There are a lot of different companies that have numerous customer service problems I have seen or dealt with in past. The one that I have had the most problems with a few years ago and still dealing with their internet service is AT&T. Before I switched over to Verizon, they were by far were the most frustrating phone service company that I have ever experienced. When it comes to solving your issues their customer care agents were a complete nightmare rather it was on the phone or in person. It is hard for customer agents these days to be proficient at helping their customers because there is hardly any training that goes into being a customer service agent. Their training can be simple and easy, and in my opinion when you are not fully capable of knowing all of the information it is hard to provide the best support.
AT&T was started by Alexander Graham Bell and is one of the popular multinational telecommunications and is the second largest telephone service provider. It is based and located in Dallas, TX. They are known for their services and offers that include long distance services, Internet, phones, etc. For the past years, AT&T has tremendously advanced their telecommunications and has emerged to have the biggest competitive edge over their competitors like Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobil. “AT&T is the best broadband subscription services through DirecTV in the whole regarding offering services and enhancing customer satisfaction hence making it outshine all its competitors” (Jeyarathmm, 2008).
The company is divided into three separate departments a service company, a computer company, and products and systems company. The companies code of ethics is why the company has been one of the leading telecommunications for so many years. AT&T emphasizes the importance of integrity and customer care and making sure they meet all requirements, demands, and needs of all of their customers. AT&T strives to remain competitive through innovative ideas and being more concerned with the customer needs and satisfaction through quality provision of services.
The company has had a lot of negative responses regarding their customer service quality. According to “(Einwiller & Steilen) AT&T is known as the company that has a lot of service issues”. For example, issues with poor coverage and calls being dropped, no service, and their WIFI internet services, and they have been known for changing your plan without letting you know. When I was with AT&T, the first time I experienced their customer service agent is when they changed my plan without letting me know. I didn’t find out they changed my plan until the next month’s bill. So, I called their customer service agent and they kept bouncing me around from agent to agent because they couldn’t answer any questions regarding my changed account.
I finally got to speak with an agent regarding my changed account and they told me that they decided to improve my service by upgrading me to a new one which was only around $30 extra a month, however I did not ask to be upgraded and they tried to tell me that I had no option but to be ok with it because a lot of other customers were happy with the upgrade they received. There is a reason why AT&T has one of the leading complaints of any phone service providers.
As a customer service agent, I understand that they have to deal with all kinds of customers that they can be very demanding, difficult, and customers that are wanting you to hurry and rush to fix their problem within seconds, or just being very rude. At the same time, a customer doesn’t want to deal with a customer service agent that is rude, or difficult, or doesn’t want to help resolve their issues. I have been one of those customers. That is why AT&T has rules and regulations and has set forth protocols that the agents follow in order to calm the situation or being able to provide the best customer support.
For customer agents, there are some techniques in dealing with challenging customers. For example, in my experience, I have found being a great listener and understanding the situation has always helped. By talking over your customer or arguing with your customer doesn’t get you or the customer anywhere. As frustrating as some customers can be the agent needs to think what is best for the customer, and the company and try to be the solution and not the problem, as a customer service agent your job to identify the problem that the customer is experiencing.
From my experience, you need to let the customer blame wh they want because they are going to anyway and by showing empathy towards the situation and the customer, it will help rectify the situation before it gets out of hand. By doing the little things will allow you to help resolve the situation. As an agent, you need to explain the process and let the customer know why you are doing certain things and why this is taking longer than expected this will help with the customers’ attitude because you are making them feel like their problem is a priority and not just a number.
As a customer service agent solving customers problems is not always the easiest of tasks. The reason for that is when the customer calls, they don’t always know how to explain the problem correctly, and is already frustrated that the problem is occurring they are just telling the agent what they are experiencing. For a customer agent to rectify the problem they need to make sure to ask questions so that way they can get a better understanding of what the customer is trying to tell them. Also, you need to be understanding of the customer and help identify the problem. To be a great customer service agent you need to take pride in your work and you want to be the solution, not the problem. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes help find alternative ways to fix the problem your customer is having.
In conclusion, customer agents play a key role in any company they are the first ones that customers talk with, and they are the brand of the company. AT&T has been labeled as one of the worst customer care services. By having the customer agents understanding their customers and putting themselves in their shoes, by being part of the solution and not the problem will allow AT&T customer service to stop being the worst in telecommunication. It is important for AT&T agents to remember that the customers are what keeping the company going.
References
- Yellin, E. (2009). Your call is (not that) important to us: Customer service and what it reveals about our world and our lives. Simon and Schuster.
- Einwiller, S. A., & Steilen, S. (2015). Handling complaints on social network sites
- Jeyarathmm, M. (2008). Strategic Management. New Delhi: Himalaya Pub. House.
