What Would You Rather Do?
Last night, after trying everything I could think of over the course of two days to get my computer to work again, I finally breathed a heavy sigh and picked up the phone to call Apple’s technical support center. Now, I’ve dealt with Apple before and had a great experience. But for many companies, service is so inconsistent that, based on my broader services experiences overall, I didn’t know what to expect.
What I got was a helpful sounding IVR that was “happy” to help with my problem. But, when I accidentally hit the wrong prompt, I became trapped in the system. I did the only thing I could think of: I started shouting at the phone. My 10-year-old daughter called upstairs to me: “Everything OK?” I replied, “I’m just on the phone with customer service.” Her telling response: “Oh, no wonder you’re shouting.”
After I laughed to myself about her quip, I said “agent” and promptly got the help I needed.
But the whole got me thinking about why some people are reluctant to call customer service. In fact, according to a study conducted by Harris Interactive and RightNow Technologies, 54 percent of U.S. consumers surveyed would rather clean their house than deal with poor service. Worse, as a result of a poor service experience, 29 percent of respondents have gotten a headache, felt their chest tighten, or cried—and 47 percent swore or shouted as a result. Hmmm, sounds familiar…
So, for a little bit of fun this Friday, I thought I’d ask: What you rather do than phone customer service? For inspiration, check out RightNow’s “Don’t Fear the Phone” video.
And to answer that question myself: As you saw from the beginning of this commentary, in most cases I’d rather spend too much time trying to figure out the solution for myself, or when possible, use online self-service, than phone a customer service center.
