RV Weekly

In today’s high-tech world, it is possible for businesses to irritate customers long before they set foot in a store. A few weeks ago, some friends were debating the worst business practices in place in America. Here are just a few of their complaints:

• People without voice mail or companies that allow phones to ring and ring after hours without giving callers a chance to leave a message.
• Companies that have machines answer the phones… but don’t give an option to press 0 for an operator.
• People who never check their voice mail. Few things are more irritating to callers who finally wade through multiple layers of �??press 1 for X, press 3 for Y�?� only to get to the right person’s voice mail and, after listening to the greeting hear �??mailbox full �?? goodbye.�?�
• Companies that offer electronic phone directories so callers can enter a person’s name and be directed to the extension�?� but don’t offer a way out if you don’t know how to spell the first or last name. Imagine trying to reach Cherie Maikowski (pronounced �??Sherry Mycowski�?�) only to hear �??no such person exists, please try again�?� over and over and over.
• Companies that don’t create electronic directories but force callers to listen to the entire employee roster in the greeting without telling who the people are. For example, �??Thank you for calling XYZ Company. Press 1 for Bob Anderson. Press 2 for Robert Anderson. Press 3 for Bill Anderson …�?� It’s more helpful to hear: �??Press 1 for CEO Bob Anderson. Press 2 for Sales Manager Robert Anderson…�?�
• Companies without websites �?? period.
• Companies with websites that don’t publish a contact phone number or address anywhere on any page.
• Company websites offering a contact us page, but instead of posting an e-mail address, require people to fill out a form in its entirety with a series of required fields regardless of the nature of the person’s question.
• Companies that don’t respond to e-mail inquiries �?? ever.
• Websites that entice viewers to �??click here for a larger image�?� but the enhanced image is only 10 percent bigger than the photo on the website.

Properly used, technology can make it much easier for businesses to communicate with customers. But, used improperly or not at all, it can sour a customer’s perception of the business before he or she sets one foot on the property.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 21st, 2006 at 3:44 pm and is filed under Previous Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.