Customer Service Isn't About Apologizing * Incedo Group

Customer Service Isn’t About Apologizing

Does this sound familiar? You have had a problem with a product you purchased or a service you have. You call the company and the first thing they say is, “I’m so sorry you are having this problem”. Then the next thing they do is offer some explanation as to why the problem occurred.

Maybe it was the manufacturer or they don’t have enough people to service your area, or the one I love most, “we are aware of the problem and are working on it”.

Customer service isn’t about apologizing after the problem has occurred; it’s about doing your best to prevent the problem from occurring in the first place.

Am I naïve?

I am not suggesting that problems don’t happen. Nor am I naïve enough to believe that there aren’t circumstances that are beyond the control of the company or even that the best run companies don’t have mistakes happen.

But it seems to me that so many companies focus more on apologizing and somehow trying to make the customer feel better than focusing on preventing, to the best of their ability, the problem from happening in the first place.

Let me give you some personal examples.

Example #1: Needed repair on windows.

Years ago I purchased new windows for my entire home. The company had a lifetime guarantee so when I had problems with three of the windows I reached out to the company. It took three weeks for someone to come to my home to check out the problem.

They determined the windows needed to be replaced, took measurements indicated they would be back within two weeks.

It actually took another month for them to come back. When they came back, one of the windows was the wrong size. The third time they came, somehow they had put the grids (the decorative cross pieces on the windows) the wrong direction. On the fourth visit, all was finally handled.

Here’s the backdrop. From my initial phone call until the fourth visit it was 4-1/2 months. And I had to send an email to several people in the company after visit 3 to get this handled.

Lots of apologies and explanations from them.

Example #2: Internet service provider call.

I received a letter to call them because they could likely give me a better deal than I had. I called. The first person couldn’t find my account, which I have had for about 25 years.

The second person couldn’t find my account. The third person found my account, but couldn’t see any of the services I had so they couldn’t do an account review.

Again, lots of apologies. This time, no explanation other than perhaps there was a computer problem.

Example #3: Pest control company.

I have a contract for quarterly pest control. Without boring you with all the details, I had to call four times to get them to complete the service they have routinely done for four years.

I had to speak to the service director to get it all to happen. Good news — this time he did apologize and then said, “you should have not have had to call at all, but if so only once and we should have resolved the problem”.

I wasn’t happy they had to make four visits, but at least someone didn’t give me an excuse.

Do I feel better that they apologized? Not really. Am I feeling warm and cozy now that I had to scream and yell and escalate the problem to get it resolved? Not really.

Do I think there is a huge opportunity that was missed by all of these companies both to prevent the problem from happening in the first place and have someone take ownership of it when it was first diagnosed?

You bet!

What’s the solution?

There isn’t an off-the-shelf solution I can offer. Certainly, there is a training opportunity with all of these companies around how to handle a situation the first time when a customer has a problem so there is not a second, third, or fourth time. How do you get the problem resolved and not have to continue to apologize?

The other training opportunity is for someone to take ownership of the problem. Someone to step up and say, “don’t worry, I’ll handle this and rest assured that I’ll be in contact with you so know that it is being handled and resolved”.

What a concept…someone steps up to own the situation instead of simply apologizing and passing it to the next person or, worse yet, checking some box that says they will handle it and don’t.

Stuff happens. Mistakes happen. Technology fails. Employees screw up. I get all that and more.

My rant is not about perfection.

It’s about companies thinking an apology somehow makes the customer feel better when it likely does not. And it’s about companies that apologize and apologize again and again, yet the customer is the one who has to continue to take their time to get something resolved because no one at the company stepped up and took ownership.

If you want satisfied customers, it’s more than providing an initial good product or service.

And it sure is more than saying I’m sorry and offering an explanation and then having the same problem reoccur. If you want repeat business and customers who refer others to you, spend time training people on how to work with a customer when there is a problem and get the problem resolved the first time.

Then take the next step, assess what caused the problem, and find a way to prevent it from happening again.

If you want to create an outstanding customer experience it begins with a great product or service.

Yet we all know that mistakes happen, problem crop up and things can go wrong. This is where you make or break customer relationships.

How do you have the customer still want to keep coming back to you and singing your praises?

It’s how you handle it when a problem happens.