Conservice Social Media Customer Service Fail

I really try my best not to vent via social media, I am cognizant that my words can follow me for the rest of my life and as someone who lives and breathes customer service I don’t want to bash anyone unnecessarily.  However yesterday I had an interesting experience while trying to understand charges billed by Conservice – while I didn’t get the resolution I was hoping for what really made me angry was the deplorable customer service delivered by two “managers”.  Certain things any customer manager should know to avoid include not speaking over a customer, interrupting a customer delivering feedback and a clear lack of empathy along with a rude tone of voice.  Let’s just say those soft skills were missing in action yesterday for manager Raymond and his manager Ryan.  Yet the first support specialist I spoke with Joanna seemed to understand those things.  I sent an email, tweeted their handle @ConserviceHelp and posted to their Facebook page. No response from the first two channels however a helpful moderator responded on Facebook directing me to email.  This was fine, as I understand most service issues can’t be resolved publicly.

I went in as nondescript as I could with my post not wanting to bash them and to give them an opportunity to resolve things “Hello, I had a highly disappointing customer service experience today and would like to share feedback with a manager. How do I do that?”.  They promptly responded about 30 mins later with the right tone: “Hi Bianca – I am so sorry to hear that! Please email service@conservice.com or send our page a private message with your feedback. You can feel free to provide your phone number and we will call you if you’d like. I just informed our customer service manager, and we will be looking out for your email so we can resolve your concerns and give you the help you need.”

Today, I had to go back to Facebook to inquire why I hadn’t received a response to my email, which is where they directed me to, and stated they were looking out for.  When a customer posts on your social media channel and you tell them you’re looking into it that’s exactly what you should do.  Better yet, if a customer is talking about their experience and telling you that they’re disappointed – PICK UP THE PHONE and call them.

Below is the rest of the interaction and I have a few pointers for them:

1. If a customer does not post what the issue but instead delivers general feedback take that as your cue that you should not reply back and post sensitive details in an attempt to defend your brand.  I do this for a living – trust me customer privacy is a big deal.
2. Say what you mean and mean what you say.  Promising to follow up and then not doing it creates a lack of trust.  Clearly lots of customers feel the same way I do, Google “Conservice + customer service complaints” and you’ll see the proof.  The email was sent after I inquired on Facebook, clearly someone dropped the ball.
3. Empathy. It is clear to me that their internal culture is to be defensive and they do not care about feedback.  I’ve now interacted with 5 employees within the last 24 hours and only 2 (customer support & corporate receptionist) displayed any empathy.  Actions speak louder than words.

Below is the rest of the interaction, not sure if they will delete the post but man alive this is a reminder to me to remain focused on delivering the best customer experience that I can.

Conservice Utility Management & Billing

Hi Bianca – we have sent over a reply to your email this evening. Conservice’s customer service department is dedicated to providing an avenue for a community’s residents to pay bills, receive correct explanations of billing methods, and for addressing residents’ concerns. At times, a resident makes a request which is not possible to satisfy because it exceeds the limitations of their lease agreement, which is a binding contract. In these situations, Conservice will always support the conditions of the agreement between the resident and the property management company.

• My feedback isn’t related to the bill – it’s related to how I was treated by members of your management team, which was absolutely deplorable. If you don’t care about that because your customers don’t have actually have a choice with relation to doing business with you then be upfront about that. Also, as someone who has managed multiple social channels in which customers can provide service feedback you may want to train your social media responders on the art of not violating customer privacy. My post did not indicate that my issue was related to a billing dispute however your responders put that out there which is unprofessional.

Conservice Utility Management & Billing

Our quality control involves reviewing calls to be sure they are appropriate, courteous, and address the issues at hand. We always review customer service phone calls and address any inappropriate behavior with our team. We am sorry for your negative experience. Additionally, our response above was generic, applying to some situations that cause frustration to our customers. However, we are brand new at managing social media and will continue to strive to make our posts, responses, etc, as professional as possible.

• Essentially you said all of that to say you don’t care about my feedback which I’ve deduced from your email response as well. This is no longer worth my time and I hope you do invest in learning how to respond to customer feedback as this one is a fail.

 

Happy New Year 2012!

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” Edith Lovejoy Pierce

 

Monday Motivation

 

Presentation Tips for 2011

Getting up in front of a crowd is a daunting task for many.  I love it though – maybe because I thrive on that type of crazy. Or maybe because I talk to myself and if I sat next to a potted plant I could talk to that too.  If I had to pinpoint where the foundation of my skills began it would have to be teaching, that is what really honed my speaking skills. Kids aren’t intentionally mean in Kindergarten or 3rd grade however if my lessons weren’t interesting I definitely knew it, this is what led me to place my lessons on PowerPoint so that I could integrate visual and auditory learning styles.  The tactile came through loading those lessons onto their iBooks and letting them move at their pace.

I’ve spoken at many types of events: webinars, lunch/learns, panels and huge conferences.  Through the years tools have changed however one thing has not – telling your story.  And if you can tell your story well others will remember it.  Here are my tips for presenting in 2011.

• Decks: let’s face it, most conferences or panels will ask for a PPT.  It doesn’t have to be boring or cluttered beyond belief.  My tip is to have as plain of a background as you can and use imagery to help support your points.  When you’re speaking you don’t need to have all of your talking points on one slide – choose the most important statement and highlight that.  I like to create a deck that has 5-10 slides that support my speech unless I’m doing a roadshow.  Roadshows are usually presented to an internal audience so that requires additional layers.
• Imagery: No one nailed this better than my hero Steve Jobs.  He dressed the part, selected a background that complimented an aura of mystique and kept it simple.  When I’m preparing a deck I put together a simple storyboard and then I think of a story to tell with each slide.  I then pick an image that will resonate with that story.
• Most sessions now have a hashtag associated with it.  Find out beforehand what it is and auto-schedule 5-10 of your main points via your Twitter management system.  I use CoTweet Standard but many others use HootSuite or Tweetdeck.  Make sure to include the hashtag in your tweet so that attendees can easily find it and RT.
• Be sure to thank those who take the time to tweet or post about your presentation.  A simple thanks goes a long way.

 

Monday Motivation

 

Best thing in my life!

 

Bad Decisions Make Good Stories.

Every once in a while life sends you a lesson, not so that you learn something from it but to test that you’ve learned your lesson and know how to move on to the good stuff. In all of dating shenanigans, I think I constantly surprise myself with how much I wear my heart on my sleeve despite my childhood but hey, we all have faults right? My professional life is very successful, I am proud of what I’ve accomplished and I know that there’ve been a ton of obstacles in my way. But sometimes I’m so focused on the professional stuff I forget about me the person. So in my dating portfolio I’ve settled a few times. Not something I care to admit and reading it aloud to myself makes me a little bit sad but I’ve got quite a Kate Spade collection so you know I’m going to bounce back quickly right? I’ve always taken charge in every relationship because I prefer knowing that if I start it I can end it. Most men, especially powerful men, don’t take too well to me whipping out my card to pay for dinner but I hate feeling like I owe someone something. But that’s another blog. My last relationship was terrible, so terrible I ended up not dating for 2 years. This year I was open to the idea but not necessarily taking any active steps – let’s face it – most days I work 10 to 12 hours and when I come home I want it to be a quiet sanctuary. When you spend all day taking care of people, the last thing you want to come home to is even more of that. Get on with the story already…

About a month ago my college BFF’s who remain my BFFs to this day were in town for much needed party time. Per chance I heard a radio station advertising a club and knew that us girls were going to do whoop it up. And whoop it up we did, I haven’t laughed that hard in such a long time, it’s the kind of belly laugh only your real friends know how to coax out of you. Good times were had and I met a boy. We’ll call him Southern Boy. Apparently we exchanged numbers and I told him that I didn’t have any free time until the following Tuesday. C’mon now, you don’t mentally run thru your corporate Blackberry when giving a guy your number? Ok maybe that was slightly terrible but SB called the next day. Keep in mind I was very surprised by that move, a guy who doesn’t play mind games? That’s very rare in this world. So point to SB. The gals talked me into calling him back and we had a good conversation in which he invited himself to dinner with my friend Janine. After the awkward dinner and trust me it was awkward. SB is genuinely shy, to the point where you want to put your hand on his shoulder and tell him that people talk to each other every single day in this world and that it’s ok. In his defense he was having dinner with two girls he barely knew and one who’s very vocal and uses her hands for everything. After dinner, he shook my hands. Yes everyone, he shook my hands like a good Southern boy. I genuinely did not think I’d ever hear from him again nor did I walk away thinking this guy likes me or vice versa.

He ended up texting me and so the “textuation” began…I know it’s 2011 but I still think a guy should pick up the phone and call. Texting is great for a while but then you’re like grow a pair already and just call. I’ll condense this – after a couple weeks of texting he called and made plans to see me and then on the day of said date HE STOOD ME UP! Oh yes, he – wait for it – texted a couple of hours before the “date” to tell me he was stuck at work. Then it just flat out progressed to “I’m not going to make it” and you guessed it, he sent a text and not a call. That ladies is your cue to write that guy off, don’t listen to your friends (albeit well meaning ones) who say “oh give him a chance, you understand how crazy work can get”. Oh yes, I understand how crazy work can get, I’m a workaholic but ladies heed my words: if a guy can’t be bothered to pick up the phone to tell you himself he is about to stand you up then run for the hills. It literally takes less than 3 minutes to call, apologize and say that you’ll make up for it. Sending a text is just cowardly and in my life cowards need not apply.

No biggie, he didn’t owe me anything and I certainly didn’t owe him anything. I wrote that foible off and moved on. You know where this is going right? He texted again. Almost 3 weeks after he texted to ask “hey stranger, remember me?”. And that’s where I messed up. I should have heeded my own advice and ignored him but the fool in me was bored and so I replied asking if this was Steve Jobs? And so the textuation began against my better judgment. Move along to that Friday night when SB texts around 6:30ish to ask what’s going on. A bit into it I learned he was in town. Oh yes, he was in town but didn’t care to make any plans with me. And that’s when I knew I was just an option. I’ve only been in this situation once before but damn will I let myself be suckered into this again. [Sidebar: shoutout to the man who once left me in a park after a concert. At 2am. Oh yeah, my guy buddies wanted to kill him.]

Here’s my life lesson that I want you (and myself) to repeat: I am a fabulous priority and not some ordinary option. There is no reason to treat anyone like that and if you’re still into playing games then maybe that’s cool. I’m pretty busy and my personal time is a luxury which I can’t spend foolishly. My life is full and mostly happy, yet I too fell into that trap thinking “let’s see where this goes”. You know where that goes? Nowhere. So do yourself a favor, the next time someone tries to treat you like an option, walk away. Delete them from your phone and move on. Because the truth is you are worth it and you’re better than being someone’s option.

“Later that day I got to thinking about relationships. There are those that open you up to something new and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that bring up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring you far from where you started, and those that bring you back. But the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you you love, well, that’s just fabulous.”

 

Simple Summer Recipe

Ok, I’m so excited I couldn’t wait to blog about it!  Sit down because I have learned how to make a quick and easy dish, you know the type of dish all the cookbooks tell you that you need to have in your arsenal as the go-to dish when company drops by?  Eureka and praise the lamb, I’ve found it!  Reading this post led me to this Ruhlman’s post and of course the video.  I’ve made a couple of small adjustments but when I tell you I’ve made this recipe 4 times within the last week, there is no exaggerating!

• 4 Vine Tomatoes
• Kosher or Sea Salt
• 1 Lime
• Pasta (I used Linguine)
• 10 Cloves Garlic
• Handful Basil
• 3 tbsp. Butter
• Olive Oil

1. Dice tomatoes and add salt to taste, also lime juice.  Let sit for approx. 1/2 hr.
2. Put water to boil for pasta. Chop garlic cloves and basil.
3. When water starts boiling, add pasta and begin heating olive oil in another pan.
4. Add garlic cloves.  Add basil once garlic begins to brown.
5. Strain juice from diced tomatoes into pan with garlic cloves/basil.
6. Add butter and cook on medium high heat to thicken sauce.
7. Add pasta and some shredded Parmesan and let set for a couple of minutes!
8. Enjoy your food!

FYI, I think this would be an awesome dish to add red pepper flakes too.

 

Delta Military Kerfuffle

I was reading Ragan’s post on Delta’s response to the YouTube video recently posted about charging soldiers for a 4th bag and got to thinking about their updated blog response.  Of course this too shall pass and there will be another social media crisis management case study shortly but I wanted to capture my thoughts for posterity.  Brand managers have it tough – please don’t misconstrue as complaining – they have to appease internal and external clients and that is a tough spot to be in.  You have to find the balance between corporate and consumers and that is no cake walk.

 

Putting myself in Rachel’s shoes (b/c of course hindsight is a virtue) I would have pushed PR to re-frame the updated blog post to reflect that the feedback shared by the commenters was heard.  Something to the effect of “Your feedback was very candid and as we reach each comment, we felt the passion behind each output.  The fact that you took the time to respond to us has led us to make a change regarding our policy.  While it was tough for us to read we knew that the right thing to do was revise it.  Our original policy was based on x,y,z however given recent changes within our industry…”  I think something like that would have been genuinely appreciated by the audience.  This is not to say that I think Delta just ignored what was being said.  It has been my experience when someone takes a shot at your brand you can’t help but feel it in your gut, it’s like a sucker punch.  And as a brand manager invested in your brand your brain starts whirling: how did it get to this point?  Is this true?  How do we let them know that we do care about what they’re saying when they’re so angry?  How do we push for change?

 

When an audience is passionate about a subject the brand needs to acknowledge it.  When brands are in the thick of a crisis it’s sometimes difficult to be objective because sometimes the only lens that’s visible is the reputational impact. It’s a learning phase for all brands in being this transparent with consumers and it carries inherent risks.  Sometimes you can’t win for trying but I was so glad to see an immediate response from Delta.

 

Test from iPhone…

Holy caw, I can upload posts from my iPhone? You’ve been warned people.

So you’ll really like this story…I met my ex at a festive party function club and to this day while we know that we were not meant to be together forever he is my best friend.  Last night he called me to remind me of a really funny story.  The quick backstory is that I’ve never said I love you to a boy and will not until I really truly mean it.  There’s too much that’s blase in this world and I want those words to have significance when I say it.  Except when I say it to my niece, I could hold her and squeeze her, talk about her 5 yr. life plan tell her I love you 65 times in a row.  And all she does is blow raspberries but I digress…  So back in the day when CN and I were dating he called, we chatted, before hanging up he said “ok I love you bye”.  Now even though I was filling up gas and inhaling the fumes because I really like the smell of gas I knew exactly what had occurred, he was so used to saying it to his mom that he simply said the same to me.  CN said when he called back that I was hysterically laughing and told him I knew he didn’t mean it.  And that folks is how romantic I am.