Today I had an interesting interaction with an AT&T representative. In the podcast I will get into the actual situation but she said “Customer care, doesn’t really care.” She hit the nail on the head. In the corporate world today, customer service is not important to them. They have a strong hold on a market so they do not feel the need to offer anything other then a body to answer the phone and read a script. Today I felt the need to share this experience and the thoughts it brought to mind about customer service. Take a listen.

[audio:090122_customercare.mp3]

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11 Responses

  1. Jerad, it sounds like you were talking to one of the service reps I trained with. Was the problem with your home or Business account? I would like to discuss this with you and help you out with your problem. Having been a rep with AT&T for more than 30 years, I know the ins and outs of the service reps. Shoot me an e-mail if you want.

  2. Been with them for four years. Always found them very nice. Totally incompitent and lack knowledge of their own products and services. Usually mess something up just by looking at my account but they are polite though.

  3. Jason, thanks for the link.

    Tom, I might just email you if they don’t get the problem resolved this time around.

    Bob, yes they are polite but I don’t really care how polite someone is to me if they get what I need fixed accomplished. I think their customer care policy is to act naive and be polite at all times.

    Thanks for the comments guys!

  4. You really touched a nerve with this one. Having worked for a large EVIL corporation before, I can tell you that they are staffed by all kinds — some who are idiots who really couldn’t care less and/or are dumb as stumps and others who are genuinely concerned, knowledgeable and as helpful as possible. But “as helpful as possible” is the key phrase here. Ultimately, caring has got to come from the top. There were many times in my old job when I myself was frustrated by my company’s ridiculous policies/procedures and its cavalier attitude toward customers. The corporation cared even less about its employees than it did about customers, I assure you. I came to realize that ALL it cared about, in fact, was the bottom line. But the irony is that the corporate leadership doesn’t understand that keeping happy customers and employees is essential to a healthy bottom line. In my situation, I came to feel like there was no way I could ever make a difference … no way I could ever change the corporate culture. So I left, and so have many other caring employees over the years. Unfortunately, I think this happens at a lot of large companies. It’s a problem, and I don’t know what the solution is. Hopefully, the companies that really care — those that take care of their customers and employees — will prevail, and the ones that don’t will eventually go out of business for lack of customers!

  5. Lisa, thank you for the comment. It is sad that these corporations have became this way. That is the problem with people running companies that have never ran their own business that was bread from their blood, sweat and tears. Yes there are some good CEOs and leadership out there with in these companies but for the most part they just don’t care. The people who end up with no where to run is the customer. There is no way around dealing with the big companies. I can’t go down to a local office and manage my cell phone account. They will sell me a new phone and bill me but they won’t let me get any further then spending money. If I want help then I am on my own. Same goes with most of the other companies. Something has to change and I’m sure it will. Corporations should be sweating right now with so many going bankrupt, soon it will be easier for someone with some passion to start up a company that really rocks some of these large corporations.

  6. Interesting podcast. Having worked in a customer service type role for several years now I agree, there is no substitute for good service. The idea of scouring Twitter for people talking about your product or service, and subsequently following up on complaints and thanking people for compliments is really smart. Companies that do it are definitely going to get a leg up on the competition.

  7. Hey Jared,

    I love your site and all of the information and tutorials.
    I don’t want to sound rude here, because I’m not trying to be…

    You really may be well off in trying some grammar studies. The grammar on this site is pretty bad…very bad, in fact. Commas in the wrong place, none where there should be one, typing “then” other than “than”, and those are only a couple examples.
    The very first paragraph above is rife with grammatical errors. :/
    To me, grammar is important where trusting a person’s competence and the information that he/she is sending out in concerned.

    I wouldn’t say it if it were just one or two because everyone makes mistakes. I make them too, but I see numerous, very obvious mistakes on every single article I’ve read here and, had I read your information before seeing your tutorials, I probably would have left the site under the absolute wrong impression about it’s proficiency and the quality of information herein.

    I just wanted to let you know since you are writing articles with tips on successful site running, and there is a decent size problem with the way the articles are written, grammatically speaking. 🙂

    Of course, not everyone will be bothered by this, but there are more people who would be than you are probably aware of.

    Ever read the forums? Some people get downright offended and irate about it. That’s going too far for me, but it certainly is a big enough “problem” to me that it would immediate leave me with a sense of doubt about the article content, or writer’s competence.

    Hope you can take the information as objective rather than feeling I am being rude. My own grammar is far from perfect, but mine isn’t as important as yours. 😉

    Whether or not you take my advice, I wish you the best and am grateful for the information that’s available here.

    Cheers!
    ~MayaLynn

  8. Here are some examples in just the above (very short) post. There is a total of 11 obvious mistakes in this single paragraph and there are more less obvious ones that I have not noted for their lack of importance.
    Hope this helps get you started on your way to better English.

    Lisa, thank you for the comment. It is sad that these corporations have became [SHOULD BE *BECOME*] this way. That is the problem with people running companies that have never ran [SHOULD BE *RUN*] their own business that was bread [*BRED* Depends on the context here as I’m not exactly sure what you are trying to say] from their blood, sweat and tears. Yes [COMMA] there are some good CEOs and leadership out there with in [WITHIN] these companies but for the most part [COMMA] they just don’t care. The people who end up with no where [NOWHERE] to run is [ARE] the customer [CUSTOMERS]. There is no way around dealing with the big companies. I can’t go down to a local office and manage my cell phone account. They will sell me a new phone and bill me but they won’t let me get any further then [THAN] spending money. If I want help then I am on my own. Same goes with most of the other companies. Something has to change and I’m sure it will. Corporations should be sweating right now with so many going bankrupt,[SHOULD START A NEW SENTENCE HERE] soon it will be easier for someone with some passion to start up a company that really rocks some of these large corporations.

  9. Hi MayaLynn, I know that it must be frustrating that so many people are writing when they are not that good at it. I wish I was better at writing and to be honest that is the reason why I do more video and audio then I do write. Writing is however better for search engines then video or audio so I try to write as often as I can. I do not believe that spending more time learning to write better would help, I am blogging, not writing a book. I would much rather be working to find new ways of doing things and sharing those with others. When I do have time, one of my goals is to get better at writing as you are not the first person to contact me, you are the second. I appreciate you taking time to write and share your corrections with me. I will take them in and hope they stick the next time I write in length.

    Thanks again!

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