What does the customer have to do with it anyway?
On very infrequent occasions a customer will contact us to tell us that they haven't received a CD they ordered, or an unlock code did not arrive, or a CD arrived damaged and so on and so on. At RWF Talking Software we respond to these support requests as briskly, professionally and efficiently as possible. After all, our customers have chosen to buy goods or services from us and not elsewhere. We respect that and want to keep our customers happy. From a business point of view we know that our customers are people with friends, voices and thoughts to share. Its good business to keep them happy.

We've been running with reasonable success for a few years now and because of the nature of our products its unlikely we'll ever be millionnaires or have a staff of dozens or hundreds of people. So I suppose I'll never be able to answer the one question that I keep asking myself about customer care and some of the many large companies that I have personally and professionally dealt with. And that question is this:

"At what point do we get big enough that we don't care about the customer anymore?"
My dealings with Parcelforce this past few days have made me consider the business ethics of such companies. My 48 hour delivery parcel has been lost for 4 days now, and nobody at Parcelforce seems to know or care where it is. I've been on hold for hours. I have spoken with intense forced patience to the automated tracking system at least twenty times. I have been caught in the never ending loop of automated call center that does not seem to ever get to the "speak to a human being option". Its been an infuritating waste of time.

I did eventually speak to a human being on Friday last. They seemed symathetic and promised to investigate and call me back - on Monday. Monday came and went. I phoned back at 6pm to be told that the person investigating my issue had gone home. Great. So my parcel is somewhere in the UK and either on its way to me or being returned to the sender. Its overdue 4 days and every additional hour makes the prep work I did for the arrival of the goods more and more pointless. Every hour costs RWF Talking Software money that it does not have to waste. And having explained with careful forced politeness that this parcels arrival was "business critical" I actually expected that the faceless zombie at the depot had understood the urgency. But, of course, they don't care. Its one lost parcel amongst millions. And an hour after she put the phone down on this poor customer she was on her way home and the last thing on her mind was a parcel and a promise made to a customer. If it had even crossed her mind in the first place, that is.

Its unfair to say that Parcelforce is alone in this apathy towards their customers. Recent dealings with DHL convinced me never to use them again. Huge problems with Dixons and PC World would have consigned them to the bin of uselessness forever had it not been for vouchers and discounts hastily offered - but it took a personal email to the UK retail manager to sort that one out. I could go on all day, but the whole crux of the matter is that I can't believe how badly companies treat their customers. I can't believe that consumers let themselves be treated with such benign indignity, casual disregard and as if they are a nuisance. I think that everyone should raise their expectations of what they should receive from a service provider or company.
This past short while has seen a substantial interest in our products, brought about by an interview I gave for Soundings that has been published in Talking Newspapers. We've received many telephone calls as a result of this and I have answered or replied to almost all of them personally. I have spoken to and treated every customer equally, because every one is of equal importance to RWF Talking Software. After all, if we had no customers we would have no products.
I wish I could say that I won't do business with Parcelforce again, or that I'll never visit PC World or Dixons again. But I won't be telling the truth. Instead I'll factor in the wasted time and treat their 2 day promise like a 2 week contingency plan. So, I’ll be factoring in the shabby standard of service and likelihood of failure and disappointment. I can’t help but wonder how, as consumers, we managed to let ourselves get lulled into this - and where it will end. Will we someday be handing over money to be treated like second class citizens. Hang on a minute – we already are!

Please note that we’d love to hear your gripes, praise or general comments about any product or service you’ve enjoyed or been subjected to. Just send us a message using our standard feedback form.

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