Bad vs Great Customer Service

one customer two different agents two
different results
this mock call is gonna show you the
difference between bad and great
customer service
let's start with the first agent claire
thank you for calling question this is
claire how may i help you today
i still have not received my order
you said i would receive it on the 20th
it's on the 22nd still nothing
i don't know what's going on but if it's
not too much of a bother to you i would
really really now love to get what i
paid for you know what i mean this right
here is sarcasm from our very own
tabitha ratched if you've watched my
other tabitha video you'd know that this
is a very tabitha thing to say if it's
not too much of a bother to you i would
really really now love to get what i
paid for
yep this is tabitha right to the core
it's her way of expressing her annoyance
through sarcasm this is an opportunity
for agent claire to acknowledge
tabitha's annoyance but will claire do
that let's see i'd love to get what i
paid for you know what i mean okay you
may have the order number and your first
name
498 4977
tabitha ratched
thank you let me just check that here
no she didn't she only asked for the
information without addressing tabitha's
dissatisfaction
this is a no-no in customer service
actually not just in customer service
but in any situation where you want to
nurture a relationship with someone
humans are emotional creatures we are
motivated and activated by emotions we
purchase clothes not only to keep us
warm but because the colors and the
styles make us feel good we hold on to
certain things because they offer
sentimental value asking for the info
alone isn't going to cut it if a
negative emotion isn't addressed at the
very start of the call it'll just keep
creeping up and bleeding into the later
parts of the conversation like this
thank you let me just check that here
i mean it's ridiculous if there's a
delay you could just tell me it's not
like you don't have my email or anything
you didn't notify me at all if i forgot
that i'd ordered it which by the way
happened sometimes then i'd completely
be paying for nothing so you can't just
hear tabitha's insistence to be
acknowledged here it's like she's saying
non-directly
that claire in case you can't tell from
my first statement from my tone of voice
i am deeply annoyed and you are yet to
acknowledge me on that let's see if
claire gets the hint and finally
empathizes then i'd completely be paying
for nothing one moment please will i
check your order status
unbelievable are you even listening to
me i am that's why i'm gonna check the
status for you okay
okay
fine go ahead thank you
see the more you delay acknowledging
your customers negative emotion the more
she's gonna insist on talking about it
and she won't stop until you make that
acknowledgement but what if the agent
acknowledged her what would happen
instead
well let's watch the second agent
candace
thank you for calling question this is
candice how may i help you i still have
not received my order
you said i would receive it on the 20th
it's on the 22nd still nothing
i don't know what's going on but if it's
not too much of a bother to you i would
really really now love to get what i
paid for you know what i mean
oh if it's beyond the promise delivery
date we definitely need to look into
that may have your order number in your
full name so i can check for you candace
was empathizing with tabitha but in a
way that doesn't bad mouth the company
if it's beyond the promised delivery
date we definitely need to look into
that it's a personalized version of the
generic empathy statement i understand
so right at the start of the
conversation candace was already
building rapport by acknowledging
tabitha's feelings in a professional way
now let's hear tabitha's response we
definitely need to look into that may
have your order number in your full name
so i can check for you that's exactly
what i'm thinking like i don't
understand what was taking so long
anyway the um order number is 498
4977 and my name is tabitha ratchet
thank you tabitha i will now go ahead
and pull up your order and hopefully i
can give you an immediate answer one
moment please
go ahead thank you
okay like what you said the estimated
delivery date is on the 20th it's not
22nd so it's two days late
normally when a parcel is late like this
we send an email informing you of the
delay so let me visit the fedex website
and track it
thank you candace that would be
appreciated i
actually haven't tried tracking it on
the fedex website since you already gave
me the delivery date through emails so
yes please go ahead
tabitha now sounds like she's relieved
that someone finally understands her not
just factually but also emotionally
she's still annoyed mind you after all
she lost her parcel that she already
paid for but the venting alone helps the
conversation run as smoothly as possible
without tabitha exploding because if
tabitha explodes the conversation is
going to fall apart the call is going to
fall apart and they won't even get to
the resolution so this is a great start
for candace and tabitha now let's get
back to
claire and tabitha
okay
according to the fedex note here your
person was delivered on the 20th at 10
am and it was left on the front porch
according to the notes
what
you're kidding right
okay okay first of all
my apartment has no front porch
second
the only way to deliver parcels in a
residence is by leaving them to the
concierge that's it
third i was at home the whole day on the
20th and no one literally no one knocked
on my door or called my number to notify
me of a parcel so whatever this fedex
guy is saying
he's lying okay he's lying have you
tried checking hey
according to the fedex note here your
parcel was delivered on the 20th at 10
am
it said that it was left on the front
porch have you tried checking your front
porch what
what what what you're kidding right okay
okay first of all my apartment has no
front porch
second the only way to deliver parcels
in a residence is by leaving them to the
concierge
third i was at home the whole day on the
20th and no one literally no one knocked
on my door or called my number to notify
me of a parcel so whatever this fedex
guy is saying
he's lying okay the only difference here
is tabitha is calmer with candace and
more hostile with claire and that's
because
claire is still yet to acknowledge her
emotion and she still hasn't done that
even once now let's proceed to claire
have you tried tracking with the
buildings concierge to see if they have
kept a package for you
or i just checked this morning and the
answer is no
there's no parcel
otherwise it wouldn't be calling you
okay how about his lines that's
definitely odd have you tried checking
with your buildings concierge to see if
they have kept a package for you i just
checked this morning and the answer is
no otherwise i wouldn't be calling you
here the only difference aside from
tabitha's level of hostility is
the that's odd from candace
his lying that's that's definitely odd
a very short sentence but
it was it was enough to let tabitha know
that candace felt what she felt so
another way of building rapport
and making sure that tabitha doesn't
emotionally explode in the middle of a
conversation where a customer is
emotionally loaded you have to walk the
balance between
emotion and logic she's still going to
be upset she's not going to be fully
pacified but it'll allow you to have
a functional conversation as functional
as it can be
how about your neighbors have you
checked with them to see if they
received your parcel
just just just what line of questioning
is this are you saying that my neighbor
stole my personal no no i'm not yeah
your neighbors also wouldn't happen to
receive it right since as you said all
parcels go to the concierge correct and
if the note says he left it on my
doorstep again that's impossible no one
can access our doorsteps here except as
tenants so there's clearly a mistake
here now this is where the need for
positive scripting comes in
i want you to compare these two
statements and get a feel of the
difference
essentially the same question but
different phrasing
so there's nothing inherently wrong with
claire's question it's it's a protocol
question after all but since this is an
iron customer she's dealing with there's
a need to personalize the question to
avoid triggering
tabitha as you can remember tabitha said
my apartment has no front porch the only
way to deliver parcels is by leaving
them to the concierge claire should have
now acknowledged that fact this will
appease tabitha it will tell her that
claire is not just absent mindedly
asking questions without remembering
what she said candace's phrasing of the
question is just so much better because
it it demonstrates active listening it's
saying okay tabitha i might be asking
you this seemingly unnecessary question
but note that i remember what you told
me about your residence that you only
receive parcels through the concierge
this
preceding part of the call is where
you're gonna see
bigger and bigger differences between
the two calls
let's watch claire questioning is this
are you saying that my neighbor stole my
person no no no i'm not saying that what
i'm saying is they might have received
your parcel while you were away
you're not listening to me i told you it
was in the apartment the entire
day if someone delivered a parcel the
concierge would have received it by now
second and i repeat the only way to
receive parcels here is through the
concierge nothing else no front porch no
neighbors we're even asking about my
neighbors they have nothing to do with
this and shouldn't you be questioning
the fact that fedex said i have a front
porch when i clearly don't
tabitha i'm i'm just doing my job this
is a standard protocol we have to make
sure that the receiver has checked all
the possible places the parcel could
have been delivered i know so but do
your job right you're not even trying
i've been spending my time here
listening to you and the only thing
you're doing so far is asking me dumb
questions like what kind of service is
this i just want to get what i paid for
is that so wrong to ask
please calm down tabitha i'm here to
help you then help me
and for god's sake do it well jesus
christ
okay tabitha i'm sorry that this
happened to you but oh yes i bet you are
here in the resolution part i want you
to notice how claire proposed the
resolution versus candace okay for us to
resolve this i will send you an email
please reply to that email
to confirm in writing that you did not
receive the parcel after that i'm gonna
i'm already talking to you what do you
need me to email you for i'm i'm telling
you right now i did not receive my
parcel so do something about it now
it's it's not that simple tabitha you
have to confirm in writing because
that's what we're going to show fedex so
they can begin the investigation
so
this is necessary to prove that we are
not making this all up once the claim is
filed we will investigate
and
depending on the investigation it will
take seven
around seven business days and then we
can refund or replace or find your
missing parcel
so there's clearly a mistake here
yes that makes sense um so here's what
we're going to do tabitha it is likely
that
fedex delivered the order to the wrong
address so i will file a pdnr claim on
your behalf it means parcel delivered
not received
what this does is to let fedex
investigate to find your missing parcel
and after the investigation we will
either refund replace or find your
missing parcel okay
yeah and for me to initiate the claim i
will send you an email right now
please reply to that email confirming
that you have not received your parcel
um
uh your response to that email is very
important because that will serve as the
documentation
proving to fedex that you are requesting
for us to file a claim on your behalf
this is very important guys if you need
your customer to do something for you
you first need to state the benefit and
or the reason behind that request before
even making the request
because this way
you're giving your customer a purpose in
exchange for her action this is the
reason why claire was met with objection
and candace was met with approval now
let's proceed clear or replace or find
your missing parcel
so just file a dispute and get my money
back
you know that i'm being nice right now
right i am contacting you first when i
just have phoned my bank and mark you as
fraud in an instant you know that right
i wouldn't recommend that as that might
poorly reflect on your credit score
especially that it shows delivered you
know so the best option i recommend is
to let us file a claim on your behalf
that's what i recommend
[Laughter]
you know what with the ridiculousness of
the situation i i can't even bring
myself to be mad anymore like what is
the point anyway you basically have the
emotional intelligence of a peanut so i
envy you that's for sure
okay so uh how would you like to proceed
well it's not like i have a choice take
care of it deal with fedex i didn't pay
you to make me file the claim myself so
okay so after you confirm through email
that you did not receive your parcel i
will file a pdnr for you
what's pdnr it means parcel delivered
not received and it will take day it
will take five to seven business days
okay what happens if the parcel isn't
found is the replacement available in
your warehouse i need a replacement for
that i want to refund
well since this is a dropship item we
don't have the item in stock in our
warehouse so i would first have to check
with the dropship team for its
availability but yes i will take note of
that what's a drop ship pdnr and
dropship
these are jargons in a way that
most customers don't really understand
what these mean and in some accounts
using internal jargons is even
prohibited for security purposes in this
case though pdnr and dropship are pretty
safe to mention
the only problem is you're going to
confuse the customer that is why when
you have to mention a jargon define that
jargon without waiting for the customer
to ask that's called being proactive
let's proceed with a drop ship
it means that the item is in another
warehouse and we don't have the
inventory for it so we will first
coordinate with the supplier
uh you know what you are making my head
spin so let me get this straight
seven business days for the
investigation and if not found which is
probably the case
99 of the time you can check with the
team if it's available
and then what
another seven days to deliver the
replacement yes correct
[Music]
well i tried to be nice to you guys but
it seems like you left me no other
choice i will file a dispute and i will
never shop from your site again
as much as i would like to help you this
is the best i can do for you i have to
follow the company policy as i said we
can issue a replacement but we first
have to file a claim
and that will take five to seven
business days if that is too long for
you to wait which which i understand
uh i suggest that you place another
order with a different shipping address
while the investigation is ongoing and
we will just refund you for the first
parcel but we first have to wait for the
claim blah blah blah just stop okay just
stop i don't care anymore i hope your
company goes bankrupt and then no
company will ever hire you again your
your attitude has been pretty disgusting
condescending the moment you picked up a
phone and i cannot cannot for the life
of me imagine an employer who would want
to hire you for that attitude continue
living your miserable life i'm just
going to go ahead and file that dispute
bye bye
what did i do wrong unbelievable well it
turns out that claire did a lot of
things wrong
sure tabitha wasn't a saint either she
has issues of her own that's something
that
claire has no control of
but she could use some serious serious
improvement here's a better way of
handling the call let's listen to
candace questing for us to file a claim
on your behalf okay whatever happens i'm
gonna get my refund though right you're
right of course um and the sooner they
find your parcel the better by the way
uh in the event that the parcel isn't
recovered would you prefer a replacement
or a refund i need a replacement for
that i don't want to refund
okay i will make note of that
and after the investigation which
usually takes five to seven business
days i will check with the supplier for
its availability availability and then
they can process the replacement for you
i want you to notice a pattern as soon
as tabitha expresses a
tiny hint of disappointment candace
would immediately acknowledge it okay
it's disappointing that this is to
happen
but okay whatever at least i don't have
to file a dispute to be honest i was i
was already thinking of calling my bank
this morning and filing a dispute
yes
this is definitely not the experience
that we want you to have second candace
would always end her response with a
positive note but
we will try our best to make this as
easy as possible for you
considering the situation
i will also keep this case in progress
so whatever questions you might have
during the investigation you just reply
to the same email thread and i will be
there to answer your questions
so let me get this straight
seven business days for the
investigation and if it isn't found
you're gonna check with the team if it's
available and if it's available another
seven days to deliver the replacement
yes tabitha that's correct but of course
if they find the parcel during the
investigation then you don't need to
wait that long that's already the
maximum time frame
yeah well i hope they do but i i
honestly don't have much hope for it but
okay replacement's fine i guess
okay yeah i i cannot guarantee that 100
that they would find your missing parcel
but there have been cases in the past
when they did find the missing part so
um i will of course update you
throughout the process
okay so i guess that's my best option um
what do you need me to do just reply to
your email saying that i didn't receive
the parcel
that's correct i have just sent you the
email
all right i will reply in five minutes
i'm gonna have my lunch break what's
your name again candice
all right candace thank you so much
that's all i need for now i have to go
bye enjoy your lunch tabitha thank you
for calling question bye
so summary here's what claire needs to
improve with her call handling
first is she has to empathize better
second she needs positive scripting
third
careful use of jargons and fourth she
needed to be proactive
so all these boil down really to just
put yourself in the shoes of the
customers and ask yourself how do you
want to be treated and also acknowledge
that there are things that you cannot
control of course
the customer's behavior the customer's
demeanor you cannot control that but
know that there are things that you can
control to make your life
easier basically on a side note though i
know that there are people who just are
not fit to work in customer service
because they
they're
they're affected by
negative customers pretty easily so i
guess
this really just applies to people who
want to work in customer service and you
want to want to improve
their call handling skills
all right that's all for today i think
um yeah this is all for today if you
want an interrupted version version of
this call
i'm going to link the video up here
where you're not going to see the
explanation you're just going to see the
two calls
uh
yeah of claire and candace
all right i think that's all for today
thank you so much for watching this long
video
i hope you got something useful from it