Image is by Ian Alegre

PLDT Customer Service: A Turtle-Like Transaction With So Many Starts And The End Not So Near

It took me a month and 14 days to write about my PLDT customer service experience. Why? I guess, I was hoping they could speed up a bit especially that a business line is involved here.  They are after all in business, too, and should know better how important days or time are/is in business.

Apparently, they don’t.

The image above is what I feel an accurate representation of my experience with them: a turtle-like transaction with so many starts and the end not so near.

One of our office facilities had to move to another office unit, and so we requested for a transfer of line. The request was made April 3, 2012. We opted for the simultaneous transfer of line because we thought since it will be in a continuous billing arrangement, they would, you know, make the transfer faster.

That assumption is wrong!

As I write this, I am kept on hold by a customer service representative who is making yet another follow-up to the support of PLDT to take action on this request. We already have a service order. But no action has been made toward the request. No one from PLDT even called or emailed us to let us know about the status of this request.

For one month and 14 days, I would call their 171 hotline, wait for 30 minutes for a CSR to be available, only to be told the same message over and over again:

CSR: Based on the records, this one already has a service order. But no feedback from the support yet about this. Ma’am, to expedite this request, I will make a follow-up to the support.

Me: Is there a number that I can call support?

CSR: We only communicate through email, Ma’am. We wait for their email feedback.

Me (to myself): Oh great!

I feel that every time I call and the CSR tells me this, I am starting with a request again. As a customer, I go through the maze, stopping and making another slow step towards the end of the maze. What my concern is that our company is dependent on the Internet to do some work. Right now, this facility of ours is making do with those Plug Its.

Some PLDT guys were seated next to our table during the BPM workshop last March. One participant actually raised the concern about some utility companies outsourcing their services, and don’t seem to have control over the quality of service from these outsourcing companies. One of them said that they were actually looking into it. They cited the lack of coordination with these outsourcing companies as the culprit of this bad customer service sometimes. Wow! We couldn’t believe what we heard actually.

But for the life of me! In this age when companies are so into improving their business processes and with high technology, why can’t PLDT, the biggest telecommunication company in the Philippines cannot do the same? Would you believe that their hotline is not even 24/7?

I know we are captured consumers of PLDT. What I wish is for PLDT to have that business conscience at least to deliver excellent service.

One day my son went out with his classmates to Yellow Cab, a pizza parlor. They were in their pre-teens, aged 12. According to the story, they went in, seated themselves and waited for someone to get their orders. Nobody came.

After some time, they waved their hands to get anyone’s attention. When finally a server came to them, one of them joked, “Ba’t di mo kami pinapansin, kuya?” (“What took you long to take our orders, big brother?”)

To which the server quipped, “I was busy.”

My son then intervened and said, “Sumbong kita sa manager nyo. Customer kami eh.” (“I will report you to the manager. This is not the way to treat a customer, you know.”)

The server replied, “Eh di isumbong mo.” (“Go ahead, tell my manager.”)

My son who doesn’t back away from a challenge, really went to the manager and reported the incident. The result, their order of pizza was upgraded from 14-inch to 16-inch. All’s well that ends well. Still, it was not the way to treat customers, regardless of their ages.

When my son shared the story with us, we cautioned him about perhaps being rude to the server, demanding attention too eagerly. But my son insisted that they didn’t do anything to provoke the situation. It came really as a surprise to us that at a young age, he would go to that extent, and assert his right as a customer. I’m guessing, he has been hearing us talk about customer service. You see, customer service is one of the interesting topics my husband and I talk about.

There is a lot to be learned from the incident. After all, customer service is for children, too. In fact, companies if they are clever, here are ways they can make customer touchpoints through children:

1. Parents often give in to their children’s preferences. Take the case of my children. Every time we dine out, it’s their choice of restaurant that always wins. We often go to restos where they have had a memorable experience. My older son couldn’t forget for example the time that a server in Friday’s (TGIF) gave him his Miami Heat pin (you know how those Friday’s servers have those pins on their uniforms). My younger son, too, can’t forget how a barrista in Figaro went out of his way to concocting a non-caffeine drink so that kids can have them. These are small things, perhaps, to adults. But for children these are big things. I know because they keep on repeating these stories with us, or with their friends. These experiences don’t even have anything to do with the quality of food or drink. Although, with those restos above, good food is a given.
2. Children are potential loyal customers. They can be very candid and discriminating, and seldom compromise. If you disappoint a child, expect that you won’t hear the end of it. Worse, they won’t go back to that place ever and you lose a customer forever in that child. So, you wouldn’t like disappointing a child.
3. Children are consumers. According to this article on Kaboose, elementary-age American kids spend around $15 billion per year, and they influence (whine and beg) another $160 billion in spending from their parents. I think the number in other countries is relatively the same. So, think of all these consumers waiting for your service.

A business would not exist without its customers. Therefore, keeping your customers satisfied is imperative to keeping them loyal. Today, businesses embrace an online presence, which allows customers to leave reviews and comments about them that are open to the public. For this reason, it is more important than ever to keep your customers satisfied.

Customer service is an indicator of whether or not your customers will remain loyal. If you are able to satisfy your customers, they are likely to return and increase same-store sales. NBRI has created this infographic to explain what customer loyaltyis and why it’s important to your business.

Infographic provided by National Business Research Institute

Here in the Philippines, Christmas time equates a mad rush of shopping frenzy. Parking lots overflow into the streets, and so expect terrible traffic jams!

So if you were to test an establishment’s customer service, this is the best time to do it. Is there grace under pressure?

I went to SM Makati last night, and as I expected, the mall was packed, the lines to the cashiers are long. But I have to hand it to SM for the following:

1. Their sales personnel are on the floor ready to help shoppers.
2. The sales people are very friendly; greets shoppers and really go out of their way to help, find, dig up sizes of shoes, clothing, and what have you.
3. Plenty of checkout counters are placed in strategic areas of the department store. I like it that in every counter, there is a box of Christmas wrappers, Christmas paper bags, ribbons, and small greeting cards. It makes things so convenient.
4. Their cashiers ar fast, may your transaction be in cash or credit card!
5. SM has practically everything you need in one place.

From my experience, SM people have really been trained well when it comes serving shoppers. If they sustain this, they’ll be assured of repeat business with happy customers.

Interestingly, I stumbled upon an article, titled Good Customer service is Key to Capturing Holiday Shoppers. According to the article, 60 percent shop more often at certain online sites, and 50 percent shop more often at specific retail stores, because of a good customer experience. You can read about it more here.

As companies go online to expand business and reach customers, customer requirements, on other hand,  have become more demanding.

There is now a competition between which company is timely at giving feedback to customers. Social media has made that possible. This is in fact good for customers.

So, Business2Community, an independent online community focused on sharing the latest news surrounding social media among other things, comes up with seven virtual customer service tips.

Over communication. Just like with your virtual workers, your clients cannot look over their cubicle wall to see if you are busy at work.  Once you accept an assignment let them know. This can be through an automated message or a personal one. Another form of this is “thank you for your order” confirmation emails.

Timely Response. In addition to letting clients know that you have accepted their order be sure to ask any questions or return items in an appropriate time span. For example, as a content writing service we ask clients questions during the first 24 hours of accepting a project. That way a client knows we have not only accepted the project but are actively working on it. Imagine having a 5 day turnaround and then asking questions 3 hours before the deadline. That speaks volumes to your client.

Read more…

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During the past month or so, I have observed quite a number of customer service faux pas. And I could only sigh and say, “this is not the way you treat your customer!”

Thus this blog post is born. I want to list instances where you are not serving your customers. Let’s start.

Choose the options for them

Popular notion has it that if you do everything for your customers, they will feel like a king. And true enough, you often hear customers gushing about not lifting a finger, yet get the best service there is. However, this does not work all the time.

Let’s take the CebuPacific website as an example. When you book for airtickets, all options are ticked—from insurance, baggage fees to the pre-seating. Well, yeah, there is that convenience but it comes with a price, of course. What about the budget travelers who choose Cebu Pacific in the first place because of cheaper rates? The seat selector is quite unwieldy. If you are not that techie and patient to figure out how to de-select the seats, then you will end up paying more. I spent hours to figure out how to “de-seat myself.” The safest way to do it is to know your customers first and find out if what you’re doing for them is what they want you to do for them.

Serve them eagerly

I often experience this in the department stores or specialty shops. I walk in and salespeople start swarming. It’s fine actually, but it distracts me from choosing or even making decision, because somebody is there looking and giving suggestions.

Strictly follow company policy

This phrase “We can’t do anything about it, it’s company policy” really irks me. The policy is there as guide. Unless the customer demand or request brings you business down, you should be able to give considerations to your customer.

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), one of the top local banks in the country, recently rolled out the paperless transaction using the BPI Express Assistant Machine.

The BPI Express Assistant Machine is like the other automated machines where you choose the kind of transaction that you are going to do.  Based on what I did the last time I went to the bank and used the machine, this is how it went:

1. Touch the window screen choosing your type of transaction: Deposit, Withdrawal, Bills Payment
2. I chose Deposit.
3. I was then asked if I were going to make a check or a cash deposit. I chose check deposit.
4. I was asked to key in the issuing bank, the check #, and the amount.
5. After a few buttons, I was asked to input my account #.
6. Done.
7. The machine then spits out a paper indicating my priority number.

(Too bad, I can’t use a mobile phone inside the bank, I was not able to take a photo of the machine.)

The procedure, I think, took me only 15 seconds or so. I didn’t need to fill out a deposit slip. Holding my priority number, I took a seat and waited for my turn for about a minute or two.

When it was my turn, I gave my check to the teller. A few seconds after, I got my already filled out deposit slip.

Easy does it.

As far as I know, it is only BPI that uses this paperless transaction. It makes for a good, efficient, and fast customer service. Much improvement from their old system of lining up and waiting for hours to be served.

Let me also tell you about BPI’s convenient banking online. I can send funds, pay bills online and mobile instantly!

Congratulations on this one, BPI! Yes, you take us farther!

Have you ever been put on hold for an hour for customer service? Well, perhaps, not. For who would wait for an hour for that?

Yet, that possibility is not remote. I am sure for a desperate customer who really has to talk to a customer rep, desperation could make him wait and wait.

Well, fret no more and be thankful for technology. There is now an application for iPhone and Android that waits on customer service for you.  FastCustomer, a company that advocates for fast customer service and aims to eliminate wait times, has developed this app. What’s more interesting is that this app is free!

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Technology is really making our lives more convenient, isn’t it?

FastCustomer by the way is inviting companies to add your company to this app. Read more…

CFO.com will have a webcast on Achieving Customer-Centric Shared Services. Sponsored by PRGX, this webcast will discuss Best Practices of shared services organizations.

Schedule:

Featured Speakers:

Bruce Kelly
Managing Director
Advisory Services
PRGX

Charisse Jacques
Principal
Advisory Services
PRGX

Moderated by:
Joe Fleischer
Senior Webcast Producer
CFO Publishing

Register now!

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Very young—not yet a month old—into the social networking industry, yet Google+ is creating a tsunami. Already, social media people have their own predictions about Google+, some of which are:

• Google+ will replace Facebook, which replaced Friendster
• Google+ will change the information highway
• Google+ will help online business big time, especially in terms of customer service

All these because Google+ is powered by Google and evolved from Gmail.

Well, any social networking tool or app can help customer service, if used well. Twitter started it when companies created Twitter accounts to create touchpoints with their customers. Companies also use Facebook pages to create buzz about their business and latest products and services.

With Google+, it has so much promise in the sense that it comes after all other social networking sites have kind of settled down and reached their peak. Like a shrewd businessman, Google embarked on a rigorous R&D and came up with two features (initially) that companies could use to reach out to their customers efficiently.

1. Circles. You can group your customers or clients into these circles and send out customized messages to them. The naming is even left to you, so you can be as creative as you can be with these cirlces. This is also a good thing because you can use your labels to categorize your customers into their preferences, their dislikes, and the like. I posted a question one time about how my Circles label their friends, and I was amused by the names of their circles. Some, like me, couldn’t think of a good naming system at first.
2. Hangouts. I tried this one last night, and it seems pretty cool. The Google+ hangouts are not your typical chat features because it ventures further into a video chat or video conference. They can hold 10 people in the same video chat room, and the best thing is it’s web-based and free. Skype is first in this type of service but it’s Windows based only, and if you get more peole into the chat room, you need to upgrade your membership to a paid one. I can see companies using the hangouts for focused-group discussions (FGDs) and VOC activities. This early, Dell is already thinking of using hangouts for its service and sale teams.

The only deterrent for now is that Google+ is by invitation only. Once completely rolled out, I hope to see how it progresses and meets everyone’s expectations.