Yan Pritzker photographer, entrepreneur, software engineer, musician, skier

Why proactive customer service works

Posted 8 May 2009 @ 3pm in customer service

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Don’t wait for your users to complain. If you notice a problem, contact the user and tell him you’re working on it. Users often wait way too long to report problems. Usually at the point that they do, they are already filled with rage.

Such has been the story with me and Comcast. I get one disconnection, I shrug it off. I get another at 1am, and I take it as a sign to go to bed early, but today I had several disconnects during the day, while I was working, when I needed my connection to do work. At this point I was already filled with emotions built up from having terrible service over the last three days. So when I tweeted about it, I was already in a very negative mindset. Luckily, Comcast is one of the few companies that actually has very competent twitter support that can actually solve problems.

Nonetheless, how much better would it be if Comcast paid attention to the data that they already have. They know how many times my modem disconnected in the last week. If it happens once, send me an email telling me it was a minor hiccup. If it happens twice, have customer support notified right away. Don’t wait for my complaint! Email me, tell me you know the source of the problem, and when it will be fixed. How much cheaper will it be than dealing with crabby negative customers like me after 3 days of bad service?

This post takes me back to the saga I had with bluehost, who for several months would not admit that the box I was being hosted on was being oversold so badly that the database was down on a regular basis. Don’t let it get to that point. Be proactive in your customer support and your customers will love you.

The funny thing is Yan, you’re the opposite end of the spectrum! Back when I was blogging at coolest-gadgets.com (A nice little plug for Al) I’d mentioned some features that are lacking on many scheduling/invite based pieces of software.
Rather than rant or discuss it, Yan, you went out and coded a beautiful answer (that others still have yet to follow up on) for Planyp.us. I’m still thankful for that and it is that type of response to change that will keep you guys ahead of the game (oh yeah,, and when are you coming back out to visit?)

It’s just like real estate,,
Pro-active, Pro-active, Pro-active.

For the last week I have had tons of disconnections. Last couple days were more down than up. If comcast notified me that my area is in trouble and they’re working on it, I would happily go to an internet cafe and work from there. Instead I am pissed because I rely on my Internet connection and since no one told me it would be completely useless today, I lost a lot of productivity.

Well said, and nice article. In this economy, particularly, I don’t see how companies can afford not to be proactive in their customer service actions.