Impatience

Impatience can bring stress and negative results. I got a glimpse of that this week.

A customer was very upset and disappointed with one of our service reps and wanted to cancel doing business with us. Someone who has been a client for over 5 years now. To me that was an indication of poor customer service and I took it upon myself to successfully bring the customer back. 

His service was to be restored yesterday. I kept an eye on it and was fully cognizant of the fact that the work would be completed yesterday, but did not have a definite time line. The customer called me over 10 times during the day, wanting me to give him a time line and every time I told him it would happen - he just needed to give it a chance. Eventually around 4:00 PM he called very upset and said, "Cancel the order!" At that point I decided it was simply not worth trying to reason with someone who was not willing to understand that when we have to depend on others to get a job done it requires us to give up control. I did not cancel the order as I wanted to see when the job would be completed. Sure enough about 20 minutes after his call the service had been restored. I called the customer simply to tell him that he could use the service till he got new service and that we would not charge him till such time - a few days. He refused to hear me out and said, "I already have new service." I was more than taken aback. How could he already have acquired new service? But I still asked, "Then I can go ahead and cancel as per your request, right!" 

His response, "Yes go ahead and cancel," still quite rude and short.

So I canceled the service.

15 minutes later he calls, "I don't have the service anymore?"

"The new service?" I asked.

"Yes, what did you do?" he says.

"You would have to ask your new service provider that," I said. "I canceled your service with us as you requested."

"No, I asked you to cancel the order, not the service," he shouts back.

Huh? 

Too late! 

Now if he wants our service it will take another 5 to 7 business days! What an absolute waste of time and energy. Patience and the willingness to depend on those who do the work, would have meant he and his family would be surfing the net today. :(

I guess the real reason he was canceling was not poor customer service after all. :)