Customer Service On The Internet (Huh?)
by Bob Kleine

Am I the only person out here who sometimes wonders if such a thing as good service on the Web exists?

I've had some really bad experiences lately and it just started me thinking about what I was taught about how to treat a customer.

We’ve all heard the old phrase “ the customer is always right”. At least I hope we have. Well let me tell you a little secret about that.

The customer is not always right. Sometimes they are not only wrong but also rude, crude and down right nasty. Okay, I know what you’re thinking. This guy won’t go very far with that attitude. You know what? You’re exactly right.

What I was taught in the offline world is that the customer may be wrong, arrogant, nasty or all of the above. But here’s the rub: the customer, by definition “Pays” for the privilege.

The customer is why we’re in business. They pay for our homes, our cars, our toys and put food on our tables. I think it’s about time that someone remind some of the web based businesses out there of this simple fact.

These folks (online business people) might better remember that we don’t need them. They need us.

Now, I guess I sound a little passionate about this. Well I guess I am. I worked for 8 years for a Fortune 500 company and helped create and implement an award winning customer service department.

I’m not trying to toot my own horn. I’m just trying to let you know that I have some expertise in this area.

Now, to what made me decide to put pen to paper, or is that fingers to keyboard ; whatever. In the past two weeks I have purchased three items online. All three times I ended up playing email tag trying to find out what was happening with my order.

These businesses ( whether one person operations or large companies) don’t seem to think that the customer has a need to know how a product is being shipped, or if it can be downloaded, or anything else for that matter.

I am still sitting here waiting for my hosting company to get back to me about something I consider very important. It’s been abut 18 hours so far.

This company was recommended to me and the information on their main page led me to believe that their support would be fast and excellent. Wrong.

Also, in the past 48 hours, I paid for a marketing package which includes book, free software and entrance to a private site. This company is quite well known. After paying by credit card on their secure server, I was sent to an order completed page.

I was led to believe that they would contact me very soon with my access code to the private site and information about how the rest of my order was being processed.

No such luck. Three emails (two not too pleasant) and a message left on an answering machine and I still haven’t heard a thing. What gives?

Believe me, I understand that problems come up and things don’t always work the way we would like. But a simple acknowledgment of a customers problem and a short explanation of the problem you might be having goes a long way.

Leaving a customer in the dark about something they paid their hard earned cash for is the worst of poor customer service. Now, you don’t know me and you sure don’t need to listen to any advice from me, but if we as business people, want to remain in business and flourish we had better remember this simple fact.

The customer pays us for a service “ to serve” and if we can’t provide common courtesy and good service then we will find ourselves back in the Real World working for someone else.

Bob Kleine is the Owner of Opportunityknoxx.com a Search Engine that is targeted towards business opportunities, home based business, marketing and advertising resources and all the things that help you make your site sell. Submit your site at http://www.opportunityknoxx.com.

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