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News, tips, and trends to help you reach that next level of customer service.
People often wonder why customer service providers don't apply common sense to seemingly simple situations. As I recently discovered, many customer service behaviors don't come naturally. Let's add another reason to the list: our common sense often gets hijacked by our emotions.
I called a customer service line today to schedule some minor repairs at my home. The person who answered the phone gave me an unusual greeting:
I've been blogging about a customer service challenge I experienced with the Avis car rental company. The problem is now mostly resolved and I think I'm ready to share a few lessons learned.
Yesterday was the five year anniversary of Toister Performance Solutions. Although this post is a bit of self-indulgence, I thought I'd take a moment to share the top five business lessons I've learned in that time.
Yes, the title of this post is a reference to that Lemonheads song. Now it's stuck in your head too.
It's also a reference to the latest update with Ray, the person who contacted me because of my blog post on poor customer service at Avis. Ray had identified himself as an Avi customer service supervisor and offered to help me. At the time, I was excited to hear from Ray because I think it is a great way to respond to customers who are ranting about your company via social media. I was also guarded in my optimism since Ray represented Avis employee #6 to try handle this situation.
Here's what happened:
Then I waited. And waited. And probably heard that Lemonheads song on the radio today which reminded me it had been a week and I hadn't heard back from Ray. "It's a shame about Ray." So, I emailed him back to ask for an update.
Ray did email me back today to say everything should be all set and he had mailed out coupons for two free days (the equivalent to a weekend). Again, I'm cautiouly optimistic, but I've also heard promises like this before so I'll wait to see how it goes.
Background: I started this blog experiment after I had unsuccessfully tried four times to resolve a problem with Avis. I signed up for "Preferred" status so I could bypass the rental counter, but I've had to go to the rental counter anyway. Now, I'm using my blog to chronicle my attempts to see if Avis will finally resolve the issue or cause me to find a new "Preferred" rental car company.
Jeff Toister