15 Problems with Old School Technical Support

Last time I checked it was 2011. So why is it I have to deal with these 1990-era call centers when I need customer support? ISP's, cell phone providers, telcos, large retail organizations … it's the same thing every time. I'll just refer to them as BigCo.

You know the flow. Something goes wrong with a product or service and you have to contact the company. 

If you can, you go to their website and look for the contact page. Otherwise it's the only time you dig out the Yellow Pages.

Problem 1: The customer support contact page is either so well hidden or written in such a confusing manner you have no idea how to reach the company.

More often than not a phone number is not even available. If you are stuck with leaving an email (assuming you have Internet connectivity) you have no idea when you may hear back or even if the email was received. So, to play it safe, you phone them. No way they can lose a voice call is there?

You call the number and you're greeted with a lovely … robot. Those damn Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems. 

Instantly you added a few minutes to your service effort. If you're like me, you hit 0 immediately to get an operator. The bottom feeders of the customer support business will disable the 0 button and simply repeat the message. Assuming you have to follow the menu, you hang tight while your mind wanders and you miss the fact that option 4 of 7 was the one you needed. God forbid you press the wrong number and need to go backwards. Was it # or * to get the menu again? Then the menu goes 3 levels deep and ultimately doesn't offer anything that helps your cause. Or worse, you get a canned message with no hints of what to do next.

Problem 2: IVR systems were invented in the 70's and have not evolved since 1997. Everyone hates them. BigCo disables the “0 for operator function” or does not permit “type ahead” and force you to listen to the entire message.

Side note, there is only one thing worse than IVR … voice recognition systems. The thinking is that it's more “conversational” and less robotic. It sucks. Often, it doesn't work and you have a long delay while the system times out and you get the annoying “Sorry I didn't understand that. ”. Even when it does work it only goes so many levels deep and you are forced to go back to touch-tone options regardless. Why bother? Perhaps it's intended for old people with rotary phones. In which case, wouldn't a human be the best approach?

Problem 2a: Voice Recognition Systems don't work.

Let's assume you get an operator. More than likely your dealing with a BigCo call center. Unless you've been living on desert island with no phone service for the last 20 years, you know that call centers are caves deep underground that keep slaves (aka Customer Service Agents or CSA's) chained to small rocks (called 'cubicles') and force them to answer phones. 

The actions these slaves perform are timed to within four decimal places of accuracy. They are told when they can sit, stand, use the bathroom and eat. Most importantly though, they are told what to say and are not allowed to think for themselves. We should all feel for these poor souls, they take all of our crap when the real problem is higher up.

The things they are allowed to say are dictated in Scripts called “Policy Manuals”. Deviating from the Policy Manual is grounds for keel-hauling. 

Problem 3: Call centers do not encourage individuality or self-thought. But instead they encourage compliance and uniformity (think fast-food joints). This is really too bad since the real task, servicing the customer, can often be accomplished very quickly if the agent is permitted to think and act outside the box.

Maybe your problem was part of the 70% of problems that can be solved by a simple phone call. Your irritation was minimal. You lost a few minutes navigating the system, but you write it off as the cost of doing business. Life goes on.

If you're in the 10% of problems that are not easily addressed by the Policy Manuals your journey is a little more complicated. You were likely transferred to 1, 2 or 3 other agents. Probably your call was dropped during the transfer. Maybe you had to call back in and repeat the whole process.

Problem 4: The Call Center does Blind Transfers. They forward a call to another agent or department and do no stay on the line with all parties until the transfer has been conducted successfully.

Problem 5: No trouble ticket. At the start of your call you should be given a trouble ticket number and a priority callback number. In the event you get cut off or dropped you should be able to circumvent all the conventional mechanisms and get back the agent you were dealing with immediately.

Problem 6: CSA's cannot make outgoing calls. When the call ends, the call center queuing system sends another call down the pipe. Unless your call is resolved during that call you better hope your phone batteries don't go dead or you're heading back to start over again.

Regardless, on every transfer you have to repeat your story again. Start again from the top. “What is your name?” “I have a few security questions for your safety. ” “Tell me about the problem”. Now you've just doubled your time on the call while the CSA refers to their copy of the Policy Manual.

Problem 7: Don't make us repeat ourselves. Don't ask inane security-theater questions over and over again when the call came internally.

But maybe your problem was more complicated than that. Maybe your problem required some free thought? Maybe your problem had extenuating circumstances? Maybe your problem isn't documented in the Policy Manuals.

God forbid your problem requires Field Service. If it does, well hang tight 'cause you're screwed.

Field Service technicians and Level 2+ NOC technicians are BigCo royalty. You know the drill “we will send a field technician out between 8am and 12pm” … no finer resolution than that. And you had better be home when they arrive, or your name will do in the Black Book and never get service again.

Problem 8: Hire skilled staff. Don't put your Field Technicians and Level 2 line of defense in glass towers where they are handled like Fabergé eggs. Increase the skill levels of your call center workers and Level 1 operators. Give the skilled service that is needed earlier in the process … not later.

The problem with the old-school call center is how performance is measured. Customers view success as the companies ability to quickly resolve our problem with a minimum of fuss and repetition. Call Centers like to give the impression that these things are important. They conduct customer satisfaction surveys. Some even perform follow up phone calls inquiring if our problem was met to our satisfaction.

Unless BigCo really screwed up, most people will give a “ok”, “fine”, “whatever” … because everyone hates telemarketers and spam more than in-bound call centers! They want to get off the phone. They delete the spam email. JUST GO AWAY. Especially if the problem was resolved. It's Consumer Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. We don't want to think about the pain we had to suffer dealing with your company. Lord knows we'll never say to our friends “You know I dealt with BigCo last week on a complicated issue and they solved it without any issues and I felt good at the end of it.”

For me, just the thought of having to deal with BigCo makes my blood pressure go up.

Problem 9: These follow up calls and customer satisfaction surveys are just more spam. They waste more of our already precious time and you can't trust their results. Find other, less intrusive, ways to gauge customer satisfaction … like # of positive mentions on Facebook/Twitter or permitting BigCo discussion forums or chat rooms. Bring BigCo customers together to solve problems. Don't keep us apart.

No, call centers don't really care about customer satisfaction … you know what they do care about? Call Metrics. They care about Utilization Rates and Inbound Calls Handled and Abandon Rate. Do those things sound they affect us? Hell no. Inbound Calls Handled is an interesting one because it means “Get them off the line as quickly as possible.” Ugh.

Problem 10: Call centers measure the wrong things. They should be forming customer relationships, not just solving technical problems. Drop the green bar reports.

Here is the crux of the problem. There are two groups within BigCo: the Executive Management team (and their immediate lieutenants) and the front line workers. And never the two shall meet.

The gatekeeper on the call center side is The Supervisor. The most hated and dreaded person in the customer service experience. Scrawled in blood on the call center dungeon walls are the words “Do Not Disturb”. 

Every perturbed customers asks their CSA to “speak to a supervisor”. Most call centers have electric shock sensors embedded in the chairs such that any agent that says “one moment please” will immediately receive 10,000 low current volts to their nether regions.

“Damn them all”, you say, “I want to speak to your supervisor!”. Background: the Supervisor is usually a battle worn CSA that has heard all the stories before. They have a toughened hide and know, from their many beatings, that there are only four important facts in life:

1. Keep your metrics in line
2. Never, under penalty of immediate death, escalate a matter beyond the call center
3. Life does not exist outside of the Policy Manual
4. Follow the script

Problem 11: Call Center Supervisor's don't want to talk to customers. They will only after extended periods of duress. And then, they only repeat the same thing the CSA said … they cite the Policy Manual verbatim. Chapter and verse like an old-timey preacher.

Why are these supervisors so cold? Well, we all like to think that BigCo is one big happy family. We like to think that all departments keep in touch with each other and work together for the greater good. The reality is that the Executive Team would never sully themselves by dealing with the front-line workers. Doing so would be like the over privileged working in a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving.

“Yes Muffy, those poor people. Tad and I spent the whole day with them. Listening to their problems and helping out wherever we could. But their problems run so deep, whatever can we do? Charity isn't the answer. One of them asked for my home address to visit, but that wouldn't be right would it? Another martini?”

There is not a razor-wire fence between these groups, there is a gaping chasm.

Problem 12: The Executive Team is so far out of touch with the customer experience they are useless in the customer satisfaction equation. They need more quality time on the front lines or in the trenches.

The Executive Team care about a subset of the Call Center metrics. Mostly Utilization Rate. If one call center is under-performing … outsource to another one. They switch front-line services like a day trader with a penny stock.

So, is it the Executive Management teams fault? Are they the puppet masters behind this grand scheme to piss off the customer? Kind of. But it's not entirely their fault.

The real fault lies with the technology vendors. Back in the 90's the buzz in the call center business was “Integrated Customer Service” (or “Unified Messaging” or 'insert marketing BS here') Previously there was only the phone. AT&T had solved the IVR problem and honed the call center metrics to a precision point. But with the web, there was email. There was live chat. There were multiple contact points. Then we saw the rise of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) – integrated databases that track all customer interactions.

CRM Fact #1: No one ever reads the case history. No one. Ever.

Problem 13: Technology is not the answer. Being a human being is. Ditch the IVR. Ditch the Voice Recognition Systems. Ditch the outsourced call centers.

There's an old saying in software development circles:

“All problems can be solved by introducing a level of indirection.” - Butler Lampson

This is what's happened in the customer service industry. So many levels of indirection have arisen between the business and the customer that service has fallen between the cracks.

David Wheelers corollary to this is “... except for the problem of too many levels of indirection” in other words. “All problems of performance can be solved by removing a level of indirection.”

And that's what we are faced with in the customer service industry … a problem of performance. There are so many layers of indirection that customers are forced repeat themselves endlessly. We get shuffled between groups. We, the customers, get lost in the cracks.

BigCo was sold a vision. They were told “use our products and your customer service levels will increase.” And they were right, but at the cost of customer satisfaction. The call center is a finely tuned machine, capable of handling large call volumes with relative ease. All the while the customers pay the price. Not only in wasted time but in increased service costs. Running these centers cost money. Buying these switches, IVR's, CRM packages and putting bums in seats cost real dollars. But the real cost is the cost to BigCo. Now, BigCo is not just a big company, but BigCo becomes Big-Company-With-Fat-Cat-Managers-That-Hide-Behind-Layers-Of-Customer-Support-And-Are-Out-Of-Touch-With-Their-Client-Base.

And we hate them for it. The technology may help their internal numbers but their outside perception has suffered.

Problem 14: Too many layers of indirection inside of the customer support department. The customer ends up getting bounced around like a ball in pinball machine. Reduce the layers of indirection. CSA's should handle a problem from start to finish, holding your hand the whole time.

It gets worse.

Twitter, Facebook and other forms of Social Media. Oh BigCo is all over them. But it's usually not the call center. It seems like these are Executive management initiatives. Spin offs from the executive management customer support groups or marketing groups are watching the Twitter accounts. And why wouldn't it be? Social Media is hot. No executive is stupid enough not to dust up their resume with “Led BigCo's Social Media initiative and reduced print marketing costs by 7% blah blah blah”

These social media presences try to be more “personable” and put a human face to BigCo. But they have no power. When you need real work done you still have to deal with the old call center. The end result? The frustrated customer has to repeat themselves yet again.

Problem 15: For BigCo, Social Media is a bag hung on the side of the customer support effort. It's a crippled dog that just ends up getting in the way of actually getting your problem resolved. If you're going to use Social Media, go full hog. Replace your call center farms with empowered in-house employees that can handle issues fully. Or keep Social Media as a marketing tool and don't even bother trying to solve our problems in real-time. Your Twitter account isn't fooling anyone. Watch how smaller companies do it.

True Story: I recently had a CSA try to sell me new products after my 10^th call attempting to get service. Really.

Summary

Sadly for us, BigCo often has a near monopoly … there may be only one competitor for consumers to run to, and it's the exact same crap over there too. The devil you know vs. the devil you don't know. There's nowhere to turn.

But there is something BigCo can do. They can try to win back the customer and they can effectively crush their competition in the process.

If BigCo really wants to destroy their nemisis FatShop, it's not going to be by offering streaming movies on demand or fiber to the house or +10mbps … it's going to be by having killer customer support.

Message to BigCo's everywhere: Don't woo the customer on speeds and feeds. Woo us with your killer support. Woo us with attention to detail. Woo us with ability to execute. I'd rather have older technology that works over bleeding edge stuff that you can't support.

Business customers: ask yourself this, Knowing the level of service you get from BigCo as a consumer, would you ever consider running your mission critical business with them?

BigCo needs to get with the times. Modern companies are winning the business from BigCo's all over the world by offering leading customer service. I think of all the products and services I use from all over the world and get stellar service from. Where do I get the worse service? … right here in my hometown. That saddens me.

You know, my phone is a funny device. I use it for everything but making phone calls. When it rings I get startled. Why, because nearly everything I need is available online. Except for BigCo's customer support. There is no Quality of Service, no Service Level Agreement online, no Anticipated Response Time. It's a crap shoot. So I'm stuck having to use their antiquated gauntlet of voice technology. But you know what? The instant I can get a competitive offering from a modern company that allows me to ditch a BigCo service … I'm gone. And customer support will be the deciding factor. I'm done with Dinosaur Customer Support.