Customer Service Nightmares

Then there are “commonly accepted industry practices,” which remind me of the paint color author Tom Wolfe calls “good enough for government green.” Conforming to such practices make a firm not great or good, but merely average:

Forcing car rental customers to fill up their gas tanks before dropping off the car

Requiring retail store customers to sign credit card charge forms when phone and online customers have skipped this step for years (this is finally beginning to change)

Expecting customers to assemble a dossier of information just so they can get the rebate promised them

Making customers deal with a different department for every aspect of their problem, as in, “Oh, we’re just tech support. You need to talk with Customer Service to get your password changed, then ask them to transfer you to Billing...”

Charging customers $100 extra when they need to change their air travel plans

Using social security numbers to identify customers even though the government says this number should never be used for identification purposes. When I tell this to company representatives, they typically retort, “Then we can’t help you.”

Pay special attention to those practices that are commonplace in your industry. If you can become more flexible in one of these areas, you could acquire a meaningful edge over your competition.
Credit to Bruce Kasanoff