I used to work in call centers, I loved the experience and have the utmost respect for people on the phone. It’s a tough job. Those folks get sent out to the front lines and management hardly cares! They say they do, but they don’t.
So everytime something goes arwry and I have to call a customer service rep, I welcome it, but realize that in all likelihood, they can’t do what I have asked them to do no matter how reasonable and simple it might be (yet they dare ask if “there’s anything else they can do for” me?).
As such, I immediately ask for a higher up. I know you are judged by how efficiently you use your time, so am I.
Earlier this year, I wrote in depth about my adventures with venerable Hewlett Packard. In a nutshelll, they sold me a piece of crap that was posing for an all-in-one printer and fax. They sent me a refurbished piece of crap to replace the original piece of crap.
The problem was that the “refurbished” all-in-one printer and fax was equally defective.
When I called the wonderful people at HP to inform them about this, they offered to - get this - you got it: send me another refurbished one. I think my call was escalated ten times until I spoke to someone with the authority to send me a brand new printer.
It works, like HP’s otherwise fine products do. I told the first HP employee I spoke to that I would inevitably get a new printer. I got the new printer. Did we need to go through those ten calls?
As a result, I will consider buying HP products in the future. Hey, every fine company can produce a lemon every once a while, so I forgive HP about the initial crapbox they sold me. Had they replaced the original printer with a new one and not made a fuss about sending me a new one after the second printer, I’d only buy HP. But they didn’t. I had to fight for it.
Management lesson 101: HP sort of redeemeded itself to at least be in the running for our business in the future, but they could have locked it for good had they acted long term. Assuming you need more details, read more here and here.
Today I had to call Seagate. Seagate Technology “engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of disc drives for enterprise, desktop, mobile computing, consumer electronics, and branded solutions markets of the disc drive industry.” At the macro-level, the need for Seagate’s products will rise in the future, though by how much depends on where flash storage vis-a-vis hard drives. Seagate is betting on hard drives; its competitor SanDisk Corporation is betting on flash. Sandisk “engages in the design, development, and market of flash storage card products used in various consumer electronics worldwide. Its products include flash cards, Universal Serial Bus, flash drives, and digital audio players.”
But, while Sandisk and Seagate might not be direct competitors, Seagate has more than enough competition from others in its direct market. You’d think it would be smart to retain clients.
Today I called them to tell them that one of the numerous hard drives we bought (less than two months ago!) crapped out on us. Our company WatchMojo.com produces video for the Web. We’re in month 10 of operations and have 2,500 video clips.
Do the math Seagate: We’ll be buying up storage devices for the rest of our business’ life. That is the kind of client Seagate would love to have, one would think.
Of course, when I called, they offered to send me a refurbished one. Naturally, I asked for someone who could authorize a new drive. I am all for sending call center jobs overseas, but if you do and reap savings, then make sure you don’t replace a crappy drive with another crappy drive. It’s that simple.
We’ll tell you if Seagate learns from HP’s mistake. Stay tuned.
Subscribe: