Friday, February 20, 2015

A non-customer-service customer service call



I've been a customer of my cable provider in Kenya, Zuku, now for 4 years.
And today I received my first ever "customer service follow up call".

Well that's how the politely spoken lady described it.

It didn't start well and accelerated downhill with alarming speed.

I see a number I don't recognise on my phone.
I gingerly answer with a simple "Hello."

"Hello," comes the reply then silence.
"Hello" I repeat."Yes, Hello, " she insists.

I'm adamant I'm not going to introduce myself first.
I salute her a 3rd time and perhaps then she gets it.

"Hello, I'm calling from Zuku, am I talking to Darren Stanley?"
"Yes you are."
I pause, so does she.  She called me, does she expect a rant?  Does she expect me to ask her questions?  The proverbial penny drops.

"I'm doing a customer service follow up call on your Zuku service."
"Yes, OK." I respond.
Then another awkward pause.  That seems to last forever.....

"How has the service been overall?" she pursues.
"Fine, thank you."

The longest pause of all ensues.
Am I actually taking this call?
Am I a survey guinea pig?
What is going on?!

Eventually, she realises I'm not going to say anything else without prompting or probing.
"Fine - that's good."  Then she stops and pauses again.
"OK," she continues, "Thank you for your feedback."
I interject: "I'm sorry but I have found this call very strange.  Aren't you supposed to ask me questions and probe?"
"Oh, Sir, I'm sorry the line is breaking, I can't hear you...."

In exasperation, I lose my patience: "Forget it, I'm eating my lunch, goodbye."
I hang up.

I know research is my metier, and I don't want to sound disingenuous, but this must be the weirdest most unstructured survey / service call I have ever ever encountered.

I smell a sales opportunity somewhere......

No comments:

Post a Comment