One out of five stars: Does not want to rate call centers, but management
Hotline employees are often asked to rate callers after a call. This is actually a misguided approach, says Gregor Honsel.
(Image: Shutterstock.com/OPOLJA, Bearbeitung: heise online)
It is a bad habit that is spreading: We are increasingly being asked to rate hotline staff after a call. This is emotional blackmail: no matter how annoyed you are with a store –, the people in the call centers are usually the least responsible. Nevertheless, you don't feel like leaving five stars as if everything is fine.
Problem 1: You are forced to call a hotline
The main problem is that you have to call a hotline in the first place. Take Telekom, for example: you have been waiting for your fiber optic connection for two years and new deadlines are constantly being missed without Telekom feeling obliged to inform you. In order for things to continue, you have to make constant phone calls.
Problem 2: Unavailability
This leads to the second problem: the supposedly responsible e-mail contact regularly declares that they are not responsible, and the hotline cannot be reached.
Dear people at Deutsche Telekom: If you really want to find out how satisfied your customers are, then take a look at the waiting times of your hotline. I'm sure you won't be surprised if I tell you that customers are annoyed by long waiting times. But that doesn't seem to bother you too much.
Quality assurance delegated to customers
More people in the call centers would be too expensive? Sure, an automated survey like this is of course much easier and cheaper. You also delegate quality assurance to your customers. How practical.
Let me summarize: The only instance through which I can (or should) give my feedback is precisely the one that has the least to do with the actual problems. Once again, people at the lowest level of the hierarchy are being bullied and controlled. But what about the managers who can't get their business organized in such a way that all departments and subcontractors involved communicate directly and proactively with me, the customer? Where can I dump my assessment at their feet?
Note: This article was first published on t3n.de.
(emw)
