Every now and then I love being “that customer.”
You know the kind I’m talking about. The one who’s such a tool his/her last name should be Craftsman.
I enjoy being “that customer” primarily to see how a company handles a customer service situation. As someone who built businesses with an extreme focus on customer service, my expectations are rather high, but not unrealistic (in my opinion).
Today, I plan on sharing two actual customer service situations that I engaged in and how the companies involved responded.
The first is courtesy of Holland America Line. A cruise line I’m very loyal to and travel on quite frequently. As any frequent traveler will tell you, earning points in the transportation company’s loyalty program is very important. By being one of those loyal travelers, whether it be by land, air or sea, each trip earns you points, points get you to certain levels and levels get you perks.
I just completed an 11-day cruise on Holland America’s ms Zuiderdam and upon my return, I logged into my online account to see if my cruise points were added to my Mariner Society account yet. As a “Two Star Mariner” in the line’s program, there were benefits, but the real ones kick in when you hit the “Three Star Mariner” level.
When I logged in I saw that I missed earning that third star by one point!
Points are earned not only for the days you spend on board, but also for purchases made in the ship’s bars, restaurants, shops, etc. First thing I thought of was, “a few more drinks and I would have made it.”
Intent on seeing if someone on the receiving end of an email would be in the holiday spirit and push through that one point, I fired off an email to the company asking whether or not they would give me the point or if I could whip out the plastic and buy it.
Here is the email I sent:
Hi, I just returned from a wonderful cruise on the Zuiderdam. When I got back I logged into my account and I see that I am just one point shy of being a three-star Mariner. Well, you could imagine the disappointment that I had when I saw that. I thought to myself, just a few more drinks in the Ocean Bar probably would have put me over the top! So I’m putting my pride aside and typing this on bended knee, like a kid begging Santa Claus for the Justin Bieber action figure that never made it way under the tree…. is it possible if I beg hard enough (or even pay for that one point) that I can be upgraded to a three-star Mariner? (After all, I should get *something* extra for paying the single supplement all the time!) Yeah, I know… a cheesy request, but what the heck, it’s worth a shot right? If it can be done, I’ll be eternally grateful. If it can’t, I’ll send that fruitcake I got from Aunt Helen to the office in Seattle. Just kidding. I already threw it away! Thanks for your consideration and have a great holiday!
Now, I thought my witty banter, creative approach and somewhat begging tone would illicit at least a friendly reply from the person on the other end. Unfortunately, I got back a very corporate sounding response, much of what I would expect from a division of cruise line giant Carnival Corporation & plc.
Here is Holland America Line’s response:
Dear Mr. SanFilippo
Thank you for your recent correspondence with Holland America Line regarding your past Zuiderdam, December 9, 2013 voyage. We sincerely appreciate your continued loyalty, however the only way to earn the higher tier level status is to sail or earn days with onboard spending bonus or suite double days. To keep with the integrity of our Mariner Society Rewards program and fairness to all guests we will not be able to upgrade to the next tier level prior to your cruise.
We understand you may be disappointed; however we hope you can understand our stance in keeping fairness to all guests.
Holland America Line looks forward to welcoming you back on board. If you have further questions please let us know.
We thank you for your continued patronage.
Kind Regards,
Brian
Mariner Society
Holland America Line
I absolutely hate canned, corporate sounding responses. They only incite me more to want to continue to contact the company just to be “that customer.” While all communication with customers should be professional, there’s certainly room enough there to have a little fun, especially if the customer initiated it.
While I can certainly appreciate their willingness to “keep with the integrity” of their loyalty program, I don’t think I was asking for too much, especially since I’m such a loyal guy! In terms of the Mariner Society program, for each $300 spent onboard, you earn one point. So by spending a few extra bucks onboard I could have easily earned that star. Or, they could just have said, we can sell you a star for $300. The integrity of their program wouldn’t have been compromised, in my opinion, because whether or not I spent the money on board or after the cruise, it’s still money spent to earn status.
Hell, sell me the two bathrobes that were hanging in my suite and ship them to me if that’s what it will take to earn that one star.
In this particular instance, I’m a little upset with the way the request was handled. If it came across my desk I would have found a way to make the customer happy, either by offering them a point, selling them a point, or giving them that extra point if they booked a cruise within the next 60 days.
A flat-out “no” is never acceptable in my book of customer service, as there’s always a compromise that can be made no matter what the situation. Making a loyal customer who spends quite a bit of money with your company happy should be paramount, as that loyalty could easily go away due to one bad experience.
The flat-out “no” is the key part of my second example and comes from the banking industry, an industry I have such great disdain for, I actually enjoy pushing the customer service buttons to see how far I can go to to get the “no” overruled.
On Friday, I went to log into my Chase bank iPhone app to pay some bills. After entering my username and password, I was given a message that said my account has been “suspended” and I’m to click a button to call.
After providing everything but a DNA sample to verify I was actually Scott Sanfilippo, the representative conducted “maintenance” on my account profile so I would be able to access my account.
Today, I had to log in to transfer some money in order to pay taxes. I was thwarted by the “suspended” error again, and had to call in. The rep told me that because an old business account, that has been closed since 2005, is linked to my account, it’s creating an error and I need to change my login user name, or this will continue to happen each time I try to login.
Unacceptable.
“But all you have to do is add a number after your userid, Mr. Sanfilippo.”
Sorry, it’s not going to happen. I’ve had the same userid for over ten years, and I’m not going to change it.
The rep continued to tell me that there is no way around the problem and I will continue to get locked out of my account unless the userid is changed.
I asked for someone above her, which I got and was given the same answer. So, I asked for someone above that person, even though I was warned that I would be given another “no.” I politely told the rep that I’m on vacation, have nothing better to do with my day, and I’ll keep going up the chain of command until I get someone who can fix the problem.
I got transferred again to someone who gave me the same answer, to which I said, “give me the person above you.” Which I got. In fact, I got two more “above you” managers/supervisors before hitting the top person in the telephone banking department – Julio – 43 minutes later.
I explained to Julio that I have all the time in the world to sit here and talk to whoever it takes in order to fix my online account profile without having to change my userid. He told me that he can’t do it, and there’s nobody higher he could go to in his division to get it fixed.
After explaining to him that I will not be changing my userid and that each time I log in and get the “suspended” message I will call in and continue to go through rep after rep like I did today just to be pain in the perianal area, he took some imitative.
“I want to be able to help you.”
Then help me.
Julio took my telephone number and asked to give him an hour or two so he could contact someone higher up in the IT department to see if they are able to fix the problem without making me select a new userid.
As promised, I got a telephone call back but not with the resolution I wanted. Julio proceeded to tell me that there is no way, with all the technology the banking behemoth Chase has behind them, to unlink the old closed account so my login will function properly.
As a somewhat tech-savvy person myself, I find that incredibly hard to believe, which is why I’m not buying their poor excuse, and will continue to waste their time by calling in each time I need to have my account unlocked.
As consumers we expect that businesses will resolve issues we have with them in a satisfactory manner. None of us ever want to hear a flat out “no” from a company that takes our money. As business owners it’s our job to make sure our customers are happy and continue to spend money with us, and we should do whatever it takes to earn their business as long as their request is within reason.
All of us encounter service issues every day, regardless of which side of the fence we’re on. Any issue, no matter how big or small, can be resolved satisfactorily by coming up with a compromise that works well for the customer and the business.
In Holland America Line’s case, they could have done much better to make a frequent guest happy, so they did not pass my customer service test and actually lost points for the corporate-sounding response I got. As far as Chase is concerned, I believe the issue can still be resolved if it was escalated to the right individual who can unlink the account, but I can only assume there are far too many rungs in the corporate ladder that need to be climbed in order to do it, so nobody there wants to waste their time. While they failed at resolving my issue, bonus points are awarded for the three call-backs I got from Julio updating me on his progress.
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UPDATE – 12/31/12 5:05pm ET – After blogging this, Michael from Chase’s social media team reached out to me via Twitter. Michael and I spoke and he got me in touch with a lovely gal name Genesis who knew what the problem was with my userid. She explained to me that it was originally setup as a business login and since that business account was inactive, it was throwing an error each time I logged in. She went in, turned the userid over to a personal userid, removed the old, closed business account and fixed the issue! She assures me that I will have unfettered access to my accounts from this point forward without any error messages.
Once again, the power of social media prevailed – despite the numerous people I spoke with at Chase, including the “highest up I could go” guy named Julio. So, to Julio Castrillon, it’s unfortunate that you didn’t take the appropriate steps to resolve my issue like you should have. To Michael and Genesis, thanks for being the ones who got this issue resolved in a matter of minutes without any headaches from me. If you care to share your full name with me so I can officially acknowledge your outstanding customer service, please email me at scott@scottsanfilippo.com.
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UPDATE – 1/13/14 – Holland America responds. Now before you read their response, let me say I give the “Special Advisor” points for the wording she chose in her response. She shot me down quicker than a clay pigeon at the annual shoot in Hegins, PA. Bonus points are also awarded for her snarky remarks and for putting me in my place without slapping me across the face . However, she’s got more balls than I do to fire off a response like this to one of their valued customers. I’d love to hear how you feel about her response. I’m on the fence about it. I like that she took the human approach I want to see, but I’m also taken back at her tone. So, without further delay…. read on my friends, read on:
Dear Mr. Sanfilippo,
Thank you for the email regarding a blog posting from your ms Zuiderdam sailing on December 9, 2013. We are grateful that you have given us this opportunity to review your concerns and to express our regret for the disappointment you have detailed.
This is in response to your disappointment in not meeting the requirements for your three star Mariner status and your frustration that we are not willing to make such a special exception just for you and that you felt our response was so corporate sounding.
Please know that when a guest writes into our corporate office, their letters are forwarded to the appropriate department for review and response. We do our best not to sound generic; however, with the volume of correspondence we receive, it is not always possible or expedient to avoid using our ‘generic’ paragraphs as most of them do explain to our guests how these concerns and requests are handled.
The response you received from Brian in our Mariner Society was a standard response which was used because your request is a rather common one. We receive pleading, begging, offerings of first-born children and outright groveling at times in the hopes that we will make that one exception to grant a single day towards the next level of Mariner status. We appreciate our Mariners immensely, as without these valued guests our purpose here would be for nothing. With that appreciation, however, also comes a level of respect that all of our Mariners have earned their status through time and money spent on board our ships. Because of this, we find it important to allow all Mariners an equal opportunity to achieve their next level of Mariner status. By asking us to bend the rules, “just this one time”, “just for me” or just because a guest can afford to buy their status really defeats the purpose of allowing all guests the opportunity to increase their status in the same established manner. While our company has never advertised ourselves as being a “non-profit” organization, we also know that the almighty dollar can create issues if guests feel that the only way they can get ahead in status is by buying their way. Making a profit doesn’t seem as fun if guests are only sitting at home buying stars. We’d rather have you on board and earning your stars the way our other valued Mariners do, by sailing and enjoying your time on board with us.
So, while you have the time to write in to us, post comments on blogs and continue to email us with your concerns, the departments you are contacting answer hundreds of guest letters each day, often asking the same question on the same topic. Please understand that our “generic” response was intended to acknowledge your question and advise you of the appropriate answer, and we regret if you feel the quality of response was less than you deserve. We also regret if you feel that our disinclination to grant your special request represents a customer service failure. We feel that our efforts to provide every one of our travelers with the same opportunities to improve their Mariner status is fully in keeping with our high standards of customer service, and we do hope you can understand our point of view.
Thank you once more for contacting our office. Mariners like you are the core of our business and the reason we continue sailing, and we hope we will have another opportunity to welcome you on board in the very near future.
Best regards,
Daphney ******
Special Advisor
Office of the President
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UPDATE – 2/13/14 – I just booked a 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise on Holland America Line’s ms Veendam for April 24, 2014. Now I know a certain guy who goes by the name “Kevin” is going to say, “You’re going for that one point, aren’t you?” Well, Kev, you’re half-right. You see, here in South Florida we have hurricane season. It’s the time of the year when Home Depot sells a ton of generators and flashlights. It’s also the time of the year when all but a handful of cruise ships pull out of Ft. Lauderdale and Miami and head off to other ports-of-call until the fall. So, the purpose of this adventure is two-fold, 1) to get that damn point; 2) to get a cruise in before the pull-out. Oh and I can add a third, to sail on one of Holland America’s smallest ships where the capacity is less than 1,300 passengers.
Now that my booking is made and the trip is paid-in-full, I thought I would reach out to Daphney once again to see if the line is willing to compromise and extend the benefits of three-star Mariner status prior to this trip rather than waiting until after. I think it’s a pretty fair compromise, since I’m going to earn the point anyway after just one night onboard.
I sent off an email to Daphney this morning and am anxiously waiting to see how Holland America Line is going to respond.
Will they compromise?
Will they tell me to get stuffed?
Let’s wait and see what happens.
Hello Daphney,
It’s your favorite Star Mariner reaching out to you again.
I’m a bit late in responding to you, but I decided it would be best to respond when I actually had my next Holland America Line cruise booked and paid for. You see, I’m pretty loyal to a brand even when I take them to task over something like this one point that has pushed my obsessive compulsive behavior into overdrive. I’m not one of these guys who says, “Ok Daphney, I’m NEVER, EVER going to sail on HAL again, I’m going over to Royal Caribbean” in an attempt to push the threat button and get something in return.
Since I haven’t slept well since returning one-point shy from my Zuiderdam cruise, I decided not to go online and buy the home version of the Mariner’s Dream Bed, but instead book another cruise so I get this one point – legitimately – which will officially make me a coveted three-star Mariner.
So you probably know exactly where I’m going with this, so here it is. My booking number for the April 24th sailing of the Veendam is {REMOVED}. I’m all ready to book a private cabana on Half Moon Cay and reserve a table each night in the Pinnacle Grill, rather than have to sit with strangers at a table of 8. I would love to be able to take advantage of the benefits afforded to three-star Mariners on this sailing by having you afford the privilege before sailing, rather than after.
Now I know you’re going to give me the speech about how that’s not how the program works and you need to keep it fair to everyone.
I get it.
Seriously, I do.
I’m all for fairness! In fact, if all was fair in love and HAL, since I’m paying for two people and traveling as one I should get double points anyway because if indeed I was traveling with someone else, that person would get points as well. But that’s the single supplement rule, and the bone of contention eligible bachelors like myself face each time we get the urge to hop on a ship and sip frozen daquaris poolside while listening to the steel drum band play the Banana Boat song.
Can we turn this whole thing around and let me proclaim to my league of followers on my blog (https://www.scottsanfilippo.com/2013/12/a-flat-out-no-or-being-that-customer/) that, yes, Holland America Line came through for me with a great compromise and will grant me three-star Mariner status prior to sailing? I sure hope so, because I have one “Loyal to Royal” reader who so wants me to hop on one of those ships and drink the Kool-Aid, and I would love to show her I’m “Loyal to HAL” even more now that we’ve met in the middle.
I’m looking forward to hearing back from you in the same tone and persona that makes me want to hire you in my own company due to your frankness, creativity and sass that so many organizations lack when communicating with customers.
Cheers!