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Screw YOUR customers and take them for granted today!
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Morning!
Ah, what a great weekend this is shaping up to be! Yesterday I indulged in my beloved adult karate and amazingly, my muscle-memory for my reverse punches/etc. is actually starting to shape up (yay!). And today, I was able to enjoy my morning 2.4 mile walk and execute 800 punches 6 times (ie, 4,800 punches); hey, I might look, ahem, odd, but wow, does it ever help in my conditioning!
But I digress. 
So! I’m certain you’re lying awake right now, craving to uncover the answer to the following burning question:
Jeepers Self, with the economy plummeting faster than a swallow carrying a coconut, how can I ensure I lose even MORE money than originally expected?
I’m thrilled to announce, I’m a’gonna tell you!
You see, it all started 2 weeks when I visited a provider to recast my orthotics. Earlier, I had scheduled that with Bobby Frank , one of the most incredible people to have walked this planet…but sickness and poor health overtook him and alas, he died earlier this week.
Because I didn’t want to bother him while he was in and out of the hospital, I visited that other provider and gave in my referral slip and prescription. My ankles were dutifully cast, and I expected to hear back within a week.
After 10 days passed, I called them up to ask for an update, and I was told:
…oh, there might be a problem…we don’t know if we handle your insurance!
Of course, the first thing I thought was, ummmmmm…..couldn’t you have told me that 10 days ago? No matter, thought I…these things happen. So I gave them the updated insurance information and expected I’d receive a call with the resolution.
Instead, the next day I opened the mailbox and what did I see:
A lovely, tastefully stark bill for $1,100.
No "we don’t handle your insurance", no "I’m sorry, but here’s the current situation"….just a bill with no other explanation.
Joy.
Now, I have no problem with them not taking my insurance, but I have a big problem indeed with the lack of courtesy such an action showed!!
I’m obviously going to look for another solution provider.
More joy.
Wouldn’t you agree?
And now let’s bring this post back to the most important person who can possibly be reading it…you!
Life happens. It really does! And sometimes you have to tell your customers that either you cannot deliver, or your fees have increased, or their subscription has run out….something, anything!
But when you simply let your bill of $1,100 do your talking for you (especially when you never even hinted at the costs before)…..that’s more stupid than throwing a cement brick into the air and expecting it to hover over your prized eggshell collection without succumbing to gravity.
Now, I’m a pretty popular blogger, and I could easily name names and generate an immense amount of bad press. But if the company in question had proactively treated me the way they’d like their customers to treat them (ie, with respect)…I could have instead continued to recommend them to others who might need their services.
Thus, when you’re dealing with your customers in the future, always give them the courtesy of an explanation prior to socking them with a bill of any size!
It’s simply good manners.
Remember, you cannot control others…and perhaps your deliverables will suffer because of that. But you can choose how you REACT!
If people are proactively depending upon you for a resolution/service, it’s good business sense to be upfront and let them know what the situation currently is.
Don’t wait until the last minute, don’t let your customers hang, don’t treat them like a convenience, and above all…..don’t take them for granted!
Your 2009 income will thank you for it.
Enjoy,
Barbara Ling
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That’s bad customer service all around; some people just don’t get it. Of course, those of us who write blogs also deal with the conflict of whether to “out” someone who gives bad service or not, even though we never hesitate to mention someone who did us right. Now there’s one to think about, isn’t it?
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Indeed it is!
Thanks for sharing, Barbara
indeed. that bill’s just one of the worst ways to correspond with a client.
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Tell me about it. :-/
Best, Barbara
That is horrible customer service, and they need to tell you about huge bills like that before they send them. Over $1,000, do they think they will get that without a fight? Jesus, some companies are just… I can’t even think of a word that isn’t dirty.
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