What Customer Service Means to ME - Term Paper Example

9th March What Service Means to ME My Experience It was Friday, November 30th, 2007, approximately 2:45 pm. While I was online reconciling my checkbook with Bank jf America, a pop up window came on notifying me that there was $20,000 worth of checks scheduled to go out that evening to various vendors including PSE&G for that months bills. I immediately logged into my checking account to see what it was referring to, and to my shocking surprise, there was a check scheduled to be sent to PSE&G for $19,589.00 for Novembers billing statement. So I immediately tried to edit the error to the correct amount of $195.89, but the online bill pay would not allow me to correct the error. So I then contacted the customer service at Bank of America to assist me in correcting this error or cancel it. After speaking to several customer service reps, I still got the same answer from each one, “sorry you had plenty of time all week to correct it, and it is now in the system and will be processed”. So then I called the customer service dep’t at PSE&G to explain what’s happening and see if they can help stop this train wreck. Well, guess what, I practically got the same responses from their customer service reps, but with even a bigger attitude. They told me “well when we get the check, we’ll going to process it because it’s our money”. Now this is after they’ve confirmed that the bill was only for $195.89. So after being on the phone with both companies for about 3 hours total on a Friday night, I immediately stopped all of my current transactions for the rest of the month with the online bill pay system. The very next day, on Saturday, I went to the local bank branch, sat down with the branch manager and explained what I went through the night before, and what is happening. He calmly looked at my account, saw what was happening, and called the main office or dep’t that handles the electronic bill pay services to inform them to correct or cancel that particular transaction. To his shocking surprise, he was told he doesn’t have that authority to instruct or direct anyone in that dept. to do so. As he hangs up the phone, he looks at me and says he’s sorry that he cannot do anything either and that it has to go through the system to be processed, when PSE&G submits the check for payment. But he did tell me “don’t worry about it, I can see it’s an simple error, and it’ll be rejected because you didn’t have enough funds to cover it - it’ll just bounce back to them for insufficient funds. You should keep an eye on the account to inform us when it was submitted for payment”. Well I did just that, I kept my eye on my account every day the following week to see when it get submitted for payment. The check was schedule to be sent out that following Monday December 3rd, and the check was submitted by PSE&G that same day. So I called the branch manager concerning the check, and he informed me that he already bounced the check back to PSE&G for insufficient funds. He also told me to look for it again for the 2nd submission for payment, so he can do the same. That Wednesday, PSE&G submitted it again for the payment, and the branch manager did what he promised to me would do - send it back for insufficient funds. So now I’m relaxing the train wreck has been avoided, but was it? Come Friday, I get a call from the central office of Bank of America, that they have started proceedings to collect on an outstanding balance of insufficient funds for a check that was deposited and processed a 3rd time by PSE&G, and they demand payment or else. Now I’m in shock, amazed and very pissed off with what was just said to me by some numskull who doesn’t have any common sense to review what’s been going on. So I gave him a few choice words and told what I think of him and the bank because it’s obvious that one hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing, and that there weren’t any note, warnings or flags posted to my account for these Moran’s to stop and think of calling anyone before they go and process anything. So I get on the phone and call the branch manager as to what just happened, he was in just as much shocked as I was and had no idea that they can submit a check for a third time. I drove down to him to see what I or he can do to get this corrected. He told me that he would waive all bank charges for the “insufficient funds” and the “return check “ fees for all of this including my other checks that were and are affected by this. The next thing to happen is that my direct deposit pay check was returned to my employer without any explanation. Then I was locked out of my account from seeing what’s going on. I went to the manager and told him of this, and he said he couldn’t override it. But he assured me that I’m good for the money, and he would manually cash all of my checks through some other process, so I would lose the money in the vacuum of an overdrawn account that would just swallow it all up. We did this for 3 weeks, then the manager was gone, and no one knew where I could reach him. The new manager wouldn’t do anything for me. In the meantime, I’m also dealing with PSE&G, trying to get my money back, and I’m getting the same line of troubles from them. First, they’re telling me that due to this dilemma of the bounced checks, they weren’t sure if they got paid or not. After speaking to other supervisors at PSE&G, I wasn’t getting anywhere at all, so my next step was to go the police to press charges. That’s a big joke: the police weren’t interested at all, said that this civil matter, and I need to get an attorney to file charges because this isn’t a theft. Wow, that’s what you get after they triple your property taxes around, taxation w/o representation! Now it starts to get even worse, I go and find an attorney, he files the suit against B.O.A. and PSE&G, for theft through the deception and some other charges. Now mind, this is December, just a few days before Christmas, with no money for anything, and I’m still locked out/frozen out of my account. Now it gets really interesting, in the mail is not one. Two or three, but 16 envelopes from credit card companies; EZ Pass; Mortgage Companies, and more. They all had the same to say, your account has been handed over to collections for non-payment of bills and return check fees. The exact same thing, I contacted all of them about my fiasco with B.O.A. and PSE&G. Yes, they said, but why are you still sending checks from your account that’s in delinquency, I’m now confused, I’m locked out of my account and was told the account is locked from doing anything, well guess what, all of the automatic bill payments and receiving bills automatically just kept on continuing as if nothing was wrong. After 3months of waiting to get answers, PSE&G finally sent me a check for the difference (Minus) what was originally due them; $195.89 for November 2007, plus the 3 months following. But what they decided not to tell me is that they also deducted the return check and insufficient fees from the 3 months that followed from my frozen / locked out account, knowing very well what was going on. And they refused to talk to me. Finally, with that check of $16,000 returned, I opened an account in another bank, so BOA couldn’t get their sticky paws on it ever! I couldn’t care what they would try; it’s going to be settled in court now! Two years passed by before I finally got my day in court, or you would think so, not in NJ! First there were the depositions which took place at the PSE&G building in Newark, NJ. There I met with my attorney to go over thing and he also wanted to inform me to what they’re demanding from me. While we were waiting for the other parties to show up, the branch manager that disappeared showed up with the attorney representing the bank, and then the reps from PSE&G showed up with their company attorneys. It’s David vs. Goliath. The banks attorney was very rude to say the least, very nasty to me, even when my attorney objected and demanded an apology thru the judge standing in during the depositions. Finally I got up and said to her, you’re a really nasty bitch, walked out and said I’ll be outside, I don’t want to put any one in the hospital even while these two outfits tried to put me in the street! After several 4 hours with my attorney deposing them, their attorneys just objected to everything. It seemed like it was an all-day event. My attorney informs me we have them in the corner and they’ll have to reimburse me for everything and issue a letter of apology to correct your credit score. Another 3 months gone by, and finally the court date set for march of 2009. Well guess how the judge ruled? He ruled in the banks favor, sitting contract law that’s in the “fine print” of the Bill Pay service, supersedes all other law and circumstances, allowing the bank to not correct their mistakes and I could not collect for damages to my account, name or credit score. As for PSE&G, the judge also ruled that they were in their right to charge me for the return check and insufficient money fees too, however, he did order them to reimburse me do to the fact they knew what was happening, and were part of the problem, but were not required to offer a letter of apology. Banks, utility companies and NJ all suck and I have no respect for any of them. As for the over drafted account at BOA, they never got the money back from me, Screw them Little Things Little things matter in customer service. In the service industry, you cannot impress the customer with a shiny office and marble flooring; the thing which impresses the customer the most is the quality of service being offered to him and the ease with which he was able to complete the work. Admitting your mistake and allowing some concession for the customer’s mistake is one of the foremost things which a company engaged in service industry should do. In the example which has been submitted by me, it was clear to the BOA customer service representatives as well as to the PSE&G representatives that there was an honest mistake in the cheque being submitted. It was a simple mistake of decimal digits. This small mistake should not have led to such a harrowing experience for the customer. The PSE&G customer service representatives were arrogant and rude. Although they could not have the authority to stop the check from being submitted, they could have been empathetic to me and not give me the attitude. If you read the story, the only person who has not been shown in a very bad light by me is the branch manager. Although he was also unable to solve the problem, he was kind enough to try and admit that a problem has occurred which needs to be rectified. Providing appropriate information to the customer is the other little thing which is very important in customer service. It is clear that neither the branch manager nor the customer service representatives had the authority to correct the mistake. What they should have done is point me to the correct person who can help me in solving this problem immediately before it becomes too big. The same goes for PSE&G representatives they should have told me the person who has the authority to stop the cheque from being submitted, I would have happily submitted another cheque of the correct amount in return. Insight Insight into the problems being faced by your customer is very important in customer service. In order to better serve the customers, it is also essential to have an insight of what the future problems the customer may face due to your suggestions or your mistake. The branch manager was trying to help me by telling me that he will bounce the cherubs sent by PSE&G .However he did not have the insight to see what will happen if this process was followed .He could not anticipate that the cheque will now be submitted to the recovery department or that I will be locked out of my account. As I was not a banker, I could not be expected to be aware of this problem but it was the job of the bank manager to be aware. He appeared as surprised as me at everything that was thrown at merit gave the feeling to me that the employees of BOA are either incompetent or deceptive. Another thing which showed lack of insight on the bank manager’s part was his inability to inform the new manager of my problem when he was transferred out of the branch. He should have left a note or something to ensure that the new manager would be on my side in this fiasco. Feedback Feedback from the customer is an inexpensive way to improve your business and solve the problems that might be undetected in your business. It was obvious that customer service representatives of both BOA as well as PSE&G were rude, full of attitude and not empathetic towards the problem that I was facing. It was also clear that their system was not good enough to overcome little mistakes and prevent them from becoming big problems which will lead to court cases. This feedback could have easily been obtained from me. If the supervisors at PSE&G had listened to me attentively they would have discovered a wealth of knowledge to improve their services .Instead the considered me as an enemy who was out to rob them of a cheque which was theirs. The important point that the money never belonged to them never crossed their minds. Another thing which is unrelated to the customer is internal feedback and reports. A company can serve its customer better only if there is internal co-ordination and feedback among its various departments. In BOA, it seemed that each department was acting independently without any concern for what the other department is doing regarding my problem. The bank manager was given a position of responsibility but he seemed to have no authority over his bank’s employees. Neither could he rectify the mistake nor could he stop the cheque from being processed .The branch manager, the electronic bill pay services department of the bank as well as the customer service representatives were all aware of the problem being faced by me, but none of them contacted or alerted the recovery department about my department .No internal note was left, there was not warning given to them; they simply acted as a different company and blocked my account. Thus both internal and external feedbacks are important for a company in order to keep the customer’s happy and satisfied. Expectations What does a customer expect from his service provider? It is very important for any business to know the expectations of the customer. Some of the expectations were obvious but were ignored by both BOA and PSE&G. One basic expectation of any customer is that he should be listened to by the customer service without any attitude or rudeness. Customer service exists to serve the customer and not to throw attitude at them. Customers are aware that not all problems can be solved at the customer service level but they are happy if a little empathy is shown to them. Another expectation is that the customer expects a single point of contact. He is not aware of the internal issues of the bank or how the work gets done inside the bank. He expects that if he has communicated a problem to one of the bank employee, the employee will ensure that all others dealing with his case are aware of the problem. However is my case no one knew what the other person was doing and acted as he seemed fit.BOA is a very big bank and it is unfair for a single account holder to fight it legally and that took on a single mistake which could have been easily rectified? This led me with the only alternative I had – spread as much bad publicity about the bank as much as I can. I singlehandedly may not cause much harm to the bank but a number of unsatisfied customers spreading bad word of mouth will be a disaster for the bank. That is why it needs to anticipate and fulfill customer’s expectation. Read More