Customer Service: Friend or Foe?

This week has been busy for me and do not get me wrong I am happy, but it has made me realize something; our lives revolve around some form of customer service.

Think about the events during a regular normal day, trying to pretend it is uneventful, and think about how many times you use customer service skills; helping a friend or family member, if you are a cashier checking a person out at a register, if you are an agent monitoring a person's account, or maybe even simply just opening a door for a stranger.  I know the idea may sound a bit funny, but in each scenario provides an opportunity to think about another person or CARE for another person who is putting a lot of trust in you.  You are helping them obtain a set goal in their life even if it is as simple as walking through a door in which you are trusted not to slam it in the other person's face.

In the professional career driven world, some organizations relabeled customer service as customer care, which I feel should be the correct term as the term 'care' is the essential part of the customer service industry.  Ultimately the situations are where one person has a need for another who cares enough to assist, but with all this caring in our professional and private lives, do you ever get tired of caring?

This would be the moment we all become that one irritating person on the end of the phone that most people in the customer service profession hate.  We become irritated wanting our own way and not fully understanding both sides of the situation before we jump to a conclusion.  In my experience, I do understand both sides of the spectrum, but that does not make things any easier when a problem arises.  

Let me give you an example:

This past year my bank sent me a statement on one of my accounts through the mail that was returned to them in April 2014.  My bank then waited six months to try another attempt in October 2014 to validate they did have the correct address, but the post office returned the mail again.  Now, you have to understand that I have a P.O. Box for a specific safety purpose that is paid for every six months and I have recently verified that all my payments have been made by the due date to prevent any issues of my box closing and not receiving any mail.  However, in April the post office closed my box for two days, long enough for the mail from the bank to be returned to the sender.  As for the October issue, well apparently there was no explanation for that one.

As a customer to both organizations, I could have gotten angry, but needed to understand what the situation was as I now had a closed bank account due to the inevitably frustratingly aggravating situation that I had to reopen.  I contacted the bank, who explained the situation about the mail issue, telling me to provide specific information of my own to them to reopen the account that was being closed for my own security. I sent this in and waited....waited....and WAITED!  I called again to find out that the representative did not tell me the joint needed to provide her information as well to reopen the account. (#fail).  The document I provided needed to be sent in again with her information, my information, and both our signatures.  The joint lives three hours away.  I have already wrestled with the bank issue for a month and now I have to wait longer because a representative did not give me ALL the information I needed. #breath #calmdown.

Fine, I understand the bank has policies and procedures they need to follow, but is there not some sort of way to expedite my situation and reopen the account when it is not my fault?  Guess not....so I walked away stomping my feet frustrated because it made me feel better.  Oh, but wait!  The post office.  I went to the post office to check with their representative why my mail was being returned.  I was informed about the box closing in April, for who knows what reason when it was confirmed I did not have a late payment, but the return mail in October could not be explained.  There are no restrictions on my box and both my past married name and maiden name are on the box (because this is the third time this has happened, but was not a huge issue in the past).  I have never seen a more shocked dumbfounded looking in my life.  "I'm sorry. I don't know why this happened."  The representative could not send a letter to the bank to admit the return mail was in error because the bank would not accept it and the bank was just following protocol.  Now we are in the 21st century where the bank account has my email to which my statements are sent electronically, so why was this not used?  FYI...I just threw a stack of papers in the air because I do not have an answer, but apparently neither do they.

Customer service.....Customer care.....

So where was the caring in the whole situation?  No one cared to try other methods of contacting me. #fail No one gave me all the information I needed until multiple contacts later. #fail  No one could change or even guarantee an issue would not arise again even though I had given all the information they requested. #fail  

I could have gotten mad, irate, hysterical, etc., but I did not because I could not control the issue (and apparently neither could the bank or post office).  I would almost dare say that I provided the representatives with more customer care than I received, but I also understand that they could only follow as much information as the company gives them.

We are all human and mistakes happen in businesses that are at times overlooked.  As I demonstrated in my story, you need to understand that the person you are talking to may only be the messenger in the whole situation and trust me...you can't kill them...it's illegal.  I try to keep this in mind when inquiring on situations where I need to speak to a representative, but then as a representative, I also keep in mind that this person is calling me for a reason.  This person trusts that I will have an answer, if not, be able to find the answer because that is my job and I represent the company.  Sadly, it is this representation and association that gets you yelled at as a representative because to the person on the other end, you ARE the company, the one who messed up.

So what do I do now?  Well, I keep the post office in check as they have proven not to be worthy of my trust that I now have to supervise them.  I give the bank what they need for my account praying someone can expedite the situation as they see that I have gone the extra mile on my side of the event...and then wait, because I have no other choice.

I guess after this issue, being asked about my customer service experience for a second job, and seeing how much the agent I currently work for cares for her customers I felt the need to say something in hopes that in the midst of frustration we can care enough to see both and maybe solve problems a bit more efficiently through calm rationality.