Your comapny can be on the same place of Dell Hell...

How many of you have ever complained to the company through a call or e-mail after you found something wrong from the product that you bought or the service that you received?

In my case, I am a very nice customer (superficially or at least from the perspective of companies) because I don’t face with them to complain about my unpleasurable experiences due to their products/service. On the other hand, there are dozens of people who speak up – either directly or indirectly to the company to improve. Well, if these companies listen customers’ complain and fix their issues right away, the story like ‘Dell Hell’ won’t happen. Dell didn’t have to lose their customers and didn’t have to try rebuilding their brand image for a long time.

Problem:
The problem was so obvious and simple. One user of Dell company, Jeff Jarvis, blogged about his experience of Dell Service center. (* other related article)


Cause :
Personally, I believe that was not really the matter of technical problem itself. Every product can have an error regardless of its quality or price. The thing was that 1) Dell neglected the importance of direct & accurate communication with customers. If callers were not capable of being fluent in communication, Dell should prepare training program for them or hire applicable people to handle. This issue is related with the importance of A/S (after sales). Companies sometimes more consider selling products/services than taking care of customers after their purchasing. From my experience in automotive company, after sales is much crucial factor for companies’ success to build long-term relationship with their customers. Once companies lose their credibility on their products due to above reasons, customers won’t be back no matter how loyal they are. 2) Dell missed timing to react to the dissatisfied customers with their product. If Dell had a sense of urgency on this issue, and put an effort to make its customers happy with its product, it would have kept its loyal customers continuously. 3) Surprisingly, Dell wasn’t aware of the power of blog (internet users). Dell didn’t know how much people (or customers) are exposed to the word of mouth. Dell should’ve recognized that bad news is spread much faster than good news.

Recommendation :
It’s easy to say, but difficult to implement. Still many companies put less priority on customers’ satisfaction, and care more of cost reduction, better quality and higher profit. However, I would like to recommend to companies, saying that “Put yourself (Dell) into customers’ shoes”. 1) Listen what customers want. They want to be cared immediately, and want to listen feedback from companies what’s going on their products/service. 2) Develop direct links to customers community (e.g company blog), and let the complain circle inside of the company. 3) Don’t be afraid to admit its mistake/error, do apologize to customer and make improvement.

I believe that customers will be attracted to 2nd quality product with 1st customer service than 1st quality product with 2nd customer service.