your offer of a mail-in rebate of $_____ (”offer”). My purchase of the product constituted my acceptance (”acceptance”) of your offer, creating a binding and enforceable contract between us.
I have performed my obligations under the contract. I paid the full purchase price and then proceeded to fill in the rebate form provided by you. I included all information requested to process my rebate, but to date I have not received a check in the amount of $____.
I respectfully request you process payment and mail it to me at the address indicated within 30 days. I have re-attached all information originally sent for your convenience.
If I do not receive payment in full by (date 30 days from mailing), I will begin legal proceedings against you and will file complaint reports with the Federal Trade Commission, the Attorneys General of the states of (your state) and (the company’s state), as well as selected consumer advocacy publications and local and state consumer affairs departments.
I am sending copies of this letter to these agencies and organizations to encourage your compliance. I am also filing a report with ConsumerAffairs.Com for inclusion on their Web site.
Thank you for your prompt attention and resolution of this matter.
Sincerely,
(Signature)
(Your name typed)
cc:
Federal Trade Commission
6th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580
Hon. (name of Attorney General)
Attorney General, State of (state)
(Address)
Hon. (name of Attorney General)
Attorney General, State of (state)
(Address)
ConsumerAffairs.Com
11350 Random Hills Road, Suite 650
Fairfax VA 22030
Important Notes
Be sure to keep a copy of your demand letter. If the company does not respond, you will want to send the entire file, including the demand letter, to the FTC and the other agencies.
You can find state Attorneys General and other consumer protection officials in our Consumer Protection Directory.
My original post
My girl friend purchased two phones with $100.00 rebates each from verizon. I am very familiar with the difficulty with rebates, so I took it upon myself to make the copies and send them out myself. After not receiving any rebates I decided to contact Young America to see where my rebate was. The gentleman was very courteous to me and told me to send out the original receipt for the phones and I would receive my rebates shortly after their receipt. I did not want to do this as in order to get my insurance if my phones were lost or damaged, I would need original receipts. I did send out the original and waited. After one month I received my letter un-opened with the words time has expired for this rebate. I called young America only to be told that it was too late and I was out of luck. So I asked to contact a supervisor and was told the same thing. This was after talking with a very courteous young man who had said there would be no problem and just send in the original receipt. Now I feel I was lied to and wasted all the time I invested to receive this money promised to us. Very Disappointed and upset with the customer service that I received. I will copy this letter to the President of Verizon and to various consumer blogs (http://www.uspirg.org/consumer) (http://www.maryschmidt.com/2006/03/24/we-value-your-business/)
(http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/01/free_the_ad_scr_1.html#comments)
http://techrepublic.com.com/5253-6257-0-1.html?id=2252949
And websites until this problem is resolved.