Case Study #2: Not great, but undeniably better

My experience with the second company wasnt stellar; in fact, it was downright frustrating. Nevertheless, the technical support reps who handled my case exhibited a great deal of class, and they were clearly sensitive to my frustrations. Heres what I mean.

The power adapter on my laptop had failed and its battery power was starting to run low. My computer was still under warranty, so the technical support rep assured me that they would ship me a new adapter soon.

I took that opportunity to express concern about the fact that this was the second time my laptop had failed in just eight months. (Its hard drive crashed just two months earlier.) Obviously, there was nothing that this rep could do about that, but I could sense the sympathy in his voice. At the end of my call, he asked, Is there anything else I can do for you? Id really like to help.

Now that was a class act.

Sadly, things did turn for the worse. I was assured that the power adapter would be shipped on Friday, so when that day came around, I called to ask for a tracking number. After some confusion on their end, I got the following response from another rep:

Rep: Im sorry sir, but the part isn't in stock.

Me: It's not? Then why I was promised that it would ship today?

Rep: Im sorry, sir. Our ordering system doesn't tell us if our warehouse has parts in stock.

Me: It doesn't? Almost all the vendors that I deal with have that capability.

Rep: Yes, and it would be really nice if our system did that too, but right now, it doesn't. Im sorry.

Me: Well, why was I promised that the part would be shipped today? Wouldn't it have been better to tell me that you still need to verify if the part is in stock?

Rep: Yes, that would have been better, sir. I could feel the regret in his voice.

Me: And if it turns out that a part isn't in stock, shouldn't you tell the customer? As things stand, I might have to spend thousands of dollars on a new laptop tomorrow morning. I wasn't notified of this problem when it occurred, and now it's too late to make alternate arrangements.

Rep: I feel very bad about that, sir. I really do. And so forth, and so on.

We discussed the matter further, but suffice to say that this fellow didn't try to make excuses. He recognized the problem, and acknowledged that their system had failed. Like the other rep that I spoke to earlier, he was consummately respectful, and made his desire to help very clear.

So this is a situation where the technical support reps spoke to the customer respectfully, didn't stick to some cookie-cutter script, and knew enough to express empathy in a crisis. Those attitudes can go a long way toward defusing a volatile situation. Despite my frustration at the companys screw-up, I couldn't help but appreciate their efforts.

(Sadly, the story did not end there. I spoke to someone from their customer service department a few days later, with the intent of providing constructive feedback. Unfortunately, while the aforementioned technical support reps had been empathetic and responsive, this customer service rep answered my every comment with That's not our policy! or words to that effect. That's a whole nuther case study though, of which I'll write about soon.)

In summary, these case studies show how the proper training of call center staff can make a huge difference in customer relations. A cookie-cutter, heavily scripted approach to troubleshooting can be disastrousespecially when the service reps are not trained in basic relations etiquette and customer empathy. In contrast, some basic people skills can go a long way toward defusing an ugly situation.

About the Author

V. Berba Velasco Jr., Ph.D. is a senior elec/software engr at CTL (Europe, China). He regards engineering as a holistic discipline, and frequently says that theres a huge interpersonal aspect to engineering which is seldom taught in schools. This article provides an example of what he means.