By lindagoffigan
A Complaint Management System that works dealing with customer complaints in a real time customer service situatio
This short story is about Alice and the Complaint Management System of which she had no idea was working as she called into the contact center as a dissatisfied customer. Resolving customer complaints is not new for customer service representatives but to receive a call from Alice, a clearly angry customer, would have thrown the rule book away on any Complaint Management System.
. Alice is an elderly woman who called the complaint handling department of the contact center that dealt with difficult customers. Alice was one of a pool of dissatisfied customers, miserable, in tears and very angry. You see, Alice customer complaint was that she had been on her cellular telephone for three hours with talk time running out trying desperately to cancel her Internet service. Alice sounded very angry and adamant about reporting her pain, grief and strife to the Better Business Bureau as a way of dealing with what she surmised to be the business utterly lack of management customer complaint satisfaction policy.
Alice customer complaint seemed to be more focused on having been on her cellular phone for three hours more than concerned about resolving the customer complaint. Alice was allowed to vent and rant and rave only being interrupted to get her account information in handling customer complaints. Alice had her service since December and the day of her call was January, So Alice had plenty of time to get complete customer satisfaction with the retribution or refund of her money.
Alice was unable to disconnect the service herself to stop the daily usage charges. Alice was put on hold to vent and calm down while considering the connection processes as the customer service representative was determined to adhere to the Customer Complaint Management System that is given to every call of a customer complaint. Promises were made to make Alice return of investment in the Internet service with a refund for lack of one month usage. In resolving the customer complaint, an attempt to rid Alice of her tears and to calm down her as an irate customer.
Upon picking up the telephone after being on hold, Alice thought she had found a new best friend. Resolving customer complaints should be handled with professionalism, it was the state of Alice frustrations that led her to view the customer service representative as a friend.
After reading notes from her previous calls to the company using the customer handling software dealing with customer complaints the complaint tracking showed that sure enough, Alice had threatened to call the Better Business Bureau (BBB) on the other customer service representatives for having her on hold for three hours.
Let’s see. Alice claimed she was on hold for a total of six hours and the Complaint Management System center had not been open that length of time. Alice had found what she wanted which was someone to register complaints exaggerating the entire situation. Probably some incident had shadowed and trailed Alice all of her life up until this very moment. Alice wanted someone to complain to and her only cushion of hope so far had been the Better Business Bureau.
Alice should not waste her time with customer service complaints. If the Better Business Bureau was Alice's only hope and help when things did not go your way, she should seek and find a better recourse or course of action. Sometimes when customers are ready weapons of defense, be it the BBB or any other barrier , these types of situations will almost surely arise.
So here is Alice on her cellular telephone, crying, complaining, angry and frustrated for being on the phone for three, not three but a total of six hours. Sure enough, Alice was able to use her secret weapon, the BBB. Alice was told to use a land line so that the cell phone bill would not be excessive.At this suggestion, she was benevolent the customer service representative she was the nicest person she had talked with all day. No Alice, the customer service representative was not the nicest person you had talked with all day. The customer service representative had used a complaint management of listening to the customer and letting them vent without taking the noise personally.
The problem was not in Alice's Internet service. The problem was not the time Alice spent on the cellular telephone on hold. The problem was not even having the Better Business Bureau as a backup. The real problem was Alice being overwhelmed with yet another seemingly impossible task in life where things did not work out the way Alice wanted it to. These problems had been compounded on steps that had to be taken that may lead to other complaints that some other customer service representative would have to listen to and use the complaint management system to get through with solutions.
Yes Alice, the customer service representative listened to the complaint and I saw that this issue was just another way out of no way that would lead to tears and frustrations. Alice, the customer service representative used the complaint management system of being emphatic and compassion to hurriedly get out of the complaint system. This particular customer service representative did not join the other one who forgot the complaint management system and who said that Alice was just another irate customer and hurriedly got off the telephone.
This was Alice, an old woman who used people to cry and to pounce on instead of looking to herself and trying to handle her emotions that would lead to her being able to solve her problems. Alice should not rely totally on the BBB but on your inner strengths of most of all being courteous and not irate when trying to get customer satisfaction. Alice, the next time is placed on hold, she should not be depicted as just another irate caller. The complaint management system says to tell the customer what to do and in Alice's case, she should hang up the cellular telephone, say a little prayer and redial using the land line. If Alice do not have a land line then she should get connected to one to help to satisfy her customer complaint. Say another little prayer before the agent answers and calmly as if talking kindly to yourself, Alice should explain explain her situation.
All possibilities are that if Alice speak calmly then the person on the other side of the line will speak calmly also. This is also an important tool that the Complaint Management System taught customer service representatives how to use when handling customer complaints and difficult customers. The customer should not try to handle all of that anger and frustration alone by placing in with the customer service representative.
This is a note to Alice from the Customer Service Representative who Alice called a friend after the CSR used the Complaint Management System techniques from which trained:
" Alice, if the agent answer is not within your satisfaction, do not complain. Complaints only hurts the one complaining and no one wants to hear it. Alice all you have to do is calmly escalate the call to a higher level of management in a business like manner. Sales agents can hear your character over the telephone and you want to sound like the life lived so far has earned you strong and decent character"
"Remember Alice, you were smart enough to purchase a “smart” Internet service bundle. You are smart enough to handle your emotions and your patience. If not satisfied at the managerial level, then kindly write to the company's corporate office. This procedure proves the better and the smarter choice. Less stress, less tears and more results is the goal you should seek, Alice. I shall continue to speak nicely to you as I do all of my customers who I am in contact with on a daily basis. I shall not treat you any differently so that you feel you should be armed with your BBB and difficult customer attitude. I am happy to have served you today, Alice, and I am glad that I was able to calm you down to get the help you needed."
"I hope that the two return numbers I gave you were sufficient to get your service restored or your money returned. Because, Alice isn’t that what you really wanted; just someone, anyone to listen to you without having to scream and shout out a lifetime of disappointments? I hope, Alice, that today was your turning point and that you can move on in a more peaceful and positive world."
From Hub Pages