DIY customer service – GAACK!

Ok, I actually love the fact that companies have reduced their overhead by providing customers with the ability to “help ourselves”. This goes for populating content online – including forums, rating sites and wikis, as well as self-checkout at Home Depot and check-in Kiosks at the airport.

These are all great because, if we run into more trouble than we can handle, it’s no big deal. On a forum, we can simply refrain from posting, or ask our question someplace with a more user-friendly application. In the grocery store, we can press the “Help” light, and (after a short wait) a clerk will override any errors we may have caused (.. normally this is due to the fact that we buy super-clearance, and these items are not normally logged in the inventory system. One checker still rolls her eyes whenever she sees us J)

The point is, we can do it ourselves - until we need help.

This is NOT the case with DIY over the phone, though. I can’t stand hearing Comcast’s recording with “simple step-by-step instructions” about how to reboot my modem and router. I KNOW! REBOOT FIRST! I don’t call Comcast when I need to reboot.

I went down another slippery slope today with a call to Linksys. First, I tried to avoid their “self help, at your own pace setup” by talking to a customer service rep. He took a case number for me and promised someone would call me back, which didn’t happen. Two hours later, I went for the recording. Overall… it worked. But, the first thing it had me do was reset my router. Apparently, this was a bad idea. Then, it didn’t tell me how to add security to it.

I ended up calling over to customer service anyway. After asking me LOTS of aggravating questions that had nothing to do with my SIMPLE problem (what’s your name? Phone number? Email address? Address? Serial number? What time did you call before? And on.. and on..) I said, “Hey – I just want to set my router up like I had it before, with a name I recognize and a password so the security is enabled.”

Then, she asked if I had pressed reset. “Yes, your automated system says that is the first thing to do to set up the router.”
“Maam, you must never press the reset button if you want to keep your Router ID and password.”
Why am I getting in trouble for following their directions? Anyway, that chore is done now (15 minutes of work and 3 hours of hassle), but it made me think – can’t we do this better?

For instance, I love customer service "chat" that is available online. We could have something like this on the phone as well. There could be an "opt out" key - like "if this has nothing to do with your problem, press 9." That way, we wouldn't get stuck in LOOPS of unhelpful audio. Also, if there was an "I don't get it" key - like if the instruction was garbled or didn't make any sense "if you need a better explanation, press 5."

Another thing that would help SO MUCH on the phone would be if you would get the customer service rep first - instead of the maze of select-a-question. Seriously, if they would spend 5 seconds sending us to the right place immediately, people wouldn't be so frustrated after spending 20 minutes pressing buttons to dead end on menus that don't make sense.

The reason this is relevant is because customer service is even MORE important when customers do MOST of the work ourselves. When we need help, we are REALLY in a bind. It's not just because we didn't reboot.