Archive for the 'Customer Service' Category

Free Charles Papenfus

Crime and Punishment, Customer Service, Fight the Power No Comments »

Frustrated by scam telemarketing calls from a dishonest extended-warranty company, an Ohio man snapped on the phone and apparently made some threats.

No, he shouldn’t have said that he would come and burn down their building. That was wrong. But at the same time, does he really need to be locked up? Nobody thinks he meant it, that he poses any genuine danger. He was just frustrated with having to deal with these scammers.

Free Charles!

Customer Service Shoutout: CoffeeCup

Cool Things, Customer Service No Comments »

I use CoffeeCup Software’s HTML editor for web development projects, and have for several years. There are probably more powerful suites out there, but CC is effective and sufficient for my needs – although I would weep tears of joy if they would implement genuine one-button publishing. I recently found that there’s an upgrade to the editor, which I am entitled to download – but I couldn’t find my password or username. My usual defaults didn’t work, so I contacted customer service.

Enter Hope D., help desk specialist. Hope asked me for other email addresses that my account could be under. Nothing. She asked me for my name so she could look it up that way. Nothing. Finally she asked for any old addresses, so that she could look me up from that. Jackpot – she found my account, sent my username and password, and got me taken care of. Elapsed time, about 30 minutes of e-mail exchanges.

Now, did Hope cure cancer here? No. But she did solve my problem, without making me go through any idiot steps or bozo procedures from the manual. She just found my information, which is what I needed, and she did it fast and efficient. What’s more, she did this in an area that isn’t likely to bring in a sale – they’ve already got my money. Anybody can give you great service when they expect a check. When a company gives service after you’ve paid, they’re thinking long-term, and that means they’re worth the time.

Here’s to you, Hope. Thanks.