Last week I went to Blockbuster to pick up a movie and was shocked to find that I owed $28 in late fees. The line was long and my wife was not in the mood to listen to me complain and talk to management, so we paid the fine and went on our way. The more I thought about this the more angry I became so today I called the customer service number to complain about these excessive fees. It was very obvious that my call had been sent around the world to somewhere in India where a lady named "Susan" answered my call. After giving Susan all my information including verifying my address we finally got down to business. Susan was nice enough, but I could tell she was reading from a script and not listening to my problem.
This confrontation with customer service got me thinking about why companies outsource such a vital part their business. This appears to be a huge oversight by top levels executives. The costs saved by outsourcing customer service is dramatically offset by the negative experiences by loyal customers. In todays internet based world a lot of companies never see or even speak to their customers. So when a problem arises, why don't they want a sympathetic understanding person on the other end of the phone? Companies should definitely think twice about outsourcing their customer service or they might just loose their business to NetFlix.
Here is the list of work customer service from MSN Money:
The Hall of Shame
1. AOL
2. Comcast
3. Sprint Nextel
4. Abercrombie & Fitch
5. Qwest
6. Capital One
7. Bank of America
8. Time Warner Cable
9. HSBC Finance
10. Cox Communication
Just so you know Blockbuster was not far down the list. Check out the complete list here..
