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Netflix Makes It Easy To Reach a Human
msblack writes "In a move that goes against the prevailing trends of outsourcing and non-interactive customer support, Netflix has forsaken e-mail as a means of resolving customer problems. According to the NYTimes article, Netflix set up a call center in Portland OR, shunning other popular US call center cities (because Portland natives were perceived to sound friendlier) or off-shoring. 'It's very interesting and counter to everything anybody else is doing,' said Tom Adams, a market researcher in Carmel, California. 'Everyone else is making it almost impossible to find a human.'"
While it's great to be able to reach a human, sometimes you have a simple question, or a complicated one with a simple solution, such that email is a lot more time efficient. I've had a problem with Sprint billing and their customer service part of the site doesn't give an email, so I have to call in and be put on hold for 30 minutes, authenticate myself, and get shuffled around through several departments, just to be able to communicate the existence of a problem. On the other hand, with Vanguard (investments) you can both call and email, and this has saved me a lot of time, for example, when I have a question that doesn't need to be answered immediately. I just send it, and pick up the answer at my convenience. (Thought it's not "email" per se, but a messaging form after you log in.)
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
Good enough for me - I just signed up. People always complain that everybody is outsourcing and service is bad and all. Well, here is your chance to put your money where your mouth is. I know I just did.
Peter.
It's nice that there's a call option that's home-grown, and there isn't a push for using the web/email for customer service, and all... but, did they have to cut e-mail out of the loop altogether?
DVDs by mail isn't such a big hairy deal that I need to jump on the phone and hold for who knows how long to express that I never got a disc that was sent when I can just shoot off an email saying "It's been a week, the disc you sent never got here, could you try again?" and forget about it.
(Partial disclosure: I am not a Netflix subscriber, but of another DVD-by-mail rental company (Full disclosure: Greencine) and never had any problems using e-mail only, although I think they've got an 1-800 number, too.)
More Twoson than Cupertino
And that, my friends, is probably the best 'customer support' of all.
Fact: Everything I say is fiction.
As long as you don't mention you're a Californian!
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
English was their first language too!
Mod parent up, I totally understand this problem. Why on earth companies that cater to a predominantly English speaking country off-shore their support to ESL countries where the people that can read & speak English DO NOT understand the vernacular, expressions, idioms and vocal inflexions are driving me nuts. How many companies do I have to put on a list to avoid because I just couldn't understand the person on the other end of the phone because:
1. They are ESL
2. They are reading exclusively from a script
3. The connection is so bad it sounds like we're both under water.
Just like if I were in France, I would expect a French speaking CSR...
--You know, stuff like this actually makes me want to go out of my way to *support* NetFlix -- for doing the Right Thing(TM) for their CUSTOMERS.
// Hates outsourcing with Teh Very Core of my Being
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== WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
Additionally, whether you learn a language as a first language or a second language is irrelevant to your skills in that language. I am better at understanding and communicating in my fifth language (Hindi) than several native speakers of the same due to better communication skills. When you learn a language is not so important as linguistic and communicative abilities. You seem to have an acute case of closed-mindedness. It was ignorant of you to make such a statement about the fine people of Texas Having a thick southern drawl is not a negative thing. In fact, it is helpful in the south to communicate better. It might be the portland hire's inability to bridge the gap. Point is that the difference between a NY accent and the southern drawl (which I semi-consciously find to be a mark of politeness) is no different from the differences between a Texan and a well educated Indian. and it was also ignorant of you to assume that you, with your fortunate upbringing, represent the whole, or even the majority of citizens of "ESL" nations. My upbringing was not especially fortunate. My parents spoke 3 languages at home and they just picked one to teach me. I picked up the other two as well and was very comfortable using them. I am by no means an exception like I said, a good portion of India's urban population have kids speaking english by the time the kids are in kindergarten. Regardless, it doesn't matter as long as peolpe like me DO exist and CAN be hired as opposed to dimwits who can't communicate.
Cheers!
Atheist: Buddhist in a Prius
So many companies today seem outright hostile to their customers. I am continually amazed how companies do their very best to avoid contact with their customers. Research has shown that people hate computer menus whether they're numerical or voice recognition. And if you do manage to fight your way past those, how many times have you heard "due to unusually high call volume"... 365 days a year, right? Insane.
It's not impossible to run a great call center. I used to work at Zappos and we did our calls in-house and usually maintained wait times under 30 seconds. And the good will we generated with customers has paid off big time. We took on several more established companies with deeper pockets and so far we've left them all in the dust, largely because of our focus on customers.
Also, it's not just about having people answering the phones. There's two other critical ingredients: the phone people have to be empowered to actually serve the customer, which means they have to be well trained, but dammit, that's what it takes to run a company. And they also need to have a voice back to the company itself, so that problems that they encounter are recognized and addressed -- because customer service problems are really just customer problems. And for all the companies spending millions on ads to establish their "brand", they could establish a real, authentic brand by resolving their customer's problems.
There is so much room to improve this kind of thing. I applaud Netflix and wish the luck. Any company that wants to take on the 800lb gorillas need only treat each customer with care and respect. The gorillas never seem to figure this out.
Cheers.