"COMMON SENSE BUSINESS"
Columns for 2005
By Stan Rosenzweig

Common Sense strategy to get the service you deserve

When you receive terrible service from a supplier you rely on, what can you do to save time and get things working again?

Jules, a successful investor and entrepreneur emailed me this:

"Subject: Stan: SBC mistakenly cut off my DSL service. - It took 10 days to get it back.

"It took me over 20 calls and 8 hours on the phone to untangle all the mistakes
they made.

"Can you please point me to the appropriate place to register a complaint
with State or Federal regulators."

Unfortunately, times have changed from when regulators felt the need to protect you. Now, public service people respond to complaints with little more than a form letter reply. There are several blogs around if you feel the pent up rage to vent, but the writers and readers of such venues appear to be a relatively closed group of incestuous whiners and nobody in the real world cares what they write.

The problem is, just like with airlines, deregulated competition has driven down rates and carriers have squeezed out every bit of internal staff training and common sense in a quest to stay profitable.

When broadband works, it's great and when it doesn't, there's nothing worse, except, maybe, getting a call from Eliot Spitzer.

So what do you do? For starters, recognize that in all aspects of purchasing, you have to deal with people who are either overworked, under motivated or just not up to the task. Regardless, to jump to the head of the service line:

    1. Be friendly, so if they ever wanted to help someone, it's you.
    2. Be patient and work through your problem without losing your cool.
    3. Keep detailed notes, including:
  • the name of the person helping you,
  • an direct, alternative phone number (in case you get disconnected),
  • the supervisor's name, address and phone number (in case things don't eventually get back on track, or even when they do).

What works best for me is this. I start by telling the rep that I understand that this is a difficult problem and they have a difficult job. "After we get through this, I make it a habit of sending complementary letters. What is the name and mailing address of your supervisor so I can send that letter when we are done?"

You have no idea how helpful they become after this, and how many nice letters of good service I have been happy to send in their behalf. They get served, so you get served.




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