[03 December 2011] Note: I have changed my mind about this grade and think it should be much lower – have a look at this post Distinctly Unhappy Again
I’ve been thinking about this all afternoon, and I’ve come to the conclusion that The Home Depot At-Home Services gets an A- overall for the project. I wish I knew whether the project would have gone differently had it not been for the Social Media team escalating my complaints to the Production Supervisor, but I guess I’ll never know. So when I balance the headaches against everyone bending over backwards to make me happy on the day of installation, I think that the A- seems fair.
Here are my suggestions as to what THD At-Home Services could do to reduce complaints and getter a higher grade every time:
- Create an online Knowledge Base system on the website, and use the Social Media Team to keep it up-to-date. They are probably best equipped to handle this since they know what customers are asking/complaining about, and it would allow them proactively address issues before they end up in fire fighting mode. Everyone from the sales team, to project managers, to field inspectors should be aware of the contents of the Knowledge Base, and should ensure that all new customer questions are posted there for response. This would have addressed the problem of conflicting responses on installation times for Anderson windows and whether or not THD sub-contracts or not.
- Does THD At-Home Services outsource their customer support to India? Or do they really have an Indian fellow named Geoff working for them (I can only think of Discover Card’s “Peggy”). If they do outsource, then it’s seriously time that they stop. THD brands itself as an all-American company, and as such, it’s annoying to be discussing customer complaints overseas.
- The online customer status system is useless. Either fix it or get rid of it. Having a status that never changes is *really* annoying. Honestly, why not develop a simple system that is integrated to a smart phone app for the folks on the road – customers could post questions there, a calendar could be updated when orders are placed or appointments are made, installation dates could be set, promises to return calls could be logged – and both THD Team and the customers would have easy access to what’s going on with a project.
- If you don’t have time to do something tomorrow, like return a call, then don’t tell the customer you will! Seriously folks, customers are way more understanding than you think they are. If you say that you’re having a busy week and will get back to them in a few days, then say it. It is FAR better than lying about calling tomorrow. And for goodness sakes, make a note of the promise somewhere so you don’t forget!
- Don’t bother giving customers phone numbers for folks who may be notoriously bad about returning calls. It just makes for pissed-off customers.
Yeah, I guess that about covers it. I’ll add more if I think of more suggestions. I wonder if anyone at THD who is a position to make changes will actually see any of this?
Leave a comment