Bad Customer Service of GM Anael (Again)

I really don’t understand why GM Anael is still connected with Level Up! Games (LUG) now Playweb. This is the second time that I received a very bad customer service from him.

Last September 20, I attended the Midgard Congress hoping to get good news about the game that I’ve been playing for more than 10 years now. It was a pathetic meeting conducted by GM Anael. I haven’t received the prize that was guaranteed to the attendees. Worst, whenever I make a follow-up regarding this issue, I get the worst customer service reply.

I would stop playing pRO now and stop attending its activities until GM Anael is removed from managing the game. Definitely, GM Anael is the worst GM pRO ever had.

[Update]

A few minutes after I post my complaint against him, he sent me a message informing me that the prizes were already awarded. This clearly shows that he’s not really doing his job as a GM. He’s giving conflicting statements!

8:21 PM – GM Anael said that the tool is down and that my prizes were not yet awarded

9:59 PM – He said that my prize was awarded since yesterday. (After I posted my complaint)

To the management of Playweb (the publisher of Ragnarok Online in the Philippines), I would highly suggest to review GM Anael’s behavior and attitude in responding to a paying customer’s questions and complaints. He clearly lacks customer service skills.

Technorati Tags: GM Anael,Bad Customer Service,Again

uEDGE Clearly Doesn’t Have The Edge

Let me share with you the unpleasant experience I had with uEDGE – a maker of calling cards.

Nine days ago I asked them to print my business card. It’s my first time to have my business card printed professionally. In the past, I design (and print) my own calling cards using Adobe PageMaker and Print Artist.

Look at the brochure of uEDGE – there’s no mention about an extra price for the printing of the QR Code at the back of the card!

The price of uEDGE’s basic calling cards is P345 for 100 pieces. I’ve read the brochure and been shown the sample and it clearly shown that there’s QR Code at the back of the sample. So I picked up a design from their sample portfolio and asked the store attendant to design a similar one.

The sample was printed and I forgot to look at the back of it for the QR Code thinking that it would be there like the sample. After about 6 hours, I got the cards – without the QR Code at the back! I asked the store attendant about it and it was only then that I was advised that there’s an additional P100 for printing the QR Code at the back. The sample that was presented to me (for the P345 package) clearly has a QR Code at the back of it.

Instead of arguing with the SM Megamall store attendant, I emailed the uEDGE customer service the same day telling them what happened. They assured me that they’ll investigate on the matter. Up to now they are still investigating the matter!

I’ve demanded some compensation for the missing information on the brochure (a note saying that printing of the QR Code on the back would have additional fee), the wrong sample, and the inability of their store personnel to inform me about the “hidden charges”.

Clearly, uEDGE doesn’t live up to their policy of providing prompt action from management. As of this time, they still haven’t sent me a copy of the investigation that they did.

After a series of communications via email, they offered to reprint only 50 pieces of my calling cards on the condition that I will return 50 pieces of the printed ones and that the QR Code will be printed on front. I settled for this offer so that I could put this bad experience with uEDGE behind. However, I will never have my next batch of calling cards printed by uEDGE again.

uEDGE doesn’t live up to their promise of fast resolution to complaints and their brochure and samples are misleading. In fact, when I asked the store personnel to print the same design as what was on the sample portfolio, she can’t reproduce it. She opened Google and asked me to select a similar picture.

The girl in blue inefficiently printed my calling card while the lady with the “V” sign is the store supervisor, Wendy. It took her 3 prints before she could get the correct size of the QR Code that is readable by her Nokia smartphone. It’s like a trial-and-error when it comes to printing the QR Code.

When the SM Megamall branch supervisor Wendy re-printed my card with QR Code on it, it took her 3 prints of the sample before the QR Code worked on her Nokia phone. I just pointed to one of their samples and told her that the QR Code’s size would be similar to their sample. They don’t have standards on the design that’s readily available on their computer for faster reproduction. They would start again from scratch as if someone else did the designs on their display and portfolio.

uEDGE really doesn’t have the edge when it comes to customer service and after-sales support. We’re not even talking about the quality of the print that easily washes away by moisture as if printed by an entry level, home printer.

Pictures taken from their website.

Technorati Tags: uEDGE,SM Megamall,Calling Cards

The Honesty of a Zagu Cashier

Yesterday afternoon, I bought the Hazelnut Cappuccino Grande from Zagu SM Megamall (near the Supermarket). I added extra pearls for a total of P56. I gave the cashier a P1,000 bill, got the change and without counting it, shoved it inside my wallet.

While inside the FX on my way home to Pasig, I realized that I’m missing P500. It occurred to me that the Zagu cashier probably thought I gave a P500 bill so she only gave me P444 as change. I’m running late for an appointment with my photography friend and If I go back to SM Megamall, it would take me an hour.

There is also no guarantee that the cashier would acknowledge her mistake. It’s my responsibility to count my change before leaving the counter. She can simply insist that she gave me the correct amount and I have no evidence to prove otherwise.

So I went to the website of Zagu, got their mobile phone numbers, sent them text messages and also sent a message via their Facebook page. Their Contact-Us-Via-Email form on their website is not working by the way. I told them what happened and gave the OR#232768. I was expecting for the best but I already expected the worst.

This morning, I received a call from one of their managers and confirmed that the cashier made a mistake and was expecting me to return for the change. I went back to SM Megamall this morning, got my P500 bill, thank Mary Jane, and bought their latest Mango-flavor Zagu.

I’ve been a Zagu customer for years and I appreciate the honesty of their employees. Indeed, Zagu would be around for so long because of their quality shakes and honest employees like Mary Jane, the cashier.

Thanks again Zagu!

Technorati Tags: Zagu,Cashier,Honesty

The Simple Truths of Service

My current account (accounting software) gave us a mug; a stress reliever (clay) and a book entitled “The Simple Truths of Service”. This book was written by Ken Blanchard and Barbara Glanz. It’s all about customer service.

This book has two main parts: the story of Johnny the bagger (written by Barbara Glanz) and The Simple Truths of Great Service, by Ken Blanchard.

Johnny is a simple bagger from a supermarket in the US. He also has Down syndrome. Barbara Glanz recalls how Johnny was influence by her motivational talk to delight customers in simple ways. Johnny accepted the idea that even though he’s a bagger, he can contribute to the overall profit of the supermarket but delighting his customers. How? Johnny is putting a print-out of “thoughts for the day” in the paper bag that he used.

Since Johnny started doing this, the manager of the store noticed that the lane to Johnny is twice as long as the other’s lanes. The manager later found out that customers are willing to stay a little longer in Johnny’s lane so that they could have his “thoughts for the day”. Customers were delighted by this simple act of Johnny that the manager begun noticing that a lot of customers are shopping more often. In other words, they have increased their customer’s loyalty by this simple act. Johnny became an inspiration for his co-workers, that if Johnny can come up with such an idea to delight customers, certainly, others can do that as well.

The morale of the story is that, we need to be unique in addressing our customer’s needs. We should not only satisfy what they want, but add a little personal touch in it. It should start from everyone in the company. In this age where quality and competitive price of products are just the requirements for business establishments today, certainly, delighting our customers would make a difference.

Ken Blanchard provided us with some tips on how to delight our customers in relation to the story of Johnny the bagger. These tips define what a great service is and these are:

1. Great service inspires stories – Johnny the bagger’s story is a good example.
2. Great service uses outside-the-box thinking – You’ll hear this phrase a lot in the call center industry. Always find ways to resolve the issue.
3. Great service is a choice – We always have a choice whether to give what the customer wants or to exceed that expectation. We should always choose the right one.
4. Great service starts with a clear vision – To be the best in terms of customer service is the common vision for most companies.
5. Great service requires that everyone catch the vision – The vision always goes down to this: delight our customers.
6. Great service surprises people – It would be great if customer’s issue is not only resolve but the way we resolve it, would make us a “stand-out” from the rest of the tech support guys that the customer remembers as by name. Let’s surprise our customers in a positive way. We want to be remembered as the guy who resolves the issue, not the guy who made the customer irate.
7. Great service begins with anyone – Yup, even if we’re technical support, we should always provide great service. It’s not enough that we resolve our customer’s issue but we should do it in such a way that customer would say “Wow”.
8. Great service goes the extra mile – This one is another favorite phrase in the customer service department. We often joke about this phrase and refer to it as “extra service”.
9. Great service brings customers back – Getting customer’s loyalty is the aim of most companies nowadays. You could also see this on most BPO’s mission and vision.
10. Great service comes from the heart – This may sound really cheesy, but it’s true. It’s not enough that we do our job but we should enjoy it as well.

“The Simple Truths of Service” is indeed a remarkable gift to us who works in the call center industry. I thank my current account for giving such a wonderful gift.

BuzzNet Tags: Customer Service,Johnny the Bagger