I keep thinking there is so much information around about the value of good customer service and how to provide it that any more comments from me on the subject would be redundant. However, recent trips away have suggested differently ...
We'd booked into a hotel over the phone sight unseen. It was costing us $95 Australian a night, and according to its advertising, it was a 3 star hotel. We thought we couldn't go wrong. Wrong! It was dingy.
Travellers' Tip No. 1: Ask.
Don't book into a hotel believing its advertising - check with someone who has stayed there or knows of it first.
We arrived at the reception desk. The man got out his invoice book, took our eftpos card and complained it wasn't a credit card. He didn't say why. After repeated questioning from us he said, "We take $150 bond out of your credit card in addition to the bill to cover any possible damage you might do to your room."
This surprised us! We aren't known for causing havoc in our hotel rooms and we'd not come across this before. In the end after protestations from us he allowed us to use our eftpos card and didn't deduct $150.
Customer Service Tip No. 1: Explain the rules.
Explain the rules in advance to customers. Tell them if they can only pay one way. Tell them if extra money is to be deducted. Tell them what your refund policy is.
If you don't think this matters ... let me give you another example.
We hired a car a couple of years ago from a large hire car company when on holiday. Unknown to us, on the first day of the hire, in addition to taking out the cost of the car from our Visa, they also got authorisation for another $500 in case of damage. Half way through our holidays we went to a teller machine and discovered we couldn't get any money out - it said we only had $68 in the account. This appalled us as we knew we'd put $500 spending money in our account. The result was we were stranded without money. Now it may have been in their small print that this was to happen - but make it easy for your customers to know what is happening. We were two very unhappy and bewildered customers.
Travellers' Tip No. 2: Read.
Even if you feel uncomfortable holding up the proceedings, read the small print.
When we returned to the car company we discovered what had happened. We complained that we hadn't been told this would happen. The reply we got was, "Well it didn't matter because we didn't really take your money out and the authorisation would have lapsed after 10 days anyway."
Customer Service Tip No. 2: Apologise.
Apologise to customers without being defensive. Don't justify your behaviour, instead see it from the customer's perspective, e.g. say: "I'm sorry. It obviously affected your holiday and left you short of cash. Please accept this gift as our apology. We will make sure we tell everyone in future."
Travellers' Tip No. 3: Find out.
Always verify exactly what someone is doing with your credit card and how much they are authorising.
When we returned home from the holiday, we wrote a pleasantly worded letter of complaint to the car hire firm. We never received a reply and we assumed they simply didn't care. After all they'd got their money and their car safely back. By ignoring us they made the matter worse. As a consequence, we will never use this car company again. We also tell others of ourexperiences. Why ignore a customer? Negative word of mouth marketing can be
very destructive.
Customer Service Tip No. 3: Acknowledge contact.
Acknowledge phone calls, letters, emails ... any customer attempt to contact you. You don't have to agree with the customer - but let them know you have received their feedback, enquiry or information.
Back to hotels...
When we book into hotels, we take care to ask for a non-smoking room. On arrival at another hotel recently, we went to our room only to find the stench of smoke was overpowering. I decided to see if we could have another room and to check we were in the correct room. On arriving at the reception desk I said,
"Excuse me (nicely!), we were wanting a non-smoking room, our room smells very strongly of smoke."
The answer: "It shouldn't."
My answer: "It does."
Her answer: "Well it shouldn't. It's a non-smoking room."
Customer Service Tip No. 4: Offer understanding.
Apologise and acknowledge their distress and show understanding.
"I'm sorry madam, I know you were wanting a non-smoking room. That must be disappointing for you."
Customer Service Tip No. 5: Offer Options.
Attempt to rectify the situation and give the customer alternative options.
"Would you like me to see if there are any other rooms you could have or to provide you with some air freshener?"
Travellers' Tip No. 4: Give Feedback.
Be willing to complain (nicely) when what you ordered isn't provided. Don't just leave muttering under your breath.
The dingy hotel we booked into ... went from bad to worse. While we were at reception, before having even seen our room, the receptionist had us pay for all our nights in advance. I understood that we mustn't leave without paying but not having even been shown our room and having to pay in advance disappointed me. Also we weren't told this was happening - the person just did it.
Not only that, we were then handed a receipt saying, "No refunds." No verbal explanation was given. When we walked into our room and saw how awful it was, we were dismayed. We'd paid for 3 nights to be here? Paying in advance has happened to us twice recently and on both occasions the rooms were unpleasant. In other hotels our rooms have been lovely and we've not been asked to pay in advance. Sadly we didn't know our rights. Our money had been taken and we didn't fancy our chances of getting it back.
Travellers' Tip No. 5: Know your rights and request them.
Know what your rights are, e.g. can you refuse to pay in advance and do you have the right to refunds? Ask to see your room first before agreeing to pay for multiple nights in advance.
Customer Service Tip No. 6: Help your customers feel wanted.
Do not make your customers feel trapped. When they are buying something from you, sight unseen, make it easy for them to return it, change their mind, or receive a refund. Leave a customer feeling "stuck" with your product or service and they will develop a negative mind set more easily.
In our dingy hotel ... they'd taken, what we perceived as their meaness, one step further (and remember we were paying $95 a night). On the wall in the room it said, "Only one serve of tea, coffee, sugar or milk will be supplied per day." Too bad if it was pouring with rain outside and we wanted to sit in and sip cups of tea all day. We thought it was petty and it put us off. I don't know anyone who attracts customers because they appear stingy or itemise every last cent.
Yet I've seen restaurants charge $0.50 extra for a bun with a $24 meal, lawyers charge $2.00 for photocopying on a $950 bill, and we in the past have charged postage on our tapes. What do people do? - Argue about these costs not the overall bill.
Customer Service Tip No. 7: Don't charge for minor details.
Do not appear stingy. Incorporate the cost of a bun, tea, photocopying or other minor items into the overall price ... or cover it yourself. Do not let your customers get sidetracked into negativity over minor items. Appear generous.
Having said all this, I know that dealing with customers isn't always easy!
If you're unsure of how to deal with customer complaints one of our customised courses http://www.rachelgreen.com/customised.html, will help your staff with providing excellent customer service and how to stay calm, clear and confident when facing "difficult customers".
Final Tip
If you serve customers or clients in any way, whether it's over the telephone, via email/letter or face-to-face ... remember how you'd like to be dealt with ... and treat your customers accordingly.
I've included a lot of negative items in this and our other customer service newsletter so the next customer service newsletter will include excellent examples of customer service. If you have any examples - please send them to us at
Happy travelling, happy serving!
Rachel
