Friends often ask me to help fix a frustrating problem they are having with customer service, when calling them has failed. Given that I just went through this today I’ll finally create a “how to” that has rarely failed me:
Step 1. Call and tell them your issue/what you need and expect from them. If resolved, stop here. If not…. You have two and a half options:
Step 2: Option A. You ask for the supervisor. Sometimes your issue will be resolved by the supervisor, or by them before they even get the supervisor on the phone.
Step 2: Option B. You end the call, call again, and start over with another agent. Yes, they work for the same company but the difference in how they resolve things can be night and day.
Step 2: Option B alternative. You end the call and call again at an entirely different time of day. This will often result in you reaching an entirely different call center (or an entirely different country).
Step 3. If all avenues above fail, and it’s a large company, tweet @ them. This will usually result in them asking to DM you to resolve your issue. You will almost always get a good resolution at that point.
If none of that works you should decide if you are taking your business elsewhere, as it shows you their ability or desire to resolve issues. I have found the most frustrating places to deal with are airlines and insurance companies. But more often than not if you do what I said you will find a better outcome than you’re used to.
And keep in mind that when they offer you a solution you have nothing to lose by telling them NO and insisting on what you are looking for. They will either get you that better offer or you can always fall back on what they did offer. It’s not going to be rescinded.
Two short examples from this week:
-Amazon was supposed to send me some items the next day. They were still not here six days later. I pressed the function to call me on the app and I was talking to them within seconds. They apologized and promised to solve it by ensuring it arrived the next day. I said that’s not good enough and it should be free, they said they agree and it was now free. It took me no arguing, just maintaining that that’s what needed to be done.
-I called my Health Flex Card, which emailed me a request for documentation. I know historically that calling them is easy and friendly and within minutes they find what they need and don’t require me to locate and send them documentation. I called on this one instance and the person said it requires documentation from the doctor. I told her that they usually find what they need on the phone to save me time. She told me not only could she not solve it, but there were three other claims that also needed documentation. I knew something was off because I’m familiar with their EASY customer service. I said thank you and hung up. I called again this morning and the usual chipper, pleasant type now answered the phone and within two minutes was able to fix all claims on the phone. When I explained to her that she was a rock star (always start off friendly, because “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar”) but why-oh-why did the person last night not have a clue, she explained that after 5pm it goes to a different call center who are not specialists, so they wouldn’t know how to fix this. Calling at the right time was all I needed to do.
Feel free to share if you find this helpful.
