PlusOne – Marketing Musings

At PlusOne, we are firm believers in the end results of good customer service (after all we do run customer focus training). This is because good customer service contributes to loyalty – be it to the business or the brand and in turn this leads to an increase in profitability.

At PlusOne are firm believers in the end results of good customer service (after all we do run customer focus training). This is because good customer service contributes to loyalty – be it to the business or the brand and in turn this leads to increase profitability.

And while we all like to bemoan poor customer service to anyone who will listen (though now back to the offending business nearly enough…), it is important that we pass on good experiences. After all, this is what testimonials are all about. So let me share a postive experience.

About five years ago I bought an all-in-one Hewlett Packard laserjet printer/scanner/fax. It has served the office reliably in that time and all was going well till we upgraded the computers in the office.

Everything in the computer changeover department was going well till it came to the printer – which refused to work. So after some frustrating time on the Hewlett Packard website looking for the answer, I opted for the human approach and dialled the 13 number (a local call cost here in Australia) to talk to a real person. I was partially dismayed to be greeted by an Indian accent due to some negative experiences in understanding their accent with other Indian based call centre calls I have made.

However it seems the HP help desk people have had some extra training and it was not too hard to understand their accent, and my Aussie one did not seem to bother them. The problem was quickly identified to being that the software originally supplied with the printer was useful up to W2000, not XP, so an order was placed for an upgrade CD to handle the new XP computers – though I was a bit riled by having to pay A$33 for it.

My first pleasant surprise came when four days later I received a call from the same girl at the call centre asking if the software had arrived OK. It did the next day and I was soon merrily following the lengthy uninstall process of the early version software I had inadvertently tried to install.

Then I tried printing – no success. So back onto HP and another helpful fellow who’s patience I am sure I sorely tested. “It is your computer sir” he kept saying. I did not believe him of course. After all it was shiney and new and bought from the local supplier I have dealt with for the past 12 years.

My wife, a bit of a walking help-desk, dropped by the office and in about 90 seconds said “it’s the computer – it’s not detecting the printer”. So following the instructions of she-who-must-be-obeyed I took the offending computer down to the supplier who slightly grudgingly said they would look at it, despite being very busy.
“I need it back by 10am,” said I at 9:02 and went off to the supermarket for essential tearoom supplies (sigh).

By 9:10 they were on the mobile phone saying the computer was ready. The problem…LPT1 had been disabled in the bios (why don’t new computers ever work 100% when you get them!!).
Back at the office – reconnect the tangle of wires, printer detected, load the software and aaaah….success.

Next thing the phone rings. It’s HP asking if everything is working OK.

So the score? HP 1, computer supplier a sad 0.

Me? I now have renewed faith in call centres based in India and my next computer related purchase is likely to come from HP.

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