16 March, 2007

Laptop - End of the crappy service saga

I have my Viao back. I am satisfied with the quality of repairs but the entire experience has left me quite jaded.

It is possible that this incident was an irregularity in the way it was handled both from Sony customer service and from Service Net but the way the calls and questions seemed scripted and the excuses that were provided to me imply otherwise. Obviously what follows is my opinion but it is an opinion based on my experience dealing with them.

My attempts at escalating the issues within the call trees and even directly with the people I was able to get on the phone met consistently with dead ends. I am convinced that their business model is to receive a cut of the extended warranty money and then do whatever they can to not provide any service that costs them money. If that means that they make excuses and refuse to escalate to the decision makers within the standard contact paths then so be it. I wouldn't even be surprised if the CS people on the phone are compensated based on how many calls they handle without incurring additional expense to Service Net. Their choice of questions asked and manner of interpreting them implies to me that their primary focus is to use semantics to get out of meeting their contractual obligations. The fact that they have such prominence on an "adjudication" group at their web site implies to me that they place more focus on shirking responsibility than fixing customer issues.

I bought this laptop in a store and purchased the $~500 extended warranty with accidental damage because I wanted the additional protection that I mistakenly thought it offered. For that matter the entire reason I spent the premium on a Sony laptop instead of saving the money and going with another company was because I believed I would have better service. I have 6 kids and it was not unreasonable to assume that some significant accident would happen to it over the course of 3 years so the accident insurance would have made sense if it was reasonable to expect it would be honored. In the end even when all I wanted fixed was a $5 to $20 part they tried to weasel out of that and used the fact that they were two separate entities to redirect responsibility (or at least make the call short).

It wasn't until I put up a blog post and got dozens of hits from addresses in Japan that I got any semblance of help. Shortly after that I got contacted and the issue was taken seriously. The address I got contacted at was my blog email address and not the one I left several times with the various customer service people we called. You'll have to forgive me if I have trouble believing the issue would have been satisfactorily resolved without the blog. So I guess blogging is the real hero here.



So for productive advice. I have run successful service centers before so perhaps they should listen.

If I was a manager at Service Net I would

  1. Make sure there is a clear escalation path for customer complaints that is known to the call center people.
  2. Before any possibly disgruntled customer gets off their first phone call they know what that path is.
  3. Customers should never be told in a service call that there is no further point of contact beyond the person speaking especially if they have only spoken to two people and neither of them could resolve the issue.
  4. I would add a process at the end of all calls where the customer is asked if their needs and expectations were met and if the answer is no I would have someone contact them the next day.
  5. Make sure Customer Service Reps do not provide contradictory information during the call or provide multiple different reasons for disapproval. (that happen to sound like grasping for straws to avoid work)
  6. I would increase training for the Customer Service team and the management team that runs them.
  7. Extensively audit customer calls for the last several months to determine if this is systemic or just an irregularity.
  8. If the audits show it was an irregularity contact to customers that were effected and apologise (both the client companies and direct customers).
  9. If it is systemic have a massive overhaul.

Then again the focus of my call centers was actual customer service and not limitation of liability so perhaps they don't really need to listen.

If I was a company that was trusting in Service Net to provide customer service to me I would

Quick note here this company services many customer service accounts including Dell, CDW, FuJitsu, Sirius, Toshiba and several others. It is possible that customer service problems with any of these companies are due to this one source.

  1. Request a log of all calls related to my account for the last three months and call and ask the customers if they were happy with their service.
  2. Randomly perform customer service test calls to ensure they are properly treat customers that view them as supporting my (the company calling) brand.
  3. Audit their practices and books associated with the account.

If I was a customer I wouldn't bother to buy extended warranties or accidental coverage. Here is why.

The other day on my drive in (1 hour + each direction) I added up all of the Sony products I have purchased in the last few years. 2 Large flat screen TV’s (50 something and 40 something inches) one wall hanging LCD TV, a stereo, three small TV’s, 2 PSP’s, a DVD player and my laptop. All in all close to $20,000. I am not sure how much of that money went to extended warranties. My guess is close to $2000 perhaps more.

Next time I will just put that $500 in savings. Over time I will clearly be better off.

In any case I will probably never willingly or directly buy a Sony product again unless it is truly needed and there is no other vendor. I certainly won't buy their extended warranty. I am certain that at dinner conversations over the year I will be happy to talk about how crappy their customer service is as well so perhaps the lost revenue won't be limited to me. Yes I will try to make it funny and not angst filled. No use ruining dinner.

So now I am done. I don't intend to bring this up again unless something else happens bad. Blogging should pick back up over the next few days until I am back to normal.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Three cheers for the power of blogs! Glad to have you back in the land of blogging.

Nick

www.prosoftblog.com

Anonymous said...

so what happens if I purchased the extended warranty and accidental coverage and spilt a glass of soda on the laptop as I just did. My heart just stopped beating for a minute as I finally paid up $3,200 for a new laptop a month ago and had this happen. It won't start, I think it's dead. Does the coverage help here?????

Jim C said...

I don't know the answer to that because I don't know the fine print. If you have the accidental damage warrenty it would seem like it should be covered but I suspect you would have to go to quite some length to get it to happen.

I'll tell you what why don't you make the attempt and if they give you problems (and you do have the accidental coverage) let me know I will post on it. On the other hand we can give them a chance to redeem themselves. If they do give you good service I would be happy to post on that as well.

Anonymous said...

I happened across your blog as I was reading up on various laptops. I am considering a Sony Vaio. I was compelled to respond to your diatribe as I actually have experience working for a call center (alas not Service Net) and was amused by your overly simplistic take on the process.
Let's start with your "Managerial" suggestions.
1.Make sure there is a clear escalation path for customer complaints that is known to the call center people.
Everyone from every call center knows how to escalate issues. It's a common, industry-wide practice. It's the first thing you learn on the call floor as when one needs help in uncharted territory one "escalates". Think about it.

2.Before any possibly disgruntled customer gets off their first phone call they know what that path is.
This is a patently ludicrous statement. Who's to say what customer is "possibly disgruntled"? Let's just staff a call center of 3000 phone reps entirely with board certified psychiatrists. That will make those warranties extra cheap! Plus anyone that you say "No" to is going to be a bit disgruntled. It's part of the territory. Sometimes in a civilized society we need to tell people "No" on occasion. Someone with "6 kids" should surely understand that.

3. Customers should never be told in a service call that there is no further point of contact beyond the person speaking especially if they have only spoken to two people and neither of them could resolve the issue.
Ridiculous, so we're going to keep whining our way up the food chain to the CEO until we get our way? It sounds like you were probably the type of kid that ran to his Daddy when his Mommy said no. Plus management has better things to do then to get involved in every little tiff that comes across customer service's desks. A company would get quagmired and not be able to help anyone if leadership had to field calls all day. That's why you talk to one or two people, it's THEIR job.

4.I would add a process at the end of all calls where the customer is asked if their needs and expectations were met and if the answer is no I would have someone contact them the next day.
You just doubled, if not tripled your staff there! Way to go budget buster! And guess who the costs would be passed to if that were the case? We won't even get into all the costs of organizing this process with all of the excess data, we'll stick with the calls. Outbound calls take MUCH longer because the rep must a) pull the account (no caller ID for auto population of account information) b)dial the number --more added call time as inbound callers hit directly. No wasted time in dialing or waiting for someone to pick up. c)explain who they are and what they want.--When people call in they know exactly who they are talking to, when a call center rep calls out that rep must explain themselves. Most people assume the rep is a telemarketer and hang up on them (necesitating multiple calls). d)track the progress (another NEW process. Yay bureaucracy!) Average calls just last a minute or two and we just probably doubled that up maybe more if you average in the repeat calls, no answers, voicemails, wrong numbers, tracking etc.

5. Make sure Customer Service Reps do not provide contradictory information during the call or provide multiple different reasons for disapproval. (that happen to sound like grasping for straws to avoid work)
I'll give you the contradiction part, this seldom occurs but if it does there should be some coaching there. The second part is silly. So there can't be more than one answer to a question? Why do people get married? Why are we here? Why do birds fly? Why,Why,why... And it's not a ploy to "avoid work" Saying yes is much easier than saying no. Anyone that's ever dealt with a "disgruntled customer" knows that. How many times did you call in when you heard no? If you heard yes I bet it would have been one call.

6.I would increase training for the Customer Service team and the management team that runs them.
We're one of the most heavily trained industries. Do yourself a favor and read up on things. I am a Division Manager and have completed 8 different training classes in the first 3 months of this year. Our reps train just as much... How much training do you do every year? Every month? Every week? That's what I thought.

7.Extensively audit customer calls for the last several months to determine if this is systemic or just an irregularity.
No Duh! We see who's calling the most and why. It's our JOB. I haven't worked for a company yet that hasn't had a Quality or Risk Department.

8.If the audits show it was an irregularity contact to customers that were effected and apologise (both the client companies and direct customers).
We send letters. I know you would have us double or triple our staff again with outbound calls but it's not realistic or logical.
9.If it is systemic have a massive overhaul.
No we just keep it broken and make more work and complaints for ourselves. Each company will hit road bumps or face obstacles. I don't care if you're a 10,000-employee call center or a 4 person staffed convenient store, not everything goes exactly to plan 100% of the time. If the company needs "a massive overhaul" they probably won't be in business long.

And then there's your advice to vendors... pbbt!
1. Request a log of all calls related to my account for the last three months and call and ask the customers if they were happy with their service.
You want to send all of the call logs? When you order the steak do you want them to bring the whole cow to the table? A random sampling will do. But let's play... 50-70 calls per rep a day. Sony book of business? I bet you they have 1,000 reps handling the calls. Let's go conservative, 500. 500 reps X 40 calls = 20,000 call logs a day. 20,000 X 30 days = 600,000 logs/month. 600,000 X the suggest 3 months = 1,800,000 call logs. Let's go ahead and just attach that to an email...I'm sure we can just read that during dinner as well! Light reading! If you think I'm overestimating halve it. Heck just take a third! Then you suggest we return ALL of these calls to ask the customers if they are happy? You're accruing more costs then the actual product itself! You do surveys and random testing.
2. Randomly perform customer service test calls to ensure they are properly treat customers that view them as supporting my (the company calling) brand.
Wow! You must have passed out after that one. You actually can think some things out, AMAZING!
3. Audit their practices and books associated with the account.
No, all these companies just let the call centers run all willy-nilly with their customers. If there were no checks and balance why would a call center even have to staff one person? They wouldn't even have to answer a call! Just let the money roll in. It's like any other business, you do a bad job, you don't get repeat customers. It behooves call centers to do the best job possible for their clients.

Finally, you're slamming Sony and Service Net for their accidental coverage. Gimme a break! I think they need to rethink offering such a product. I mean any harebrain bozo could hit their TV with a ball bat or pour soda on their laptop. People like that shouldn't be allowed ownership of anything over $2.00. I’m an adult, if I break something through abuse and/or neglect it’s MY fault. If you don’t take proper care of your valuables and let your kids do as they please with them, well that’s your fault. We need to take some responsibilities for our actions here. If something breaks down due to shoddy craftsmanship well that’s another story altogether… I do think the accidental coverage plan is a bad idea but for completely opposite reasons than you.
As a parting word I would like to remind you that Call Centers employ many, many, Americans and it is one of our fastest growing industries. It is the major source of employment for my area (we have 7 major call centers within 20 miles). As more and more manufacturing jobs are picked up by the burgeoning economy of China we’re going to have to find other means to get by...

Anonymous said...

To the poster above me.... Thank you. As anyone who has ever worked in a call center knows, you will ALWAYS get the occasional asshole who doesn't care about the terms and conditions of their warranty. They bought a warranty, and want their product fixed NOW! I'm sure this guy was told no, and flipped out. Hell, they probably didn't even tell him "no." They probable just let him know it would take a week or two to get his computer back, and he started crying like a baby. He's probably one of those guys that says "DO you know who I AM? Let me talk to your boss's bosse's boss! Oh you can't get him on the phone? What kind of scam are you running? I demand to have my computer fixed right now!" It's always awesome to get these types of people. I would like to tell some of them - you know what? Let me clock out, drive to the repair center, pick up a technician, and then we'll be headed to your home. Where do you live? OH- Hawaii- well, it will be a while, but I'll drive as fast as I can, and then swim the rest of the distance in record time if it will appease you. Is there anything else I can do for you, bitch?