Best Foot Forward (and insert in mouth)
Remember Storming Media? I wrote about them in the previous post.
You will recall they resell government reports to you for which you have already paid as a taxpayer. They do this, and provide no remuneration to the authors, even when those authors were not government employees. Well, that said, they pride themselves on “speedy and courteous service” which I suppose is a good thing.
I had to chuckle though. I went to view their contact information, and saw this note at the bottom:
Please note that our phone numbers have changed unexpectedly due to serious incompetence and hostility towards customers by Verizon. We apologize for the inconvenience and would encourage others to try to avoid doing business with Verizon and other companies that take such a hostile attitude toward customers. We pride ourselves on treating customers much better.
I had to step back, and say “wow.” I understand we all have our customer service problems. And many of us will write about them publicly. Usually on blogs, or if we are journalists, in our editorial pages and commentaries. But this is quite an unusual step. They are, as a business, calling out Verizon.
I can imagine conversations about Verizon’s bad treatment of customers when one gets home from work. Or perhaps sharing it in my Service Operations Management class, where we dissect business service experiences to better learn. Perhaps even sharing stories over a beer at a restaurant, or party.
But on your business website?
So let me ask you, dear reader, the following questions:
1. Would you put something like this on your professional business site?
2. Do you believe that Storming Media was without blame in the issue?
3. How would you have handled this?
The owners/operators of “Storming Media” are all a bunch of 20-somethings would be my guess.
It is mind-boggling how quickly civilization can slide into barbarism when a generation or two gets “raised by wolves” . . .
Is civilization devolving? Has anyone else noticed the rapidly increasing rate of mis-spelling (not typos) and horrid grammar creeping into both popular and professional literature?
Just this morning a presumably well-educated person confused “renumerated” with “remunerated” in (gasp) The Wall-Street-Freakin’-Journal!!!
O Tempora! O Mores!
(And if I hear one more advertisement for “Bedroom Suits” [sic] I’m gonna barf . . . )
(And no, Steve, I am not making fun of your noticing Storming Media’s unprofessional screed. I’m absolutely serious about my point; just exaggerating it a bit for the “wry comedic wit effect!”)
the other steve
To answer your questions:
1 and 2. No. I would not put something like this on a professional website. This is an example of the blame game. Every company does some form of outsourcing. In each situation, an agreement is reached with the company performing the outsourced activity to provide a certain service level. Even when that service level is missed, it is not the fault of the outsource provider in the eye of the customer.
In the case of Storming Media – you aren’t doing business with Verizon, you are doing business with Storming Media. It is Storming Media’s responsibility to provide the service level its customers demand.
3. This situation requires an apology from Storming Media, new contact information so that customers can get in contact with the company and possibly even a small handout to affected customers.