Why Customer Service?

As I have worked for different companies and job-types, there is always one thing that I find being emphasized at each job, no matter how different, that thing is customer service.
I began to wonder why it is emphasized so much in all different job types, and so I decided to look back on my experiences and do a little research as well.
Firstly, let’s think about why it’s so important. In my own personal experience, I think that it’s most helpful to look at this from the standpoint of a customer, and so I’d like to refer to a positive experience that I had, and a negative, and the impact that they both had on me.

Negative Experience with Customer Service……

When I was younger I had my first cell phone with T-Mobile, because it was one of the cheaper options, and I was happy with it for quite some time. That happiness did not last, however, because of a mistake that snowballed into a large bill that could not be paid easily.
I had changed something on my plan to make it cheaper, and when I decided to change it back to normal a few days later on the website, I got the “OK” and notification that the plan had been changed back successfully, but when I received my bill, it did not reflect that change, which resulted in a bill of over $500.When I spoke with their customer service, they would not budge an inch. And so, they were going to suspend my phone so that I could not make calls or texts. So, I asked if I could just cancel it, but they said that you can’t cancel the plan unless you pay the bill first. So I asked if I could at least make my plan the cheapest plan possible since I wouldn’t even be using those unlimited texts and calls with my phone being suspended. They would not change it until the bill was paid.

And so, the bill would either snowball for a few months and get to a size I really could not pay, or I had to pay a huge cancellation fee on top of my already large bill. I went with the latter, and so they gained a lot of money from me that day; but did they consider what they lost?
Not only did they lose a customer for life, as I will never go back, after seeing even the best deals and phones from them, but I have told all of my friends and family about this and I am sure they have lost other customers just from this one bad experience of mine. Whatever amount of money they got out of me at the time will not end up being even a small percentage of what they have now lost out on, thanks to bad policies and bad service.

Positive Experience with Customer Service………

The first positive experience with customer service from a customer’s standpoint that comes to mind is a local custom ring store that my girlfriend and I have gone to and looked into. We had shopped around for a little while, as we are soon to be engaged, and all the other commercial stores were just trying too hard to get us snagged or caught on something, and we felt pushed and roughly handled, even when we were enjoying the rings and designs that we were seeing. We were almost forced into buying a certain ring in a way that I still do not fully understand, but luckily got out of it to shop around a little bit more.Then, we came to a custom ring store in a small little corner of a small city. We decided to go in and take a look, and what we found was the best experience we’d had yet. The young man at the desk was not pushy at all, he simply stated that they made custom rings for much cheaper than we could find elsewhere because there was no middle man, they did everything themselves. Nobody was working for commission, and they didn’t need a down payment or our information right off the bat or anything, because they were confident that we’d be back.

We started looking at the rings in the cases, but the young man told us that it would be more likely that we’d prefer to come back another day with photos, drawings, or general ideas of a custom ring we might want; as that would work better for whatever specific budget we had, and we could get exactly what we wanted.

I was surprised that he would just tell us to come back another day, but I was more surprised at how confident he seemed that we would come back. And so, we did. They worked so well with our budget and told us everything with honesty, and even made suggestions to make it cheaper but still getting what we wanted. That single experience will not only won my purchase, but those of many friends and family members that I plan to refer there.

Long story short, I’ve learned to value good customer service, and am glad to work with a company that values it as well. Here at Box Home Loans, we have that same confidence that was found at that small ring shop. We know that if you shop around, you’ll come back. We are confident that we can provide the best experience possible, and so we show that confidence and a willingness to help with any issue or question.
So, whether you’re working for a company, starting your own business, or shopping around, remember that customer service is a reflection of future business experiences.

-Donald DeFreese
Box Home Loan Specialist