Customer Disservice
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Normally, on the other side of the counter is a less than happy person looking for some sort of satisfaction. We are often judged on how we deal with such a situation and, in many cases, if a negative situation is handled well we can create advocates from those that could have been our worse critics. Recently, I had two instances where the customer service, though resolved, was less than stellar.
I am fortunate enough to have a car-based GPS system which also gives me live traffic updates. As a commuter who travels 35kms into work and out again along the motorway, information on the state of the traffic can be very, very valuable. In January this year the GPS system that I own, which attaches to my windscreen, stopped giving me live traffic updates. The GPS was a TomTom. Being reasonably internet savvy I went to the website and looked through the frequently asked questions to ensure that it wasn't a mistake that I was making. It wasn't so I logged a "my problem" with TomTom looking for some sort of resolution.
The device was still less than a year old and there was an assumption that, even if it wasn't covered by the guarantee, it was well within the terms outlined in the Consumer Guarantee's Act. This started a dialogue through email where suggestions were made, done and outcomes derived.
Ultimately, the TomTom was sent to a distribution point at my expense for physical evaluation. TomTom then admitted that it was a machine fault and replaced it. This had taken some time as the emails were with somebody not in New Zealand and it seemed that they could only manage one email per day. But it was resolved and it only took two months to do so. A new unit arrived, was registered on their website and installed in the car and lo and behold, the live traffic update didn't work!
Again, emails flowed back and forward and after a significant period of time, and having the unit returned again at my expense to TomTom, a new unit arrived and, of course, this unit didn't work either! Back to an email a day; a new map update was issued but because I couldn't register a new GPS unit against my existing account within six months of the previous one, I had to set up a new account for the new GPS but, of course, the map update went to the old account. It took an hour and a half phone call from Australia to finally work out what the issue with the new GPS was and approximately 51/2 months after the first issue was identified, the TomTom was finally up and running correctly in my car.
The issue I have with this process is not the resolution, but the time and the processes involved. It took an awfully long time and an awful lot of persistence, including looping the Chief Executive of TomTom International into the emails, to get resolution. It also highlighted for me the danger of having help desks outside the time zones of the customers. It dramatically slows down the resolution process.
It was an interesting experience; one which was resolved but took such a long time to do so. And, it left me with a lingering sense of irritation and the feeling that if I hadn't been as persistent as I was then it would not have been resolved and it would have ended with a dissatisfied customer for TomTom. The outcome is, of course, that it's a valuable learning lesson for those of us that have to deal with disgruntled clients, hence the description of the process in this article.
The second instance was when I recently went to a meeting in Auckland. Because after that meeting I had a number of places to visit during my time in Auckland, I hired a rental car for the day. I booked it, received a booking number and jumped on the red-eye special out of Wellington. As stated earlier, I live a long way away from town and the airport so it necessitated a very early morning start. Consequently, I arrived in Auckland, went to the rental car company to pick up my car and get on my, only way to be told "I'm sorry Mr Baines; there is no car here for you. There is no record of a booking for you on our system at all." I was extremely irritated by this and let the person at the counter know of my irritation. I subsequently contacted one of my staff who opens the office early to check my diary and confirm the reservation number which I had written down when making the booking. I then returned to the counter and gave this number to the staff member I had dealt with earlier. "Ah yes, we have your booking, but it was cancelled on the 1st of June." As I had made the booking myself and none of my staff were aware that I had made the booking, the only person that could have cancelled it was me, and I hadn't. This was done internally by the rental car company. I then explained to them that I had a booking and I wanted a car and they said "We have no cars at all in the whole of Auckland." Being somewhat acquainted with contract law I told them that a contract had been entered into, that I had fulfilled my side of the bargain and I wanted "specific performance". At this point they could have become heroes or zeros and they chose to be zeros. "No, I'm sorry. Go away. We can't help you. You might have to go to some other rental car company." This is a clear breach of contract and not only that, dreadful customer relations.
I was really upset but, fortunately, a colleague of mine who had a booking arrived in the rental car company at that time, got a car and he drove me to my meeting. I had to rearrange my day, catch several taxis and I was extremely annoyed.
I did write about the experience in the Association's weekly email newsletter and on Monday morning there was an email from the rental car company expressing concern about what I had written and looking to resolve the problem. In the meantime, I had written a letter and sent it to everybody that I could think of that was even remotely associated with the rental car company, including the CEO of Australia, the CEO of the parent company, the CEO of the representative company in New Zealand, the General Manager of the operation in New Zealand and anyone else I could think of.
There was an immediate response from the CEO of the company in Australia and we are currently exploring resolutions to this issue. I won't mention the rental car company's name as we are still working on what the outcome will be and it would be a trifle unfair to them to name them.
It does beg the question though that in both cases the process got in the way of the customer satisfaction. As a customer I don't know what the internal processes of the companies are and I don't care. That is absolutely irrelevant. I want delivery on the promise at the time when the issue occurs, with at least a smile. I want resolution, and I want it immediately. Failure to do so gives people like me the opportunity to broadcast the company's failings to a reasonably large audience, which is all avoidable if I am treated with courtesy, respect, and have my issues promptly and successfully resolved.
