Comments on: 5 Customer Service Lessons I Learned From Last Week’s Server Nightmare

By: 25 Things You Can Learn From Deb Ng - Blogging Tips From Jade Craven

25 Things You Can Learn From Deb Ng - Blogging Tips From Jade Craven — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:37:45 +0000

[...] wrote about this when discussing what she had learned after a major server issue. Because I’m technically challenged, I often feel really dumb about asking questions, especially [...]

By: Anne G.

Anne G. — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:48:51 +0000

@T – I hear you on thankless jobs. After high school, I landed a job with an area travel agency and spent five years with them. I have personally been blamed for flight delays, airlines suddenly raising rates, poor service from airline attendants, lost baggage and hotels booking the wrong type of room. My favorite though is the one guy who wanted to go to Kokomo because of the Beach Boys’ song. When I explained it was fictional and that Kokomo is in Indiana, he got right into my face telling me that if the Beach Boys said it was a tropical location then I needed to consult better maps and learn a little more about geography.

People can be pretty scary.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:54:04 +0000

I’ve never been to this site before, but I like it. I agree with Anne and T. If I have a bad experience somewhere, everyone is going to hear about it the next day. We shouldn’t forget to compliment someone on a job well done. One day, at a fast food restaurant I frequent for lunch, I told the manager that I thought her crew was fast, courteous and just good all around. She gave me a free lunch!

By: T

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:37:02 +0000

I am the first one to “black list” a company if I don’t receive good customer service and I won’t return to a restaurant or store if the customer service is poor. However, I agree with Anne. You also need to tell people when they are doing a good job, which I’ve done before. I worked in the thankless world of non-profit and there were very few times I was praised. When I was praised and appreciated for my hard work, it made the crappy long hours and bad pay worth it (well almost ha!) When you work in non-profit (and especially working with cancer patients and CF patients) and dealing with the public and volunteers, it’s all about customer service. It comes down to people want to be treated with respect – treat others like you want to be treated.

We are really quick to out someone for bad customer service, but we also need to think about the good customer service we do receive.

By: Anne G.

Anne G. — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:06:36 +0000

My mom was in customer service for years. One thing I learned early one, people are always willing to broadcast a horrible experience, I do frequently myself. Few will take the time to share a good experience. It’s a habit for me to praise a company that does something right.

I did this a few weeks ago with a local grocery store. I called headquarters with kudos for one of the employees. The manager of that location called me a day later saying that in the five years he has been with that store, that’s the first time headquarters has called him with praise and not a complaint. ONE word of praise in five years. That’s really quite sad.

By: wombat

wombat — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:24:40 +0000

I totally sympathize with your desire to take positive lessons away from this experience. But I also want to know the name of the company! I’d really like to be able to avoid them instead of repeating this character-building experience on my own.

By: Devon Ellington

Devon Ellington — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:31:02 +0000

Honestly, I’m sick and tired of poor customer service and companies who hide behind “company policy” as a reason not to deal with customers as individuals. I’m shedding those businesses, seeking out those with good customer service, and spending my hard-earned money with them.

I also don’t believe in allowing companies get away with poor service, especially in cases where they break the law, which is why, when appropriate, I get the BBB and the appropriate Attorney Generals’ offices involved. It works, and it helps protect other consumers in the future.

By: Erika K

Erika K — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:01:12 +0000

Sorry, I didn’t write that correctly – didn’t reread before I hit “submit comment”. I know your community is already one of the best around. It will stay that, or become even better. I don’t forsee any kind of disintegration just because a server company didn’t want to play nice.

Kudos, and keep your eyes looking ahead!

By: Erika K

Erika K — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:59:14 +0000

Well, usually with some kind of massive breakdown or crisis, there is some kind of opportunity waiting within it. It doesn’t always emerge right away, but it is there. It seems you’ve already found some of that opportunity right now in crafting some timely and useful posts for our benefit (and yours).

Hopefully we will see more fruits of this crisis/opportunity in the coming months. whatever it is, you will make your community one of the very best around. You have staying power, Deb!

By: Kristen

Kristen — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 20:04:14 +0000

Great post, Deb. Every better: great attitude about learning from an unpleasant experience.