What Does a Customer Deserve?

remember-customer-service-yeah-were-not-gonna-do-that-anymore-thumbI have a bit of a situation. In the greater scheme of things, it’s truly a first-world problem, but I figure you might have some interesting ideas about it.

I went the my local AT&T store last week to buy a new iPhone and renew my service plan. I was there for about an hour, and during that time I was given a few different options for payment plans. I chose one that was about $65 a month.

Today I got my bill from AT&T. There were a few standard one-time charges along with a bit of a surprise: The plan I selected was actually $80 a month, not $65 as I signed up for.

So I called AT&T to sort out the issue. I won’t go into the details, but the end result is that the store made a mistake and it can be fixed, but not over the phone. I have to go back to the store.

Just like anyone else, my time is money. Granted, it’s certainly worth my time to go to the store to save $15/month over the next 2-3 years. But at the same time, I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder now. This store is going to end up wasting over an hour of my time because they didn’t do their job correctly.

Does the store owe me something for this? Is it fair for me to ask for and expect something in return? How should I approach this?

Again, this isn’t a huge deal, and I’ll probably treat myself to a Slurpee during the outing and feel like I won. But I’m wondering what you would do in this situation, or what you’ve done in the past when a store makes a mistake that requires you to use your precious time to return to the store for them to fix the mistake.

13 thoughts on “What Does a Customer Deserve?”

  1. When you called AT&T, was it the store you contacted, or their customer service 800 number? For something as simple as a plan change (and having the plan backdated to show the correct one from the get-go), customer care should have been able to take care of it over the phone. However, any credits that need to be issued would probably still have to be done by the store that made the mistake (at least that’s how my company works).

    On average, my boss spends about 30% of his time at the store just handling customer escalations and issues that happen as a result of the salesperson either not paying close enough attention to what options were selected or the system malfunctioning and causing a change that was unexpected until the bill was received by the customer– either one of those things could have happened with your unexpected plan change, so I would recommend trying to stay as calm as possible when you go to the store. From what I’ve observed, the customers who come in with a pleasant demeanor to fix issues that weren’t their fault seem to have the issue resolved a lot faster than the ones who come in already irritated. Also, I’m not sure if this option would work, but can you contact the salesperson or store manager directly (either by phone or e-mail) to see if they can take care of it without you making a trip there?

    Reply
    • I second – call the store directly. One tactic in “service recovery” (as problem handling is often called) is to get the customer back in because (1) there’s a higher resolution rate and (2) customers with a well-handled problem (not necessarily a resolved problem, just one that is well-handled) become return business, so it’s a service recovery converted to foot traffic = increased sales. This is why Wal-mart’s “we’ll take any return as long as you have a receipt” policy works so well, you usually go back and buy something else, possibly more, after your return.

      If you do have to go in, talk with the manager, not the sales rep. The manager will do more to keep your business. I don’t know what that is (complimentary headset?) but he or she will at least make damn sure not to select the $80 plan.

      As for what is owed you for your lost time, I don’t think anything can make up for lost time. An apology is probably the most you’ll get. If it came down to having to take time out of work, or miss business due to malfunctioning communication devices, you could ask for something to make you whole (I’m thinking more in terms of “you run my internet and it’s been down for 6 days so I can’t sell anything, my daily average sales is $350”).

      Reply
      • JT: Sounds good! I’ll talk to the manager if I have to go back to the store. Perhaps I’ll ask for compensation for the Slurpee.

        Reply
    • Katy: I called the general AT&T support line, not the specific store. I’ll give them a call today, and I appreciate the tip of being pleasant with them.

      Reply
  2. I tend to over react. But yes, I usually “request” some form of compensation for my extra time. I’m working on not being a jerk (doesn’t seem like your style anyway) but I do try to be politely straight forward about my frustration and disappointment.

    Reply
    • In general, I am a big fan of voting with your dollar and in a lot of categories you can do that, but in the case of cell phone carriers there are pretty much only two major players and both of them have pretty crummy customer service. I wouldn’t bother wasting more of my time trying to convince them that yours is worth something. They don’t care.

      Reply
      • Yeah, in this case they already have my dollar! 🙂 Perhaps I’ll vote better the next time I buy a phone. Every store and every customer service rep is unique, so perhaps I just need to find the one that works for me.

        Reply
    • Eric: I’ll try to take your advice and be polite about it. Instinctively I feel like I’m not a jerk, but when someone wastes my time like this (especially someone who I paid specifically not to waste my time), I have a hard time being as polite as I want to be. 🙂

      Reply
  3. Burn it down. The whole place. Laugh in their faces amidst the flickering flames. Taste the tears of the store owner. Call their insurance company and give them an anonymous insider tip that you saw a store employee start the fire.

    Reply
    • Based on my recent AT&T expericences, I think T-Mac’s onto something. I swear to god, I think they make mistakes intentionally and count on making money when people don’t have time to fix the problem. Or they don’t notice, or whatever.

      Reply
      • holliswatson: What happened to you at AT&T? Normally I wouldn’t put it past them to do something like this, but in this particular case, the rep was using an iPad to show me the various options, and I picked the option and the price I wanted. I don’t think he had enough control over the computer to manipulate anything.

        Reply
    • T-Mac: This seems almost overly sensible. My only concern is that it might be tough to obtain the tears of the store owner, especially in the heat of the fire.

      Reply

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