Remember the 2004 “What the @#!* Do We Know?” movie that explored the power of our brains and our thinking? I loved that movie…and it got me thinking just a little differently…I have no hope that my interaction with Citibank last night will have anywhere NEAR the same impact.
I just happened to check my online credit card account info last night and saw a long paragraph in red letters telling me that a “recent merchant database compromise” may have put my account at risk and that my card was no longer active and I would be receiving a new one…WHAT?!
My immediate reaction was “Why didn’t they call or email me with this information?” I have always been pleased with CitiBank’s service in situations where they suspected ‘fraudulent’ activity and called me proactively…why didn’t that happen this time?
I immediately got on the phone to customer service…and got an extremely frustrating response from the customer service rep who was very vague and never answered my questions about what merchant database was compromised, when did it happen, why didn’t I get a call to inform me of the situation, etc.
Instead, I got a ‘party line’ repeated to me over and over again: “We suspected that there might be fraudulent activity, so we cancelled your card.” Got it…you were being proactive…cool…thanks…but how about that NEXT step of ‘proactivity’ and letting me, the customer, know what was going on? BEFORE I try to use my credit card and get rejected by a merchant/store/gas pump?
I asked to speak to a manager to express my frustration and to get answers to my questions but he not only wouldn’t accommodate my request, but expressed his OWN frustration that I ‘was making him repeat himself’. Ay yi yi…
This is a wonderful illustration of how companies lose customers. I could have been talked off the ledge if the customer service rep had handled our call just a little differently using some very simple (common sense) steps:
– Apologize for the problem/stress/concern that their message caused
– Clarify what exactly had happened and what they had done and what would happen now
– Ask whether I had any remaining questions/concerns
– Apologize one more time for the inconvenience
– Assure me that CitiBank is looking out for me and wants to protect my assets
– Thank me for my continued business
It’s quite simple (hey! Let’s give it an acronym: ACAAAT!)…and I think that this formula would work with any reasonable customer…it astounds me that respectable companies (which I truly consider CitiBank to be) still aren’t getting this…for those of us who work with organizations to help them monitor customer satisfaction/loyalty and retain customers, let’s all make it our mission to keep spreading the word that the SIMPLE things are what will help them keep customers…it’s not the fancy stuff…loyalty programs are great, but if you can’t get the simple human interaction stuff right, they are wasted. And for those of you who have ANY influence at all over your own organization’s service policies and/or strategy, please keep this in mind.
What the @*!# are they thinking?