A Tale of 2 Service Experiences

It was the worst of service. It was the best of service.  Sometimes it's amazing how you can have two entirely different experiences with the same company.  How about the same retail outlet? 

It all began when I discovered that my Palm Treo 600 was no longer able to recharge.  So I took it back to my Verizon authorized reseller to have it tended to.  They told me that I needed to go to the regular Verizon service center in Burlington, MA to have it taken care of. I was assured that they would be able to set me up with a new phone, no problem.  So I drove from Waltham to Burlington, and went to the Verizon store in the Burlington Mall. I waited in line at the service desk there for about 20 minutes.  When it was my turn, the technician didn't even lift his head from his computer screen - but just asked "How can I help you?"  I showed him the phone - and before I was able to complete a sentence about my issue, he wanted to know where I purchased it.  I told him and he told me that I would have to go there.  I explained that I had already been there, and was instructed to go here.  "Well,"  he said, "You damaged your unit so we can't help you.  We'll have to send it to the data team."  Again, I tried to explain that I had not damaged anything.  One day the charger plug worked and the next day it didn't.  He began to get impatient with me.  I told him that I was told that I could get the phone replaced if it couldn't be fixed here.  He said that they didn't have any of the Palms here.  In front of me, he called the store I purchased it from to tell them that they should not have sent me here.  He than again told me that I would have to contact the "data team."  I love it when a company talks about internal policy or internal departments using internal language that an external customer couldn't possible know about.  I asked him who or what was a data team and where were they?   His response was to just tell me I needed to talk to them - and he said it in a louder voice.  I asked him if he was raising his voice to me.  He said he'd go talk to a manager and disappeared from his chair.  He came back 5 minutes later to tell me that he couldn't help me - that I would have to go to the data team. Period.  I tried to explain that I was leaving for a week long trip the next day - and needed to get a chargeable phone before I left.  His suggestion was to buy a new one - since the data team was not local.  He was curt, rude, impatient and obviously not going to help.  To say that I was unhappy was a big understatement.  "So you're not going to do anything to help me?" I asked him.  He just gave me a dirty look and repeated the words "data team."  I had to ask him for contact information - which he finally gave me.  I guess one of the high points of our interaction was when I asked to see the manager - and he informed me that he was the assistant manager, and that he had already spoken to the manager.  "He'll just tell you the same thing."  Well, I guess that showed me!

So now what?  As a loyal Verizon customer (and yes, I've tried other providers, Cingular, AT&T and others) I was pretty much out of luck.  Since the service center was attached to a Verizon phone store, I went in to buy a cheap phone to tide me over for the week.  It seemed like a lousy but inevitable solution.  In this store, they have a little "triage" desk at the entrance where they ask you what you need, and then "assign" you to a staff member.  I asked the "greeter" for the name of the regional vice president or general manager, because I was going to write a letter about the terrible service treatment I had just received from the assistant help desk manager.  And I needed to buy a phone.  I got assigned to a woman who took me right away.  I repeated my request for a name and address for my letter.  She told me she would give me the information, and could I share with her what happened.  I told her the circumstances and how I felt about them.  I reiterated my need for a low-cost phone which seemed my only option to help me with my trip.  She looked up my account - and then looked me in the face and told me "you're a big Verizon customer."  That got my attention.  She asked for my Palm phone - and she would go talk to the manager about my issue.  I told her not to bother - that my "friend" over at the help desk already had.  She paused, and my husband suggested that I should let her try since she was making an effort to help.  That was a turning point, because I took a deep breath and did just that.  I reserved judgment and stepped back to see what she could do.  In about 10 minutes, she came back with a brand new Treo 650.  She apologized for the bad experience I had, and told me that she had spoken with the manager about how I was a big customer with over 1500 minutes a month.  She confided in me that she had the longest tenure at the store and had learned to make things happen. She gave me the name and address for my letter, and then walked me over to the payment desk.  She said she had also reviewed my usage and wanted to recommend a plan that would save me $35 dollars a month - could she have that adjustment made to my account?  She also had someone come and set up the phone right there.  She also sold me a car charger and a Blue-tooth ear piece. It was like being in Verizon heaven - after doing time in Verizon hell. 

So netting it all out - I got heard.  I got my issue resolved.  I got my call plan improved without even asking.  I got recommended some additional helpful products.  I got an upgraded phone which I hadn't asked for.  I got my travel emergency handled.  The key of my experience with her was that she was both a terrific service person and a marketer.  She understood that she had a promise to keep with an existing customer - and by delivering that kind of service, she was marketing to me why I should stay with Verizon.  AND she up-sold me some new accessories flawlessly, without making me feel like she was taking advantage of the shift in service.  She was so good - that she made the assistant manager look even worse!  She was so good - that I didn't write the letter.  She was so good that I'm writing here weeks later because I still remember how great and it was to be taken care of so well - after being treated so badly by someone else in her organiztion.  She took my problem, made it her own, and kept me as a customer.  There is a school of thought that customers who have a problem resolved to their satisfaction are more loyal than a customer who has never had a problem.  Now, I know first hand that this is true.

--- Lisa Dennis

Comments

[Cathi]

I think you still should have written the letter, so that someone in upper management would know what a valuable employee your second service person was.

Great blog, by the way!