This weekend I had a problem with my alarm system at home. My alarm had gone off (false alarm), but for some reason it wasn’t releasing the phone line back to the phone. This meant that when I picked up the home phone I got that “there’s a phone off the hook” repeating tone.
I didn’t realize this was the problem until about 1:30am Sunday morning. So I called ADT (alarm company) to see if they could help. I wasn’t expecting a great experience after midnight, but a great experience is exactly what I got.
I called their 800 number, pressed one key, and got a human. She was very well informed and genuinely friendly. This wasn’t an outsourced-to-another-contintent-and-follow-the-script experience. Even though it was a confusing and rare problem, she understood what I was explaining and began looking for a solution.
She wasn’t sure exactly how to fix the problem since my alarm system has a hardwired phone cable (an important detail for this problem, but not worth explaining here), but she politely put me on hold and asked her supervisor. 30 seconds later she had the answer.
It’s subtle, but I think this makes for a better experience than transferring me to someone else who may be able to answer my question. When you’re transferred you feel like you have to start over. Whatever rapport you’ve built up with the first person is missing with the new person. Background information may have to be repeated. Stories may have to be told again. Transfers are frustrating.
Anyway, in order to fix the issue I had to trip the alarm. She stayed with me on the phone while I went through the process and talked me through exactly what to do and when to do it. It really felt like I was talking to a friend. The tone was casual, helpful, and friendly the whole way through. I never felt rushed or stupid or inferior. Everything was handled perfectly.
My experience with late-night call centers or customer service calls has almost always been sub-par. The quality seems to suffer in off hours. But this interaction with ADT was fantastic. It was a great experience and it reminded me of the other great experiences I’ve had with ADT. The salesperson was great and the installer was great too. One experience tends to reinforce other experiences.
The whole experience made me happy to be an ADT customer. It’s been a while since a customer service call reminded me that I was a happy customer. And that reminds me just how important it is to provide great customer service.
David Andersen
on 28 Sep 09Nice! Airlines, please take note.
Justin Jackson
on 28 Sep 09Your point about “transfers being frustrating” is very true.
Sandeep Sood
on 28 Sep 09I wouldn’t challenge that getting a call center rep. in another country is (at least today) generally a tougher experience when it comes to service. But, to imply that you get the ‘follow-the-script’ experience only when dealing with another continent is reaching.
There are horrible customer service people at American call centers, just as there are in other countries.
It’s become accepted vernacular in our industry to equate ‘outsourcing’ (a terribly misleading word to begin with) and ‘foreign’ with low quality or bad service. For this audience, I probably don’t need to go into a long list of the exceptions to this erroneous assumption.
And, just as Matt talked about on your blog today (regarding American design), each country has its strengths and weaknesses.
JF
on 28 Sep 09Sandeep: You are right. Bad phone-based customer service experiences can come from all over, but the majority of the bad ones I’ve had over the past few years come from overseas script-following.
I don’t really blame the people for this (as long as they are making a good effort to do their job), I blame the company.
Sandeep Sood
on 28 Sep 09JF, fair enough. And I agree generally when it comes to call centers.
Jamie Tibbetts
on 28 Sep 09I called Comcast today, and after the lady “helping” me couldn’t answer any of my questions and couldn’t solve the problem, she put me on hold with the intention of never coming back. I hung up after 15 minutes. I wish ADT did internet. ;)
Roger
on 28 Sep 09JF, I like your point about transfers being incredibly frustrating. Airlines, phone companies, and cable companies are usually the worst with this – they all have different call-center ‘departments’ that handle disputes, billing issues, becoming a customer, changing things, etc, in a silo-ed manner. That’s something that really needs to change.
One thing I will point out about ADT, though, is that their whole business is predicated on 24×7 customer service – if your alarm goes off at 3am, it’s just as important as if it goes off at 3pm. My guess is that their customer service folks in the early hours get time-sliced when alarms aren’t going off.
Having worked with call center software and in call center consulting for some time, it becomes hard for me to take digs at people making very little money, getting very little training, and working in an environment with 70%/year churn. Big company call centers are much different than your small 37signals family.
Think about the communication errors that happened with your last security issue that you guys came out with an apology for (“communicated poorly” if I’m not mistaken). Then, consider messaging 1000+ call center reps (70% of them who are new and don’t understand the issue) with barely a high school education on how to handle the inbound calls on that issue. Easy to take pot shots at, not easy to do.
Jace
on 28 Sep 09I think a lot of companies focus on the sale and forget about the customer service. I had to send in a pair of Bose headphones for a replacement, which I had to pay for as they were out-of-warranty, and even though the original pair was purchased mid-afternoon, I had them in my hands the next morning courtesy of free overnight delivery. My replacements, 2 to 3 weeks AFTER receiving my old pair. It really soured my view of Bose and while it might not prevent me from buying their products in the future, they definitely tarnished my image of them.
Glad ADT knows that more than the sale is important.
Bob
on 28 Sep 09I’ve had to deal with quite a few security companies late at night—I can say that all of them have been ‘good’ experiences (at least, the phone call part; not the ‘up in the middle of the night because a cat knocked over a bin’ part). I suppose it’s not that unexpected; these are people who’s job it is to talk you down from “It’s 3am and my house is on fire”.
Steve
on 29 Sep 09It’s good to see a positive post like this. Too few people take the time to write them, even though they provide great value to readers. I’d much rather know who to call on when I need a service or product than who not to. Saves me time, aggravation and sooner or later it will surely save me money.
Greg
on 29 Sep 09Great observation re: transferring. Would it have been even better if she had conferenced-in the supervisor, so you could have overheard the conversation? So many times, when you are put on hold, you have no idea how long it will be for.
Jeff
on 29 Sep 09The other day I had to call a well known computer company. I won’t mention any names but it starts with a D and ends with an ell. Anyways, I called to order some funky power cables for some servers I had just got.
I was transferred twice, and told to lie to the final sales guy so he would sell me the power cables. My cell phone number was tied to a business account from using it at my last job so they figured they would just give the business sales people instead of the normal sales people. So when I got to the 3rd guy he said “ok, so you are ordering a power cable for product x”. Product x was not what I had so I corrected him and then he asked me “and this is for personal use” and then asked again.
So, after explaining my situation 3 times, concentrating on the strong accent and an hour later I finally ordered a power cable.
Josh Walsh
on 29 Sep 09How did you call ADT if your phone line wasn’t working?
JF
on 29 Sep 09Josh: A handheld portable cellular telephone.
Coward
on 29 Sep 09Jason I am very surprised you would have a house alarm. You don’t seem like the type of person that would have one.
Drew McLellan
on 29 Sep 09Good observation r.e. transfers. There’s a lot to be said for one person taking ownership of your problem for you.
As an aside – to fix it you had to trip your alarm at 1.30am? I hope you have understanding neighbours! :)
mike schultz
on 29 Sep 09Greetings Folks, I run ADT’s Customer Relations Department and I was hoping to recognize the operator you spoke with. We certainly aspire to provide great service on every phone call and a bit of positive reenforcement would go a long way for that operator and the rest of our call center staff. I’d be very grateful if I could contact you in some way to determine who that operator was.
Thanks.
Mike
JF
on 29 Sep 09Hey Mike: Thanks for stopping by! Email me at jason@37signals and maybe we can figure out who it was. I didn’t get a name, unfortunately.
Kevin Holesh
on 29 Sep 09And that is why it pays to have great customer service. When influencers (like SVN) experience the great service, they are going to tell a story about it.
Customers benefits from it and the company builds on their good reputation. It’s a win-win.
Jason G.
on 29 Sep 09@JF, While I definitely appreciate the story on great customer service, it seems a little odd to praise this type of customer service when Basecamp and other 37s products don’t offer a phone number, or even after-hours email responding.
I think I’ve read your policies on this in the past, and I’m sure that 99% of all customer service requests can be answered in the FAQ or forums, and that 99% of the remaining 1% aren’t high-priority, job threatening issues.
However, as you found out, sometimes you run into a problem at odd hours and really appreciate the ability to get someone on the phone and find a resolution. I’m not sure 37s needs to change, but I found the discrepancy interesting.
sandy
on 30 Sep 09I had an equally good experience with ADTs customer service after midnight. Not only did I speak to a person who took the time to hear and understand my problem, I was able to schedule a technician to come the next day. All I could say was, wow… I didn’t even think I’d get to talk to anyone. It makes a huge difference. Before that call I was apathetic about my provider. Now I love them.
This discussion is closed.