Loading ...« The Lost Art of Listening | Home
Customer Service the ACTing R.I.G.H.T™Way
By TWilson | April 14, 2008
The other day I had to call my doctor’s office to get them to authorized refills for prescriptions that had expired. In my attempt to contact the doctor, I had a rather interesting encounter with the medical center’s IVR system. IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response. It’s some IT geek’s idea of productivity savings because it takes the human out of the equation. As I’m listening to the menu, it asked if I need a prescription renewal, since this was one of the reasons for my call I selected the response and got another menu selection. Upon following the instructions given, I place my request for prescription refill and proceed on my way thinking I was done.
I then dutifully waited to receive approval of the prescriptions so I could order the meds online – I’m not completely technology phobic - several days passed and nothing happened. I called the online prescription fulfillment company, and after going through their multilayer IVR system finally got a live person on the phone, told, they had no confirmation from the doctor and I needed to call my physician to have him fill out the forms that where being faxed to the doctor’s office.
Hmmm, they have the forms and I need to call the doctor to tell them to fill them out, they have all the information including the doctor and know where to send the forms but I have to tell them to fill them out and fax them back. I’m wondering to myself – what’s wrong with this picture? I called, and when I did get a live person. I told them I followed the automated instructions for prescription refills, and for some reason, it didn’t get to the prescription refill company. The person on the line informed me that everything looked correct, didn’t understand what could have gone wrong, and said she would have someone call me. Later in the day, I received a call and told that my request for my refills was entered into the system, but something happened on their end and it went into “cyber space.” In other words, not our fault, it was the computer system.
I got my refills, but I still don’t know if the connection between the online prescription fulfillment company was corrected, I’m not up to doing another 15 rounds with their IVR system.
That same day, I placed a call to Plantronics®. I was having trouble with my wireless phone headset. For no reason, I started to get a loud buzzing in the headset – and no it wasn’t from the prescription drugs – something was wrong with my headset. I call the customer service number for Plantronics® and to my surprise after two rings; a real person answered the phone. I told her my problem and expected to be told to call another number, image my surprise when she said, “I can help you with that, we just have to reboot your headset and I’m happy to show you how.” She then took me step by step through the process and I no longer have a buzzing sound in my headset.
Two examples of accountability, in the first example, no accountability at all, and the second accountability abounded. Let me explain.
In my first example, when I called the fulfillment company, the person I spoke to, didn’t take solving the problem to a reasonable conclusion. He, through the ball back in my court instructing me to call the doctor to have them him fill out forms that he would fax over. My guess is his “protocols” required him to tell the patient – me – they need to make the call to the doctor, whom I don’t fully understand, because they have all the information on record and could have handled it much better. There solution to solving this problem was actually no solution. Second, at the doctor’s office, their solution to solving the problem was to blame the computer for lost electronic paper work. Third, and most important, I still don’t know if the required paperwork went to where it’s supposed to, because no one said they would get back to me to let me know. I’m guessing that I have to make a follow up call.
With Plantronics®, we have an outstanding example of accountability. The individual I worked with took it upon herself to help me with my problem. She was knowledgeable, and walked me through everything I had to do. She also had all the information on my purchased. When the problem was corrected, she then told me that since I bought my system in 2005 I was at the life expectancy of my battery and that if I was getting any static in the headset, it’s a good indicator that it t may be time to replace the battery. I have to tell you if she asked for the order, I would have said yes for no other reason, than being so pleased with the level of support and the fact she took it ownership of the problem, solved it, and didn’t put it back on me, the customer to find a solution.
Now, that’s customer service the ACTing R.I.G.H.T™ way.
Topics: Accountability, Team building |
Comments are closed.