Recently in customer service Category

When communicating with your customers, it's important to look at the information that you're sending from their point of view. Are they really going to be interested in the information that you send?

Earlier today I finally got round to unsubscribing from the MBNA marketing emails that have been annoying me for months. To confirm my unsubscription they sent me an email which started with this:

We are sorry that you unsubscribed from the newsletter OLB Non Enrolled Non Endorsed 1

Is there really any customer who is going to be even slightly interested in that level of detail? I don't care what your internal name for the newsletter is. I just want to stop seeing it in my inbox.

Google are naming versions of Android after cakes. My G1 is currently running version 1.5 - or Cupcake - and apparently version 1.6 - Donut[1] - is imminent. Every morning when I turn my phone on I'm hopeful it will tell me that an over the air update is available. Every day, so far, I've been disappointed.

Today I decided to ask T-Mobile customer support what they knew. I realise that this is clutching at straws as T-Mobile customer support never know anything but I thought I'd give it a try. I sent them an email and within minutes I got their standard auto-response saying that they would answer my query within seven days.

Then, this evening they called me. T-Mobile have this really annoying habit of phoning you in response to email queries. I thought I had made it clear to them that I didn't like this, but tonight's support agent was so keen that he decided to call me anyway. It seems that my account is marked 'do not call' as he noticed that halfway through our conversation and apologised. He told me that he had the answer to my query and I asked him to tell me.

Then he said that he couldn't tell me until I had identified myself. I was astonished. I mean, it's not as though I was asking for private details of my account. But he was adamant that I had to give him my password before he could give me the information he had for me. I gave him the password and it took him several seconds to confirm that it was correct. He then passed on the information.

Or rather, he didn't. Or, at least, he didn't pass on anything useful. The information that he couldn't possibly give me until I had given him the password, was that he didn't know when I could expect to get Donut. That information hadn't been given to the customer service team. He recommended that I watched the web site for news.

This is the web site which advertises the G2 with a photo of the G1. I have no confidence at all in that site. I strongly suspect that it won't be updated until a couple of weeks after I'm happily running Donut.

I have lower and lower expectations every time I have contact with T-Mobile customer support. But on this occasion they have managed to sail easily under the low expectations I had. Asking a customer for a password in order to tell him that you don't have the information he has asked for is just ludicrous.

Is there anyone from T-Mobile reading? When can I expect my Donut update?

Update: On Twitter, @fcw suggested trying a manual check-in - by dialling *#*#checkin#*#*. I got a few errors when I tried that this morning (Javascript socket exceptions), but eventually it worked. Well, it worked to the extent that I saw a "check-in successful" message. I still don't have Donut though.

[1] The American mis-spelling of "doughnut".

[This is here as a public service to other frustrated G1 owners]

In December, when I wrote about my first impressions of the G1, one of my biggest complaints was that it had a completely non-standard socket for headphones. It came with a set of headphones which fitted the socket, but they were some of the worst and most uncomfortable headphones that I had ever tried. I lasted less than an hour using them.

But soon after I got my G1, I started to hear from other people who had got a different headphone adapter in the box. Instead of a pair of headphones with the dodgy "not quite USB" plug on them, they got a pair of headphones with a standard 3.5mm plug togther with an adapter to convert from 3.5mm to the dodgy "not quite USB" socket. This is clearly a better package as it allows you to use any headphones with the G1.

I emailed T-Mobile customer support to see if they could sent me the nice adapter. They said that I could get one from a T-Mobile shop. I went into three or four shops. None of them knew what I was talking about. In one of them the manager unboxed three G1s to see what was in the box. In all three cases it was the crappy old connection that I already had.

I emailed T-Mobile customer support again explaining what had happened and asking why they had sent me on a wild goose chase. They apologised and promised to look into it.

At this point, I should point out that T-Mobile customer support really aren't very good. You've got a good chance of getting someone in a call centre in India who really hasn't got much of a clue about what you're talking about. They have an intensely irritating habit of repeating a paraphrased version of your query back to you in the mistaken believe (I assume) that this will somehow be useful to you. They are also told to reply to all requests with a phone call. Even ones that they receive by email. Even ones, I've discovered, that start with "PLEASE REPLY BY EMAIL - DO NOT PHONE ME". I like to deal with customer support by email so that I have a permanent record of what I have been told.

Sorry about that diversion. I found it theraputic. Where was I? Oh yes. They promised to look into it. Then they promptly forgot about it. Three months later I wrote to them again, explaining that when someone tells me that they are looking into something, then I expect to get a follow-up at some point.

They replied, apologised and said that they would look into it and get back to me. Which, to their credit, they did. A couple of days later I got a mail saying that they couldn't change the offer they had made me. This was strange as they hadn't actually made me an offer. They went on to say that if I bought myself the adaptor that I wanted, they would refund the cost.

Before they could change their mind, I went onto the HTC web site and bought one of these. I forwarded the order confirmation to T-Mobile and they phoned me (grr!) to tell me that they had credited the amount to my account.

So there's the happy ending to the story. After about six months of trying, many visits to T-Mobile shops and many frustrating email conversations with T-Mobile customer support I got what I wanted. I can now listen to music on my G1 using my favourite headphones.

If you're trying to get a decent headphone adapter out of them, feel free to point them at this blog entry. If they do it for one person, they should really do it for everyone who asks. If by writing this I can make someone's interaction with T-Mobile less painful then that would make me very happy.

Let me know how you get on.

Update: I should mention that there's another option. The G1 supports stereo bluetooth headphones - so just buy something like this and there's no need to plug anything in.

Long-time readers will know that I am not averse to contacting companies to complain about bad service that I receive. This isn't a particularly fulfilling hobby as you very rarely get any kind of satisfaction. But recently it's becoming even less satisfying than before. I've noticed that email conversations with customer service reps are becoming more and more drawn out as many of them seem less and less capable of understanding the issues that I am raising. It can often take a couple of rounds of email before they are clear what I'm talking about. And I'm pretty sure it's not me describing things badly.

Here's an example.

Last week the BBC showed an abbreviated version of Leonard Cohen: Live in London. I missed it as it was first broadcast, so over the weekend I tried to catch up with it on iPlayer. We have Virgin Media, so we can watch iPlayer content through our V+ box. I found the programme and started to watch. I didn't last long though as the aspect ratio of the programme was wrong. The programme had been filmed in 4:3, but the iPlayer has stretched it to 16:9[1]. This meant that everyone everyone appeared fatter than they should be. I know that many people are used to watching television like this, but to me it renders a programme unwatchable.

I wrote to the iPlayer support team explaining the problem. Here's what I wrote:

The version of "Leonard Cohen - Live in London" which is currently available on iPlayer on Virgin Media is in the wrong aspect ratio. It appears to be a 4:3 broadcast which has been stretched to 16:9. Everyone therefore seems to be far too fat and the programme is unwatchable.

I think that's clear.

This morning I got a reply from them. Here's what they said:

I understand you're unhappy with the size of 'Leonard Cohen' on BBC iPlayer.

The bit rate varies per programme and is dependent on the amount of changes per video frame. For example, a programme such as 'Doctor Who' or 'Leonard Cohen' will be at a higher rate than a Current Affairs programme (where a presenter is fairly static in the frame).

Considering the above information:

The average file size for a 30 minute streamed programme is around 110MB. The average file size for a 1 hour streamed programme is around 215MB.

I appreciate you may feel differently on this matter and I'd like to assure you that I have registered your comments on our log. This is the internal report of audience feedback which we compile daily for BBC iPlayer and commissioning executives within the BBC, and their senior management. It ensures that your points, and all other comments we receive, are circulated and considered across the BBC.

Nothing in there at all about aspect ratios. They seem to have assumed that I'm talking about the size of downloaded programmes. Which is strange as I specifically mentioned the Virgin Media version of iPlayer which doesn't support programme downloads.

I can see three explanations:

1. The person genuinely misunderstood what I was asking about and answered the question to the best of her ability. In which case she needs better training in the products that she is supposed to be supporting.
   
2. The person didn't read my mail carefully and just sent a reply that looked like it might address the issues I was talking about. In which case she needs to read email more closely. Perhaps the iPlayer support team needs more people so they have time to read messages and write replies carefully.
3. No-one read my email and some automated system sent a canned reply based on some (obviously flawed) keyword matching.
   

I know I shouldn't waste my time, but I've had another go at explaining exactly what the problem is and why this reply didn't address any of my issues. Let's wait and see what happens.

But it shouldn't be like this. Speaking to customer service shouldn't be like banging your head against a brick wall. People should know the products they are supporting and they should want to give the best service they can. It's becoming far too common that customer service replies appear to be dashed off as quickly as possible in the hope that no-one will actually bother to read the reply. Either the support team don't have the training to properly support their products or they are overworked and don't have time to do a proper job.

Either way, it's all very frustrating.

The BBC showed the Leonard Cohen concert again over the weekend. I recorded it on my V+ box. It was broadcast in the correct aspect ratio. I enjoyed watching it very much.

[1] I like to call this "Dixonsvision" in memory of the sadly-missed shop which used to insist on demonstrating all of its widescreen TVs this way.

My quest for a Nokia E71 has come to an end. It hasn't been a success.

I've been trying to buy one for some weeks. I wanted to get one from O2 (my current phone company) as being an existing customer has some small advantages (even if it's only a few free texts each month). So about five weeks ago I called them to find out when it would be available through them. I was told that I would be able to order one in about a week's time.

I called back on the suggested date only to be told that the release had been put back by a week. This pattern repeated twice more over the next couple of weeks.

I called them a couple of weeks ago and was told that there was no firm date. I asked for a PAC code so that I could take my business elsewhere. You have to get a PAC code from their retentions department so that they can try to offer you all sorts of things to tempt you into staying. They offered to halve my monthly fees whilst I was waiting for the phone to be released. I agreed.

Yesterday I heard rumours that some people has received E71s from O2, so I emailed O2 customer services to find out if it was true. Someone called Jagat Dave replied telling me that the phone was available and that I could either upgrade on their web site or call the upgrade department. I looked at the web site and couldn't find the phone there at all.

Today, I called the upgrade department. They were very surprised to hear that the phone was available as it wasn't on any of their systems and therefore they couldn't order it for me. Their systems didn't even have any firm date for the release (but were sure that it was imminent).

I gave up and asked, once more, for my PAC code. This time I made it clear to the retentions department that I wasn't interested in anything other than a date for the E71. They couldn't give me that and therefore have arranged for the PAC code to be sent to me. I should get it with 48 hours (actually, it has just arrived whilst I've been typing this).

I went off to the T-Mobile site and ordered a G1. It should arrive tomorrow.

I can't believe that they've made this so difficult. I understand that sometimes releases get put back at the last minute. But for it to have happened so many times is ridiculous. And then for the customer services department to be telling me things that obviously aren't true... well it's just incredible.

Mind you, I fully expect to be writing some kind of customer services rant about T-Mobile in the next few months. It seems to have become a bit of a lost art.

Another example of web site stupidity.

When she finishes at university this summer my step-daughter is planning to go travelling. To make this a bit easier for her we decided that we'd give her one of our credit cards. That's a pretty standard thing that parents do, isn't it?

I decided to make her an additional cardholder on my Egg card. The process seemed easy enough. I just had to fill in a simple form on their web site. There were no problems and the site told me to wait seven to ten days.

Seven to ten days passed. And then another week. The card didn't arrive. Yesterday I decided to email them to find out what had happened to the card. Today I got a reply. Apparently you can only have two cardholders on an Egg account. And because my wife is already on the account I can't add anyone else.

That seems like a rather silly restriction to me, but I suppose they have to draw a line somewhere. But given that this restriction is in place, surely it should be reflected on their web site. Checking again today, I see that the option on their site is labelled "add a second cardholder" and not, as I assumed previously, "add an additional cardholder" - so that should be a big clue. But that's not really enough is it? They've got the details of my account. They know the account already has two cardholders. Why even offer me the option to add another one? And why allow me to go through the process of adding a new cardholder and tell me at the end that everything is fine and that I should expect the new card to arrive in ten days? I hadn't bothered to chase them about it I could still be under the mistaken impression that the card was on its way.

Here's what they should really do. Leave the "add a second cardholder" option, but when someone who already has a second cardholder on the account chooses that option, display a message explaining why they can't add a third cardholder. Doesn't that seem simpler? I wonder how much time their customer service team have wasted answering queries like mine.

I've now applied to add my step-daughter to my Virgin credit card instead. Currently I'm the only person on that account, so it shouldn't be a problem. They say the new card will be with us in seven to ten days...

Like, I suppose, most people in London we live in a controlled parking area. To park on my road you must either have a resident's parking permit or buy a ticket from the machine (£1.80 an hour, maximum stay four hours).

We don't have a car, so most of the time this doesn't bother us at all. The only time we even think about it is when we have visitors. For those occasions Wandsworth Council allow us to buy one-day visitors parking permits. You buy them from "parking shops" around the borough. Our closest one is near Tooting Bec.

Last weekend we had friends coming to stay and had run out of visitors permits, so I needed to go and buy some more. Before setting off I realised that as only residents are allowed to buy these permits I would probably have to prove where I lived. A quick rummage in my filing system and I wandered off bearing my passport, a letter from the council, a mortgage statement and something official from the Inland Revenue. All pretty impressive stuff I thought.

Not, however, impressive enough for the man at the parking shop. He has a list of approved items and no matter how important your pieces of paper are, if they aren't on his list they don't count. His list contains a driving licence, a current council tax bill, a home contents insurance certificate, a benefit book and a rent book. I tried hard to convince him that my paperwork was just as good as the stuff on his list but it was to no avail. He had his list and he was sticking to it. I went home empty handed.

I appreciate, of course, that Wandsworth Council need to be careful about who they sell these permits too. But I can't help thinking that they're going a bit too far here. Why is a rent book acceptable but a mortgage statement isn't? What makes a benefit book more convincing than a letter from the Inland Revenue? Why won't they accept letters from the council?

Why can't they do checks themselves in the shop? Surely the people in the shop could be given access to a database of the names and addresses of everyone on the council tax list. Or maybe the council don't trust their employees with that kind of data.

Or (and let's get really radical here) maybe they could make it possible to order these permits over the web. Take names, addresses and credit card numbers on a web site. Check that the name matches the names on the electoral register at that address. And then send the permits out in the post. To an address that you know to be in the borough. I think that would be far easier for everyone.

We got our permits in the end. My wife went down a few days later with her driving licence.

Oh, and our friends arrived a little later than expected. They turned up in the evening. About an hour after the parking restrictions had been lifted.

One thing I've often written about is the decline of customer service. I don't often get the chance to praise good customer service so I'm going to grab the opportunity that I got yesterday.

Yesterday morning I got up to find two mail messages from Ebay in my inbox confirming that my items had been successfully listed. This was surprising as I hadn't listed anything. My initial thought was that these were phishing attempts and that I should just delete them. But before I did, I took a closer look and found that they were real messages from Ebay. They contained both my username and my real name and all of the links in the mail went to the real Ebay site and not some phisher copy[1].

At that point I got a bit worried and tried to log in to my Ebay account (by typing the URL in my browser's location bar, not by clicking on any of the links - always a good idea in cases like this). I found that my password wasn't recognised. It seemed that someone had managed to get into my Ebay account, change the password and start listing items for sale - listings that I would be charged for.

Then I noticed a third mail from Ebay in my inbox that I had previously missed. This is what it said:

Dear davorg,

It appears that a third party accessed your eBay account and used it to list items without your authorisation.

At this time we have taken several steps to secure your eBay account, including cancelling the unauthorised listings and crediting all associated fees to your account. We assure you that your credit card and bank details are kept encrypted on secure server and have not been viewed by anyone.

It then went on to list links to pages that would allow me to reclaim my password and give me advice on how I could make my account more secure.

The two messages about the unauthorised listings were sent at 4:35am. The message informing me of the problems and what had been done to fix them was sent at 4:53am. In less than twenty minutes Ebay had spotted the problem and done all they could to correct it. All while I was fast asleep.

I call that pretty good customer service.

Of course, now I need to work out how someone got access to my account. I admit to having been a bit lax and using the same password on a number of sites so it's possible that one of those other sites was storing my password in plain text (we all know how common that is) and someone got hold of their data. Or perhaps it was some convoluted XSS attack.

I've learnt a lesson though. I'll be far more careful with passwords from now on.

One question still remains. How did Ebay identify that my account was compromised so quickly? I'm sure it was some kind of automated response, but surely it's possible that I was on their site at 4:30 in the morning trying to sell some Ugg boots that were an unwanted Christmas present.

Never thought I'd be praising Ebay for their customer service!

[1] I read all of my email in plain text mode so it's hard for people to send me disguised links.

Anyone who has anything to do with customer service in their organisation should read and learn from Joel Spolsky's article on the subject. It's not just software companies he's talking about. Anyone who deals with customers could benefit from taking his advice.

I particularly liked point 2, "Suggest blowing out the dust".

Microsoft’s Raymond Chen tells the story of a customer who complains that the keyboard isn’t working. Of course, it’s unplugged. If you try asking them if it’s plugged in, “they will get all insulted and say indignantly, ‘Of course it is! Do I look like an idiot?’ without actually checking.”

“Instead,” Chen suggests, “say ‘Okay, sometimes the connection gets a little dusty and the connection gets weak. Could you unplug the connector, blow into it to get the dust out, then plug it back in?’

“They will then crawl under the desk, find that they forgot to plug it in (or plugged it into the wrong port), blow out the dust, plug it in, and reply, ‘Um, yeah, that fixed it, thanks.’”

Many requests for a customer to check something can be phrased this way. Instead of telling them to check a setting, tell them to change the setting and then change it back “just to make sure that the software writes out its settings.”