How to get better customer service and skip the rage

54 per cent of customers reported a problem in the last one year, finds a study

You’ve bought a product or service, and now — ugh! — there’s a problem. Your blood pressure climbs as you face an obstacle course worthy of “American Ninja Warrior” to get help.

What is the most efficient and least painful path to get good customer service? Call the company’s toll-free number? Chat online? Send an email? Complain on social media?

If you perceive a reduction in the quality of customer care, you are not alone. The frustration can turn some of us from Bruce Banner into the Incredible Hulk.

Among the findings of a 2015 “National Customer Rage Study” by Customer Care Measurement & Consulting: Companies are doing all the right things the wrong way. For example, they have call centres, but they’re understaffed, which causes complaints to pile up.

The report, conducted in collaboration with Arizona State University and Dialog Direct, was the seventh since 1976. The latest report found that 54 per cent of customers reported a problem with a product or service in the preceding 12 months, an increase of four percentage points from 2013. In 1976, that figure was 32 per cent.

Scott M Broetzmann, the president and chief executive of Customer Care, said companies direct consumers toward self-service, the lowest-cost approach. Consumers have been empowered by technology to perform routine tasks, such as checking an account balance or placing an order, but things can go awry when they have a question or problem.

Broetzmann said companies sometimes rely on “disingenuous approaches”, which can be vexing or meaningless to customers, to internally measure their performance. For example, some call centres require a representative to say a customer’s name at least three times during a call.

“Disrespect can inspire rage because in the most primitive parts of our brains it’s tied to our survival,” she wrote. In days when we were cave dwellers, “to be overlooked or irrelevant was to die”, she added.

The customer rage study found that nearly 50 per cent of respondents found the statement “Your call is important to us, please continue to hold” very annoying, with another 17 per cent saying it should be banned. Runners-up were: “That’s our policy”; “We are currently assisting other customers. Your call will be answered in the order in which it was received”; and “Can I get your account information again?”

For quick solutions to small specific problems, try online chats, Yarrow said. They are ideal for handling issues like a promotion code or learning when your product will arrive.

“This isn’t the place for empathy or to complain,” she said.

Check a company’s Facebook or Twitter profile because some are savvy social media users, said Justin Robbins, the content director for the customer management institute. Other experts, though, have said that companies are largely slow to respond to complaints posted there, and that social media should be a last resort.

© 2017 New York Times News Service