It's what I do

In part, it’s the ability for a team or a member to turn a stressful interaction with a pissed off customer into something positive, by exceeding expectations and responding appropriately.  It’s also “having your ears on” and being tuned into social media; then acknowledging your customers’ feedback no matter what it may be.

Jared recently asked us for some first-hand accounts and examples of Legendary Customer Service. Here’s mine…

Although I’d rather have a root canal than call into AT&T Tech Support when I’m having connectivity problems, I’ve got to give credit where it’s due. My most recent interaction with them restored my faith in their level of commitment to Customer Satisfaction. Here’s the story… and of course, the tweets I posted while it was in progress

One of my “Tweeps” had posted a link to his blog on August 11^th, and no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get his site to load. Some other sites loaded just fine, while others, including Facebook, only loaded half the content (Facebook ads, unsurprisingly, remained unaffected). I did all the usual things any geek worth their salt would do to fix  the issue: Hard boot the computer, power down the modem/router, and even wander into the dark and scary land of CMD to release and renew the IP address, flush the DNS cache, and try to determine if there’s a pipe or switch down somewhere. Nothing worked.

I got home from work the next day, and still had serious issues. With dread, I dialed Tech Support – and started tweeting… if for no other reason than to track the length of the torment I anticipated having to endure…

OK I’ve HAD IT with this half-assed connectivity. Time to make a phone call to Customer Service to say #ATTSUCKS! 7:03 PM Aug 12th via TweetDeck

I sat on hold for 20 minutes before I got a human being on the line. I was quite frustrated and rather impatient, but I did my best to explain the “symptoms” to the TSR and hurried things along by confirming that I’d done all the things he’d normally walk a customer through on a Level 1 Support call. Then I walked HIM through a few things to show him why I thought he ought to just escalate me along to Level 2.

I just taught the #att #techsupport rep how to use Tracert – hahaha 7:34 PM Aug 12th via TweetDeck

After nearly an hour, he finally transferred me… but he failed to mention that in order to get on the phone with a Level 2 TSR, I’d have to enter a credit card number. No way!

53 mins w/Level 1 #ATT Support, transferred to L2, a PAY service. Called L1 again, ask 4 supv, give me L2 for FREE. #wtf #overit 8:13 PM Aug 12th via TweetDeck

Once I got back on the phone with them, I calmly but firmly informed them that I didn’t need their pay-service Tech Support (basically, their remotely accessing my computer), that the problem wasn’t with MY computer, but THEIR network somewhere and I just needed someone to escalate my call to the proper people to address it. Apparently I was sufficiently persuasive, because I got one of those pay-for-play ConnecTECH guys on the phone without having to give anyone my credit card information. Finally, he saw with his own eyes that indeed this was a problem beyond the scope of Level 1 and transferred me up the chain.

Oh #vindication! ConnecTECH finally sees the problem (He can’t get to @Daniel_Florien‘s site either!), escalating to L2 Network Tech 8:58 PM Aug 12th via TweetDeck

After another 15 minutes on hold, Finally… Level 2! I admit, I’m a tough customer to deal with, but each of the people I dealt with during this process did their best to empathize with me. More importantly, they responded to my need to know exactly what they saw, where, and how it might be relevant to my particular issues. They kept me informed, which is the single most important thing to me when I’m asking for Customer Service.

Nice Southern Belle, Rebecca L2 Tech is checking problem connecting to unreasonablefaith.com Wonder what she thinks, haha #atheist 9:15 PM Aug 12th via TweetDeck

After investigating, pinging and doing several other tasks to see the issues for herself, the Level 2 TSR  found and resolved the issue on their end, and walked me through the few steps necessary on my side to get everything up & running again. I was so happy I nearly cried.

Rebecca rebuilt the network. Finally, connectivity to all sites & content, but feeling anxiety like a mofo… ack! 9:46 PM Aug 12th via TweetDeck

Three hours is a LONG time to be on the “wrong end” of a Customer Service call, but in the end I was satisfied that AT&T’s Techs did everything I asked them to do while assuring me that my concerns mattered to them and they’d see it through to the end for me.

The following day I got a Direct Message on Twitter from one of AT&T’s reps, asking if there was any way she could help (the power of the #___SUCKS hashtag!). I DM’d her back that all was well, and I made a point to publicly laud them for what turned out to be Legendary Customer Service.

Big thanks to Rebecca for fixing my connectivity issues & to @ATTJulie for following up here on Twitter. Excellent #customerservice! Friday, August 13, 2010 4:43:28 PM via TweetDeck

If there’s one thing I think makes humans in general happy… it’s being acknowledged. AT&T’s TSRs recognized my particular issues as well as my level of emotional investment (frustration, impatience, distrust) in that call, and their service. It made all the difference in the world – and as a fellow human being, I recognize that a small acknowledgment of their taking such good care of their customers helps those TSRs be better at their jobs simply because it’s a nice boost to one’s morale to be recognized for a job well done.

“Fuck you asshole” is not a carrier-recognized command to be removed from a list you’ve joined.

However, the following keywords are required to work as an opt-out command:

• Stop
• Cancel
• Quit
• Unsubscribe
• End

So you might want to try those first, and if you’re still receiving messages you want to opt out of, maybe try “Help.” It’s surprisingly… um… helpful! You should also be aware that, since there are, y’know, regulations involved and all, the transactions (that is, your messages) between you and any given short code are in fact stored and time-stamped, so that if you want to report a spammer to the FCC, both you and they have proof of who did what and when. With that said, you might not want to text in something that could get you in trouble, or maybe made fun of on someone’s blog.

If you’re on the other side of the mobile marketing interaction, do your part by adhering to US Consumer Best Practices (5 mb PDF, courtesy of Mobile Marketing Association).

Yury at Recess Mobile’s Writing SMS Opt-Out (STOP) Messages is also an excellent primer in the mandatory opt-out workflow, and geared a little more toward developers than marketers per se.

Me, I’m just a snarky old broad who finds inspiration for educational blog posts among the strange things that cross my desk during the day. Many a marketer’s SMS Inbox contains some gems worthy of MyDrunkTexts.com, that’s for damned sure!

I work with a bunch of guys… most of whom are 15 or more years younger than I am. They like sports, music, women and TOYS!

mobileStorm is headquartered in a large, open space with high ceilings (think soundstage proportions). Since it’s a great place to fly remote control helicopters and hovercraft, we have a few around, and every now and then someone will pick up the controls and start flying one around. Consummate voyeur that I am, I carry my crappy little digital camera around everywhere and can capture some of the fun that goes on!

All legendary customer service and no play makes Rox a dull broad. So on a regular basis a light saber duel, the boss getting silly-stringed or a well-photoshopped prank posted to the Yammer wall provides a welcome belly-laugh and another memory that binds us as an organization. We’re StormTroopers, and this is how we roll… or fly… or somethin’ like that!

Al Stefanelli writes about the  not-so-subtle changes in the Intelligent Design website in “You Can’t Polish a Turd”.

Carla Zilber-Smith

As a skeptic and atheist, I’ve no belief in an afterlife nor do I rely on supernatural forces as an explanation for events or circumstances that arise as I go about the daily grind. We’re all just bumbling through as best we can, being the meat-sacks we are, devoid of any true “purpose” beyond that which we give ourselves.

Carla’s purpose was to entertain and educate; to put a smile on someone’s face while planting a seed in their mind. Carla lost her battle to ALS on May 21st, but she left those who loved her, and even those who may never have known her, a piece of herself exactly as she was – funny, irreverent, full of love and compassion.

Remembering people as they were when they were alive is far more comforting than imagining them as angels, or imagining some “plan” being fulfilled by their suffering and dying. Having no expectations of being able to party with my loved ones in an afterlife makes me appreciate the time I do get to spend with them even more. I’ve left a fair amount of myself behind here on teh intarwebz, and hopefully in the hearts and minds of those whose paths crossed mine at some time or another. I choose to be remembered just as I am. Just Rox… warts and all! Praise Science, I have the technology to make it so!

“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.” — Marcus Aurelius

IBD: Icky Bowel Diagram

While having a painful attack due to simple friggin’ digestion, I posted a status update & comments on Facebook… because distractions help sometimes. A few friends expressed concern, because “sweating, fetal and nearly puking from the pain” is usually something to worry about. Eh, not so much when you’re living with Crohn’s Disease. This is my response, with a bit of linkage added.

Thanks, all! Support http://ccfa.org – life sucks with a bad gut!

Not to worry, though. Thankfully, I’ve been in remission for 11 years now, so I manage Crohn’s, as opposed to having to treat it. Hence the list of “gut-killers” on which Zankou chicken has now been placed, hah. There’s another list: “Worth suffering for.” Good clam chowder is on that list!

One friend commented, “Go to the doctor!”

Well, It’s Catt’s turn this year to get health care. Once she’s set up, I’ll get my own ass in there. I’m actually pretty good at knowing what needs attending to and what’s just one of those “I ate something I shouldn’t have, it’ll pass” type things. I can grit my teeth through a lot of pain. I will win!

Another friend asked what I’d eaten.

All I ate was a chicken leg & thigh, hummus & a few pieces of chopped tomato on pita. Zankou uses a lot of garlic in their cooking already, and I made the mistake of adding their delicious garlic spread, too. I think THAT was the clincher.

Waaaah! I’m Sicilian and garlic makes my guts go gak – UNFAIR! Ah well, at least spicy stuff doesn’t seem to bother me. I can still have my favorite cure-all: Pho!

Weird & disturbing: Ever since I had my first surgery, I can literally feel the workings & goings-on of most of my intestines. It nearly drove me out of my mind at first. It’s creepy to be so aware of digestive processes! The sensation depends on the day, and can be anything from mildly annoying to something worth taking a painkiller for (btw, that’s enough to make me at least CALL a doc, if it’s still up there in 8-9 range after a day or so of being “good” so I don’t make it worse). I can go days on clear liquids if I really have to, or I’ll eat rice & coconut milk.

Really, though, I’m very fortunate that mine is as manageable as it is. My heart bleeds for some of the people I know from the IBD groups, especially kids, who have it so much worse than I do already. On the bright side, there’s been success with stem cell therapy in Crohn’s… may Science win the day!!!

Crossroads - Clarksdale, MS

Today I wandered the web listening to music. It used to be such a huge part of my life, but nowadays it’s pretty much catch as catch can. I hear songs on the radio in the car, or get introduced to new music by friends at work, but it’s rare that I find new things on my own because the sheer volume of what’s out there is overwhelming. So I’m always reaching back in time…

My musical meanderings today began, oddly enough, with a guy I knew fairly well back in my hometown whose musical evolution I missed completely once I left there for the City of Angels, Eddie Seville. I’d heard a bit of Steel Rodeo years ago, but I hadn’t yet seen the film that would allow me to appreciate it as much as I can now.

That then led me to the Appalachians for bluegrass with a few scenes from the brillian and underrated “Songcatcher”, featuring a pre-pubescent Emmy Rossum and some of the oldest music in America.

Finally I landed in Mississippi and listened to a bunch of bluesmen, including Robert Johnson, whose Faustian bargain at the Crossroads is given a nod in Clarksdale, the home of the Delta Blues Museum, and a music program dedicated to keeping the blues alive.

And that’s where I found Lea, who made a few videos during her visit to Clarksdale, all the way from her home in the Netherlands! She’s got a great voice… give her a listen…

Since the Princess & her friend are hanging out at home for the evening, my meandering ends with whatever music is providing the soundtrack to their adventures on Chatroulette; which seems to be everything from house music to R&B… accompanied by laughter, squeals and occasional cries of  “Oh my GAWD, put that thing away!”

As I sign off, I hear a blast from the past: Stacy Q’s “Two of Hearts.” Ah, youth…

So I’ve settled on a design I can live with for the moment, and am adding plugins & widgets as I go. The top right part of the header bores me, so I’m looking for a cool twitter widget, or maybe a random quote generator for up there.

I’ve still got the rather daunting task before me of sorting through the old blog’s export, getting rid of anything with broken links or that is otherwise irrelevant, making it digestible to WordPress and then (hopefully) integrating it all in one smooth pass. Heh. A girl can dream, right?

The video I took yesterday at Ronnie James Dio’s memorial is all captured & cut into the first round of clips, but after a few late nights and long days in the sun I’ve run out of steam to get them edited, encoded and uploaded today. I’m easily annoyed with this computer’s lack of power. It’s fine for browsing and whatnot, but working with video makes me want to cry. I miss my laptop… waaaah!

It would also help immensely if I’d stop getting sidetracked by all the good stuff that shows up in my Facebook and Twitter feeds, too! Maybe I need to stop having so many friends with interesting things to say (or argue about)…

Thank you to all who sacrificed and all who serve.

Please honor his memory and support the causes that meant so much to him, Children of the Night (don’t hold Dr. Phil’s endorsement against them, ha!) and Stand Up to Cancer.

The Phelps clan will be there picketing. I hope my fellow metalheads will restrain themselves and not give those wretched, evil morons the satisfaction of having cause to file an assault charge…

UPDATE: You can get a copy of the memorial program, button and t-shirt for $25 on RonnieJamesDio.com – 100% of the proceeds go directly to SU2C. Please do NOT purchase these items from the eBay auctions of people who are looking to capitalize on a good man’s death by selling things that were FREE to attendees or as a thank you gift for a donation to a charity.