Tweet your customer right

Twitter has reached the corporate mainstream.

Internet savvy startups such as AirAsia has been using Twitter to provide quick and short responses to customers. Today, veteran companies such as Singapore Airlines use it too to reach out to the web savvy customers.

There is a particular group of customers that prefers to communicate through Internet than making a call to the call centre (I'm not sure if their reluctance to call is due to their limited phone budget or level of patient in maneuvering the complicated IVR).

Customer centric companies go to the 'hang out' places of its customers whereas arrogant or ignorant companies force customers to wait eternity on the line or at the counter queue.

How to ensure inconSISTENT service

Instructions :

1. Get the person in charge of the cash deposit machine to call the customer.

2. Make sure she cuts in everytime when a customer speaks.

3. Make sure she doesn't understand active listening.

4. Make sure she doesn't say 'Is there anything else?' and 'Have a nice day'.

The above was the experience I had with a HSBC bank staff from Damansara Uptown recently. This particular staff called me the following day because my cash was stucked in the cash deposit machine. The experience with her made me agree (reluctantly) with a friend's comment, "You never ask the back office employees to talk to the customer". Now I know the reason they are in the back office.

My new "rule of thought" :

Staff who is responsible to manage machines should always manage machines. Nothing else.

Staff who is responsible to manage humans should always manage humans. Anything else, sir? Have a splendid weekend!

cc. HSBC management,

Please spare us, the customers the ordeal of interacting with a 'machine staff'. Boleh, tak?

(My interaction with HSBC customer service has always been positive so far!).

A Novel Way To Complain!

United Airlines has gone so far as to praise the singer and wants to use the video "to help change its culture."

I must learn to play the guitar and sing!

Pinnochio lives among us

The Citibank-Airasia promotional booth at The Curve broke my walking pace to a halt yesterday evening. The free Nokia E63 caught my attention! A RM1,080 phone for free if your credit card application is approved. Unbelievable!

I told Eunice, the Citibank staff, that it was too good to be true. I asked her what was the catch. She said none. I pressed further and she said that you just need to pay RM30 for the delivery of the phone.

For the price of RM30, I filled up the form on the spot. I wanted to select the choice of my phone which was obviously the E63 but I am unable to do so. Hence, I asked Eunice where do I state my preference. Then she revealed the 'catch'. The catch was only the every 50th approved card will receive the E63. The unlucky ones will receive a RM139 Nokia 1208 phone.

At that moment, my trust in Citibank has gone down the drains. Well, I've never really trusted banks 100% but this experience reaffirms my belief that banks don't put your interest first (I'm not refering to the interest that banks understand). Clearly, her commission came first.

Though it is too late, I'm wondering what other 'catch' is there. Maybe I will discover it when I receive the credit card and phone. It may be too late then. Do I have an option to cancel or decline the card and phone? I'm sure I can (but probably with a penalty fee).

Can you be open and transparent with me upfront? Boleh tak, Citibank?

What did I do wrong?

My sister's statement today made me realised that absence of customer complaints do not indicate a customer's satisfaction or happiness towards a company's service. Recently, she was not able to pay her mobile phone bill on DiGi's website due to the website's technical glitch. (For some reasons, she seems eager to pay her bill early whereas most people would pay after the line is barred). 

I told her to call the helpline and lodge a complain. She said she is not bothered to make that effort (to call) because she thinks DiGi will not do anything about it. So why bother? Her thinking, rightly or wrongly, reminded me of Starbucks pledge, "Our Promise". The public display of "Our Promise" at the pick up counter gives assurance to the complainant that a solution is available and known. 

Well, I foresee her inconveniencing herself by driving to a DiGi shop to make payment.

My conversation with her made me realised (again) that a company needs to proactively seek feedback from customers. Reactive approach may cause a company to lose disgruntled yet silent customers. The best part is the company would not even know why customers are abandoning it.

Phew! Thank god I'm not an AIA customer!

Recently, I provided a feedback to AIA. Below was AIA's response. The response was timely because it was still fresh in my mind. However, the response (service recovery) was poor.

Would I waste my time and effort to call another number? Certainly not! What is important is I'm glad I didn't buy AIA insurance. (You have my loyalty, Prudential. Just don't break it by telling me it is not related to service or call another number if I give a feedback in the future).


Dear Mr. Alan,
Good day to you.
Thank you for your e-mail.
We refer to your email and regret to mention that we are unable to attend to your query as it is not related to the service, which we usually provide to our policyholders.
For general enquiry, you can call our Customer Service toll free number 1-300-88-1899/+6 03-2056 2000 (from Overseas) for assistance.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Lynnie
Customer Care Centre

Enjoy the free suntan, sir (like it or not)

"You have to do it 3 days in advance, sir", said the customer service personnel at Aeroline in 1 Utama shopping mall. I walked away dissapointed because I left office early with the hope of changing my bus seat before the counter closes for the day. It was a Friday and I was supposed to depart the following day.

I have to say I disagree with Aeroline's statement, "The Aeroline brand is thus driven by the key thrust of being People Focussed".

The more apt statement should be, "The Aeroline brand is thus driven by the key thrust of being Policy Focussed".

And I am totally fine if Aeroline is policy focussed. At least, I set my expectations upfront ie. my request or needs are not Aeroline's focus (1st priority).

Just in case, Aeroline decides to be people focussed, Zappos is a great company to emulate.

"I listened to one Minnesota customer complain that her boots had begun leaking after almost a year of use. Not only did the rep send out a new pair - in spite of a policy that only unworn shoes are returnable - but she also told the customer to keep the old ones, and mailed a hand-written thank-you.

The bean counters fully support such gestures: "Seventy-five percent of our purchases are from repeat customers," says Zappos chairman, COO, and CFO Alfred Lin. "There are a lot of things we do that seem overly costly. But we have always been focused on the long term when looking at whether something should be cut."
- Jeffrey M. O'Brien, senior editor of Fortune.

Well, I don't expect free shoes or bus ticket, at least allow me to change my seat from the free-suntan seat of 1A to suntan-free seat of 8A (based on my convenience of time, not 72 hours ahead).

cc. Aeroline management,
Hope you will aspire to become Zappos. Boleh,tak?