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I just went through another call center saga which started with a 17 minute wait time, increased to 45 minutes then a 58 minute wait time! Suddenly it, dropped to 22 minutes and about 2 minutes later was answered by someone who feigned not being able to hear me and hung up! I called back immediately and after going through the usual preambles got to a recording saying it was now after hours ... I couldn't help but feeling that agents were dumping calls in the cue so they could close down and go home. And, I was calling yet again to correct yet another accounting error.
I, like you, have been reading the regular complaints of members about call center delays, scary collection tactics, lack of communication from DRI etc., etc. Perhaps it is time we asked all members of this forum to put forward their top 3 to 5 service improvement suggestions as well as any noted improvements to service that could be rolled up and we could ask Spence to take the collective feedback forward to DRI as constructive feedback ... a sort of Bricks and Bouquets report.
For my part I believe the lack of call center service is a symptom of poor processes and poor management in the “back office”. Fix the back office and the call center volumes should dive. An example is the lack of communication on the $70 assessment … result the call center gets hammered. About a half of my calls have been to deal with getting billing problems resolved (as was the case again tonight) … I paid my 2008 maintenance fees immediately when billed but have just been billed for them a third time! I have to get them reversed again not to mention the account is now getting almost unintelligible so many people have been mucking around in it …fix the back office! The other half of my calls have to do with “buggy” web-res problems and rates … fix the process.
So my number one service improvement suggestion would be to fix back office problems such as those noted above … i.e.. communications, accounting , the buggy system.
Number two on my list would be for DRI to “mine” the reasons for calls to the customer service line and use it as a early warning of what is working and what isn’t and tie executive performance pay to quick resolution of those issues.
Number three on my list would be to consult the membership on possible service enhancements before taking on extra costs.
On a positive note (despite my experience this evening!) I do believe the customer service agents are an improvement over India, they are trying hard. On the down side there are not enough of them to field all the issues percolating from within. They will burn out and start dumping calls and adopting other bad call center practices if management doesn’t get a grip on the issues giving rise to the calls in the first place. As ambassadors for DRI they and their customer service organization need to be empowered and appropriately rewarded for building the DRI brand.
Enough for now … I could come up with many other irritants in this rant! If you have some constructive suggestions or think a collective message to the CEO might focus some effort please feel free to contribute!
I, like you, have been reading the regular complaints of members about call center delays, scary collection tactics, lack of communication from DRI etc., etc. Perhaps it is time we asked all members of this forum to put forward their top 3 to 5 service improvement suggestions as well as any noted improvements to service that could be rolled up and we could ask Spence to take the collective feedback forward to DRI as constructive feedback ... a sort of Bricks and Bouquets report.
For my part I believe the lack of call center service is a symptom of poor processes and poor management in the “back office”. Fix the back office and the call center volumes should dive. An example is the lack of communication on the $70 assessment … result the call center gets hammered. About a half of my calls have been to deal with getting billing problems resolved (as was the case again tonight) … I paid my 2008 maintenance fees immediately when billed but have just been billed for them a third time! I have to get them reversed again not to mention the account is now getting almost unintelligible so many people have been mucking around in it …fix the back office! The other half of my calls have to do with “buggy” web-res problems and rates … fix the process.
So my number one service improvement suggestion would be to fix back office problems such as those noted above … i.e.. communications, accounting , the buggy system.
Number two on my list would be for DRI to “mine” the reasons for calls to the customer service line and use it as a early warning of what is working and what isn’t and tie executive performance pay to quick resolution of those issues.
Number three on my list would be to consult the membership on possible service enhancements before taking on extra costs.
On a positive note (despite my experience this evening!) I do believe the customer service agents are an improvement over India, they are trying hard. On the down side there are not enough of them to field all the issues percolating from within. They will burn out and start dumping calls and adopting other bad call center practices if management doesn’t get a grip on the issues giving rise to the calls in the first place. As ambassadors for DRI they and their customer service organization need to be empowered and appropriately rewarded for building the DRI brand.
Enough for now … I could come up with many other irritants in this rant! If you have some constructive suggestions or think a collective message to the CEO might focus some effort please feel free to contribute!