Customer Service is one of those things that you cannot avoid – we all experience it, good or bad, most days. It has the ability to totally make or break your day, and while we’re all happy to share the horror stories – the rude assistants, the hours we spend on hold, the appalling advice given, how often do we talk about the GOOD customer service we receive and the customer service assistants who go out of their way to help us?
I can think of two examples of exceptional customer service that I have received. The first was 15 years ago. I was a few months pregnant with my first daughter, it was the middle of December and freezing cold outside, so I was all wrapped up in several layers. I had to go to the bank to deposit a cheque, there was a huge queue and it was so warm in there. By the time I’d made it near to the front of the queue, I was feeling quite light-headed. I knew I was about to faint, and managed to stutter out that I didn’t feel very well. At that point, my eyesight tunneled out, as did my hearing, but thankfully the bank teller and another customer managed to grab me before I fell and let me to a comfy chair. Once I was feeling a little better, the assistant got me a glass of water, called someone to come and collect me and organised my deposit whilst I was sat recovering.
The second was a year ago when I was in the midst of my separation. Having spent hours calling various places to make necessary arrangements, by the time I was on the phone to the Tax Credits I was a bit of a mess. When the assistant asked me how she could help, I burst into tears and spluttered that I needed to change my claim. She was s lovely and patient, and made me feel less of an idiot about crying down the phone! She turned my day around with her kindness and made a painful phone call a little more bearable.
The CCSN recently ran a survey to gain an insight into how much people value customer service, the findings are in the infographic below, interestingly, 73% stated that being able to speak to someone quickly would be their priority.
Do you have any excellent customer service stories to share?
