Comments on: Customer Service http://blog.andrewparker.net/2006/12/26/customer-service/ Tech, Entrepreneurship, and Venture Capital in New York City Mon, 22 Dec 2008 02:40:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Sophy http://blog.andrewparker.net/2006/12/26/customer-service/comment-page-1/#comment-82247 Sophy Fri, 14 Sep 2007 10:11:45 +0000 http://blog.andrewparker.net/2006/12/26/customer-service/#comment-82247 re: a sense of ownership and over-enthusiastic users acting as though they were part of customer service. Etsy are just doing what Yahoo have introduced since long; and is it a surprise? Given the close connection between Etsy and Yahoo/flickr, the answer is 'no'. Customer service at Yahoo is a nightmare! Long before a user reaches an email form to write to helpdesk, there are endless pages of YahooAnswers!, FAQs, user-submitted, second-hand opinions, assumptions and all too often simply brainless rubbish. But even replies to emails submitted to Yahoo's helpdesk are compilations of pre-fabricated answer modules that are pulled together based on keywords contained in the submitted email. How is that quality help? How is that good customer service? It is making things most easy on the corporation's end, not on the user's end. Figuratively spoken, it is a means to keep customers in need of help away at more than an arm's length, no more. re: a sense of ownership and over-enthusiastic users acting as though they were part of customer service.

Etsy are just doing what Yahoo have introduced since long; and is it a surprise? Given the close connection between Etsy and Yahoo/flickr, the answer is ‘no’.
Customer service at Yahoo is a nightmare! Long before a user reaches an email form to write to helpdesk, there are endless pages of YahooAnswers!, FAQs, user-submitted, second-hand opinions, assumptions and all too often simply brainless rubbish. But even replies to emails submitted to Yahoo’s helpdesk are compilations of pre-fabricated answer modules that are pulled together based on keywords contained in the submitted email.
How is that quality help? How is that good customer service? It is making things most easy on the corporation’s end, not on the user’s end. Figuratively spoken, it is a means to keep customers in need of help away at more than an arm’s length, no more.

]]> By: Kris http://blog.andrewparker.net/2006/12/26/customer-service/comment-page-1/#comment-73211 Kris Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:37:24 +0000 http://blog.andrewparker.net/2006/12/26/customer-service/#comment-73211 I can understand the frustration when you have a problem at homestead....the most frustrating thing is that no one GIVES you any help or any answers to the problem you are having on hand....for instance calling and cancelling a storefront and then actually being charged 299.99 for a whole years worth of something you wanted to CANCEL!! Then call customer service and all you get is the run around and telling your story over and over again and them saying its in review it should take 1-2 days.....it has been four days phone calls emails with no one returning my calls or my emails and no money has yet to be put back in my account!! I think this is the situation that really frustrates people...there is no one there to help when you ask for management they tell you they are not here yet, out to lunch, or they don't keep track or have their managers schedule...but You can email them or I can have them call you.....I'm still waiting for some kind of acknowledgement from someone that money is being put back in your account that should never had come out to begin with!!!! I can understand the frustration when you have a problem at homestead….the most frustrating thing is that no one GIVES you any help or any answers to the problem you are having on hand….for instance calling and cancelling a storefront and then actually being charged 299.99 for a whole years worth of something you wanted to CANCEL!! Then call customer service and all you get is the run around and telling your story over and over again and them saying its in review it should take 1-2 days…..it has been four days phone calls emails with no one returning my calls or my emails and no money has yet to be put back in my account!! I think this is the situation that really frustrates people…there is no one there to help when you ask for management they tell you they are not here yet, out to lunch, or they don’t keep track or have their managers schedule…but You can email them or I can have them call you…..I’m still waiting for some kind of acknowledgement from someone that money is being put back in your account that should never had come out to begin with!!!!

]]> By: Ian http://blog.andrewparker.net/2006/12/26/customer-service/comment-page-1/#comment-43212 Ian Fri, 02 Feb 2007 13:01:21 +0000 http://blog.andrewparker.net/2006/12/26/customer-service/#comment-43212 Great post, I just ran across it via 9rules. What I would add is that most startups tend to have no plan in place for how they will physically provide good customer service. Most just use email clients and that's a recipe for disaster. You need to be organized in your customer service or you'll inevitably make people mad by misplacing their request, responding slowly, etc. Next time you're talking to one of your startups you should have them take a look at my companies help desk software product (http://www.userscape.com/products/helpspot), which many small companies and startups use to stay organized. Great post, I just ran across it via 9rules.

What I would add is that most startups tend to have no plan in place for how they will physically provide good customer service. Most just use email clients and that’s a recipe for disaster. You need to be organized in your customer service or you’ll inevitably make people mad by misplacing their request, responding slowly, etc.

Next time you’re talking to one of your startups you should have them take a look at my companies help desk software product (http://www.userscape.com/products/helpspot), which many small companies and startups use to stay organized.

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