The Death of REAL Customer Service
There is a list somewhere of people who are banned from certain casinos. Usually this is because these players have found a way to beat the house by somehow breaking the rules. It’s not illegal, but casinos lose money with these people and have no interest in having them continually win more than they lose. The business equivalent of these people is my friend Jerome (names have been changed).
Jerome will complain to EVERY company that he thinks he can get something out of. He claims to have good reasons for this but all his friends know the truth. If he drinks a Snapple that tastes funny, he calls to complain and gets free Snapples. If he goes to a hotel and sees another person’s hair, he demands three free nights. Amazingly, many of the times he gets what he wants, or at least more than you would ever expect a company to give up. Jerome recently complained about Kenneth Cole shoes that he had for a few years and were starting to wear out in places that he felt shouldn’t have worn out. After much back and forth with customer service, he was able to get a $250 gift card for new shoes. His original shoes retailed for $200. I know, amazing.
Market research has shown that happy customers are repeat customers and it seems to have become standard practice for companies to give in to the Jeromes of the world because the additional cost will be made up by good word-of-mouth for quality customer service and repeat business.
Another friend of mine, Kyle, had his backpack replaced when he was in 7th grade by Jansport because a hole developed. To this day (he’s 28 now) he continues to buy products from Jansport, including his latest laptop case. This is an example of customer service that made an existing customer, a loyal one.
The world of social media has blown the communication channels wide open. No longer do you have to go out to find the right number to call or person to email. Brands are looking for you. If you own a product, that company wants to have an online connection with you. Complaining about a product to a customer service representative is as easy as writing a 140 character message. The Jeromes of the world love it but the Kyles get screwed. All the legitimate claim holders will be drowned out by all the Jeromes of the world.
In a perfect world, customer service would be transparent. Defective items would be replaced and false claims would be ignored. That isn’t how the world works. People are greedy and take advantage of big business (yes, big business is sometimes the victim). Utilizing social media is an amazing new approach to customer service. If a company isn’t careful, however, it could easily backfire into losing the quality customers amongst the crowd of irrelevant ones. To reinterpret a line from “The Incredibles”, “If everyone gets excellent customer service, then no one does”.
UPDATE: Regardless of my warnings, here is a good post by Tamar Weinberg as to why companies should be utilizing social media in their customer service initiatives.
Chances are that the $250 gift card more than paid for itself thanks to him and your blog post. Good karma like that all ways comes back
You write “People are greedy and take advantage of big business (yes, big business is sometimes the victim).” I do not beleive Jerome is being greedy, as he is simply writing/calling/emailing legit claims against products which are defective or not up to par. Same as with Kyle’s napsack. If a company claims to live up to a certain standard, they should, at any expense live up to it. I do not beleive the business is victim either. They choose to give Jerome and Kyle whatever compensation they see fit. It is their decision and they follow suite. Thhey can, as you say, simply ignore. THey do not do it for “attention”, “media” etc., they do it because they feel Jerome and Kyle were let down and they want to compensate accordingly. Hey, the world we live in is an expensive one and if Jerome and Kyle can seek rightful remedies, why not? They are entitled to it. In addition, if a company claims “lifetime warranty/guaramtee” the fact that 99/100 people are dumb enough to not hold the company to it, is their own fault. Kyle with the napsack exercised that right. Jerome exerceised the right of a company’s obligation to live up to a certain quality.
@Jon
I would agree with you but you don’t know Jerome. If Jerome really had defective products then yes, he should seek retribution. Most of the time, however, there is no lifetime guarantee and the defect on the product is minor to the point that it’s normal wear and tear. For example, the shoes I spoke about…he had them for 4 years. 4 YEARS! Of course they’re going to wear out. I’ve had my dress shoes for 2 years and they’re starting to look a little worn out. It’s expected.
If it was just this single example, I would say that maybe he has a point. He’s been doing this, however, for years, with dozens, maybe hundreds of companies. I recently got together with him and he was giving me a list of places he has to write letters to and contact. It’s statistically impossible for one person to have been the victim of SO many defective products. He’s not a consumer watchdog. He’s just a guy who takes advantage of a flaw in the customer service system. He’s quite good at it too. I told him to start an anonymous blog about it. I think he’d get a huge following. If he does, I’ll let you all know.