I’ve added new social media applications to my repertoire this weekend:
Plurk, Brightkite and Ping.fm.
This is a lot to handle on top of the other social media applications I’m managing but I’ll survive. What’s great about all of this is the interconnected nature of it all and as a developer I’m encouraged by the small but steady steps of progress on this macro scale. The best part is that I identified a service overlap between a desktop product I use on the Mac called Moodblast and Ping.fm but rather than sitting on my laurels or dreaming of a day when there’s a better option, I contacted the makers of Moodblast over at Circle Six Design and pleaded my case! Low and behold, only mere hours after pressing the submit button on a comment form, Brett, over there at Circle Six got back to me, talked to me like I was a friend and promises to enhance his software.
In this day and age, as a consumer I am as much a part of the solution as is the product developer!
Notice to Phoenix drivers! Don’t stop on the freeway. Even with your hazards on, don’t stop on the freeway in the middle of the only lane, just around a blind turn. Even if the reason is to get out of your car and chase a sweet and scared curly white haired puppy. Instead, it might be advisable to pull to the side of the road and allow traffic to cautiously circumvent your distress while we engage in the art of random running and chasing. Then, if at all possible, please avoid running into and across each of the 5 lanes of freeway traffic.
As it turns out, at a nice trot dogs merge quite well into the flow of highway traffic. (I’m sorely regretting having not pulled out my cell phone to capture it on video.)
What is the primary reason for the score of 3 you just gave?
The problem isn’t exactly due to your use of outsourced CS representatives from India and elsewhere, it’s due to their apparent disassociation with your organization. When they finally do come to understand what my request is, it seems they have no understanding, no empathy for my situation. They have no actual power to remedy the problem aside from some narrowly automated process. And certainly these issues limit their ability to excel in customer service because they are not aware of all the implications surrounding my issue; they haven’t the wherewithal or power to make additional corrections. If they did understand me fully I know that they could also offer other additional recourse that could VERY inexpensively solve my problem and make me feel incredible about doing business with you.
What could the associate have done to improve the service you received?
In this case in particular, they could have solved the problem on my first request. It took at least three phone calls to solve what should have taken one call. In fact, I’m still not certain my issue has been addressed, I may have to call AGAIN to confirm. Each representative used a requirement to speak with the primary card holder to put me off if even temporarily. I was able to comply two of the three times so I was able to continue, but the tone was obvious if not obscured by cultural differences. Finally, if they understood and CARED about me as a customer they could have offered me TWO additional services at little cost to you that would have made me extremely happy. Alas, I only realized that I could have asked for these things while filling out this survey and I fear it is too late and not worth my trouble to fight with you for it.
