Customers as "viruses"

Contact centers can be extremely aggravating. You only seem to call them when there is a problem. But years ago, I realized my yelling at reps does no good – the poor folks do not make up the rules. And it does not matter how valued a customer you are (I seem to have a number of problems with Delta Airlines with whom I have flown 2+ million lifetime miles, and to a lesser extent with Amex where I have been a member since 1980). If I do not like a company policy or action I should get to management and tell them I am displeased.

Unfortunately, contact centers are often used as “shields”. A Delta supervisor told me this week she is NOT ALLOWED to forward a customer request to company headquarters in Atlanta. She cannot leave a voice message or send an email to one of her executives. She has to tell the customer to write in or call in. And guess what – she is only allowed to give out a generic address or phone number. An Amex rep once told me they were not allowed to give out email addresses for their execs. Something about virus control. I asked him if it was virus or customer control. It took me 3 seconds to figure out the email format for the appropriate exec and I directly sent him an email.

If that still does not generate action, I inform the executive and then put them on a “90 day black list”. I use competing products for those 90 days and at the end of the period send in a letter to the executive including copies of tickets/charges from his competitors informing him that I hoped he enjoyed the $ 200 change fee (or whatever else mean his company did) but that he missed out on $ X,000 worth of business in those 90 days.

Sound like a lot of work? Yes – but as a technologist, I consider call center folks part of my technology fraternity. They are often helpless and can only follow policies they have no say in. Instead of yelling at them, I hope my withholding dollars gets the message more directly to their management.

If you have other ways to get to management of companies and to get their attention without abusing contact center folks, love to hear them.

Also memo to corporations. Mine your frequent customer stats. If someone has dramatically reduced their spend over the last 90 to 120 days they may have put you on a 90 day blacklist like I do. Much better to recover those customers than to permanently lose them.

Your CRM technology and people investments are meant to get you closer to your customers, not hide from them