Customer Service – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Following on from my post last week about National Customer Service Week (5th – 11th October) I have had a contrasting week of customer service approaches this week. 

The good

• Kaleidoscope Home Shopping – every time I deal with them I am impressed by their welcoming service, easy ways to contact them (online or telephone) with very easy to follow instructions, call back system if there is a problem and efficient approach in resolving a problem if a delivery has been delayed or a return not collected.  It is one of the reasons I have been a customer for many years.

The bad

• Halifax Home Insurance – this week I had to call them about my renewal, Monday I held on the line for 30 minutes, to be then transferred to a customer service operator who advised their systems were down and customers were being asked to call back the next day.  It would have been more helpful to have had an automated message saying this before I had held on for 30 minutes and perhaps been offered a callback instead of asking me to ring up again!  I received the same message when I rang the following 2 days (again after I had been on hold for some time).  Not great customer service is it?  I also tried to send a query online but there is no email contact form on their website. Instead I have written a letter advising I will not be renewing. 

The ugly

• I have never really come across ugly customer service however I remember Sunwin House, Co-op Bradford which had their customer service on the 5th floor of the store in a corner which was quite hard to find.   Contrast this with the new style customer service in supermarkets which are on an “island” theme designed I think to appear more customer friendly.  However because the desk is central it can be quite difficult to know where to queue, also it is not very discreet and generally it just gives an impression of chaos sometimes. 

So make the difference in your business from bad or mediocre customer service to great customer service and build your customer loyalty.  A cheesy line I heard this week but which is very apt is “smile while you dial”.