Customer Service Makes or Breaks a Company - Dumb Marketing Move

This week’s Dumb Marketing Move goes to Verizon!

My experience with Verizon was not the most pleasant and I was only trying to transfer service from one location to another. Here is how the conversation went (without exact wording):

- “Thank you for contacting Verizon. Can I have your phone number?”
- “It’s 609- _ _ _ - _ _ _ _”
- “You’re calling the Pennsylvania office, I will transfer you to NJ.”
Transferred…
- “Hello, Can I have your phone number?”
- “609- _ _ _ - _ _ _ _”
- “Thank you, what can I do for you?”
- “I’d like to change the location of my internet service, I’m moving tomorrow.”
- “Ok, Can I have your previous address?”
- “It was 2728 _____ Ave, Philadelphia.”
- “You’re calling the NJ office, I will have to transfer you.”
And before I could say anything I was transferred around like a ping pong ball.

While I’m being transferred, I patiently wait and not understanding why I keep getting transferred. So I hung up, and called 3 more times in the process I was transferred about 6 more times. As with many households these days, we don’t have a landline, so our main form of contact is our cell phone. That’s why my number is still considered a NJ number.

When I called for the final time, after they asked me my phone number I stated, “I will give you my phone number, but please don’t transfer me. I’m located in Philadelphia, PA and I have internet with Verizon in PA. I don’t want to talk to NJ at all.” After my long statement of making it 100% clear I didn’t want to talk to their NJ office, I finally got what I needed.

Verizon has failed at a few things in my book. First of all, they have not updated their ways of looking up a customer, and thus creating more hassle. What if I initially lived in CA? Would they have transferred me to the CA office? Why do they have even account numbers if they don’t use them?

Secondly, the customer service representatives should not lead off with “What is your phone number?” They need to lead off with “Hello, how can I help you?” or “Where Can I direct your call?” Then proceed with the account number, not the phone number of their customer. Personalization is key, even if it’s just leading off with a different question.

Lesson Learned: Remember to evaluate your company. Are you user friendly? Are you up to date on your practices? Are you making your customer service representative’s jobs harder and/or limiting because of rules and regulations? Look at your company like a customer, not an employee, with a magnifying glass. You could be missing the boat on something simple, but very important. And don’t forget that if customers don’t like your customer service they will find it somewhere else.