Understand what your customers want…listen

I have talked about this subject few times before but since it’s so important, I feel the urge to visit this topic from time to time.

I have been working with customers support issues since 1995, since that time I have worked with many issues related to customer service, from online support to testing customer’s web site for usability.

You would think with the advancement in technology and the increase of quality of living world wide it would translates in a better customer service, but what I have been experiencing in the past few years is that “companies really don’t listen to what the customer is saying.”

I have talked to customer service representatives from credit card companies, banks, airlines, software companies government agencies, etc, and the one common thing that I have experienced again and again is “they really don’t listen to what you are saying.” I wonder why companies have support lines when they are not willing to provide the right service to callers. Most of the times when you call a support line you hear the phrase” this call may be monitored to help us improve our customer service support”, but the service never improve.

In many instances when I call the customer service line, I call to get a very simple answer, but because the representative is not listening to what I am saying, he or she keeps taking my into circles.

When is comes to quality of service, there will always be room for improvement, but it is a shame to be living in the 21st century and we still cannot get the adequate customer service.