For those of you that don’t know me, in my previous life I was a firefighter and paramedic. I spent nearly 19 years of my life saving lives, protecting property, and providing medical and emotional support for the sick, the injured, the lost, and their families.
I’m not telling you this to impress you, but to impress upon you that I really do care about others and how they feel. As a mortgage banker, I truly consider my clients my friends and will work as hard as I can to do what is right for them. In this industry, as well as the medical industry, those who are sick, hurt, and confused by the process sometimes just someone to take them by the hand, literally and figuratively, and make things right.
Because of an incident earlier, I am seriously pondering what “customer service” really means to some companies. This particular one is my cellphone carrier.
Over the last 20 years, I have given them tens of thousands of dollars to provide me a service so that I can speak to others while away from home and not have to pull over and deposit a quarter and use a who-knows-when-it-was-last-cleaned handset. They now provide me the ability to text and access the internet and email while on the go. I appreciate what they have done for me and I hope they appreciate how much I have paid them to provide those services.
It does, however, feel like a one-way street. I wholeheartedly believe that is because I have asked them for very little in the past and they have grown accustomed to not having to provide support. I think that many businesses suffer from this, that they become complacent with their clients and then don’t know how to respond when they must. They have big ad budgets to make up for poor client retention!
In the last 20 years, I have really needed their help two times. The first is when my wife started receiving multiple (15-20) calls and text messages from other phones and via internet per day. We found out later someone applied for an auto loan online and listed my wife’s cell number as a contact. Intentional or not, this person missed a lot of calls that we received, some very rude! The cell company in question was able to help a little, but we still get messages once or twice a week, even after spending over 10 hours on the phone with a number of customer service and tech support employees. I give them a failing grade!
The second issue involved my Blackberry Storm. After having some email issues, the combined assistance of the Blackberry techs and the customer service folks resetting my system and reinstalling software turned my previously fully functioning phone into a brick! It took over 14 hours (!!!) on the phone to finally get them to offer me a $70 discount on a new phone since my contract still had six months to go. When I didn’t agree to that, they sent me a refurbished Storm II, a two year old, used phone. When the old non-working phone was not returned quickly enough for their liking, they promptly tacked a $550 non-returned equipment charge on my bill. There is more, but to be brief, they get another failing grade.
When I spoke with the rep earlier, the unhealthy truth finally struck me. While they train their people to use scripts and certain phrases such as “Yes sir”, “I understand”, “may I place you on hold briefly”, and then record the calls to track their compliance, the company completely misses the big picture. Inevitably the reps are quick to blame someone else (usually another department), claim that such-and-such cannot be done (when someone else accomplished it before), or are unable to connect you with the same person you spoke with previously, since their 800 number routes you to various call centers around the US.
The fact that one of my recent contacts was well scripted was not lost on me. As he was unable to solve my problem and was ready to again transfer me to someone else, he asked, “Since your contract is up in about three months, would you be interested in upgrading your phone today?” Sometimes one must wonder if they are allowed to think for themselves!
Most importantly, very few of those I have spoken with will just take responsibility for the problem and fix it. It doesn’t matter if they personally caused the issue, but their company did and they are a representative of that company. When someone calls the cellphone company with a problem, much like calling 911, they just want it fixed, not a bunch of excuses!
While I do not use this blog to publicly air my grievances, this is a great teaching tool for consumers and businesses alike. If you don’t take care of your customers, someone else will. If you have a loan officer who doesn’t appreciate you being a client or who doesn’t treat you well, call me. I will.
We all make mistakes, but what separates the good from the great is the way they fix them. If you have ever had a bad experience turn into a good one, you know what I’m talking about!
Like my friend Chris Brown, the Orlando Mortgage Pro, is fond of saying, “I do what I say, say what I do, and if I mess up, I’ll fess up, and make it right”. I also live by those words and believe that we should expect that from the companies and individuals that we deal with.
My name is Scott Swinford, and I provide solutions to your mortgage problems. I can be reached at 219-695-0369. And for Christian, the rep in Florida who won’t give a last name or company ID number… Can You Hear Me Now?
