BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Five Customer Service Practices That Drive Consumers Crazy

Following
This article is more than 4 years old.

A central principle of the marketing field is that companies should be working hard to satisfy customer wants and needs. As such, it is often taken for granted that in the modern day “marketing era” companies will take great care to satisfy consumer wants and needs. Moreover, important academic work has been done on why a company should have a market orientation. Unfortunately, consumer experience today does not always live up to these lofty philosophical advances, and most consumers too often experience poor customer service. As marketing is just one functional area in business, there is often pressure to engage in practices that raise average revenue per customer in the short-term. All to often, these practices do not focus on long-term customer satisfaction.

Getty

Below are five bad customer service practices that are arguably more common today than they have been in the past. Most seem to take advantage of customers leading busy lives and not have time to demand customer service or to be attentive to obscure terms and conditions.

Bad customer service practice 1: Trying to upsell and not addressing the real customer service issue on a call or chat when a customer has a request of problem

Too often when calling for a customer service issue as simple as canceling a portion of service (e.g., dropping a premium network from a television package), consumers report that the company uses them as an opportunity to “upsell” additional services to the consumer. In these instances, the interaction is unnecessarily extended for the consumer to the point where consumers may become reluctant to call customer service unless they face a major issue. Some companies engage in this practice in an effort to drive up average revenue per customer. Unfortunately, this thinking is short-term and not truly focused on consumer wants and needs. Good customer service should address the problem first. If the customer is receptive to a sales pitch later that is not a problem, but their time should be respected and the option of only having the original problem resolved should be provided. The bottom line here is putting the customer’s immediate need first.  

Getty

Bad customer service practice 2: Oiling the squeakiest wheels at the expense those who don’t complain

Most of us know someone who has benefitted from chronic complaining to a business. While the intent of the company may be good in this instance, providing greater benefits to customers who threaten to leave may have a negative long-term impact. Stories abound of companies offering “customer retention” deals in the face of someone threatening to quit buying a service. We also read about cases such as individuals who become experts in getting free upgrades at hotels even if they don’t belong to a loyalty program as a result of asking assertively or complaining about a room they get assigned to for no valid reason. On one hand, some consumers benefit from this practice to the extent it is happening. However, other consumers who are actually more loyal and do not complain ultimately receive less “bang for the buck” than those who do complain.

Bad customer service practice 3: Not fixing a valid problem as a result of either indifference or representatives not having authority to take corrective action 

Most consumers do not expect a company to be perfect. However, when a mistake does happen recovery is important. All too often we hear horror stories of how a company makes an error that affects a long-time customer, such as a billing error, that is not resolved effectively or promptly. Sometimes consumers are told an error is corrected only to find out later that it really has not been resolved, leading to the need for another dreaded call to customer service. Some companies deal with this by providing a higher level of service to their best customers via special hotlines. However, all loyal customers should be able to expect a blatant error to be corrected quickly.

Getty

Consumers also become frustrated when it takes excessive time to explain an issue to a representative that does not have the authority to resolve the issue and end up getting transferred one or more times. Front line customer service reps should have the authority to solve basic issues and be able to direct a customer promptly to the right person for truly complex issues.

Bad customer service practice 4: Having rewards programs that are not transparent and/or automatic. 

In too many rewards programs the onus is put on consumers to devote excessive time to figure out how to actually receive a meaningful benefit. Customers should not be made to spend excessive amounts of time figuring out what benefits are available or dealing with highly complex rules and restrictions such as we see in some frequent flyer programs. These practices can be highly frustrating to consumers. Awards that are either transparent and easily redeemable or in some contexts automatic once a threshold is reached are preferable. There are fewer things frustrating than a consumer accumulating a high number or points only to find out they cannot redeem them for anything they actually place value on.

Bad customer service practice 5: Lack of transparency in pricing and/or excessive fine print

Many consumers have experienced issues dealing with a telecommunications company, public utility, airline or other entity when seeing an advertised price that turns out to be significantly lower than what the customer actually pays after a battery of additional charges. These charges include taxes and/or additional basic services that most consumers need as a basic add on. Airlines that charge extra for carry-on and/or checked bags as well as snacks, for example, should make it clear that these features are “extras” in advertising and give an idea of the real final cost. Most of us have also been drawn to a “storewide” sale where it turns out everything we would want to buy is an “exclusion” from the sale. These types of practices are ultimately a subtle form of deception and should be avoided by companies truly interested in customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

To be customer oriented today, marketers need to be aware that people lead busy lives and that simple, transparent, and straightforward policies and prices are desirable. From the consumer side, it is important to avoid rewarding companies who engage in such practices. Surely part of the company rationale for these practices relates to the idea that many consumers are very price oriented and not prone to be loyal in the long-run. Those who hope for better customer service need to reward the companies who avoid these bad practices and show that they are committed to strong customer service.

 

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedInCheck out my website