Dear Car Guy,
Hoping this finds you well and enjoying the late night rides with your “baby”, feeling the power beneath you and in your hands as you find your favorite spot to drive. Nothing like a late night summer drive to clear the mind and invoke positive vibes.
I’ve been well and learning more and more about how to connect with those same positive vibes while working. As you may know, I work in the customer service department. It’s like choosing to work in the missing baggage claim area, or being the person who empties porta-potties, you’re bound to catch some crap and unhappiness each day.
What’s nice about my job is I am the decision maker; there is no “manager” above me. Anyone who has a warranty claim or complaint knows they’re dealing directly with the person who will be making the decisions and coming to a mutually reasonable resolution. It’s more often than not that we do come to a mutually beneficial resolution, because I’ve been given permission to take care of our customers.
Now, in dealing with car companies, I know there are a lot of Car Guy’s that have horrific experiences, where a company has zero desire to take care of them or work through issues, so when they come to me with guns blazing and fists raised, I realize this is just from their past experiences.
I just wanted to take the time to tell you, that we’re a reasonable company and we know we’re not perfect, BUT we’re always willing to help. We’re always willing to work towards a solution, and we’re always going to get back to you.
So when you call, Car Guy, know that if I don’t pick up, you’ll hear from me that day. When you email, know that you’ll get a reply within that same day. When I say I’ll call you back, you will be receiving a call back. When you ask a question, we are always willing to find the answer.
I hope you can understand our side of things a little better now, but just a heads up: As a standard, our company values its employees, and realizes that mental health and emotional well-being are more important than making a few bucks.
For whatever reason, I have experienced some people that just want to spread hate, and ill will. A burned out LED bulb is not worth being yelled at, cursed at, or being a personal punching bag for an angry Car Guy. This would make sense if we were a company that didn’t at least attempt and DESIRE to solve the problems as quickly as possible. We will always try out hardest to take care of those people, because we understand that sometimes it’s just a bad day, or you’ve been put through the ringer by other companies before, but if necessary, I have been giving permission to “fire you”.
What does it mean to be fired as a customer?
Ex: Angry Car Guy calls us and decides to yell, curse and/or throw a tantrum while I am trying to help. I reserve the right to hang up on you and 86 you as a customer. When you threaten us with personal insults and call us amazingly unoriginal names, and I am on the verge of tears, it just isn’t worth it anymore to try and be polite back. We will end the call, and move on with our days. We are here to help, not be the scape goats for your bad day.
Put your fists away, put the guns down, and come at me with a positive mindset, knowing that I’m going to do anything and everything I can to get you taken care of. I’ll be in contact with you consistently to let you know what we need, and what we’re doing. If at any point you have questions, call me up and I’ll let you know what I’m working on.
I am a customer service specialist. Yes, by nature this job isn’t going to be the most amazing all the time. Sometimes we have fallen short as a company and it’s my part to fix it and make your experience a more pleasant one. I am just hoping that, after reading this, you will know that we are here to help, and that we know that we’re not perfect. Give a chance to make it a better experience, refrain from yelling (because honestly it makes me cry sometimes), and know that we’re doing everything we can to get you taken care of as soon as possible.
Until next time, stay fast, stay safe, and stay happy!
– Kim@CorkSport
I can completely empathize with you, having worked in the past as a Technical Support Agent for many ISP’s early on in my career.
I can only imagine what it’s like in the automotive field.
Certain Car Guys with egos and crusty attitudes, who think that immediately going into irate, defensive mode is how things get done.
When in reality, they forget that the noise that they are hearing on their phone is actually coming from a real person.
They don’t realize that if they turned their brains on and stop assuming that any given company is “out to get you”, and are made up of people who genuinely care about you as a customer.
My advice as well, and to put things into perspective is, when these people do present themselves, they are just a noise on a phone. They have no weight in your life.
I never felt the least bit bad about hanging on someone if they became verbally abusive.
I would feel bad that something in their life has taught them that this is an appropriate way to talk to someone else and that surely affects the other aspects of their lives as well.
You keep kicking ass Kim, what you do is important.
<3
Kim-great points. Customer service is definitely a continuous process with lots of pitfalls along the way. You are doing a great job of enhancing the customer experience in a way that makes CS great. Super great!