Wing Tang Wong

An Issue of Customer Service Follow Through

Let's face it. You will have bad customers. You will have customers that challenge your understanding of the concept of minimal intelligence. You will have customers who are angel customers. You will encounter all this and more... at the beginning, middle, and end of your relationship with a customer.

In my case, it started out on an angel basis with one of my insurance providers.

Where you see me now, is at the end. I am no longer an angel customer. I'm one of the others.

So... What Do You Do When You've Been Promised One Thing...

So, what brought this to mind, was a recent incident with an insurance company, where what I was told, differed greatly and materially from what was actually documented in the contract.

It was a case of, "Oh, don't worry, we have an understanding, we can update the paperwork later..."

Yeah... update. The agent who made those sweet sweet promises to me ended up leaving the company shortly afterwards. Reasons were not given, but when I was asking for a promised refund, I was told:

• It's not the company's fault, it was the fault of one employee.
• We can't help you, the contract states it all very clearly that...
• Please let us know how we can be of future service!

Needless to say, I am out some money, have a somewhat lower respect for the company in question, and I am taking my business elsewhere, even though in some cases, it costs me more money.

The truth is, while the representative of the company, and subsequently, the manager, were correct, they really fell flat on support. Yes, it was a singular employee who messed up, but that individual was an employee of the company and thus representing the company. The company is liable... morally and ethically, if not legally, in this particular case.

The Point of No Return... Isn't Really That Far Away...

The thruth is, there ARE things that the company could have done to keep my business.

They could have credited some of the value to my remaining accounts, performed an evaluation of my other accounts to see if something similar happened, which it did.. and no, it was I who reviewed the contract, not the company.

What I found, through my experience in trying to explain my situation, was what one might normally expect. The experience of working with a company that doesn't seem to care... doesn't live up to the marketing message. Part of the problem of this experience was that I literally had to work to get help and to get a straight answer.

It was exhausting, time consuming, and infuriating. It is just the kind of experience that doesn't push, so much as shove, one over that line that divides the field of good and bad customer experiences.

"We look forward to..."

As for the "future service" part, I will be closing all of my insurance accounts with them and opening my accounts with another provider. The basic idea is... if they won't try to help me out when I'm not down and out, how can I be sure that they will lift a finger to help me out when I am?

Can this be generalized to other people and organizations? Probably not. But the expectations of good customer support and follow-through, AFTER the sale, is important.

It should be noted that should anyone ask for an insurance provider, the company in question, will not be high on my recommendation list.

The truly sad bit of this is that they out-source the insurance provision through a third party, so they make their money on the initial sale, via a commission. There is a bake-in period, where they need to ensure that the customer doesn't cancel their policy, so that they can keep their commission, but after that, anything they do is overhead and cost.

This kind of attitude doesn't just hurt the company in question, but the insurance provider. Part of the hassle was that in contacting the actual insurance provider, because of the arrangement, I had to work through this company.

It honestly becomes an issue of guilt by association. And it is unfortunate, since the provider could have the greatest customer support, but it is ultimately fouled up by the company working directly with the customer.

All I can say is... when you partner with businesses, make sure you know who you are partnering with. If you start seeing customer drop off, it might be time to evaluate the reasons why, beyond just factors within your own organization.
~