In Small Biz, There's No Small Stuff
When it comes to customer service, take a tip from a good police chief: The small things can be just as important as the high-profile ones
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Last week I called customer service at a major national retailer. After navigating the obligatory automated telephone routing system, I was given the option of leaving a message (with the promise of a returned call) or of holding for the next available representative. Since I had already sent the company three e-mails that had gone unanswered, I opted to hold. After about two minutes, the line went dead.
Guessing there had been some kind of phone service glitch, I called back, made my way through the prompts, and the line went dead again. I did this two more times before I finally gave up and called a competitor. "If it's important, they'll call back," appears to be this company's philosophy on customer service (BusinessWeek.com, 6/1/07).