There are three essential elements that successful businesses have: A good product or service, that product or service at a competitive price, and customer support. But, somewhere along the consumer continuum, customer satisfaction began to be much less important. There are two specific pieces to customer service that are important to the buyer. If the product or service does not meet expectations or fails, will the company replace, repair, or refund the price? And, is the company or representative available for consultation within a reasonable time frame? Since most online purchases are made with credit cards, the companies really have little choice with the product or service satisfaction. The consumer can always terminate the transaction and this puts pressure on the provider to keep its promises to satisfy. But the real problem occurs about when it comes to contacting the business for support.
If the site has email contact it is fairly easy to get to them, but it may take time. But if a telephone call is necessary, much like technical support, it can be a nightmare. After hitting one for this and two for that, it will be 20 minutes or more. And when you do get a representative, English may not be their primary language. I am not even sure that off-shore call centers are a good deal for the companies either. Call center workers in this country don't get paid very much. But, in either case, when the person supposed to be helping can not be understood, we get frustrated. Now, I don't like to be rude, but I refuse to be an interpreter for the call worker. I ask for a supervisor and complain! Do they care? Probably not but I want them to know that I am angry with the wait and the language barrier. The sad reality is that it will only get worse when all systems go to voice recognition. Just another thought...
If the site has email contact it is fairly easy to get to them, but it may take time. But if a telephone call is necessary, much like technical support, it can be a nightmare. After hitting one for this and two for that, it will be 20 minutes or more. And when you do get a representative, English may not be their primary language. I am not even sure that off-shore call centers are a good deal for the companies either. Call center workers in this country don't get paid very much. But, in either case, when the person supposed to be helping can not be understood, we get frustrated. Now, I don't like to be rude, but I refuse to be an interpreter for the call worker. I ask for a supervisor and complain! Do they care? Probably not but I want them to know that I am angry with the wait and the language barrier. The sad reality is that it will only get worse when all systems go to voice recognition. Just another thought...
RSS Feed
