A word on Customer Support

I was looking through the articles I have written through the years and I have devoted very little on customer support. Which is surprising considering customer support is a cornerstone of a good business.

(WebHost Blog) I was looking through the articles I have written through the years and I have devoted very little on customer support. Which is surprising considering customer support is a cornerstone of a good business.

In fact, even if your product or service is not the best, customer support can be a major factor in customer retention.

Today I am only going to whet the appetite. Recent events have colored my views on support namely on wondering how customers can put up with bad support when they get it. This little story involves my own dealing with financial institutions. I have replaced the company names since there are unimportant for this story.

I have long wondered how people can deal with poor customer support. How many times will it take for support questions to go unanswered or to have things that you need taken care of fall by the wayside as the support staff says we can get that done and then as soon as you are done talking to them they throw your request into the trash can. I found it odd that people put up with that. And then Friday happened.

Thanks to yet another act of incompetence by my bank, my bank account was charged with a series of erroneous fees. The charges continued plunging my account into the negatives setting off another string of charges (overdraft). The original charges began from a bank error (this would be my second of the year). I called up my bank and was asked to provide a string of information I was not comfortable with to include my social, drivers license, pin number, account number, atm number, and lastly my tax ID (I am not kidding, they actually asked these to identify me). So instead of answering their automated questions I banged away on the phone. I eventually gave them enough incorrect answers that they sent me to straight to a customer service rep.

I yelled. I screamed. I felt my blood pressure rise, and for a moment thought that I might even get a heart attack. Finally the rep managed to cancel and credit my account the money they stole. However, a few bills were taken out during this time and I got charged overdraft for those. I spent another hour fuming over that little tidbit, talked to numerous reps to no avail. I had another bill coming up and since the money would not be credited to the account until after a review, I had to through some cash in my account fast.

I tried cross account transfers but found that my bank does not allow them (for security reasons, whatever the heck that means on a deposit lol ). Only one thing I could do was get some cash and deposit it directly. However, I am not in California at the moment (my bank is located in the bay area), so I had to use their “co-op network”.” Basically I can go to any financial institution on the list and use them as if I was at my own bank. Its actually kinda nifty.

On a beautiful Saturday morning, I head out to the bank, money in my wallet and ZZ top on my radio. I headed to a credit union that’s on the list. Was greeted by several very nice staff members one of them offered me coffee (huge plus) and asked how could they help. I gave them my information and they tried to deposit the money in my account. The computer gave them several errors so they decided to call up my bank. For the next two hours they tried to get a hold of a number to my bank that did not send them through a series of odd security questions and finally found one (my bank is opened on Saturday as well if you were wondering). The phone was never answered and finally the staff said, cheerily, well it will probably be sorted out by Monday when their repair people can look at the servers (she tried a series of connections to other branches all working, thus eliminating the questions of it being on our end or the network on this side of the nation).

On Monday I drove back out to the bank and the same problems and phone calls ensued. Finally, the teller got a hold of a competent individual who said it would take about a week to fix. I had days to get that money in the account. Short of flying back there was nothing I could do. I called up my bank when I got home (after having a pleasant conversation with the teller) spent a few hours or more yelling after starting the conversation civilly. Got money orders made up and sent them off.

Now after all of this, I have yet to switch banks. This is also the second major problem of the year from these guys and yet I haven’t even thought about switching banks.

Why?

I would have to find a bank that will travel with me, give me the sort of ATM benefits I have with mine (I never get charged ATM fees regardless if its the $20 surcharge in a Vegas Casino, or a $1 charge from a local grocery store; comes in handy when you travel a lot), I would have to get my bills and paycheck switched, and I would have to redo a few of my investments. Now these are the reasons I give but they are in fact excuses. I could probably have all of these done in one day (probably  a week with how bad my bank is).

These situations happen all the time. I give my own as an example, but people will make excuses for mechanics, family doctors, grocery stores (heck look at Walmart people hate the place but still buy from it), self-check out lanes, and the like.

So when someone sticks with a bad Web Host, its not that they are crazed, stupid, etc. Its just par for the course.

About David Dunlap:
Over the past ten years David has been a prolific author of hundreds of blogs, commentaries and reviews found here on WebHostBlog.com, as well as WebHostMagazine.com and other sites around the Internet. David manages the daily operations at both WebHostBlog and Web Host Magazine & Buyer's Guide, and as the head editor, David uses his unique analytical skills to ensure that both sites maintain their integrity and tough, but fair minded, reputations. Prior to his active career analyzing the Web Host industry, David specialized in networking and communications for the U.S. government. David's expertise in traditional and search engine marketing has helped boost companies both inside and outside of the Web Host industry.