I have always been a direct communicator. When there is an issue, I want to speak with someone personally. As can be attested by my family, many times when calling a company, I have to repeat the magic words, “representative, representative” and then several more times,” representative”. Then I have to confirm they are in the United States and not overseas somewhere.
Why am I telling you this? Companies are increasingly moving to voice message only and forcing customers to listen to menus and select options and just maybe, after five tries, you may get rewarded with a human being that can actually speak to you. They are doing everything in their power to get you to address all your issues on their website. Likewise, the younger generations are increasingly reliant on email, chats, bots, leaving a ticket (this one really gets me going) and any other means of communication other than actually speaking with someone.
I have done this many times – I tell a staff member to call so and so and get this or that done. I check three days later and ask them if they got it done and hear, “oh yes, I took care of it.” Only when I say, “tell me in detail how you took care of it,” do I get the real story and that is that their method of ‘taking care of it’ was sending an email or doing a ‘chat’ or my personal favorite ‘putting in a ticket.’
In these situations, I feel like screaming at them but that won’t solve the issue. Therefore, my default is the following, ‘Tom, I want you to listen to the very words coming out of my mouth. I want you to call (physically pick up the phone) so and so every 30 minutes today until you actually speak to them and get this resolved. Do you understand what I am asking you to do? No emails, no chats, no questions on a website and certainly no putting in a ticket. Tom, please confirm you understand. “ha
Well, there you have it, the very outdated, old-school method of dealing with an issue by H. Keith Thompson. KT