Customer Service Is Dead – Members of The New Middle Aged Let’s Revolt

Have any of you tried solving a problem you have with a Retail Store, Bank, Gas Company, Cable Company, Internet Service Provider, Discount Store Chain, Credit Card Company, and or a Government Organization lately? If you have you will probably have discovered that it is almost impossible to get a live person on the phone as opposed to the click 1, click 3, click 2, click 4 merry go-round these organizations send you on by phone to make sure you never speak to a real person. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to speak to virtual Sally. I want a real person to help me solve my problem. I don’t want to speak to someone in the Philippines, or be transferred to someone in India who is trying to read from a script in an American Accent when what I want is to speak to someone in the US who could possibly relate to my problem. I am also getting tired of receiving bills with two weeks or less left in a twenty-five day billing cycle because the Company in question was too cheap to send the bill out by first class mail. Who decided a month was twenty-five days anyway? Why shouldn’t I have a full thirty days to pay my bill? After all the billing company wants me to pay by first class mail and allow eight to ten days for their inefficient PO Box handling systems to sort the mail. It’s time to revolt against the death of customer service. The only one you can get on the phone these days is the telephone company. No wonder, they are making a bloody fortune with all the voice answering customer service robot voices Company’s are putting on the phone these days to stop us from getting our problems solved by a real person. It has gotten so bad that in some major NYC department stores if you have a problem you have to take the elevator to an office floor and talk on the phone to a customer service voice located in a different state or country because they are afraid to let you speak to a live person in the store you are in who might answer your question or take a return or give you a credit, God forbid. Sorry, I am getting worked up as you can see. Back to the subject –let’s revolt. That’s right, let’s let these organizations know we aren’t going to be pushed around anymore. For all of you who are fifty plus and remember the good old days when Company’s tried to provide good customer service, I am sure you will understand. Let’s do the following: 1. If you have a problem and get put on with a computer voice response system, hang up, call the Office of the President and tell them you have to speak to a live person or you are canceling your account. 2. If you get a bill with less than two weeks left to pay send a registered letter to the Office of the President telling him or her that you require thirty days from receipt of a bill to pay, and if this is not acceptable you are canceling your account. Tell them that if you receive a late payment fee you will refer the matter to the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission and or the Public service Commission, if it is a cable, utility or telephone bill. 3. If you get put on the phone with India or the Philippines, tell whomever you speak to that you can’t understand them. Then hang-up and call the Office of the President and tell the operator you want someone in the states to handle your problem or you are going take your business to their competitor, God help you. If enough of these calls get placed to the Office of the President, even if you have to leave a message, the chances are the executive voice mail defense experts in charge will start to get the message that they are dealing with intelligent people who are fifty plus and are members of the New Middle Aged, and that we are not going to take this anymore. They might even have their live customer service representatives ask if there is anything else they can do for us, or say, I hope this has solved your problem, or ask, do you have any other questions? They might even come up with the bright idea that this might afford them the opportunity to up sell another product to us while creating good will and customer loyalty. It is possible that if we all have faith and we all work together we can get these genius marketers to understand that selling us something might just depend on what kind of service they give us, and that getting us as repeat customers will depend on the level of their customer service and our ability to speak to a real person. To find out more about becoming a founding member of the New Middle Aged group and enjoy all the benefits you are entitled to please contact us at my blog or Web site. Copyright of Arthur Levine, 2006