A while back I made hotel reservations for a big event. Since it was a big event, not only were the prices sky-high, but bookings came with extra strings and complications. Naturally the hotel (and likely all the others in the region) wanted to ensure maximum capacity as it’d be a real shame to leave any rooms open with so much demand at that time.
One thing the hotel required was a pre-payment for the stay. They still had a reasonable cancellation policy (although not nearly as liberal as the usual 24-hours-before-checkin standard we’re used to), but of course if you needed to cancel, it’d take that whole “eight-to-ten business days” for the refund to show up on your card. Et cetera, you get the gist.
But the real hitch (glitch, really) was that all this was pretty obscured to someone making a reservation. I didn’t realize any of this until I saw a few minutes later that my credit card had been charged (Did you know that you can set up the Chase app for push-notifications every time your card is charged?). Once I saw the charge, I pretty much put two-and-two together, though, and figured what it probably was. I called nevertheless, just to clarify and understand, lest I get caught in the gears of whatever their policy was down the road if, say, I had to make an adjustment to my reservation.
While waiting on hold, I went online to the hotel’s site again and also confirmed that both, Yes, they have the policy listed there on their website when you’re booking, but also, No, it’s not in any realistic way, obvious. This is another one of those circumstances where the CX seems to have been orchestrated by the Legal Department instead of the digital team. “As long as we put it up there somewhere, we’re covered,” as opposed to, “We should make sure this is as absolutely clear as possible.”
The agent explained the details of the policy (up to when I could make a change or cancel, what the terms are, and how to do all of it) in a way that was even more clear than the website, and I was grateful. As we were wrapping up, I asked, “Say, I bet you get calls about this all the time regarding that weekend?”
Oh yes, the agent replied, and many people are truly fuming mad about it. (I wasn’t.)
I offered the feedback, which I’m sure was obvious to the agent, that the digital team should make it more clear and obvious what the rules are, especially since it’s somewhat out of the ordinary. She was appreciative and we hung up.
So, then I got to wondering: While I hope that she’d take my feedback—offered calmly and in an effort to help them do a better job—and share it with someone who can improve their processes and experience, I also wonder if anybody with that information would actually do anything with it. She had said that some folks are so angry when they call in that they end up yelling at her about it. I’d venture that she’s not the only agent there to experience such displays of frustration and aggravation.
Simple question, then: Why is it not fixed?
If a bunch of your Customers are getting upset to the point of emotionality about something you’re doing, that’s a pretty good sign that you’ve got a problem.
In the class I used to teach at Michigan State University (and whenever I present to a group), I emphasize that it’s important to analyze your Customer Insights information deeper than simply counting how many people complain about something. It’s broader than that and you have to keep in mind what complaints represent a distraction from your Brand Promise. There’s a corollary to that principle that, just because your Customers (or any Customer in particular) is more upset about something, you still need to bounce that experience up against your Brand Promise…As with the number of complaints about, for example, the price of your luxury good or service should be met with a wary eye, so should the level of dissatisfaction your Customers demonstrate. (More on this in a forthcoming article.)
But at the same time, there’s weight to the other side of the argument, too: If you’ve got people (“people,” keep in mind—not simply some raving lunatic) literally yelling at your CS agents over something, maybe you should listen. And for that matter, if the fix for that problem is simply to make something more clear (as opposed, for example, to changing the entire policy itself…while not having the different policies for the Big Event would be best, it’s understandable…what really upsets people is that it seemed shady how they were keeping information from their Customers), why not just do that?
Our Customer Support agents go through hell…they’re stuck defending policies they may not even agree with; they have to explain (what to them are) very straightforward concepts to strangers all day; and sometimes they really do take abuse at the hands of the Customers—many times because the company has policies that are legitimately upsetting.
When your Customers are yelling at them, maybe that’s something you should look into?
