[jellicle]

I think the average customer service response from a company nowadays goes something like this:

Me: "I'm having a problem with the fribbulator. It appears to be broken - the metal is snapped cleanly in two."

Them: {no response}

Me: "I sent you this last week but didn't receive a reply. I'm having a problem with the fribbulator. It appears to be broken - the metal is snapped cleanly in two."

Them: "Here are instructions on how to reinstall Windows. Please see our FAQ as well. Did this response answer your question [Y/N]?"

That sort of response might as well include a .gif of a raised middle finger. Companies that intend to provide better-than-this customer service should factor in customer conditioning into their plans. The customer has been conditioned to complain publicly first. You'll have to fix that explicitly if you don't want it to happen to you.

[shaggyfrog]

This kind of conversation happens all the time with "support" accounts on Twitter. I tweeted the @ParallelsCares account for help and ended up in or around the third circle of hell [1] trying to get a simple answer to a simple question [2].

I think customer conditioning, as you suggest, is part of the solution. Training also needs to include learning how to thoughtfully write a response, which would then show empathy. Instead what we have are a lot of Twitter support accounts whose names end with "Cares" run by a lot of people who don't.

[1] https://twitter.com/#!/shaggyfrog/status/100974626112421888 [2] https://twitter.com/#!/shaggyfrog/status/100727705112285184

[pasbesoin]

After 7+ hours on the phone with Adobe Support until I finally convinced one of them to push a manager to execute a 10 minute fix (including walking over to and appropriately chatting up the manager, and passing on my explanation of what actually needed to be done -- whose product/support role is this, anyway?), I was all too happy (as a turn of phrase) to write the strongest cogent complaint I could manage on the site where the installation package was purchased.

I see two common scenarios:

Disposable products lead to or correspond with an attitude that customers are disposable. (And a corresponding, irritating frenzy around "customer acquisition" to address the resulting churn.)

Hotel California: You can check out, but you can never leave. You're dealing with a quasi- or literal monopoly, who know all to well that they can simply tell you to fuck yourself. Once in a while, they'll say it to your face. Most of the time, they'll just ignore you until you give up pestering them.

When I do have a genuinely positive support experience, I usually am willing to go out of my way to credit it, internally or externally.

But these days I'm predisposed to expect a bad experience, especially when I'm not dealing with the other party face to face (or even voice to voice).

It's part of what makes what would otherwise be an uneventful purchase so agonizing: You know that if you "choose wrong", essentially you're screwed. Or if the warehouse pulls the dropped, shaken, stirred, or restocked package for your order.

P.S. I guess my comment isn't really adding anything. I thought I'd gotten over that 7 hour experience -- maybe not quite yet.