This year my Holiday customer service experiences were varied and included traditional retailers, to Internet retailers to oligopolies. I’m an entrepreneur and capitalist so you shouldn’t be surprised that I found the oligopolies the most difficult to work with.
But let me start with some good news. My experiences with traditional brick and mortal retailers were delightful! In particular I found the clerks at J.C. Penny to be helpful and friendly. Lines were long but moved right along in a very efficient manner. When it came time to make the usual after Christmas exchanges Penny’s made the experience almost enjoyable by offering additional discounts. In the end we exchanged $100 in merchandise for $200 in merchandise by paying only an additional $50. Honestly I was pretty wowed! J.C. Penny gets an A+ and I have to say I wouldn’t have expected that.
My online shopping experiences were typically good. Amazon and the other online retailers I use have highly evolved customer service systems that work. As you would expect I was made aware of delivery times before making a purchase. Then I was updated as products shipped. Everything happened as expected.
Oh but the oligopolies. What a different story. In this case we are talking about Comcast and Verizon Wireless. Allow me to disclosure, neither of these transactions was mine but were by people I know well and trust. While both experiences were very similar I only have time here to share the story about Verizon Wireless.
A long time Verizon Wireless customer and friend of mine wanted to update her phone and add a phone for her teenage son. After calling the 800 number on the Verizon web site she had a long and, what she thought was, a productive conversation about what phone would be best for her. She had a very few, but critically important, things she wanted the phone to do and not do. Satisfied that Verizon understood her needs she ordered the phones they recommended and agreed to the mandatory 2 year extension to her current Verizon agreement.
But then the phones arrived. Her son’s phone worked well for what he wanted, texting and talking. Her phone however was another matter. After an extended free tech support call it seemed the phone would not do what she wanted the way she wanted, this despite Verizon’s earlier assurances it would.
My friend and her son got up early the next day and went to the local Verizon Wireless store for help. After waiting in line they were told that, because they ordered the phone direct from Verizon, they would have to pay $40 for help and that then there was no guarantee that they could get the results she wanted.
Leaving the store my friend again contacted Verizon direct only to discover that her options were to; #1 keep the phone and deal with it, #2 return the phone for a $35 restocking fee, or #3 upgrade to some other phone. And, just to add insult to injury, there was no way she could get out of the 2 year contract extension without paying the full penalty for doing so regardless of which option she chose.
To summarize; my friend consulted with Verizon’s own staff on what phone would fit her needs. They recommend a phone that they then could not make work to her needs. She then asked the local Verizon store for help. They would only help her if she paid them. She then tried to return the phone only to find that Verizon would not stand behind their own recommendations and would charge her to return the phone. And she could not get out of her contract extension without paying a penalty. Should anyone at Verizon Wireless every wonder why customer service rating are so low (doubtful) here is a case study.
These experiences got me thinking. Internet retailers like Amazon have set new standards for customer service. Organizations like J.C. Penny have been forced by Amazon and others to improve their game. My experience this year was that J.C. Penny has done so and done so where Amazon can’t, with the personal interaction between clerk and customer.
The oligopolies have no such competitive pressure and so have not improved their game. As Internet phone and TV services become more available, reliable and familiar I wonder, and hope, that this will provide the incentive the oligopolies need to fix their badly broken customer experiences. Or, will this be another example of too little too late? Either way I think the consumer wins and capitalism is alive and well.