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Bad Customer Support

by Mike Baker
38 replies
Has anyone had any bad experience with customer support after purchasing a product?

I recently purchased a product with an upsell to a VIP which to date I cannot find, but the the thing is on the VIP upsell page it specifically says: "Priority Customer Support - VIP support requests are given priority response."
I am still waiting after 10 hours. I wouldn't consider that to be "priority support".

Anyone have a similar experience? If so, what are you doing/are you doing about it?
#bad #customer #support
  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    10 hours is nothing if you take into consideration that the support desk staff may be from a different country than you and may not work weekends. Not everyone does work weekends or live in your time zone.
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  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    It's all about setting and managing levels of expectation which seems to be the issue here, not the absolute time it's taken to get a response.

    My energy provider, a multi-billion company with more customer care centers than I've had hot dinners sent me an email in response to an enquiry saying:

    "We aim to respond to all enquiries within 4 business days"

    If customers are used to getting a response within 10 minutes and the next time it take an hour, they're going to be annoyed, even though an hour is still an excellent response time.

    Cheers,

    Neil
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    • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
      Originally Posted by Neil Morgan View Post

      It's all about setting and managing levels of expectation which seems to be the issue here, not the absolute time it's taken to get a response.

      My energy provider, a multi-billion company with more customer care centers than I've had hot dinners sent me an email in response to an enquiry saying:

      "We aim to respond to all enquiries within 4 business days"

      If customers are used to getting a response within 10 minutes and the next time it take an hour, they're going to be annoyed, even though an hour is still an excellent response time.

      Cheers,

      Neil
      Hey Neil,

      For me, you you're right on the money with your reply. Especially the part that I put in bold above.

      When I first got started, there were times where I couldn't sleep, so I would be up answering questions in forums, from our help desk, or from email at 3AM in the morning...That was actually quite common.

      What ended up happening, is that if for some chance we weren't up at 3AM and answering support issues within an hour, people started getting upset...sending us multiple requests, or posting nasty things in our sales threads.

      So, how did we fix the problem?

      We put a message in our confirmation emails, and on our support desk that they would get an answer in 24 - 96 hours depending on the volume of questions that we were getting.

      To be upset that you didn't get a reply in 10 hours, is a little ridiculous, IMHO.

      Some people don't work on weekends (we usually don't)

      Some people actually sleep (last I heard, everyone does this)

      People how hire people for support still have to give those people TIME OFF.

      Most HUGE companies, Comcast and United Energy and Electric for example, don't provide 24 hour customer support anymore.

      The worst part is, most of the requests that we get multiple times from people where they are kind of "freaking out" because they aren't getting an answer fast enough usually go something like this:

      How do you make anchor text, I'm stuck and can't move on without knowing this.

      It is definitely in the vendors best interests to make sure that they are setting expectations in a reasonable way, but the customer also should be reasonable in their expectations.
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  • Profile picture of the author ReachOneMedia
    depend on which timezone they are located allow them at least 24 hours to respond... If your product is located in this forum you should expect an answer faster than 10 hours.
    Priority does not necessary mean speed. I can respond to your email in priority as soon as I come back from my 2 month vacation. See...

    Hope this help!
    Don't give up!
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Baker
    But when they say "priority response" you expect an answer within at least a few hours. If the claims are true about how much these guys are making, then they can afford to have their support email looked over 24/7.
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by mikescos View Post

      But when they say "priority response" you expect an answer within at least a few hours. If the claims are true about how much these guys are making, then they can afford to have their support email looked over 24/7.
      You might expect a couple of hours. I wouldn't expect a couple of hours. Priority does not mean a couple of hours. It means that you're at the top part of the list to respond to.

      It also does not mean that people who may not work on weekends will work on weekends just for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author joshuagan80
    It's rare that you will have a reply within 24 hours. Most would reply 2-3 days. I think don't expect too much from customer support.
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  • Profile picture of the author Customerservice
    Originally Posted by mikescos View Post

    Has anyone had any bad experience with customer support after purchasing a product?

    I recently purchased a product with an upsell to a VIP which to date I cannot find, but the the thing is on the VIP upsell page it specifically says: "Priority Customer Support - VIP support requests are given priority response."
    I am still waiting after 10 hours. I wouldn't consider that to be "priority support".

    Anyone have a similar experience? If so, what are you doing/are you doing about it?
    If the item you purchased is in the same country as yourself then yes that is bad customer service. Could you give us any more information on what you got, is it in the same country as you. have you a web page to see what they say about "Priority Customer Support".
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Baker
      Originally Posted by Customerservice View Post

      If the item you purchased is in the same country as yourself then yes that is bad customer service. Could you give us any more information on what you got, is it in the same country as you. have you a web page to see what they say about "Priority Customer Support".
      I can't do that in this section as I'm not reviewing the system.

      Over the course of the sales page and their upsell pages, their email address is only posted three times. There is NO contact details in the members area.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Baker
    Or whatever happened to the good old autoresponder? These guys know how to setup one for mailing lists but not for their own email. How hard is it to have an auto response with a message that says "thank you for your email. we will get back to you within *** hours"?
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    • Profile picture of the author Customerservice
      Originally Posted by mikescos View Post

      Or whatever happened to the good old autoresponder? These guys know how to setup one for mailing lists but not for their own email. How hard is it to have an auto response with a message that says "thank you for your email. we will get back to you within *** hours"?
      AS you have pointed out mikeescos, you should have had an auto response to acknowledge your email. But don't forget technology does break down now & then.

      I take it you cannot phone them?
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      • Profile picture of the author Mike Baker
        Originally Posted by Customerservice View Post

        AS you have pointed out mikeescos, you should have had an auto response to acknowledge your email. But don't forget technology does break down now & then.

        I take it you cannot phone them?
        No. No phone number is included in the course or can be found on the website. The Whois website has their customer support details listed under their host, so there is no way of getting a phone number.
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  • Profile picture of the author SeanSupplee
    I would say a response within 24 hours would be ok here
    They might not have a 24/7 staff but if your support tickets honestly get pushed to the front and answered first id expect it within 24 hours.
    If you don't then I would call it bad customer service
    Also seems like a lot of these products on clickbank anymore really lack the support behind them. I think if these products had a knowledgeable and helpful support team that the refund rates on these products would be a lot less. If anything it should be a standard when launching your own clickbank product in my opinion.
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  • Profile picture of the author SarahAnn
    Living in Southern Western Australia if I fire off a support email or PM to anyone I factor in that it is say: 9pm sunday here so sat night/sunday morning in most places and I expect a reply within 24hrs(monday night here) - 36hrs (when I get up tues morn).
    Any earlier i find is a bonus. Generally I give 24 - 48hrs before I start getting mad especially where I live.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Baker
    If I'm buying a product on how to make me money and they say that I will get "priority response" if upgrading to a VIP package, then I expect a reply within at least 6 hours. It's not very good business at all to leave your VIP customers of any kind (whether it be IM or an offline business like an ISP) hanging on the edge for so long. If you email anybody else for support 99% of the time you will get an auto response letting you know they have received your query and will get back to you within ** hours. Why is it so hard for these multi-million dollar guys to NOT do this?
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  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    Why is it so hard for these multi-million dollar guys to NOT do this?
    If I was being hard-nosed about it, I'd point to the fact that these guys are running a business whose job is to make the highest ROI.

    It's like the energy company I mentioned above - they have worked out they can respond within a miserable 4 days without killing their profit so that's exactly what they do.

    Whether it's good or bad is subjective and this isn't a comment on that. I can see how and why it happens this way.

    Cheers,

    Neil
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  • Profile picture of the author R Hagel
    Suzanne took the words out of my mouth (er, fingers) -- priority means your email will be at the top of the inquiries, but it doesn't mean there's a group of eager customer service agents waiting breathlessly for your email. Especially on a weekend.

    As Neil said, even big companies don't offer "within hours" support. I've had the same experience. I wrote to an airline once (they must make millions, right?) and it took about 3-4 days for a reply -- during the work week.

    My local ISP takes about two weeks to reply.

    Some years back I wrote for a quote to an advertising company, and they took about 10 days to get back to me.

    GM took a couple business days to get back to me.

    So 10 hours on a weekend? That's nothing.

    Becky
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  • Profile picture of the author Defunct
    Wouldn't priority mean responding to your first over non VIP members? Priority doesn't imply a time frame, 24 hours is pretty standard online for most services.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Baker
    I understand what you guys are saying, I just don't agree with the way it is handled. Here they are saying "I want to help you succeed. I don't to help you make lot's of money. etc". But yet there is nobody there to respond even with an autoresponder to an email.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
      Originally Posted by mikescos View Post

      I understand what you guys are saying, I just don't agree with the way it is handled. Here they are saying "I want to help you succeed. I don't to help you make lot's of money. etc". But yet there is nobody there to respond even with an autoresponder to an email.
      Do you expect these people to never eat, sleep, or spend time with their families?

      Is it acceptable that the person that sold you the product take a bathroom break, or take a shower?

      In this case, the vendor in questions is better of just sending you a refund for what you have paid, and wash his hands of it, because I don't think there is anyway he/she is ever going to make you happy.

      I'm not saying you are WRONG...Obviously all the priority support stuff gave you the impression that someone was going to be sitting right there ready to answer you at any time of day or night..and, you may not have been the only one that got that impression.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rob Howard
    Mike, I think you are being absolutely ridiculous.

    Have you worked the other side of the fence yet? Meaning, owning a largish (for internet based business), business that has a lot of customers to take care of?

    My staff doesn't work on weekends, for the most part. I know that 70% of my support issues comes monday through friday. Am I going to pay another 500 bucks a month to staff my support to answer 30% of my emails when they can just wait a day or two to get answered on monday?

    People have no freakin' patience anymore. You've been waiting for a few hours and your panties are in a wad. I say chill and go do something else.

    Unless you were told "Your emails will get answered in X hours" and they are breaking that promise, you don't have a thing to be upset about.

    Rob
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  • Profile picture of the author aritrim
    Originally Posted by mikescos View Post

    Has anyone had any bad experience with customer support after purchasing a product?

    I recently purchased a product with an upsell to a VIP which to date I cannot find, but the the thing is on the VIP upsell page it specifically says: "Priority Customer Support - VIP support requests are given priority response."
    I am still waiting after 10 hours. I wouldn't consider that to be "priority support".

    Anyone have a similar experience? If so, what are you doing/are you doing about it?
    A priority customer support has a 3 minutes turnaround time to be specific. My webhost has been giving me that for 3 years and not canned replies but human replies. The word priority carries a value here. If it is used just for a sales pitch, it is different alltogether.

    Not all companies can commit such a term actually. So yes if you had to wait for 10 freaking hours, you are not being provided a priority support not even a normal support. I would say, just simple lazy support.

    If you are from a different timezone then it is still acceptable as a normal support. But otherwise, call up the company and get an explanation of the VIP lazy support given ( or not yet?)
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    • Profile picture of the author Rob Howard
      Originally Posted by aritrim View Post

      A priority customer support has a 3 minutes turnaround time to be specific. My webhost has been giving me that for 3 years and not canned replies but human replies. The word priority carries a value here. If it is used just for a sales pitch, it is different alltogether.

      Not all companies can commit such a term actually. So yes if you had to wait for 10 freaking hours, you are not provided a priority support not even a normal support. I would say, just simple lazy support.

      If you are from a different timezone then it is still acceptable as a normal support. But otherwise, call up the company and get an explanation of the VIP lazy support that you are facing.
      Dude, you are way wrong here - we aren't talking about a massive hosting company with a huge customer support budget...we are talking about an info product seller.

      Even with my income, paying a full time staff to answer emails within 5 minutes, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year would be impossible. I would simply go broke.

      You get crazy support because you are paying a monthly fee. I imagine a decent monthly fee. I assume they can afford that kind of service.

      But even then, I wouldn't care if it took my host 2 or 3 days to get back to me (unless it was a major issue, like website downtime for longer than a few minutes)

      This instant entitlement mentality is absolutely ridiculous.

      Rob
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Originally Posted by ccmusicman View Post

        This instant entitlement mentality is absolutely ridiculous.

        Rob
        You're not kidding. I stopped into a convenience store to grab a cup of coffee awhile back.

        Guy comes in, grabs a burrito from the cooler and pops it into the microwave. He spent the next minute or so physically dancing back and forth, chanting "come on, come on..."
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        • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
          In fairness, maybe the sales copy read something along the lines of you would get priority support 24 hours a day 7 days a week, blah blah blah....which to be honest, wouldn't really surprise me these days with all of the over the top crap that goes on some of the sales copy I've seen lately.

          On the other hand, it could be another case of a customer that thinks as soon as they pay you money...then own you...which is also pretty common in this industry.

          If anyone has a link to the sales page, PM it to me, so that I can read it.

          Edit: I think I found it...could be wrong, but these are the details for VIP if it is the product that I think...

          In addition to ALL of the benefits of Regular Membership
          VIP Membership Includes...
          • Priority Customer Support - VIP support requests are given priority response.
          • $5,000 Ebook Package - $5,000 worth of various ebooks. Resell them for the suggested retail price for huge profits or use them yourself for amazing tips and secrets on how to earn money and much much more.
          • Also included, are dozens more products on saving money, becoming a successful entrepreneur and making a living at home.
          • There is a large amount of material provided in the VIP area to supplement the Regular Membership.
          • VIP membership is suited for individuals who are serious about quitting their job and committing themselves to a work at home lifestyle.
          • This area receives regular updates with new products and information added constantly.
          No Where in there do I see anything other than "priority support" which to me anyway means that your needs and requests will be put above the people that don't upgrade to VIP.

          No mention of how long it will take
          No guaranteed reply time

          Plus, as mentioned, it's the weekend...There are people in this business that keep hours like a 5 day a week brick and mortar. They do business Monday - Friday 9AM - 5PM and take the weekends to recharge, spend time with their families, and plan for the next week.

          Again, I'm not saying that Mike is wrong here. Obviously, his expectations weren't set correctly, and he is under the impression that a 10 hour lag for a "VIP" customer is too long. So, this might be a good opportunity for the vendor to spell out in a little more detail exactly what a VIP member can and can't expect in terms of support, and how long it may or may not take. If Mike is feeling let down, I'm willing to bet that there are other customers who MIGHT feel the same way.
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      • Profile picture of the author aritrim
        Originally Posted by ccmusicman View Post

        Dude, you are way wrong here - we aren't talking about a massive hosting company with a huge customer support budget...we are talking about an info product seller.

        Even with my income, paying a full time staff to answer emails within 5 minutes, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year would be impossible. I would simply go broke.

        You get crazy support because you are paying a monthly fee. I imagine a decent monthly fee. I assume they can afford that kind of service.

        But even then, I wouldn't care if it took my host 2 or 3 days to get back to me (unless it was a major issue, like website downtime for longer than a few minutes)

        This instant entitlement mentality is absolutely ridiculous.

        Rob
        Point taken. However, if you are using the term Priority in your sales pitch, expect your customers to expect a speedy customer support too. If you do not have the capacity to provide that, simply do not commit it.

        If an info product is sold with an "instant entitlement mentality" buzz, then it should stand by it, otherwise it looks ridiculous too. The OP's point was "the thing is on the VIP upsell page it specifically says: "Priority Customer Support - VIP support requests are given priority response."

        He paid for the product with an expectation.
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  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    A priority customer support has a 3 minutes turnaround time to be specific.
    Only for that provider though.

    Priority is a relative term and means what you choose it to mean.

    Cheers,

    Neil
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    • Profile picture of the author aritrim
      Originally Posted by Neil Morgan View Post

      Only for that provider though.

      Priority is a relative term and means what you choose it to mean.

      Cheers,

      Neil

      Well of course. If I am selling an info product and if my priority support means replying after a week, I would write Priority Support ( We will get back to you in a week). Normal Support ( We may or may not reply to your query, so please choose Priority support).

      It is hard for the buyer to read my mind though.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
        Originally Posted by aritrim View Post

        Well of course. If I am selling an info product and if my priority support means replying after a week, I would write Priority Support ( We will get back to you in a week). Normal Support ( We may or may not reply to your query, so please choose Priority support).

        It is hard for the buyer to read my mind though.
        I think that goes back to the reply Neil initially made about setting expectations correctly, which looks to be the disconnect, and area of contention for this issue in particular.
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  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    Yep, it's all about expectations. If none are set then everyone will either be disappointed or impressed. Take your pick.

    As a business, setting expectations in all sorts of areas can even be used to your advantage by under promising and over delivering. But that's a little outside the remit of this thread.

    Cheers,

    Neil
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  • Profile picture of the author ss442
    It took about 6 weeks for me to resolve a simple issue with a stupid $7.00 product. In the end I figured it's only $7 bucks why complain about customer support. But, this marketers lack of consideration and attitude finally irritated me to the point I wanted to make it public. He first took several days to answer, then denied he sold me the product, then denied he sold it to me for $7, and after I sent him his sales copy, my receipt for purchase he sent my $7 back when I clearly stated I just wanted a link to the product because I was a willing buyer. But this took about 6 weeks, ridiculous!

    On the other hand, I purchased a $7.00 from "Todd Gross" and he responded to my inquiry in less than 24 hours when I had a problem. Todd is a good guy and I will buy from him again.

    As far as I am concerned, if you are selling a product or service and are unable to respond to a customer inquiry within 24 hours you should post that in your terms of service so consumers have the option not buying the product. If you are having a lot of technical issues then maybe it's your product, or maybe you need to hire more support staff.

    In any case customer support in this country has gone to hell and consumers are sensitive to that. So, if you are a marketer and are able to offer superior customer support you would get my vote and a lot of Kudo"s from other satisfied customers.

    When we buy an ebook or download a product the seller gets paid instantly before downloading, but having to wait 3 or 4 days to be able to make it work or figure something out is irritating. I believe better customer support could reduce money back requests.

    Let's face it, what is the great advantage to this internet world we live in today? Is it not speed and efficiency? This is why people buy on the net and figure customer support should be efficient as well.

    Just my thoughts,
    Ed
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    • Profile picture of the author Customerservice
      All it would have taken to resolve this issue was better communication in the letter you were given which comes down to basic customer service skills.

      For starters you could put ( we will get back to you in 24hrs Monday to Friday in the letter ) which could also be done by auto responder to acknowledge their email.

      As for "Priority Customer Support" you could say how long you would reply to any enquiry in your letter.

      Another thing customers hate is getting a reply that doesn't answer all the points raised.

      Also, there is the customer who is happy to pay a premium for an easy and hassle free customer experience. This can cover anything from expert pre sale advice to un-rivaled after sales service and everything inbetween.

      I think some people are missing the most importsnt bit about customer service, the customer is right even when they are wrong.

      A good customer service can make or break a business no matter how big or small.

      I deal with customers face to face. Not the easy way by email or phone.
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      • Profile picture of the author aritrim
        Originally Posted by Customerservice View Post

        A good customer service can make or break a business no matter how big or small.
        That is a million dollar sentence. The days of "Build-Sale-Forget" are over. If you do not provide good customer support, it will definitely affect your business.

        The business model that most start-ups follow specially for software,

        1. Startup has an idea.
        2. Hires some people from the other half of the world and builds a product.
        3. Launch it.
        4. Get some sales.
        ===============================
        NOW!
        5. Buyer/User gets stuck for some reason and sends email.
        6. Email is forwarded to the other half of the world for a solution. Since startup is a non-technical person concentrating on the business aspects only.
        7. Email is answered from the other half of the world.
        8. Startup forwards email to buyer.
        9. 5,6,7,8 continues till the issue gets resolved.

        Frankly speaking, the above model can be disastrous from the customer support point of view, considering a dual turn-around time. Startup in USA, Other half in Phillipines.

        It is better to let know the buyer beforehand, the turnaround time. Will definitely save some refunds and chargebacks.
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        • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
          Originally Posted by aritrim View Post

          ===============================
          NOW!
          5. Buyer/User gets stuck for some reason and sends email.
          6. Email is forwarded to the other half of the world for a solution. Since startup is a non-technical person concentrating on the business aspects only.
          7. Email is answered from the other half of the world.
          8. Startup forwards email to buyer.
          9. 5,6,7,8 continues till the issue gets resolved.
          Frankly speaking, the above model can be disastrous from the customer support point of view, considering a dual turn-around time. Startup in USA, Other half in Phillipines.
          There was another thread just recently where people were asking why they should use a help desk when plain old email was much more personal.

          This is one important reason why.
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          • Profile picture of the author mcmahanusa
            Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

            There was another thread just recently where people were asking why they should use a help desk when plain old email was much more personal.

            This is one important reason why.
            My memory on this might be faulty, but I recall seeing recently a company advertising that they will handle your support issues for you. Everything else is outsourced these days, so why not customer support? Oh, wait. DirecTV already does that - their support is handled in the Phillipines. Thinking as I type here, almost every major company with whom I do business these days seems to outsource their customer support.
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            • Profile picture of the author Customerservice
              Originally Posted by mcmahanusa View Post

              Thinking as I type here, almost every major company with whom I do business these days seems to outsource their customer support.
              Thats what happen in the U.K. You spoke to someone on the other side of the world who didn't have a clue how to deal with you. A big majority of U.K. firms realised they were losing customers hand over fist because of this and moved their customer service back to the U.K.

              Get your customer service skills correct in the first place.
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              • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
                Originally Posted by Customerservice View Post

                Thats what happen in the U.K. You spoke to someone on the other side of the world who didn't have a clue how to deal with you. A big majority of U.K. firms realised they were losing customers hand over fist because of this and moved their customer service back to the U.K.

                Get your customer service skills correct in the first place.
                For a humorous insight into this, take a look at this US TV series. Particularly the first episode...

                Outsourced

                An American catalog company outsources its call center to India, but the Indian operators have no idea of the cultural references involved. Housed in the same facility are tech support teams for US tech companies, and these hire the "A team" - operators who have studied and lived in the USA, and can 'speak the language'.
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  • Profile picture of the author Devon Brown
    I've had bad customer support not just on products but affiliate managers as well. I think every person represents the company (or guru, whichever) I think many places have too many communication avenues and they're not funneling into one specific area.

    My CS team has only on email pointing to them so there's no confusion and I make it abundantly clear that every email must be answered within 24 hours.. including weekends but excluding holidays.
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