When Customer Service Lady Has No Answer
(Last Update: May 12th) I believe all of you here know what does it mean by customer service. It might mean before-sales services given to potential buyers or after-sales services given to buyers. To make it concrete, Poltak was going to buy a new juicer. He went to closest supermarket and had difficulties in choosing which juicers to buy. Supermarket guy came and explained to him advantages and disadvantages of each juicers. This is what we call bef0re-sales services.
Next day, Poltak returned to that supermarket in anger after finding that the juicer did not work at all. After-sales services are about giving warranty, receiving complaints from dissatisfied citizen and offering solutions. Let us just focus on the two latest parts. What important for goods sellers or services providers now is to, first, calm the anger customer, second, explain why the problem arose and, if possible, third, offer some solutions.
Last month, I was trying to withdraw some cash from my bank account when suddenly ATM machine ate my ATM card. I had already inputted my password and there was written something like: “Please reinsert your card” but my card did not go out. I had not slept well for a week on that time, I was hungry, I was tired, I was in a hurry, I had almost no cash in my wallet, and ATM machine ate my ATM card. Wow. Panicked and angered, I told my problem to security guy there. He did not speak any word in English. He brought me upstairs and handed me to second security guy which was no better in English than his friend. With some hand gestures I tried to explain what happened to my ATM card. Still, they did not have a clue and, instead, told me to wait. They made me wait for 20 minutes until lady in customer service desk had done with last customer.
I tried not to look angered to make things faster, thus pretended that having my ATM card being eaten by ATM machine and knowing that my Forints* are at risk are not big deals. She did not have to pass the first step I mentioned above. She failed in the second step, she kept on saying: “I’m sorry, I don’t know, just come next week and we’ll see if I can get back your card”.
Look, actually customers do not always insist customer service people to give immediate solutions. They need informations on why things went wrong and expected answers. Any answers. If customer service people themselves have no answer, they have to give their best guess. Any smart answers must be better than: “I’m sorry, I don’t know, just come next week and we’ll see if I can get back your card”. I was concerned more on whether someone might take away my money than whether I could get back my ATM card on that day.
Orders and inquiries flow from customers to customer service while information flows from customer service to customers. They are paid to calm customers and give some smart answers to customers’ questions, and, if possible, offer an solution. As long as they can do the first two tasks, everything will be better.
When one services other, he is in position of subordinate. Remember, customers are kings, and kings’ subordinates (in this case, customer service people) need to satisfy kings by their service because kings are authoritative and can at times be very bad-tempered.
*Forint: Hungarian currency
Tags: Customer Care, Customer Service
May 10th, 2008 at 7:46 am
I just had this kind of experience yesterday..
I went to hp customer service office to get my laptop fixed. Tapi ternyata..
mereka membohongi saya.. huaaa..
Bukan cuman tanggapam dr customer servicenya aja yg bikin kesel..biaya nyampe sananya itu..terbuanglah uang makan seminggu dgn sia2..
yayi’s last blog post..Ada break , ada Yaya
May 10th, 2008 at 9:23 am
none of them speak english. it made everything worse. anyway, that thing usually happens when the customer service lady has no information or control to the problem. berhubung gak mau terlihat tolol, maka itulah yang keluar dari mulutnya. hehehe.. are you sure she understand what you said?
michaeljubel’s last blog post..Mengapa Begini, Mengapa Begitu? Ala Teknik Kimia.
May 10th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
wow….that sure was irritating. did you get the atm card back the following week?
btw, salam kenal ^^
amelia purba’s last blog post..nostalgila lagu lama
May 11th, 2008 at 10:27 am
very often i see the reader’s letter pages in newspapers are full of complaint cases. i wonder whether you can do the same for you ATM problem. i’m sorry to read this
inda’s last blog post..Stem Cell: Our Ultimate (and Controversial) weapon
May 12th, 2008 at 4:41 am
Oh My God, i feel sorry for your bad luck
Customer service (in other function) is recruited to cover up the bad service as you already mentioned above. Hehe
If you had problem with Customer Service Officer, then, I experience the similar thing too. My problems arise when I pick up my cellphone to answer incoming call which is -badly- a call from Telemarketer who wants to promote, solicite and insist me to buy their product
well I try to be more careful ever since, I don’t want to ruin my day 
Btw, next time, you should not speak to the security guy again, i think he has problem with his English
yonna’s last blog post..Aku Juga Cinta Bumi
May 12th, 2008 at 5:43 am
saran gue buat Lae cuma satu: segera pindah ke bank lain.
Trus protes ke bank-nya dan bilang: “Saya akan bilang kasus ini ke banyak orang supaya nggak pake jasa bank ini lagi!”
Pasti mereka langsung panik mendengar statement itu. Ingat, kita sebenarnya power yang sangat besar menghadapi perusahaan yang nggak memperhatikan kualitas dan customer service. Power itu adalah kekompakan dan solidaritas, collective power.
Kalau Sherwin bilang ama orang lain, dan membuat banyak orang nggak mau pake lagi, pasti perusahaan itu mau untuk memperbaiki customer service. Kalau nggak, bangkrut!
Verdinand R.’s last blog post..On Ahmadiyah
May 12th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Test.
Marisa’s last blog post..On Being Musically Provocative, and Proactive.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Yuki, gue kebalik. Elo yang dari Tarutung, gue yang dari Toba! Haha.
So, did this happen in Tokyo? Really? Perhaps they should invent smart hybrid customer service robots then eh? Hm, not sure if this is going to make you feel any better, but trust me ..the probability of you experiencing a lousy service in Tokyo compared in Jakarta would be like, 1 to 1000. Err, make it 1 to 100.
Hope you’re doing okay there by now.
PS: Sori gue check sound dulu di atas.
Marisa’s last blog post..On Being Musically Provocative, and Proactive.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
@yayi:
That’s bad yayi, how’s your cell phone now?
@michaeljubel:
Absolutely. She was the one who helped me making my bank account there and we spoke in English on that time.
@amelia purba:
Nope, I haven’t tried to get it back, they told me that I had to go to the main branch of the bank and asked for my card back there. I’d rather withdraw my money with my passport and ID card.
@yonna:
No second chance given yonna, I’ll never go there anymore.
@verdinand:
Aku hampir bilang begitu lae, haha, cuma sudah terlalu capek buat marah2 di depan dia walaupun sempat membanting payung ke lantai, loh. ?! I guess I have problem with my bad-tempered.
Reputasi bank itu sendiri sangat bagus sebenarnya, seperti BNI di Indonesia mungkin. Saya rasa saya kebetulan bertemu customer service yang bodoh.
@Marisa:
Japanese service providers never treated their customers like this, instead, they treated them as if they’re kings (seriously).
No, I’m living in Budapest now.
Haha, dari Toba toh, tak kira sama dari Tarutung juga.
May 14th, 2008 at 5:31 am
Not being able to speak English is…something missing from a good set of customer service.
Nihongo wo doshite saberimasen ka? Hehe…
May 14th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Hm.. I guess despite the common ruling that “customers’ are kings” - I may differ from country to another. Here in this negeri si bau kelek - Customer may not always treated as kings instead more lije “milking cows”
As many philippinos staying here said: “Sira Ulo talaga!”
Domba Garut!’s last blog post..Mas - lalu kita ini bagaimana?
May 14th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
sepakat sama Verdinand
antown’s last blog post..Before and After
May 15th, 2008 at 4:28 am
Wo ..lo di Budapest? Kebeneran. Check out this event.
I’ve received an invitation to participate in the Summit–probably because GVO linked back to the Journal’s posts for several times. Tapi undangan doanq ..ngga dikasih tiket pesawat. Sama aja bo’ong. Whatevs, I’d definitely go if I were you.
Marisa’s last blog post..The Post’s 25th Anniversary Seminar
May 15th, 2008 at 8:12 am
malang nihan nasib mu Ki…. so, how do you survive for a week without money?
mungkin si mbak2 emang kaga tau dan panik kali ya… mbok ya doi harusnya … “wait a moment sir, i ll get the tec. to solve this prob”.. daripada bilang “meneketehe pak… sorri ini mah”
adite’s last blog post..Apakah ini mananya syaraf…
May 15th, 2008 at 9:44 am
laptop bang. bukan hp.heheh..belum dibalikin ni laptop saya.dan belom ditelvon lagi sama org2 customer servicenya. huff..doakan cepat selesai ya. susah kali hidup tanpa laptop.heheh
yayi’s last blog post..Korn feat. Nidji
May 16th, 2008 at 3:20 am
wah… jadi kangen ga sama jepang yang customer servicenya setidaknya masih baik.. dan ok..
kadang nyebelin juga sih.. huehue
May 16th, 2008 at 9:09 am
wah..wah..sabar pak..
tp gw juga pernah tuh dapet pengalaman yang tidak menyenangkan sama mas2 CS salah satu provider GSM..
singkatnya dia bikin satu kesalahan mendasar gara2 dia sok tau bikin gw rugi sejumlah uang..
eh dia cuma ngomong “maaf mas..”
tp klo dibandingin ATM ketelen di negeri org, kayanya masalah gw ga ada apa2nya deh…
hehehheheheh..
doedoedoe’s last blog post..Salah Sasaran
May 18th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
@Ian:
Well, the one in customer service did speak in English with me, but the security guys didn’t. Bener kata loe, harusnya pake bahasa Jepang gw.
@antown:
Sepakat juga ah.
@Marisa:
I wish I can Marisa, but I have to leave Budapest soon, my visa already expired by that time.
@adite:
Iyah, hehe, habis itu gw ambil lagi dite duitnya di cabang lain pake passport sama ID card gw.
@yayi:
Mudah2an cepet beres yayi.
Ah, salah ngetik.
@4nt0n:
Tapi seenggaknya mereka memanggil kita dengan …sama kan?
@doedoedoe:
Anu, kok gak disebut nama providernya? Haha. Kayaknya provider GSM sama CDMA Indonesia suka kurang memuaskan yah, kok di surat pembaca di koran2 pada ngeluh semua?
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:40 am
@yuki: visa expired juni dpan? udah mo balik ke indo ya mas? ato balik ke jepang?
btw saya mo tau mas yuki JLPTnya udah tamat level 1, kan?
toshis last blog post..Why having a Communist Party isn’t really a bad idea after all
May 26th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
@toshi:
Balik ke Indonesia dulu terus baru ke Jepang lagi, haha. Belum kok, belum pernah ngambil JLPT 1 soalnya, dulu pas SD udah tamat yang level 3, tapi belum ada niat ngambil level 2 dan 1 untuk saat ini.
May 30th, 2008 at 12:08 am
[…] dituntut ke pengadilan oleh mafia, menghadiri festival film Indonesia di Budapest, belajar masak, kartu ATM ditelan oleh mesin ATM sampai mengunjungi tempat-tempat menarik di sini. Bagi yang masih penasaran ada apa di […]