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Broken Link In The Customer Service Chain
Editorial Director,
Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazine
No matter how mighty an organization is, or how fruitful or long-term a customer’s relationship with that organization is, sometimes it’s the smallest thing that breaks that relationship; maybe for only one day, maybe irreparably.
Case in point: I have been with the same bank since I graduated college, which was quite a while ago (let’s just leave it at that). They know me, I know them. Though I’ve not always been happy with their extra fees, their customer service (particularly their call center’s hours…banking emergencies aren’t always gracious enough to wait to happen between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm Monday through Friday and never on holidays), I’ve never been displeased enough to ditch them and head for their competition.
However, something happened to me on Monday that I imagine is a common scenario, and it’s not only the bank’s fault. My ATM card, despite being fairly new, has a slight bend in it. If I go for a walk at lunchtime, I often stick my ATM card in a pocket, in case I decide I want to buy something while I’m out walking without my handbag: a sandwich, an item of clothing from a shop, a potted plant from a plant nursery. Since I seldom carry cash, I rely on my ATM card quite a bit. The “sticking the card in the pocket” business is probably responsible for the bend in the card.
Back to last Monday: I was in the Westchester airport awaiting a flight to Chicago for the ICCM show. I had gotten to the airport quite early, since we were only a few short days after the flight security scare in London, and I had no idea how long and extensive the security process would be. I had meant to do a few errands first: getting cash was one of them. But I drove directly to the airport and checked in. I can get cash later, I thought, and eat lunch, since the airlines have apparently decided that their customers are no longer worthy even for a microscopic bag of pretzels (but that’s another customer service story for another day).
It was not to be. My ATM card approached the ATM machine, and the two eyed one another. The ATM machine did not like what it saw, and told me so…about 29 times...by rejecting my “damaged” ATM card. “No cash for you,” it said. “Your card is bendy, and I don’t like bendy cards.”
Well, that’s fine, I thought. I’ll just go to the airport’s newsstand, buy a magazine and a granola bar, and ask for “cash back” on the transaction. I traveled down the escalator. “No, we don’t do that,” explained the newsstand man. “There’s an ATM machine upstairs, though,” he added helpfully.
Did I mention that the Fussy Machine That Loathes Bendy Cards is the only ATM machine in the Westchester airport?
Next, I tried the airport’s coffee shop. I’ll just stick it on plastic, I told myself. I ordered a soda and a sandwich. The waitress wandered away to get my soda and put in my order for a BLT. When she returned with my soda, I asked (wisely, I tell myself in retrospect), “You DO take credit cards, right?” She shook her head. “Cash only.” She pointed at the door, but I already knew what was coming. “There’s an ATM machine around the corner.” (Anyone who tells you machines don’t run your life today is either lying to you, or is a machine himself.)
Luckily, I had two dollars in my wallet to cover the soda. I asked her to cancel the order for the BLT (it would have been awful, anyway…airport food seldom passes “tolerable” and usually hovers more near the “I’m-only-eating-so-I-don’t-die” mark.)
So here’s the conundrum. I have money in my account. My bank is open. I have an ATM card. My ATM card is in my wallet. I want to order food at the airport. I cannot. Why? Bendy card.
Several factors: my rush, the bank, the sole ATM machine in the airport, my bent card, the shop that doesn’t give cash back on ATM transactions, and the restaurant that doesn’t take credit cards all conspired to entirely break down my particular consumer chain that day. One small piece of plastic became the broken link.
What’s the fix? I’m not sure. A sturdier ATM card, perhaps. An ATM machine that relies on voice authentication would be even more secure than a bank customer with an ATM card. ATM cards can be easily stolen or “borrowed”…voices can’t. Some kind of an override system to be used in case of a lost or damaged ATM card…calling the ATM owner, verifying my account and my identity over the phone, then being given a unique one-time code to punch in to retrieve cash.
Point is, your relationship with your customers often relies entirely on something so insignificant…a cheap piece of plastic, in this case, but it could be anything else: a rogue agent, a misbehaving toll-free number, a bad IVR menu tree, a supervisor with the flu, an incorrect script, a piece of small but vital information that is either not provided or is provided incorrectly to the customer…and your long-term happy relationship with that customer is damaged in nanoseconds.
For anyone who still believes that the call center is just a cash drain on an organization, I can guarantee this to you: if you treat it that way, it certainly will be.
The author may be contacted at tschelmetic@tmcnet.com.
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