Last month Vincent Ferrari
recorded the last five minutes of his attempt to
cancel an AOL account. Not since Linda Tripp
chatted with Monica Lewinsky has a recorded
phone call attracted so much attention. The AOL
customer service representative first tried to
tell Ferrari he was making a terrible mistake,
and then scolded him vigorously when Ferrari
repeatedly requested that he "cancel the
account."
Ferrari posted the phone
call to his blog, Insignificantthoughts.com,
where it was picked up by myriad other blogs and
Web sites. He since has appeared on CNN and the
"Today" show to talk about the phenomenon of the
phone call and the frustration of customer
service.
Customer Service is Dying
--and I'm Not Feeling So Good Myself
Setting goals that
will take you where you want to go
Have you ever called a
company and been greeted with the phrase “Hold,
please”? How do they know you can hold? They
don’t even know who you are. Maybe you can’t
hold; maybe you have 10 seconds of juice left on
your cell phone and your hair is on fire. Then
you finally get someone on the phone, only to be
told, “I can’t actually help you; I’m just paid
to apologize, and I’m really sorry about that.”
Being frustrated by a lack
of customer service is nothing new. It just
seems that in the last few years, companies have
become more innovative when it comes to not
helping you solve your problems. I recently
asked a hotel employee to help me with my
luggage. He told me to hold on and he would have
someone look into it. I thought, “Hey, you’re
someone—why can’t you look into it?” I realize
that we are as busy as we have ever been, and
that many younger people were not brought up in
the traditional culture of customer service. But
none of these excuses will protect your business
in today’s challenging economy, where customers
are questioning value even with companies they
have known for years.
