Posted by: Ian Mapp | 11.03.2010
One of our ‘truths’ is that customers and staff that interact directly with customers already know a lot about issues and problems … and often how to solve them. Listening to their stories is often inspiring. The following was inspired by a customer advisor on a recent client engagement.
View from the front
| We the unheeded, doing the unneeded. |
| Showing the unknowing. |
| Too much pressing, too many stressing. |
| The unneeded our undoing. |
| |
| Talk more, rest less. |
| |
| Always collecting, something new to show, |
| never reflecting, learning from what we know. |
| The knowing unheeded, bright new world unweeded. |
| Doing the unneeded, defection speeded. |
| |
| They talk, I squeeze. |
| They talk, I breeze. |
| I talk, they freeze. |
| I talk – on their knees! |
| |
| I hear them, they are my feed. |
| I hear them, know what they need. |
| |
| Now is the time to hear me speak. |
| Now is the time to heed the call. |
| Now is the time to follow my lead. |
| I’m undoing the unneeding, starting now. |
Voice of the Customer, agent experience, culture, customer experience, feedback, listening, process improvement, reduction in contacts | No Comments
Posted by: Peter Massey | 1.12.2007
I’ve had a lot of feedback about the HSBC and first direct credit card blog “1 contact vs 23 contacts“
When I tried to use the HSBC card on Tuesday night to buy some tube tickets for the Chief Customer Officers’ trip across town, as I suspected it wasn’t over yet. It didn’t work.
When I came to pay the bill for the excellent dinner at “Dans Le Noir” it bounced. Now if you saw the size of the bill you wouldn’t be surprised. I did wonder whether I’d bust my limit.
Wednesday I thought ‘one more try’ and tried to top up my Oyster card with it and it bounced.
The following day was a busy one and so on ThursdayI checked with our finance lady and it seemed ok. I called the number on my card to be answered very quickly by a lady of impeccable manners. Strangely she called me Peter before I had given her any details. Clearly they were on my case! The only marker she had was for ‘payment requested over the limit’. The helpful lady suggested that I probably hadn’t bust my limit but had probably bust the aggregate limit on my card.
I accepted the point and talked to finance to sort it out.
So far so good but something didn’t smell right. The first payment that was declined was only for £16. It wasn’t enough to break a limit. Whatever, life’s too short, move on.
Then Friday night I got a text from my colleague. “You’ll never believe it, but I’ve had a call from the HSBC fraud people asking for you to ring them”.
As per the last story, obviously they still had my colleague’s names and details attached to my card and were ringing him.
So I rang the number on the card on Saturday. And went through security. Card number, date of birth and any two consecutive letters from my favourite word. At least they stopped asking me for my postcode and then telling me it was wrong. But I havent given them a special word. “It could be your mothers maiden name” the helpful lady suggested. It was. I realised she obviously had the whole of my mothers maiden name on screen and that the lady a few days before had done the same thing with the same helpful suggestion. Is that security?
Nothing wrong with the balance. No flag on the account. Eventually I got transferred offshore to the fraud department. Just before I hung up after waiting 2 minutes 25 seconds on hold.
She asked had I tried to make a payment in Steam. Avoiding all jokes about trains, I didnt recognise it – but we moved on before I answered yes or no (afterward I remembered the beers late in the night in the Steam bar….). Had I tried to make a payment at Hilton. No, but I had stayed there this week. And not paid anything on my credit card. All cash. Had I paid anything on SE Trains earlier – yes.
OK, she would reinstate my card. It was just a fraud check she said, nothing to do with balances. I didn’t argue because I don’t want to go through 23 contacts again to get a new card.
So the questions that I am left with are:
1) Will they ever get me attached to my phone number and details, not my colleague?
2) Why did my card bounce for £16 when that wouldn’t break the limit? Was it in fact a fraud check?
3) Who tried to take money off my card at the Hilton?
4 ) Why was my card reinstated when there could have been a risk? It was my fault – I just wanted my card working and I need to find out what was going on at the Hilton. I think I know so I took the risk.
I got the outcome I wanted, my card working again. This time in only 7 contacts (me to finance, me to bank, me to finance, finance to me, bank to colleague, colleague to me, me to bank).
But shouldn’t the first 2 contacts have sorted it and left no questions open:
- Bounce at the tube, be it fraud check or balance problem
- Text or call to me (not my colleague)
- I call the bank and we agree it’s real or they tell me I have a balance problem so I dont try and use the card to embarass myself in front of 15 of the top customer experience people in the country
If you’re reading this – do get in touch with your observations at peter.massey@budd.uk.com
HSBC, customer experience design, process improvement | No Comments
Posted by: Ian Morton | 30.10.2007
Having recently joined Budd I wanted to transfer my mobile account from my previous business account, held by Vodafone, into Budd’s business telephone account, also held by Vodafone. Thinking this would be a one call fix, as I was not taking anything away from Vodafone, just changing billing details, I called expecting it to be a simple action. How wrong can you be!
A very polite lady advised me that they would have to send me the PAC number, I asked could it be given over the phone, no, I was told, I had to request the PAC number in writing, an email would do, but it could not be given immediately. She went on to tell me that once Vodafone received my email they could then send me a letter with the PAC number. Could I not receive this information by email I asked?, apologies, but no, this was not the process.
On receiving the letter I was advised, I would then have to send the detail to our internal admin team, who could then call Vodafone, who would then transfer the account billing details. Why, I asked cannot you do this now. Explanation given was that they were on different databases and could not transfer my details but had to go through an internal administrative process to enable another section within Vodafone to handle.
So from a simple request to transfer billing details internally within Vodafone we will generate at least 2 calls and 1 email to Vodafone, 2 internal calls to/from my admin dept, I have received 3 emails so far telling me the PAC number was coming, I have also received a letter from Vodafone with the PAC number and, I think, but I am losing track, there is another letter going to Budd’s admin dept to tell them what to do with it.
By my count that’s around 10 interactions for a piece of internal administration. Why?Surely with the number of people moving between business accounts this process should have been refined by now. Even if the databases do not talk the customer should not see the problem. I understand the need for security, but nothing was said they had to do it this way due to security issues.
So, I’m left a frustrated customer, dreading the day when something really goes wrong. On a high note however, everyone you talk to in Vodafone business team is always friendly and seems to be doing their best. So well done Vodafone business team, just please look at this process and consider how many other processes are frustrating to your customers. Might be time to actually listen to what the customer is saying?
Customer satisfaction, Voice of the Customer, process improvement, reduction in contacts | No Comments
