CUSTOMER SERVICE – WHO CARES?

How often have you felt let down by a new service and how they handle their customer service? I recently engaged a cleaning company to undertake a deep clean of my house. (Let’s face it who wants to spend their weekends cleaning after a full weeks work?) They were very professional and were on the phone nearly every day, politely chasing to gain me as a new client. I was impressed!

Their area manager called to see me and was most polite considering that I had forgotten the first appointment that we made. His attitude was very professional and he quickly built a good rapport with me. The point to remember here is that a new customer is buying the person who is selling to them. If the sales person is not the person giving the service then good management to ensure the services level agreed is essential.

The level of service and what would be undertaken was clearly laid out for me, however there was nothing in writing giving me the terms and conditions at this point. Their quote was very prompt but unfortunately on opening the attachment it was blank. Even after phoning them to say I could not open the quote it was never re-sent. Always leave a prospective customer with more than just a business card if you can. Give them something so they can read more about your business and answer some of the questions they may still have about your service after you have left.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating as the saying goes and sadly I was most disappointed with this ‘pudding’. After their deep clean service there was no follow up phone call to check that everything was to my satisfaction. A prompt follow up phone call to a new customer, immediately after the service has been undertaken, is always a great way of developing the new relationship and handling any problems pro-actively. This then prompted me to check out more thoroughly if the job had been done to the high standards they had promised. The point here is never promise what you cannot fulfil.

I left it a couple of days before sending an email to the area manager outlining the problems I had with their service. Then I waited, and waited and waited. One week on and I had no contact from them. Is it any wonder that complaining customers are often hard to handle? By contacting a disgruntled customer immediately, listening to their complaint, summarising it back to them to make sure you have got all the issues right, apologising for the situation and then communicating what action you are going to take, stops the whole thing escalating.

Now I have had to email the boss and this time I have sent her photos of the dirt behind and under the furniture, behind the microwave and where objects had not been picked up! So what is my expectation now? Having lost all trust in their service, and having had no contact from them, I have asked to cancel my ongoing contract with them. Don’t run away from a customer problem as it will only escalate.

The customer is definitely king in this new consumer market where social media is a platform for complaints as well as compliments. Don’t forget the power of social media. Messages about bad customer service via social media are to be avoided at all costs. Their public nature is far more damaging to any business than the old fashioned word of mouth! Whilst I have resisted the temptation to mention the companies name here on my blog I will definitely be escalating my complaint onto Twitter if I do not have a response in the next couple of days. The irony is that it was through Twitter I found out about the company. I only hope I do not have to end my relationship with them on the same platform.