Dealing with “Professional” people..

During our day-to-day business and life in general we increasingly find there is a lack lustre approach to customer service. Not just from an aftermarket point of view but also from a new lead sales aspect too. I have included 2 examples from real interactions with real companies that we have dealt with over the last 6 months. You shouldn’t be surprised that both examples come from massive household name brands that turn over millions if not billions yearly. Werner and Honda! The question on my mind is how? How do they turn over these huge sums of money and report massive profits yearly with such abysmal customer care?

Werner:
Lofty Ladders wants to set up digital ordering so our software can communicate with Werner and order direct. We asked our representative at Werner (Emma) and she said she’d contact the IT department and let us know. 7 days or so pass but I hear nothing, so I email again and get the reply. Yes, I was just doing that. Personally, I find that insulting – I don’t think you were “just doing that” you are just saying “just doing that” because you forgot! But this is not the end. After completely misunderstanding what I was after Emma proceeded to send me instructions on how to use their online shopping system (remember I said earlier “so our software can communicate with Werner and order direct”). Fail number 2.. At this point I ask if there is someone from IT I can speak with and it turns out, yes there is…. But there isn’t, instead if someone from IT that will know what I’m trying to do I get another salesperson this time it’s the “Head of Customer Services” (people love their titles) fail number 3. Claire asks if I’ll be using cMXL to talk to to Werner digitally (I’m sure she means cXML but hey, what do I know, I’ve only got 15 years of IT under my belt).. Once again I get stonewalled for another 7 days (fail number 4) before I write again and ask – Any news… “Yes, I just contacted the IT department about that, I’ll let you know when I hear back!”

You see – 2 people (more if the message got to the IT department) that just don’t seem to care about customer service at all. All they seem interested in is getting me off their back. No real interest in what I’m doing or helping me resolve me query.

Honda:
It’s a similar thing with Honda and not the first time this has happened. Ask to book a test ride on one of their bikes. Get told I’ll be called back – never get the call back..

How much is Werner losing each year to shoddy customer service? What about Honda? I had the exact same experience with Laguna Motorcycles in Ashford.

When a customer is asking a question, you should really do your best to get them an answer or resolve their query. When a customer wants a test ride – organise a test ride.

These are some of the BIGGEST brand names there are and they are just utter utter rubbish.

Suffice to say you will never get this kind of service from Lofty Ladders. We want our customers to be happy and cheery about the way they’ve been treated because that’s what make us happy. It’s not just about the £££ you know!