Out of the box Bad telephone service from large organizations
Many large organizations in Singapore have bad telephone service. The customer takes a long time (sometimes up to 30 minutes) for a call to be answered. 

The usual excuse is that there is a large volume of calls and the existing staff cannot cope with the volume. This has been the case for years and maybe decades. 

The real reason is the process of handling the customer calls. 

Many large organizations refuse to take messages by e-mail or through an online inquiry form. This is the source of the problem. If they open up this channel, it is likely that most customers will use this channel, instead of waiting for a call to be answered. 

The customer service staff can also use the whatsapp chat (or similar platforms) to communicate with the customers. This is more efficient for both the staff and the customer. 

Some issues require a staff and customer to talk over the telephone. The staff can send a message to the customer and request the customer to standby to receive the call. 

I have dealt with a few organizations that allow me to report an issue by e-mail. They are often able to handle most issues through this channel effectively. Often, the issue can be handled by giving the relevant information through a FAQ. In some cases, the staff have to reply to the customer to get additional details. I find their customer service to be excellent. 

I hope that the large organizations that provide bad telephone service change their customer handling process.

Tan Kin Lian

 

Add Comment

Probably many service staffs were being displaced!

Stan  15 Jun 2022  

---