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Customer Service

CIL 2009

Apr 1st, 2009
by pollyalida.
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I don’t think I’ll be able to summarize any more CIL sessions as I’m off for a bit of
extended travel. Let me just say it was a great conference. Lots of interesting sessions and even more terrific people. It was so good to catch up with old friends and to meet so many new people. Many of those people are part of the T is for Training podcast crowd. Maurice Coleman even managed to pull off a podcast recording while we were all there. What fun to sit around the table and chatter with people I’ve known only online and through the podcast.

And kudos to the conference organizers for having good wifi in all the meeting rooms this year. Granted there were some blips here and there, but mostly it was terrific and I really appreciated this.

And I have to share something that was said to me that really made me chuckle AND think. “but I thought you were about 27″. This was the first time this wonderful person had met me in real life and for whatever reasons, I must seem younger than my 53 years in my online presence, not that I’m trying to disguise myself in any way. But I liked what this reinforced about age really just being a state of mind. I’ve heard comments from colleagues about young people being tech savvy and older folks, well, not so much. I’ve also heard people grumble that our profession will only change as these old folks retire. I realize that these things are often just said flippantly and aren’t really meant. And I’ve certainly been guilty of age stereotyping myself, usually assuming someone younger has far more tech skills than they do have.

So, I’m going to try really hard to banish all of those age-based assumptions from my thinking from now on. And having just overheard a woman on a plane say “I’m too old to be on twitter”, I hope we can all help our customers let go of assumptions that may hold them back from learning. If my 89 year old mother can be an internet maven, then what’s to stop anyone! And in light of that, I still feel like a spring chicken.

Thank you library lady.

Nov 11th, 2008
by pollyalida.
2 comments

The route for all my errands today was planned around a trip to the library in a neighboring town. They had the book I really wanted. You know how it is, you finish a good mystery and find that what you thought were 20 more pages of that mystery are actually the first 20 pages of the next one.  Ok, I wanted it and wanted it today.

Checked the online catalog, one copy was supposed to be on the ‘shelving cart’. When I got to the library, I dutifully checked the shelves in case it had been shelved. Not there. On to the circ desk to ask for help. And even though I’m a librarian, I still get nervous when I have to ask for help. I’m afraid someone will be cranky with me. That’s not at all fair I know, must be the result of some long forgotten bad library experience.

Enter nice library lady. She checked the shelving carts in the back room. She came out to double check where I’d looked and other places that it might have been mis-shelved. But no luck, not to be found. She kindly offered to place a hold on it, which I turned down, secretly planning to head for Borders to get it. This was truly great customer service and even though I didn’t have the book, I was happy with the experience.

Moments later, while I was looking for some other stuff, over came nice library lady with a big smile and THE book! She knew it had to be somewhere and wasn’t going to give up.

Thank you Colonie Library for a great customer service experience (and for the cookies at the checkout counter!)

Texting!

Nov 11th, 2008
by pollyalida.
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In case you haven’t heard, texting is kind of popular. ;-)

http://www.nielsenmobile.com/html/press%20releases/TextsVersusCalls.html

TextsVersusCalls via kwout

Personally, it looks like I would fall into the over 65 crowd, but I think my texting age will go down if I ever get a smarter phone. But look at those numbers for those in their teens & 20′s. Is there any doubt how they communicate?

So, how is your library keeping up with this? Does your library provide easy access to information via mobile devices? Does your web site work on a mobile device? Do you provide IM reference? Can your catalog text you with information about library materials? Or are you missing out on new ways to communicate?

And if you think that texting is going to go away, check out the more than 400% increase in just 2 years! Yikes. Bring on that smart phone. And more agile thumbs.

http://www.nielsenmobile.com/html/press%20releases/TextsVersusCalls.html

TextsVersusCalls via kwout

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updated 11/11/08 – images got mixed up. fixed.

Dear Dell Computer

Jun 7th, 2008
by pollyalida.
4 comments

Dell Computer manual
I try to avoid ranting here on my blog, but this whole laptop mess has me needing to do some venting.

Some suggestions for Dell Tech Support:

- When a customer says they have their computer manual right in front of them, pay attention! They ignored me. There was a diagram in the book that showed exactly what they were trying to explain. One of the covers they wanted me to remove popped off with my fingernail, the other with the key tag from the gym. Ok, so I should have opened the book myself, but I was rather deep into screwdrivers and trying to hold the phone at the same time. Mind you, TWO tech support people ignored my “I have the manual” statement.

- Train people to give directions in multiple ways. They kept repeating directions in the same words. That doesn’t help when someone obviously doesn’t understand. Ultimately it led to my breaking parts of the computer case.

- When I asked why the next day service that I paid for was going to take 3-5 days, the same statement was repeated “You have next day coverage, but the parts will be 3-5 days” No further explanation of why the parts would take so long. Where they manufacturing the parts? Just tell me why! It’s all about that be transparent thang…

- Don’t change your tune. When I insisted on further explanation of the next day service question, the answer came back with “oh by the way – since you dropped the computer, it’s not really covered by next day service, you’ll have to ship it back to us”.

- Accommodate your customers’ travel schedules. I have a laptop because I travel extensively. I was on the road for the week. But the box for returning the computer to them could only be shipped to my home address, delaying the return by 4 days. Had they shipped the box to my hotel, the computer would be repaired and on it’s way back to me by now.

What went right?

- The return box was perfect. Easy to understand instructions. Return shipping went smoothly. It’s at Dell now.

- Despite my frustrations with the tech support, both women were polite and tried to be helpful. I know they were just doing what they were supposed to do and no doubt they were following scripts that were imposed on them.

- Dell said they that my coverage does include all repairs. I hope they’re right.

As a result, I’m left without a travel computer and need to leave on another trip. I’ll be digging out the ancient dusty laptop that doesn’t have my broadband access card and no room for all my applications and files.