Small Victories in Customer Service
Posted by Doug Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:20:00 GMT
I bought my wife a GPS from Amazon as an early Christmas present before Thanksgiving. I guess I was a little too eager because I ended up paying too much for it. Just a couple weeks later, Amazon advertised to me in one of their “may we suggest” ads the very same GPS for a lot less money. In the end, they refunded me the difference in price; but I can’t help but feel a little miffed by the whole experience.
Let me start by saying trying to sell me the exact same device I’ve already bought from them at a lower price in a targeted ad is pretty stupid. They know everything I’ve bought. In fact, the ad said something like “we know you’ve looked at these GPS’, may we suggest this other one?” Why would they advertise to me something I’ve already bought. And why advertise it to me if you know I paid more for the same device? We in the web development world who control how these ads get generated need to do better than that.
I couldn’t let them rub this price drop in my face, so I called up customer service. The CSR was unsympathetic to my plight. Nothing I said phased her. I was nice and undemanding. I pointed out that I was within my return window and I could just return the device for a refund and then go buy it somewhere else. It all was a no go. There was no getting a refund from her.
So I pulled the standard “let me talk to your manager” trick. She made me wait on hold for what seemed like five to 10 minutes. When the supervisor came on the phone she quickly summarized what she thought my concern was and then just as quickly told me she’d refund me the difference between what I paid and the new price.
One the surface, I’m pleased. I paid way too much for the GPS and I’m glad I didn’t loose out. Money’s tight this time of year and every little bit helps. Also, it didn’t cost me too much effort to get the refund. All told probably 30 minutes. The refund as an hourly wage is pretty good.
On the other hand, I’m frustrated by the way they handled me. First, as I said above, why even advertise the price drop to me? It’s true I was already aware other places (like Wal-Mart) had it cheaper. But the ad was definitely insult to injury. Second, and this is the real kicker, why didn’t the original CSR handle my concern? Why did she resist so hard to giving me a refund when her supervisor just came on the phone and gave it to me without me having to even ask?
I’m trying to think what lesson I can learn about this in dealing with people. I wonder if the original CSR knew her manager was going to give me what I wanted? It seems like there’s times when people have wanted things from me that I knew I’d eventually give them. For some reason though I can recall making them “work for it”. Maybe such a delayed “giving in” has some value, but on the receiving end I’m not so sure. I think this no-then-yes tactic really just comes across as being difficult to work with.
I think the lesson to walk away from here is that when someone asks for something really think about it before you say “no”. Are you saying “no” just because you hope they’ll go away but you know the right thing to do is say “yes”? There are definitely times to say “no” just as there are definitely times to say “yes”. I guess what I’m trying to come up with is don’t play games with your yeses and noes. Shoot straight. Let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no.
Oh, and the other lesson to walk away from here is don’t give in so easily when talking to customer service.
