Nice phone call from Princess

[marco]

We were on the "Royal" last month. We were a group of 24 which I orchestrated and this was my 21st Princess cruise, so I don't know if that made a difference, but after completing the on-line survey, which was mostly complementary, but there were a few issues I addressed which were more of an observation and critique but in no way a "complaint". Well....I recieved a very nice phone call in which we discussed my "observations" for nearly 20 minutes. So....they really do read and review those comment surveys.

[pablo222]

I recieved a very nice phone call in which we discussed my "observations" for nearly 20 minutes. So....they really do read and review those comment surveys.

 

I once made some negative comments

on the survey, and someone called me

to discuss.

 

Abruptly, she said she had to end the call because I had been disrespectful to a crew member (during the phone call),

by referring to someone as an idiot.

 

I felt that someone's who job it is to listen to customer complaints must have pretty thin skin, if 'idiot' is too stong language for them.

 

I was much angrier after the call, than before.

 

And, the person who called was an idiot.

 

Nice job, princess.

[beg3yrs]

Goes to show everyone that constructive criticism is much more valuable than an angry rant. Great job. :D

[tailspintom]

I once made some negative comments

on the survey, and someone called me

to discuss.

 

Abruptly, she said she had to end the call because I had been disrespectful to a crew member (during the phone call),

by referring to someone as an idiot.

 

I felt that someone's who job it is to listen to customer complaints must have pretty thin skin, if 'idiot' is too stong language for

I was much angrier after the call, than before.

 

And, the person who called was an idiot.

 

Nice job, princess.

I just can't imagine calling a crew member an idiot for any reason. Especially when the the company was good enough to follow up on a complaint. But, that's just me.

[easyboy]

Good to know that answering their survey may not be a waste of time.

[Griller]

I once made some negative comments

on the survey, and someone called me

to discuss.

 

Abruptly, she said she had to end the call because I had been disrespectful to a crew member (during the phone call),

by referring to someone as an idiot.

 

I felt that someone's who job it is to listen to customer complaints must have pretty thin skin, if 'idiot' is too stong language for them.

 

I was much angrier after the call, than before.

 

And, the person who called was an idiot.

 

Nice job, princess.

 

Totally agree with you, I feel that recently the crew have become disrespectful to passengers. They are now overworked and the younger ones in some of the jobs onboard like entertainments are often very disrespectful and treat passengers like idiots.

[Astro Flyer]

Goes to show everyone that constructive criticism is much more valuable than an angry rant. Great job. :D

Exactly! Constructive criticism is much better than a rant & I've received several nice calls from Princess after sharing some constructive criticisms.

 

It was in regard to something that was disappointing & making a suggestion on a way that things could improve for passengers. They're calling to be helpful & not disrespectful but there's always 2 sides to any story.

 

My respectful input has generated respectful calls from Princess.

[RDC1]

I once made some negative comments

on the survey, and someone called me

to discuss.

 

Abruptly, she said she had to end the call because I had been disrespectful to a crew member (during the phone call),

by referring to someone as an idiot.

 

I felt that someone's who job it is to listen to customer complaints must have pretty thin skin, if 'idiot' is too stong language for them.

 

I was much angrier after the call, than before.

 

And, the person who called was an idiot.

 

Nice job, princess.

 

Prior to my retirement I used to have a customer service department report to me, along with several other departments. Standard instructions to any customer service representatives was to terminate a call anytime they had a customer that treated them in a hostile manner. Depending upon context referring to a corporate employee as an idiot by itself may not have crossed that line, but again depending upon context might have. Saying that an employee was not responsive to your issue is a valid complaint, saying that an employee was an idiot starts to cross over into abusive territory. Telling the person that is on the phone with that they are an idiot certainly does.

 

As a company there are customers you want, and there are some customers that you would be just as happy sending somewhere else. Not all customers are created equally.

 

Just as there is a difference in the type of customer issues. The class that customer service is most interested in and which will generate the best result are those where the company failed to deliver on something that is with scope and policy of the company. That is to say a failure of execution. A good example of this is a poor job of cleaning ones cabin.

 

An issue that will generally not get a positive response is where the customer is dissatisfied with corporate policy and wants something that is contrary to policy or outside of the defined scope of service. In those cases customers service job is to log the issue, but in general is not authorized to take action in response.

 

While customer service should listen to reasonable complaints and ideas from a customer, things can go south quickly when discussion starts to include terms that one can be sure would draw an emotional response if the person being discussed was present.

[Lucky TGO]

Good to know that answering their survey may not be a waste of time.

Ditto!!

Tony

[pablo222]

Prior to my retirement I used to have a customer service department report to me, along with several other departments. Standard instructions to any customer service representatives was to terminate a call anytime they had a customer that treated them in a hostile manner.

 

Princess initiated the call, in response to negative comments in the survey.

 

If they didn't want to hear more negative comments they shouldn't have called.

 

Really, pretty simple.

[jeromep]

Prior to my retirement I used to have a customer service department report to me, along with several other departments. Standard instructions to any customer service representatives was to terminate a call anytime they had a customer that treated them in a hostile manner. Depending upon context referring to a corporate employee as an idiot by itself may not have crossed that line, but again depending upon context might have. Saying that an employee was not responsive to your issue is a valid complaint, saying that an employee was an idiot starts to cross over into abusive territory. Telling the person that is on the phone with that they are an idiot certainly does.

 

Although I snipped your quote. I agree with the whole thing. I also operate a customer service line and we will terminate a call with a customer who becomes verbally abusive of the employee they are talking to or becomes overly agitated and curses or swears beyond a tolerable level.

 

And like RDC1, I have to agree that not all customers are created equal. I also need to point out that every business has operating parameters which align them to serve some customers well, but don't align well to serve the needs of others. There are times where the wants and desires of a particular customer just cannot be satisfied with the product/service offered or the procedures that your business operates by. It is at that point that you often have to point out to that customer that they may be better served by alternate players in the market.

 

It also amazes me the number of people that call in to have a simple problem solved who are already agitated beyond a logical level, often times beyond being consoled, who expect that the red carpet is going to be rolled out to them even though they are spitting venom and vinegar at the person at the other end of the phone.

 

I'm not that old, but I've always been told that you get more bees with honey than vinegar. And I can attest after being on the serving side of customer service phone calls that the customer that calls up calm, cool and collected always receives a great deal more attention and even more flexibility in providing solutions than the one that calls up hot and bothered.

[RDC1]

Princess initiated the call, in response to negative comments in the survey.

 

If they didn't want to hear more negative comments they shouldn't have called.

 

Really, pretty simple.

 

They also terminated the call when you started to refer to their personnel as idiots, that is also really pretty simple. A call for information is not an invitation to insult the company or its employees.

[Astro Flyer]

They also terminated the call when you started to refer to their personnel as idiots, that is also really pretty simple. A call for information is not an invitation to insult the company or its employees.

Customer service agent's are attempting to help customers with problems so attacking them is not the correct thing to do & is counterproductive to reaching a mutually acceptable solution. :(

 

It's possible to disagree without being disagreeable & using derogatory words. Some squeaky wheels get their way by being abusive & I wish that more companies wouldn't pander to them because they'll just throw a tantrum the next time in an effort to get their way again. More companies should be like yours & jeromep's & cutoff abusive customers. I've read of airlines & cruise lines who've had enough of a customer's abuse that they'll no longer do business with them.

 

Guess the Golden Rule is old fashioned but I treat others the same way that I'd like to be treated...with dignity & respect.

[RDC1]

Customer service agent's are attempting to help customers with problems so attacking them is not the correct thing to do & is counterproductive to reaching a mutually acceptable solution. :(

 

It's possible to disagree without being disagreeable & using derogatory words. Some squeaky wheels get their way by being abusive & I wish that more companies wouldn't pander to them because they'll just throw a tantrum the next time in an effort to get their way again. More companies should be like yours & jeromep's & cutoff abusive customers. I've read of airlines & cruise lines who've had enough of a customer's abuse that they'll no longer do business with them.

 

Guess the Golden Rule is old fashioned but I treat others the same way that I'd like to be treated...with dignity & respect.

 

There is an entire philosophy for customer service and marketing. In the old days it used to be try and solve as many problems as possible and keep as many customers happy as you can. Basically the old customer can do not wrong and the CS rep was trained to put up with just about anything. That has changed over the years to where you now have a variety of philosophies. One of the most effective is the one embraced by consumer companies like Apple and Harley Davidson. The philosophy they follow is to attract customers that like and are good fits with the company. Customers that buy into the companies approach such that they are advocates for the company. Under that approach you evaluate customers and those that are not a good fit you want to get rid of as soon as possible. Basically you intentionally get rid of dissatisfied customers so they don't hang around and complain about the product. That is why with companies like that you have customers that really like the product, and you have those that really hate the product, but not very many in the middle. They have been very successful with that approach.

 

Under that kind of system it is the role of the CS system to:

 

1. Determine if the issue is a failure to execute within the companies defined product and policy. If so then CS is set up to move aggressively to resolve the issue and satisfy the customer. If it the issue is outside of the companies defined product then they log the complaint and pretty much round file the issue.

 

2. Determine if the customer has potential to become an advocate or not. If yes the approach is to cultivate the customer and again action to resolve is authorized. If the customer appears to be a frequent complainer that is not a good fit the solution is to try and get them out of the customer base. Better a non-customer then one that is a complainer in a public forum. Customers that don't like the product complain, non-customers usually do not.

 

Bottom line encourage advocates, get rid of complainers. Works very well for consumer companies. Though it does assume that you have a product that has a strong appeal to a large enough customer base.

[Astro Flyer]

Bottom line encourage advocates, get rid of complainers. Works very well for consumer companies. Though it does assume that you have a product that has a strong appeal to a large enough customer base.

Thanks for the explanation about how current customer service philosophies have evolved which seems to be a reasonable way to conduct business.

[notentirelynormal]

My brother (who is an idiot) used to say "the clerk is a jerk" and that is exactly how he treated them. He was always stunned when I would get such a different response and help then he would. He just didn't get that treated people bad didn't help anything. When we went to Europe he thought if he talked louder they would understand English. We were hopping on the train from France to Monte Carlo. I just took my change in my hand and put it out for the guy to take the money for the trip. My brother thought I was crazy to trust that guy. I said, "if he needed to steal that extra dollar or two from me, well then he needed it more then me and I am happy to donate.

 

He bought a storage unit and an apartment building. He called the guy at the bank (who was coming to his house to sign the papers) told him we were ready to sign then hung up and said "we're going to the movies". I asked about the guy coming to the house, he said "he'll come again". You can see why I don't work for him anymore.

 

My ex SIL told me a few years ago that she always remembered the lesson I taught her when she was 20. Always treat people the way you would want them to treat you. Even a server in a restaurant is important and his/her feelings count.

[donh1]

I believe the entire issue is identifying the behaviour as being negative rather than the employee. To call an employee an idiot is simply wrong but describing your opinion about their behaviour as graphically as you wish is fair game.