If you call technical support and threaten to cancel...

[masonstone.livejournal.com]

Go through with it!!!

Technical people do not care if you keep your service. Get that through your thick customer heads. If you threaten to cancel we will not break speed records helping you. We'll actually go slower hoping you'll go through with it and make our problem go away.

Case in point. I just had a customer who demanded to speak to a supervisor because of our "incompetence". This incompetence was the result of a move order that she herself had screwed up in the first place. She threatened to move to earthlink if we don't make it work "Right now". I hope she enjoys the even worse customer service that they give. I've dealt with them before and they are much worse than we are.

Needed to rant, sorry.

Comments

[alacrity.livejournal.com]

That's not a very good design. People in support roles should be given some incentive to do their job well. Without it you have unhappy (and thereby, lost) customers. Not good for business.

I wonder what kind of incentives would work though... maybe some kind of sales-style commission...

Hmm...

[masonstone.livejournal.com]

That is the problem with this form of customer support. There is no incentive to do it well, the incentive is to get them off the phone.

They cut costs by hiring underqualified people and by keeping these people answering the phones as fast as possible.

Just once I would like to see some place (it's not even my current employer that's the problem, I've worked for a number and they all do this) say screw the call stats, fix the customer.

[chickenfart.livejournal.com]

That's why some ISPs now have 'retention' departments whose role is to contact customers who are cancelling and offer them incentives to continue with the service.

[kyndig.livejournal.com]

There was an ISP that did this....until they "merged" (read as: Were Consumed By) with Earthlink. Rest well Mindspring, we will love you forever.

-a former springhead.

[masonstone.livejournal.com]

Yep. Instead of fixing the problems that caused them to cancel in the first place they simply throw free months at them hoping that the problem will go away.

[d0rx0r.livejournal.com]

word

I agree

[jedisamui.livejournal.com]

As a former Mindspring and former turned Earthlink employee, I can say that I agree techs could care less if customers cancel service. Call stats run bonus programs and job security. The shit is pushed so hard, that tech reps care less if the customer's issues are fixed. Of course, we all know this is bad for the customer, but since we know that we won't have a job if we can't keep call stats up....we just do what we can to get off the call.
Call stats also make upper management try and save money as well, thus customers are pushed onto outsourcing technical support. Let me tell you all this. YOU DO GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Outsourcers are usually college kids turning a buck. They are very poorly skilled phone reps. They do not classify as technical support reps because they don't have the experience or the training to allow them to help their customers properly. This does nothing but piss customers off further.

[daerlyn.livejournal.com]

And while we're on the topic of threatening to cancel:

Customers, if you are in the process of cancelling and I tell you I can't refund your partially unused month because you paid in advance, do not cite customer loyalty as a reason for me to do it. You can't be that loyal. You're cancelling, remember?