My interesting customer service situation

I can't believe I am posting two days in a row - that means I end up wasting the one New Year's resolution I could put before getting thin, darn. After my visit to the bank, however, I felt compelled to jot a few lines to share the experience.

I am not going to tell you where I bank...don't think the brand name is important. Just like our company, however, the brand is large enough to be recognized pretty quickly by a majority of folks. I rarely go into the bank and even less frequently go to the customer service folks who help you with your problems. But they were the ones who had the local knowledge (sound familiar) so away I went.

I always equate stopping at a bank CSR to real estate floor time. You walk in to the bank, and whichever person happens to be "up" handles your issue - even if that person has never dealt with a similar issue before and his/her deskmate is the company expert. This time around, I got the nice young guy with the pleasant demeanor who was very well spoken and well dressed, but apparently had never seen my issue before. Nor many other issues. Needless to say he worked hard at faking it (sound familiar) and even had me convinced when I left that he was going to call me later that day with a resolution. No such luck.

So five days later, with no resolution and no phone call, I had to walk back into the branch. This time I am met by a more effervescent woman with slightly less fashion sense than her predecessor. Not being judgmental, but FYI...when your top has suddenly grown that tight it is noticeable. So she listens to my plea and thankfully has the answer right away. Hooray. The only problem is that the bank's higher-ups require a special code to make this special solution work.

Now the phone calls begin. First is to a friend at another branch. While waiting for an answer to the problem, the chit-chat begins about how this branch is losing staff and "how can we work like this" and segues into the reason for needing this code in the first place ("at xx we used to just be able to xx").

I have no problem with chit-chat; surprisingly I am pretty good at it when I want to be. My challenge (and the whole reason for this post) is to let you know how I felt about it and to remind you how making chit-chat about the brand (or the industry, or your colleagues) while your unsuspecting customer is sitting in front of you is not only good for the strength of the brand, but also leaves folks with a bad impression of you as a professional. Even though this girl is going to solve my problem (which is supposedly how we measure the effectiveness of a professional and the likelihood of re-use) I have more affinity to the guy who never called me back...at least I can chalk that up to a possible oversight.

Whether it is floor time, at the grocery store, or in your email communications remember that how you act is often more important than the knowledge that you bring.

Happy Thanksgiving!