Upside Down World or the Thrill of Good Customer Service.
I lived in California many years ago and I remember the customer service fondly. I remember being impressed with it. Having lived in both Scotland and England you get use to stodgy people not giving a toss about your problem. In Australia they will pretend to care – they are paid to care – but there is an undercurrent of “couldn’t give a fig; next.” Since a lot of services have moved off shore to cut costs, it’s degraded even further. Now your not only told that they can’t help you, but your told in a language you don’t understand.
This morning I was gobsmacked to come across good customer service.
I’m as surprised as this kid.
I like to listen to an e-book just before I go to sleep. I downloaded one that seemed fun and was rudely taken back by the not so soothing voice of the narrator. She literally yelled every piece of dialogue. You can image how relaxing that was. I tried for two nights but after getting through no more than forty minutes and with a massive 8 hours of her shrill voice to go, I pulled the plug. I went to my download site – Audible- this morning and left a review about the narrator, giving her one star. A positive about Audible is that you can rate the narrator with out slamming the book. I did state that I couldn’t give a fair review of the book, the voice was impossible to get past. A few moments later I received a nice letter thanking me for my review and offering me an exchange. An exchange??? Because I didn’t like something???? I have fallen off this end of the globe and landed in the world of good customer service. Can I stay? I promise to be tidy.
Here’s a plug for being so nice to me.
Since when does a company, particular a big one like Amazon, care about its customers? Goodness, this is a revelation. I happily downloaded something more soothing with a nice even toned voice. Rest shall be mine again. Thank you Audible; it is much appreciated. This makes up for my on going battle with Telstra, Australia’s demon of a phone company. That’s another depressing story.
On the down side, since I exchanged the book for another, my review does not show up for other people to see. I am sorry unsuspecting listeners who might stumble across the book, but I needed my nighty audio book fix. Does caveat emptor apply here? Here is a hint. If your finger hovers over the purchase button for Sue Townsend’s latest book, something about being in bed for a long time, don’t go the audio way. Perhaps the actual book would be a better bet.
Have you come across good or bad customer service of late?
Posted on September 10, 2012, in Books and tagged Audible, Audio books, Shrill voice.. Bookmark the permalink. 36 Comments.
I'm a single mum to a beautiful little boy and we live in Sydney, Australia, where the water laps at our feet. I'm a physician, a would be writer, and I'm in love with my best friend.
Isn’t it a treat when something like that happens? Recently my husband had to wait a long time to pick up a pizza he had ordered to go. He didn’t think much of it–just read the paper while he waited. So imagine our surprise when we received a letter (they had our address from their delivery records) from the restaurant apologizing for the wait and giving us a $10 off coupon for our next order? Now that’s how you treat customers to keep them coming back for more. But this was just a local place. The fact that Amazon did that for you is really remarkable.
That’s what keeps you coming back. I would return to that pizza place too.
I can share two examples from personal experience.
1) my MacBook’s hard drive broke within a year of buying it. It was purchased in the US, but a British Apple reseller fixed it for free (under worldwide warranty). Because the Caps Lock light was broken, too, they changed the keyboard and outer plastic casing, too. They basically gave me a free new laptop!
2) I got very wound up in a Beijing Starbucks once for a reason totally unrelated to coffee. But Starbucks gave me a free coffee voucher, and gave me a second free coffee voucher when I came back to redeem it. The reault is that I now drink tea—it’s much, much better!
I’ll do a lot of things for free coffee.
Sounds like it was a win-win situation for both you and Audible. You get another book and they get rid of a one star review.
True. I have a better book, and they do not have a bad review. Interesting concept isn’t it.
Cherish that experience. It has become all too rare. Did you return the download (how do you undownload something) or just got another? I’ve always wondered how that worked.
It is rare isn’t it.
I wondered the same thing. The book is no longer in my Audible downloads, nor is it on my iTunes account where I download to, but it is still on my iPod and I have synced since. I’ll delete it through, it takes up space and that shrill voice is toxic, I’m sure.
I smiled when I read your post. I posted something similar earlier in the year about a few experiences that happened to my friends and me. Every once in a while you can actually find good customer service http://coffeekatblog.com/2012/01/08/empowerment-the-ultimate-feel-good-feeling-customer-service/
I love your coffee experience. I get the same thing at my local. There is often a line out the door but he sees me and a moment later I have my coffee. Sometimes I don’t even pay until the next day. I just love it and because of it I am a devoted customer.
It is rare, but it can still be found. Of course, no example is popping into my mind. I could easily think of some bad experiences. Why should the good be harder to remember?!
Haha, me too JM. Loads of bad ones but the good are like hens teeth.
I actually find good service quite a bit (although, living in a small suburb in America, maybe it’s more common here?). I try to let people know how appreciative I am, because I know it doesn’t have to be that way. My husband, who grew up in England, gets annoyed every time we go back to visit: they definitely don’t have the same attitude. We went for a good ol’ fried breakfast the first morning we got there a few years ago, and the waitress took 20 minutes to get there for us to order coffee. It went downhill from there.
I kind of feel like: I’ll be a good, kind customer if you make an effort on your end. How ’bout that?
I have to get to a small town. People here have forgotten to be nice.
That’s a good deal, Anne. I suppose too many terrible customers have soared them and we are paying for it.
I have had some bad initial experiences with Amazon in the customer service corner, but it has (after differing levels of threats and insinuations) generally come around in my favor. I am impressed by the customer service you received from Audible, though it would seem they paid for your silence after a fashion.
You have that right. They absolutely did and I am happy to take the payment.
The two companies that stick out in my mind as having good customer service are Apple and Starbucks.
I had an iPod die 1 week out of warranty they didn’t just offer to fix it they actually replaced it free of charge. They’ve always been excellent about helping when I’ve had trouble with my macbooks too.
And starbucks; how can I argue with a company that remake a drink from fresh when all you did was point out they forgot to put in the extra shot (I did say they could just add it in but they insisted on making it fresh AND gave me a voucher for a free drink).
Amazon I find can be hit and miss. Sometimes I’ve had a great experience and other times not so much.
Starbucks have all but disappeared in Australia. I’m not even sure if there are any now, but I did like that policy.
I’ve always been fortunately with Amazon. My kindle stopped finding it’s 3G awhile ago and they couldn’t be more helpful even through the warranty was long gone.
Please don’t get me started on Telstra – for three months they overcharged me over a thousand dollars (each month) and told me I had to pay it before they would refund it back to me – I’m not with them anymore
I have a lovely friend who has a beautiful speaking voice and I’ve been thinking of getting him to do an audio file for me (sorry – I’m thinking aloud here).
It’s difficult to find good customer service. It’s a job and unfortunately some people treat it like ‘a job’. Sometimes I find restaurants can show the very best and the very worst of customer service. I was recently having breakfast with my hubby and the waiter would only speak to him for some reason. It started when we walked in and I said, ‘table for two, please.’ He looked directly at my hubby and said, ‘How many?’ my hubby looked at me and then back at him and said, ‘two.’ Then we ordered. He asked my hubby what I wanted to order so I butted in and told him I was ordering for myself. He brought the bill to hubby and I paid. I won’t be going back…
Is there anyone who hasn’t had a Telstra war? Their customer service has to the be worse I have ever experienced. The lines that run to my house were water damaged and took two years to replace. Even when I switched carries, Telstra still owned the lines. AHHHH. Talk about pull my hair out.
WOW, that’s amazing, Dianne. Was that in Canberra, or while you were tripping up north?
In Canberra. We got great service up north
I have heard service in Canberra can be on the rude side.
Was it an Adrian Mole book!? LOVE that entire series although that last one where he gets cancer is quite heavy going… Hmm.
Telstra, ha that just makes me smile because it makes me think of ‘Kath and Kim’. Wow, USA, England, Scotland, Australia – it sounds like you’ve had an exciting life, Kate. Go you, you brave girl!
Great to hear about your good experience with the Audible customer service – that’s a really good advert for them!
No, The Woman Who Went to Bed For A Year. I’m sure it’s good but the narrator completely ruined it for me.
Yes, the last Adrian was a complete downer!! So glad it wasn’t just me.
Hey, Kath and Kim have a movie out. It looks great, yes nice, totally, unique, yes unique. ( Little Kath and Kim joke for the people who think I’ve gone nutter.)
I get around, don’t I; usually for university. How are you settling in at home?
I love it when stuff like this happens! Awesome x
Me too. Not very often.
Airlines. I can’t cope with the (lack of) not only service but total common decency!
Yes, Airlines. They have a universal attitude.
Lol, “gobsmacked”. I love Australian words
Ahem, *cough*, I think you’ll find that gobsmacked is a British word. Just sayin’
LOL It’s is indeed British. So am I
There are some beaut words here. Bonza vocab.
Over on Jennifer Eaton’s blog, she posted about bad customer service a couple of days ago, and I commented with a story, that I shall share here too! (And remember this is England too) –
A group of 7 of us from work went out to dinner at a pub/restaurant. One of our party found a used match in her meal. The manager gave us the whole meal for all 7 of us for free! Some of us had more than one course, and it included our drinks with the meal as well. All of it for no charge at all! That’s hard to beat I think
WOW!!! In England. Unheard of. That is so great. Makes you want to go back and spread the word.
Good customer service is a big deal and can mean the difference between keeping customers or losing them. My husband recently transferred jobs and he went from a well-oiled machine that offered superb customer service to a bigger, haughtier company that doesn’t put their customers first. And he’s in sales. It’s a daily struggle for him trying to please the customer on one end, but dealing with managerial red tape on the other end. And he’s the one who gets yelled at. Not the jerks who made all the bad decisions regarding their customer service deparment.
Your experience is a wonderful one to remember. Just for that I’d do biz with them again.
I would have thought that when most small business close within a year, customer service would be a priority but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Even worse with large companies.