Tag: customer support

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Bringo, GetHuman offer ways to avoid phone tree hell

“Thank you for reading our blog today. Your visit is VERY important to us. Please select from the following options. Please make sure you read through to the entire menu because our options have recently changed.”


OK, not really.  All options are still available in the left-hand nav. And happy December – we have snow on the ground today.

I read about an interesting new company featured in the Seattle Times today (courtesy of Craig Crossman, McClatchy-Tribune News Service): Bringo, serving customers calling a company with automated phone trees:


“(In the automated phone tree) you finally hear the option you want and press it. You are then presented with a sub-menu of choices. “Please select one of the following seven items.” You listen and then make another selection. You then hear “Please select from the following six options,” and so it continues.


“It is somewhere around the third sub-menu that your mounting frustration makes you either give up or start pressing random phone keys in hopes that you might be connected to a live person who can actually help you.

When you finally navigate all the appropriate menu options, you discover that you now have to wait 17 minutes. When you do finally speak to a live person, you have to swallow your tongue, least you make a comment you may regret later. There must be a better way to quickly get to a live person on the phone, and now thanks to Bringo, there is.”


Bringo was featured with Gethuman.com in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year, “two Web sites designed to help callers connect to an employee and bypass automated systems.”

And I like Bringo. 

Start by visiting the Bringo Web site and search through the list of companies on their web site that you’re interested in speaking to a live person. Noted as a Chicago health-care technology, Bringo provides nearly a thousand listings.  You type in your phone number and hit a button that says “fetch.” The site rings your phone within seconds to verify that the request is legitimate.

According to Bringo’s site, here’s how it works:


  1. Find the company you’d like to call by category (credit cards, mortgages, loans, health care)
  2. Enter your phone # (we will never disclose your phone number to anyone, not even your mother!).
  3. Wait a few seconds while we navigate the phone tree.
  4. When we call you back, pick up your phone and you’re done. No more phone trees.

Ready to get started?


  • Click here to list all categories of companies
  • Click here for an alphabetical list of all companies

But where are the tech companies and broadband service providers in the list of popular services?  It makes sense that these companies don’t make the top ten list of companies called (but all companies I tried to reach in the last couple of weeks.) 

Interestingly enough, I found that of the company categories listed, I recently called only one type: Credit Cards.  For most of the others, most of my inquiries are over the web or email, even live chat.

Oddly, AT&T Wireless isn’t listed (it’s reached via the listing for Cingular), and Comcast isn’t listed in the ISP list.  And on the computer hardware page, Dell numbers occupy more than a third of the listings.  But that stuff is easily fixed.

Back to what works. 

Bringo’s site navigates the company’s phone tree for you, and then calls you back when it finally finds a live person (or in the queue).

So, let’s take a look at Bringo’s main entry for Microsoft:


Microsoft: Avoid the phone tree and talk directly to a human at Microsoft. Microsoft is leading software company. Its main products are: Windows XP, MS Office, Internet Explorer. Company owns also MSN.com website and manufacturers XBOX 360 game console.

This company’s operators may answer very quickly after we navigate the phone tree. This may cause them to hang up before you are connected. In the event that this happens, you may try Bringo again, or dial them directly and press “0” at each prompt when connection is established.


Sweet. 😉

So, before using the service, try dialing the number that Bringo has listed on their site and see if you get a live person quickly. 

BTW, for Microsoft Tech Support, call (in the US) 1-800‑642‑7676, and press 0 at each prompt, ignoring messages.  (Thanks, GetHuman.)

As with gethuman.com, take a look at the telephone number listings on the sites and paths for getting a hold of a live person.  But when you are faced with the dreaded automated warning, “your call will be handled in twenty minutes,” head over to Bringo and see if that works for you.


Tags: Microsoft, Customer Service, Customer Support.

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Poor Customer Service Ethics is more than just Outsourcing, it’s a lack of understanding the customer’s needs

In the last issue of BusinessWeek there is an article on “The Ethics of Outsourcing Customer Service” by Bruce Weinstein.



“It’s a familiar scenario: A product you purchased recently has developed a problem, so you call the company’s toll-free number and are connected to a “customer service associate” in India or the Philippines. You describe your problem but have a hard time understanding what the company representative is saying. You try several more times to communicate why you are calling but cannot get information that you can comprehend. You ask to be transferred to someone in the U.S. and are then put on hold for what seems like an eternity. You hang up in frustration and vow never again to purchase anything from this company.

“More and more businesses are outsourcing not just manufacturing jobs but services ones too. On the face of it, this seems like a smart financial move: By slashing labor costs 25%, 50%, or more, companies that have had slim profit margins are now able to enrich the bottom line and keep shareholders happy.

“Outsourcing customer service, however, is not only unethical. It’s bad for business.”


For a moment, let’s also distinguish between overseas staffing and outsourcing internationally.  Yes, I certainly have been on the receiving end of less-than-perfect customer service when calling a company, but this is not just a factor of outsourcing. Here’s an example of where it worked recently:

This past week we had a problem with a consumer electronic (a TV) so I called the manufacturer yesterday, on a weekend, expecting to get a message saying “call back as we’re off for the weekend.”

Guess what: someone answered, on a Saturday afternoon after lunch.


“Hi, this is John for Sharp Electronics. How can I help you?”


After giving all my information to John and detailing the problem, he said that I should call back the same number on Monday with my case number, and that a Sharp representative would have more information after looking at my case. Having read the above article, I asked: You don’t work for Sharp?”


“No, I am a representative for [Sharp] and staff the weekend lines to make sure that the company responds to your needs. We take customer calls, send them to resources on the web and if we need to, we take down their information so Sharp can work on it first thing on Monday.”


Very cool. 

I recalled why I purchased devices from Sharp in the past and how this influenced our latest: the company is responsive.

[Follow up: Following my weekend call, I was on the phone with a rep on Monday morning who had already triaged the problem and had a set of things for me to try with the set.  After going through the list, Sharp quickly arranged to dispatch a repairman who diagnosed the problem and authorized for a replacement to be shipped to me.  In less than a week, I had a new set, and Sharp followed up to ensure that my needs had been met.]

(Disclaimer: I have worked closely with Sharp Electronics in the US and Japan during my career and always found the company to be very customer focused, innovative and hungry for my business.)

Sure, you’re sure to run into poor customer service experiences as a result of outsourcing, as I have with one large PC manufacturer, a peripheral company and household appliance company — these past issues are clearly in my memory.  In two cases the service was from North American operators who clearly had no clue what was what or even the basic details of the product (or the company for that matter, mispronouncing the name of the stovetop manufacturer).  And in another case, I couldn’t make out a word the operator was saying, due to the poor connection (as if I were calling the outback via a string and two tin cans) and the unintelligible accent.

I agree with the author above that “working on the front lines of customer service means, first and foremost, being able to understand what the customer needs and then meeting those needs efficiently.” In some cases, outsourcing works, and in others, it doesn’t.  Companies that place a premium on meeting the needs of their customers will enjoy better extended relationships that will encourage greater word of mouth support, repurchase and as in my case, consumer loyalty.  These are some of the reasons we’ve purchased and repurchased products from Dell, HP, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba… as well as Microsoft.


Tags: Microsoft, Customer Service, Customer Support.

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Geeks rescue consumer victims of “software rage”

This evening on CBS 60 Minutes, Steve Kroft updated his report from earlier this year and gives the Geek Squad their fifteen minutes of fame.  Kroft covered the challenges and increasing complexities computers, networking devices and the myriad of consumer electronics that contain computer chips… everything from personal computers to mobile phones and all-in-one remote controls, or as Steve said, “anything that needs to be programmed, requires technical support, and can crash, die, or merely freeze.”

“We are becoming slaves to our own technology – addicted to and dependent upon all sorts of beeping, flashing gadgetry that is supposed to make our lives easier.

“But it has become so complicated to set up, program and fix, that most of us don’t know how to do it, giving rise to a multi-billion dollar service industry populated by the very people who used to be shunned in the high school cafeteria: geeks, like Robert Stephens.

My favourite part was the snips of interviews and sound bytes from one of the folks I read regularly, tech columnist David Pogue.

“Part of the problem, when it comes to computers at least, is that there are so many cooks for what you are using. Microsoft made the operating system, some company in Taiwan made the equipment, you’re running software from a company in California, and now you’re installing the driver for a digital camera from a fourth company. You know, what are the odds that all of these are going to work flawlessly together for all 400 million people who have PCs? Zip,” Pogue says.

“So, what do you do?” Kroft asks.

“You get unhappy. You develop software rage,” Pogue says.

Pogue is right: how many times have you gotten to your wit’s end after trying everything outlined in the manual. Often, you’re lucky if you find a cryptic (or poorly translated) electronic read-me file or esoteric web page reference, as some companies don’t even include a real manual with their products these days. 

In an article by By Paula Rooney, the author notes that a major problem around our launch of Windows Vista was (and some will say “is still”) a lack of software drivers for third party hardware components and peripherals…

“Tons of vendors haven’t done Vista drivers and that’s left a big hole in support. I can understand when it comes to printers and scanners, but when we’re talking about hard drives, chipset controllers and video cards, things that run the PC, it’s surprising,” he said. “It’s not just peripherals but primary component manufacturers aren’t ready, and that unusual compared to the previous releases [of Windows].”

Rooney calls out that in the feedback gathered by CRN, the top three problems facing Windows Vista early adopters — and I’ll suggest, often users of any OS — are:

    1. Lack of available drivers from ISVs causing application conflicts;
    2. Lack of available drivers for existing and new peripherals and hardware components;
    3. Buggy drivers

Drivers, drivers, drivers. 

A good article is this one, “The hunt for drivers” on the Windows Help and How-to site, and the use of Windows Update to locate and install the latest updates for your software and hardware.  In Vista, Windows Update is integrated into the OS, and found that (according to the site) “more than 31,000 updated drivers were ready when Windows Vista was completed” which is almost three times what was available when Windows XP was launched.

“In many cases, you don’t even need Windows Update to install new devices. Often when you plug in a new device or install a new add-on card in your computer, Windows Vista will detect the hardware and automatically install the correct driver in less than a minute. A notification lets you know when installation begins and when it’s complete. You don’t have to do anything.”

Sometimes, that’s true, as I found when I connected my HP scanner to my Windows Vista. 

Tags: customer support, Windows Vista, drivers.

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Old news: Free Retrofit for Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel

I missed this article last week.

We have an Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel, and one that has taken a back seat to the of Dance Dance Revolution pad.

I learned from Gregg Keizer at Computerworld (and various news sites) that the Wheel should have a free retrofit applied. There’s an announcement on Xbox.com that notes that “a component in the Wheel chassis may in rare cases overheat and release smoke when the AC-DC power supply is used to energize the Wheel.”

Jeepers.

“Owners of the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel should print out the retrofit form or call Microsoft at 1-800-4MY-XBOX to register to receive the retrofit and protect against the potential hazard described above. Instructions will be provided with the retrofit. We are notifying and will be coordinating our response activities with the relevant regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. This may impact delivery dates.”

Until you receive a retrofit for your Wheel, Xbox recommends that you run the wheel on batteries only.

Or just of Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero until it arrives.

Tags: Xbox 360, customer support.

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“Don’t just bring me a problem…” Get solutions too through Windows Problem Reports and Solutions

Rats. I hate it when an app crashes on my PC, especially when it’s caused by an issue with Windows Vista and one of its bundled Microsoft apps. In this case, a mainstream staple of my online use, Windows Photo Gallery.


But with Vista, I don’t lose any of the data (in this case, my scans or new imported photos) and thus the time associated with working on them: the window closed, asked if I would like to report the problem (I did) and if I would like to see if there was a solution (I would). 


I’m reminded of a discussion with a certain exec in which I heard very clearly (directed at a person who hadn’t done their homework and completed the equation): “don’t just bring me a problem, bring possible solutions, too.” (Although a tad more colourful. 😉


Fulfilling that equation for me today is Windows Problem Reports and Solutions: it popped open a window that detailed an available fix for the issue, saying that “there is a solution.”


Music to my ears.



Performance and Reliability Pack (KB938979)

Follow these steps to solve the problem with Windows Vista

This problem was caused by Windows Vista. Windows Vista was created by Microsoft Corporation.

A solution is available that will solve this problem.


Goody.


Solution: An update is available that improves the performance and reliability of Windows Vista


The update addresses some reported issues and should “improve performance and responsiveness in various scenarios” as well as “the reliability of Windows Vista.”


I believe that this addresses a “memory management issue” (aka memory leak) in switching between Windows Photo Gallery and another application. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base KB 932988. 

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932988/)

Also, I have the option in Windows Problem Reports and Solutions to rate this response and “Provide Feedback.”

I did.

Now my next step is to track down where in our group the feedback from Windows Error Reporting goes and what they did with the info… more on that next week.

BTW, a note on Knowledge Base articles… 

There was also a note “About Microsoft Knowledge Base articles” (aka “KBs”). If you’ve ever read a KB (and as you’re surfing on MSDN, I’ll guess that you have) you know that KB articles are often written for, as it is warned, “a technical professional audience.”

No kidding.

“These articles might contain specialized terms and descriptions, as well as lengthy procedures. Depending on your level of familiarity with computers and technical terminology, you might be more comfortable consulting with a professional computer technician to help you solve this problem.”

I know that our incredible team in Customer Support is working on ways to make the information in these articles more accessible, particularly articles that are geared towards consumers and less-tech types (customers who are not devs, IT Pros, sysadmins). I found that the above articles are fairly easy to understand and implement, so kudos to the teams working hard to make support for computers, software and systems more accessible.


Tags: Customer service, customer feedback