One of the things a
manufacturer considers before the release of a product is the customer centre
where the customers can have an experience as it concerns the product.
Potential customers go to these centres to make enquiries about the product
they are interested in and sometimes these customers are allowed to have an
experience of what it would feel like to own this product. For the customers
that already own the product, this is a place they can get accessories for the
product, service the product and upgrade this product if necessary. The
customer service persons that you find in these centres are 'trained' to satisfy the customers'
needs.
Some months back, I had
a terrible experience with my tablet. The tablet decided to have a mind of its
own. It froze! I tried everything I knew to bring it back; tried to restart -
no response, searched the Internet for people who might have had the same
experience I was facing - tried their solutions, no response! I was really
frustrated. I had important information on the tablet that I needed to retrieve
to finish up a job I had started. In my frustration, I decided to leave the
tablet with me thinking to myself, 'when you are ready you would unfreeze
yourself...mscheew'. I could not leave it as I claimed I would; every
passing hour was torture for me. In my lamentations, I recounted my plight to
my brother. He then told me to leave it; two of his friends had had similar
experiences and all they did was leave the tablet to discharge the battery
completely. He went further to tell me that my particular model of tablet has
been having a lot of issues. 'Yepa!' Just before my tablet went
into the freeze mode, I had just charged it fully. As of the time I was
recounting my story, it had been a week of torture and my battery was reading
87%. I tried to do the Maths; it meant I would have to wait for about four more
weeks before I had my tablet back *sad face*. I began to desperately desire a
change of model since a new model had just been released a few weeks before.
I could not bring
myself to accept that as the only solution to the experience I was having so I
decided to change location of my lamentations. It was then a friend reminded me
about the customer centre for the particular tablet. I decided I was going to upgrade
and no longer deal with the torture the current model was giving me; weeks of
painfully waiting for the battery to discharge. So I set out for this customer
centre. On getting to the centre, I headed for the first person I saw. This
customer service person had a colleague standing by her side. This was how our
conservation went
Uhunoma:
'Good
afternoon'
CSP
female: 'Good afternoon'
Waiting
for why I interrupted her gist with her colleague
Uhunoma:
'I
have an issue with my tablet and I need your help'
CSP
female: 'Did you bring your tablet?'
I
could already read impatience in her disposition.
Uhunoma:
'No
I did not. My tablet froze a few weeks ago and I have not been able to unfreeze
it since then. I tried everything I knew and could not get it to unfreeze. When
I shared my plight with some people, I realised that quite a number of people
with my current model have been having the same problem. I would like to know
if that is something that has come to your notice of late.'
CSP
female: 'Did you try to hard reset it? You said you tried everything you knew,
why didn't you bring it here?'
She
totally ignored what I said about other people complaining that the same model
had been giving them similar issues. Clearly, she could not wait to end the
conversation she was having with me so she could return to her gist.
Uhunoma: 'I
just told you that I did not bring the tablet, one. Secondly, I mentioned that
some other people have been having issues with this same model. I only want to
know if it has come to your notice because I am willing to make an upgrade if
that is the case.'
Her response to
statement was a shocker.
CSP female: 'Doesn't
your laptop freeze?!'
I was so stunned! Her
expression was as if 'ask me again' and see what happens.
I could not believe that was coming from the representative of the
manufacturer. This was too shocking. While I was still trying to process her response,
I saw another customer service person and simply walked up to him.
Uhunoma:
'Good
afternoon. You really need to teach your people how to talk to customers.'
*By this time I was pissed*
CSP
male: 'Good afternoon. I'm sorry about the reception you had. How can I help
you?'
Uhunoma:
'I
just laid a complaint to your colleague that my tablet has frozen for some
weeks now and that some people have been complaining that my current model has
been having similar issues. I wanted to know if such complaints had come to
your notice because I am willing to have an upgrade. What would her response be
to my entire story?! Doesn't your laptop freeze? Can you just imagine?!'
CSP
male: 'I'm really sorry about the response you had from my colleague. I
apologise on behalf of this customer centre. You do not need to make an
upgrade, please allow me show you something else you can do to unfreeze your
tablet since your tablet is not here at the moment.'
He
went ahead to show me something else I had not tried and I told him I would
give it a try as soon as I got home.
Uhunoma:
'I'm
really glad I met you here. I do not think I would have returned to this
particular customer centre if not for my encounter with you. I really
appreciate your kind approach unlike your colleague; she was not nice at all.
She was so rude!'
CSP
male: 'You are most welcome. I apologise again. Do have a lovely day.'
Uhunoma:
'And
you too. Thank you again and I would definitely give you a feedback.'
I
left the customer centre pondering on the contrasting interactions I had with
both customer centre persons. If I had left the centre after interacting with
the first person, I might never have returned to that centre but my interaction
with the second customer centre person made me realise that the reception we
receive from all of these centres is based mostly on the personality of the person
that receives us. I honestly would not like to meet an 'ask me again' customer
centre person anywhere else. Food for thought: Should our personality be an
obstacle to business.