Needed: Divine Customer Service Intervention

(When Technology Fails to Produce Better Communication)

We live in an increasingly high-tech, instant communication world.  We can buy products from a computer screen and get them shipped, at least in theory.  We give our address, our e-mail address, and two phone numbers so that we will be assured that we will be contacted if there is a problem. 

We can track shipments from node to node along the routes of shipping.  A consumer can get all but the name of the driver of the truck, or so it seems.  When the brown-clad driver of a package service has a question, he should be able to dial the phone and get it answered by the end-consumer, who will be happy to get the product.

Well, that's what I think.  Modern communications linkages should have improved customer service.  There should be no less commitment to good service than there was in the decades before the Internet and cell phones.

I'm apparently naive to think that big companies will bother to call me, e-mail me, or even so much as notice that a mistake has happened.  Asking that the mistake be rectified is probably worse than naive; it apparently puts the problem into the hands of people who do not care at all.

I recently obtained a second-hand laptop.  I want to get it back to full efficiency – the student who previously used it was not entirely cautious about his software use – and knew that I needed a "Restore" CD from the manufacturer.  The manufacturer will NOT remain nameless, it was Hewlett-Packard. 

In fact, I was happy of that fact, because I love HP products.  They have never caused me a serious problem.  I have owned three HP LaserJet printers over the years, and at least one InkJet printer. 

I have owned two HP digital cameras, one of which was stolen.  I own a 2000-vintage HP desktop that still works.  I have recommended HP products to numerous friends and business acquaintances.  My experience with HP has generally been so good that I had no hesitance in ordering the Restore CD I need.

Well, apparently, I should have.

HP did not give the shipper my full address, it seems.  It apparently did not give out my phone number or e-mail either, which it seemed to think necessary in the order process.  Why did they need that information, or even want it, if not to assure good customer service?

Unable to find my name on the mailbox of the apartment into which I had just moved, the shipper – those Brown braggarts – did not leave so much as a note.  They apparently did not contact HP.  They just sent the package back.  After I inquired of HP and got a tracking number, wondering what was taking so long, it was too late – the package was on the way back, and not available for interception.

All those computer links, and no one can say, "Hey, get that package out of the bin and turn it around at the next warehouse node."

HP got the part back and apparently returned it to its inventory – and then apparently sold it to someone else.  This is particularly outrageous, because I still legally owned that little laser-readable bundle of necessary information.  That is what I assume, at least, as it is no longer available.  Yes, HP, you stole my property.

And you did this after I had contacted you again, wondering just what the devil was going on.

In the meantime, I had to struggle to get customer service numbers.  "Parts" and "whole expensive products" are not merely different ideas, they are entirely different phone numbers, personnel, and computers.  There is no ability to cross-link, no one at the mid-level to deal with them all.  And there is no easy, evident way to direct an E-Mail to HP customer service about parts on their web site.  The two functions are different.

Finally, I found a way to e-mail Mark Hurd, CEO of HP.  Now, I am no starry-eyed idealist.  I know that Mr. Hurd never read my e-mail.  E-Mail to him is e-mail to a problem resolution team.  But then, that's what I wanted – a resolution to my problem.  I got a computer-generated, "We'll look into it" e-mail response.  Oh, how comforting. 

Again, days passed.  Finally, I emailed again, and ask them to get a move on.  No response.  I resend, several times.  Yes, that's annoying – but then, I am also annoyed.  By this time, a small fry customer was wondering what makes his business valuable to the big corporation.  I wondered why I have bothered to say nice things about HP products.  I wondered why I have advertised the good engineering if it isn't backed up by people who make phone calls and respond to e-mails.

Well, eventually, someone called me.  She gave me a new order number, assured me overnight delivery – pretty impressive, considering that she called on a Monday holiday – and gave me an e-mail address.

Nothing came Tuesday, and I was around all the time.  I was grading papers for my communications classes.  By the way, my name is on the mailbox now; I have rectified my prior mistake.

Nothing came Wednesday.  I was not around, but had my cell phone with me – I was teaching my communications classes.  When I returned, there was no note, no little sticky paper saying, "Brown was here, where were you?"

Nothing came today,  Thursday.  Finally, it was time to ask again.  Using the e-mail address given to me for the problem-resolution team, I asked again.

No response came for an hour or so.

OK, I then used an annoying babyish get-attention tactic again.  I re-sent the e-mail, several times.  The last time I added a question:  "What is so hard about this?"

While awaiting a response, I sent another note to Mr. Hurd via the web page. 

Well, I got my response at about the same time I hit "send" to Mr. Hurd.  And I was given reason to rejoice, right?  Right?  Pretty please?

Nope. 

Here's what I got:

Hello Mr. Lee,

Your duplicate email was received in our office and actioned. To find status of your order, a call was made to the Parts Sales Center. All charges have been reversed and the ETA of your order is 10/24/05, as the part is  now on back order. The order is being sent overnight once inventory is available.

Should you require further information, please call 1-800-227-8164.

HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY
Executive Customer Relations, Palo Alto, CA

Tel:  1 800 756-0608, option #7
Fax:  1 650 813-3254 or 1 650 852-8330

To ensure we receive your email messages, please address REPLIES and NEW messages to:

email.ecr@hp.com

So, as I said, after stealing the part I already owned, HP decided that I should get a refund – after I complained.

By the way, there is no legitimate verb, "to action."  What corporate doofus made that up?  My e-mail was "acted upon."

Perhaps I expect a bit much out of customer service in this interconnected world.  Like honesty, integrity, and a little effort to please the customer.  Because, while this is only a $40.00 order in this case, it is part of a much larger history of loyalty to a brand.  I can see five of the six HP products I currently own right here as I type away on an indestructible HP keyboard.  And the sixth is in the other room.  Two LaserJet printers died only after giving wondrous, wondrous extended service, and the third remains a workhouse.  A camera presumably is still working somewhere, in the hands of a high school student who stole it while I wasn't looking.  My kids learn graphing on HP graphing calculators mandated by their schools.

My word – look, I am still accidentally advertising the brand by writing these things.  And I'm not being paid a cent.  Hell, it's costing me frustration and making me look a little schizoid.

And I still can't get my hands on a "Restore" CD because it's too damned hard for HP's service people to deal with something that easy.  Worse yet, it's too hard for them to call me and promise that they'll resolve things before the end of the month.

Lest I finish this extended harangue too early, I can add one interesting tidbit. 

I am told that a young fellow named David Packard apparently needed a place to stay in his early years.  This fellow was the "Packard" of "Hewlett-Packard."  At that time of need, he was taken in by some people who tried to take care of lots of people in the world they knew.  They fed him and kept him warm and dry.  I doubt that they were paid much, if anything – and doubt that they would have taken anything other than "pure expense money."  One of these people was a Baptist Sunday School teacher.  The other was a gruff shoe salesman who ran a store for the Hanover chain; he also went into burning buildings for no pay as a volunteer fireman.  I knew both of these good people – Ethel and Lennox Lee, my grandparents. 

Mr. Packard died about ten years ago.  My grandfather died in 1978, and my grandmother in 1986.  Maybe the three of them can get together and find a way to get me my Restore CD.  I'm sure that, if they had any influence on him, Mr. Packard made sure that customer service was a top priority.  Unfortunately, though, I doubt that I will get "heavenly intervention" to get an older laptop back up to snuff. 

I will have to downsize my expectations of efficient customer service.

 

 

Copyright © 2005 by Gregory P. Lee.  Mr. Lee is proprietor of Three/Four Communications, and is an Adjunct Professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts.  His writings can be found at www.threefourcomm.com.