I recently spotted this excellent
article in the Scotsman newspaper by James Walker. The article is about how to
deal with poor customer service. I have reproduced the article below and
acknowledge James Walker as the copyright owner of this article.
Do you ever get the feeling that some
businesses just don’t want to talk to you? In the past five years, Resolver has
helped sort out over four million complaints. But over that time we’ve also
started to see an evolution in the complaints that people raise.
One of the biggest sources of
complaint is customer service. While it might not be the initial problem that
people have contacted a business about, customer service features in over
two-thirds of all the complaints we receive. Here are the chief examples:
- Not being able to speak to a human.
- No contact telephone number.
- Being unable to email a complaint in.
- Having to write a letter to make a complaint.
- “Help” pages that send you around in circles but don’t answer the questions.
- Forms you have to fill in on the website.
- Automated email responses that you can’t respond to.
- Call centres that can’t help or transfer/cut you off.
- Call centre audibility and accessibility.
What’s interesting about this is the
increasing numbers of people who are telling us that they can’t email their
complaint to the business - or incredibly, being made to write a formal letter
of complaint and post it.
Now not all technology is bad - and if
you’ve got a simple question then a chatbot or a Q&A page can be helpful.
But can you buck the system and find a person to listen to you if you have a
more complex complaint?
Here are seven tips on what you can do to find a person who
can help with your problem:
1. Exploit social media. There was a
time when it was easy to jump the queue of angry people by sending a tweet or a
message on Facebook. Businesses have got wise to this (some twitter accounts
are automated now and some don’t let you post or comment) but it’s still a good
way to find someone who can help. Send a short message asking for help and have
your complaint ready to go on a private message.
2. The site map. Lurking at the bottom
of the website is the site map where you can usually find better contact
details.
3. Companies House. Check out the
business listing on Companies House. At the very least you’ll find a head
office address you can write to.
4. Make it clear you’re complaining.
If you’re transferred from a call centre ask for the number that you’re being
transferred to in case you get cut off. Insist on a written response so there
is a record of your complaint.
5. Ask to add content. If you’re
filling in an online form, make it clear that you have attachments and
information you want to email to support the complaint.
6. Smartphone tricks. If the firm
doesn’t have an accessible email (and it should, frankly) then why not photo
your complaint letter and documents and ask if you can text or WhatsApp the
pictures over?
7. Check the consumer forums. There
are loads of online websites and forums where numbers and head office contact
details are exchanged by people who’ve already been through the system so you
don’t have to!