Dealing With Customer Service Rant

This post was intended to be simple tips but has turned into more of a rant from a customer support agent. Don't take anything said here personally. I try 110% to give each customer exceptional service and strive to let each one know they are special to me. Customers like you pay my salary and I understand that.

I have been on the other side of the phone in customer service for many years now and I must admit that before I had this experience, I would call customer support with a less than a pleasant attitude, yell at the agent and was of the mind that my problem was the only problem and demanded it get fixed immediately. In the past years that attitude has changed for the better. This post is intended to give you some tips on how to deal with customer service. I will focus on wireless communications in this writing but the tips could apply to any company.

The first thing I want you to realize is that while every customer is considered important, you are not the only customer. Do not call customer service with the attitude that you are better than anyone else and demand that your issue be resolved immediately along with credits for your "inconvenience." Having this attitude will put the agent on the defensive as soon as you start talking. This will prevent you from getting the service you deserve because the agent will be looking for ways to get you off of the phone as quickly as possible instead of working to fix what is wrong. A calm, polite customer stands a much better chance of getting their issue resolved on the first call. The old addage "You get more flies with honey" holds very true here.

Next, read your manual and know your phone. Agents are there to help you along but you can not expect them to walk you through simple tasks like how to make a phone call. Agents are glad to help you with the more complicated aspects of the service or phone functions, but not the simple things. It is simply a waste of time and resources and the information can easily be found in the first few pages of the manual.

Don't ramble. Agents have an expectation to be on and off a call within a certain amount of time. On any particular day, the average time an agent is on each call is taken into consideration to determine that agent's status, raises, bonuses, etc. Pleasantries like the weather and speaking breifly about a common experience are great but when a customer starts talking about their dog that made the green poopie, it's time to close the call and move on. Stick to the issue as much as possible and I guarantee you the agent will thank you for it.

Do not call from the phone you are having trouble with. This one is a biggie. An agent cannot troubleshoot your phone if you are talking on it. In most cases the fix involves powering the phone off and then back on again. There have been a number of times where I have forgotten to ask the person if they were talking to me on the phone, requested they turn it off and the call disconnects.

Know that technology has problems from time to time. It is inevitible and cannot be prevented. If your phone stops working for 2 hours it is not a breach of contract, nor does it dictate a month's worth of service credit. If you loose a $100,000 sale because the call dropped, it is not the responsibility of the phone company to reimburse you. That being said, if you take the first tip to heart and be polite about the issue, chances are you will get some small credit on the account for your troubles.

Finally, speak clearly and be ready to answer questions and perform troubleshooting that you may have already done on your own. Agents have specific troubleshooting that must be done in order to determine what the issue is, if your phone needs to be replaced, if the issue is within the network, etc. If you are at a party with loud music, step outside. If your child is crying in your arms, let someone else hold him/her. In other words, be ready to focus on the call and be able to provide the agent with your full attention. this will help to resolve your issue much more quickly. We understand that you are busy and have better things to do than call customer service, but the more you are able to focus on the call, the faster you will be done.

Finally, look up your account on the internet before calling in. Chances are the issue you are having has been experienced before and you can find the answer in the support area of the web site. Most cell phone companies have forums online that will help with common issues. If you are reading this post then you probably know how to use forums. Some companies even have live chat support available.

Customer support agents are people too. Sometimes it is hard to remember that fact. Not only for the customer but the agent as well.

I hope these tips don't seem too blunt but I wanted to be straight forward and taking these tips to heart will, I promise you, make for a much more pleasant and faster resolution of your problem.