“If we gave out our phone number, we’d spend all day on the phone!” These were some of the first words spoken by the man somewhere across the country who had just answered my phone call. It took everything I had to not respond bluntly, “Isn’t that what having a phone number is for?”
It took me the better part of an hour of searching every link I could find on the internet to locate a phone number to call the national business. That is after the company’s website provided no number to its customers. It was clear to me from all my efforts that the business did not want anyone to pick up their phone and call them.
I was relieved when I finally reached a person I could talk to on the other end. I opened the call with the comment, “It was so hard to find your phone number. It looks like you don’t want your customers to call you.”
That’s when he told me that they didn’t want to be on the phone all day.
How can you provide good customer service and meet the needs of those you offer services to if you don’t allow them to ask questions to a live person?
It takes on a “game like” experience. At some point, searching for a phone number becomes a mission or even a conquest! Who needs a word puzzle or an escape room to have fun? In the current world it seems that more and more businesses set up a “mouse maze” that has to be worked through to find the cheese.
The end result is “how many links can we make a person click through on their computer to avoid having a live person speak with them?”
I felt like raising my arms in victory when I finally succeeded and heard the voice of the live person!
Then I was amazed at the words of the man who told me they didn’t want to talk to their customers on the phone. I had some individual questions that I needed answered, yet at every twist and turn I found I had to click links or leave an online message (which was never responded to) and still my questions weren’t answered.
Regardless, none of the solutions given to me involved visiting with a live person until I used my top notch private investigator research skills to find a secret number hidden from the public.
I have a friend who received a check from a company. He is not sure why he received it. In order to help him out, I’ve repeatedly called the number on the check and no one answers. No combinations of entries leads to a live person. I’ve left messages and no one returns my calls. I have posted my question to them on their website (which has no phone number) and, as of today, no one has responded. It seems that a live person could identify the reason for the check in less than ten minutes if someone would simply pick up the phone or call me back.
Call me “old school” and I will not be offended. I’ll proudly own up to this label. I’ve lived long enough on this planet to remember the days when you could call a number and get a live person. I understand that us older people keep dying and the number of youngin’s keep growing. Maybe a business can offer a phone number only to those over 55 years old to be able to talk to a live person?
Today I think the average national business does not want to talk with you. When you log into their website, you can click, click, click, and each path leads to answers to questions, but without a phone number.
And sometimes even after you find a phone number, they have a phone bank of choices that direct you to different recorded messages. Once again, they are avoiding any live interaction.
I recently had one 45 minute call where I was transferred from department to department. Each time a new person answered the phone they asked the same series of questions as to why I was calling before they would help me.
The questions included my member number (which I had to look up), my contract number (again, I had to look up), my birthday, my e-mail address, my street address, and so on. I figured once I gave it to the first person, anyone who followed would have knowledge of the information I provided. Instead, I repeated it to each of four different individuals as my frustration level grew.
It takes every ounce of patience I have for me to explain my problem to one person, only to be transferred to another person and have to go though my situation again and then be transferred to a third person and start all over again.
I guess that I’m not the average guy. If I can find the answer to my question online, I’ll do so, but when I need to have a dialogue, just give me a live person answering the phone, not ten minutes of pushing phone buttons.
I’ve owned my own business for almost 30 years now. I have a live person available from 8 in the morning to 5:30 including the lunch hour. Good customer service sets any business apart from others. I’ve also been blessed with friendly service by my staff. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard clients how they appreciate how friendly and accommodating my team is.
To a large degree, our happiness with a business is measured by what we expect. In today’s world I think there are generations behind us that may not want to talk to a stranger on the phone. From time to time I even find myself suggesting to my very own children “just pick up your phone and call them to get your question answered.”
Things change with time…and so do we. I have a watch that tells me I need to stand up or that I need to watch out for a flood, a tornado, or a missing child. When I’m warned to watch out for an earthquake I’ll really be concerned!
My front doorbell shows me when someone comes to my door even when I’m a thousand miles away. My cell phone gets repeated calls daily from people I’ve never met, asking me to do things I don’t want to do.
I guess as our world advances, it also retreats. Generations who have gone before us knew the first name of the man who delivered their milk to their front door or the boy who delivered their newspaper. They knew the family doctor who made home visits and took care of their family for decades. In today’s world I sometimes wonder if generations after mine will have no reason to leave home as everything they need, from making a living to buying groceries, can be handled online?
To me, all of this comes down to the almighty dollar. It’s about businesses reducing payroll at the expense of the customer. But all customers can’t always be put into predefined boxes. Customers may have a unique question and situation that needs personal attention in order to solve.
My challenge to you (if you are a business owner) is to make access to you and your business simple. List your phone number so us “old folks” can get our questions answered without having to waste an hour of our life trying to connect with a live person.
If you encourage your customers or potential customers to leave a message or ask their question by e-mail, by all means promptly respond to their requests.
There. I feel better. I will now step down from my soap box. Thank you for listening to me rant. But I think I may still need some counseling to overcome this dilemma. There is probably a name for this “phobia” associated with my condition. Do any of you do counseling?
Just some frustrating thoughts…
