We’ve all been there. A strange charge appeared on your bill. Your meal didn’t arrive the way you ordered it. Your new gadget stopped working the day you bought it.
No one enjoys contacting customer service, especially when there’s bad news to deliver. The situation only sours when the employee you talk to isn’t especially helpful. But these difficult customer service cases can often be navigated more easily with a cool, collected approach and some insider tips.
Here are six of the best ways to get the customer service resolution you want.
- Provide clear feedback. Always include names, products, special offers, reservations, and any other details that matter to your situation. Be prepared before you contact customer service. Have all your documents and packaging ready. When you share feedback about bad customer service, be specific. Just giving a two on a one to 10 survey doesn’t offer enough information for a company to fix the problem. Some brands really value your feedback and might encourage you to reach out to them about your experience.
- Manage your emotions. George Carlin was correct that there are words not allowed on TV – and this also holds true for customer service. Some customer service reps, whether face-to-face or on the phone, are taught to disconnect or end the call when things get rough. Keep your comments respectful. Express your feelings, but avoid the negativity.
- Pick a channel. When you have a problem that needs resolution, it may be tempting to jump from phone to Twitter to email. But often you’ll receive better results if you seek to resolve the problem in the channel in which it occurred. If a problem arises at a store, speak with someone behind the counter. If it happened online, open a chat window or send an email. Telling someone in a call center about how bad a store was will typically fall into a black hole. Sharing your frustration about a website to someone in the call center may fall on deaf ears. While organizations work to share feedback across every touch point, keep your feedback in the same channel to reach faster resolutions.
- Get around “The Policy.” You’re likely familiar with the line, “I’m sorry, but that’s our policy.” It’s a soft reminder that you’ve either broken the “rules” or the “rules” can’t be broken for you. While there are times when the policy is the policy for legal or safety reasons, often it acts as a crutch for getting a person off the line. When you need resolution, try turning the tables. Need a refund for the big game that didn’t come through in your area, but your provider won’t refund your money for two or more billing cycles as a result of “the policy”? Try calmly but firmly saying, “Well, it’s MY policy to always resolve issues immediately,” and you may be surprised at how effective this approach can be.
- Ask for a call back. Although most customer service is you calling them, don’t hesitate to ask for a call back. If you aren’t satisfied with an answer – how many times have you heard “Please call us back in two to three days to check the status”? – ask them to call you back. How an organization handles follow up is a great barometer of excellence. There are strong ties to loyalty and repeat business when a business does what it promises. And if you’re giving feedback to a company over the phone or in a survey, ask to be called back. Some organizations will only call back when a customer is a risk AND they specifically ask for it.
- Remind the employee you’re both human. “I’m glad this call is being recorded,” I once told a call center agent. “Let me talk to your boss and tell them this call should the one to pick for quality and training purposes.” Sometimes a personal statement to the employee – human to human – can remind them that your situation is real and deserves attention. Keep in mind that customer service professionals are in a highly repetitive environment. Anything that can distinguish your situation from the other 70 phone calls they took that day will help your case.
Most companies are not out to get you and want to do right by their customers. But if you ever find yourself hitting a dead end in a customer service conversation, draw on one or more of these tactics to improve the experience for all involved and get closer to the resolution you want. Good luck!