What is Lousy Customer Service

So what is Lousy Customer Service , exactly.

I find the question interesting , because I work in a call center and talk to the public all day. And the public is very happy to let me know that if I don't give them exactly what they want , I'm providing lousy customer service and they want to speak to my manager and get me fired. (They get to speak to the manager, 9 years later they haven't even slapped me on the wrist yet, let alone fired me...must be doing something right.)

I phone up Bell. I want my internet blocked I never use the dang thing. They tell me to be an adult and just don't push that button. But it's right on the main menu and I frequently hit the wrong command thats not a real solution.

Too bad.

Now I got it coming and going. I'm not getting what I want either, and it's obviously Bell Policy to refuse to block the internet (hint..I demanded her superviser , and their supervisor after that. No can do , the system doesn't support blocking the internet, and when I suggested sabataging the settings for internet the tech told me point blank he wasn't allowed to do that)

First off , Customer Service is seperate from company policy. There's nothing the agent could do in either case if the company forbids it. So the definition "I didn't get what I wanted" doesn't count for much.

So what was the correct approach ?

Standing up to the customer and honestly telling them "We can't do that." wins out over "Don't be a child" or "We're all mature adults here just don't press that button" . Insulting the customer is always an absolute no no.

So is my customer that I stood up to going to stay a customer ? Am I going to stay a Bell Customer ? I'll get slightly more "keepers" because I was up front and honest with them than Bell will with it's habit of insulting the customer. But we'll both lose a lot for not giving them what they want.

But the customer service bell provided really wasn't that bad. She was very subtle and used "We ... " and such.

But their policies suck the big one ! Yech , you're just a sheep to be sheered of every dollar they can to them. I mean I pick up a cell phone to use as a phone, not to be a little "advertising buddy" in my pocket that is constantly looking for ways to empty my pocket. Push the wrong button and we charge you fifty dollars a megabyte isn't something I'm gonna be bragging about to my buddies, it's something I'm gonna be warning them off about.

Post Script :

Since Bell charges 400$ + the remaining price of the phone if you terminate, ie: the full price of the phone +400$ , I often suspect they're doing this kind of thing on purpose, since if you quit they're getting 400$ for doing nothing (assuming they break even on the phone , which I doubt ). So I frequently have this awful feeling it's part of their business model to piss people off with lousy service and make them quit.