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This isn't happenning

Experiences like this are what make me strive to provide better service to customers and  just positive interactions in general.

I was having a rather typical day. Not much out of the ordinary. I worked on some projects, dealt with some upgrade requests, fixed some broken servers, and I ordered some stuff. All of the projects fell into place.  The upgrade requests were straight forward.  The broken servers and services were a piece of cake.  Where did my day fall apart? At about 6:09 PM PDT.

What happened? I made a mistake. Early this afternoon, I ordered some monitors and keyboard to be drop shipped directly to a client in Arizona. No problem there, but it’s a very time sensitive and critical order. At about 6:00, I realized our supply of patch cables was kinda low.  So, I decided I’d better order some more. No problem, I do this all time.

Click, click, click, set quantities, order, confirm, EAAAAAK! NOOOOOOOOO!!! It was too late, I already released the mouse button. It was confirmed. I see it, at the top of the final confirmation page, “AZ” for Arizona. The default shipping address changed to the client address in Arizona.

I thought to myself, “Maybe I can salvage this, it normally sits in pending status for a while, and I can cancel it without issue.” While I was sitting there refreshing the orders page waiting for the order actually show up, I tried to initiate a dreaded chat with customer service.  The chat required an order number.

So, I sat there, refreshing the orders page for about 7 minutes before it showed up.  NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! It’s already in finalizing parcel status. I can’t cancel it without talking to support….

Hi Michael ****! My name is Lisa F.. 6:17:42 PM CS Team CS Team: I have reviewed the reason you are contacting us and I am happy to assist.

Lisa Arrives

So, here begins the epic of  Michael vs. Lisa F, a customer support adventure….

Let’s pause for a second. I own an IT company (TMPros), and one of the services we provide is a help desk. Suffice it to say, I have high expectations. I’d put our Tier 1 staff up against Tier 2 and even some Tier 3 support teams any day of the week. While this isn’t technical support, both situations are customer service.  I digressed, suffice it to say, I have expectations and it’s the end of the day. I’d rather be relaxing.

At this point I’m thinking, “Awesome, this is going to be fast.  I was first in line, and I heard from Lisa F in less than a minute!”

Lisa, are you there?

Lisa, are you there?

So, I come out of the gates with my problem order and some details and concerns regarding my earlier correct order.

… 2 minutes, 30 seconds later… crickets.

I give her a slightly sarcastic, “Lisa, are you there? Hello?”

Thank you for holding ... would you like me to cancel it for you?

Thank you for holding … would you like me to cancel it for you?

Lisa asks to “place me on hold.” No problem, she obviously needs to pull up my account. I’m still thinking, “This should be quick. It’s a no-brainer.”

A few minutes later, she comes back with the response I expected. “Would you like me to cancel it for you?”

Up until this point, things have gone EGGsactly as I expected. This is where Lisa either has a stroke or perhaps some sort of bathroom related emergency.

Are you there? Are you getting my messages?

Are you there? Are you getting my messages?

Trying to be as concise as I can with no ambiguity because it was important that only one of the orders sent to the Arizona address be cancelled. I say “Yes, please cancel [OOPSORDER#], I can reorder.”

I’m not sure if I caused this to devolve by asking another question before getting a confirmation from Lisa, or whether she really had to go. I had received a notice on my banking app on my watch that the transaction had already processed. So stupidly, I asked “How long does it take to process a refund?”

Agent is typing… then crickets for 3 minutes. Finally a message from Lisa, “I have not received a response from you for 3 minutes. Do you still want to continue this chat?”

REALLY LISA? I realize, if I say nothing for 3 minutes, that message pops up no matter what.  In fact, thinking back, I’ve been disconnected from this company’s chat while waiting for a response from them because I ignored that prompt… So I offer more sarcasm, and continue asking questions.

Getting annoyed

I truly apologize for the inconvenience.

I feel like I’m reliving a nightmare as I narrate this conversation.  This really happened. It wasn’t a dream.

She asks me the question that I just answered, and has to run to the bathroom or something again….

At this point we’re more than 30 minutes past my original order mistake, 15 minutes past my original confirmation that I wanted to cancel the order, and she thankfully apologies.  Moving forward… but wait, still no confirmation from her?

Yep. I'm here. Definitely still with you.

Yep. I’m here. Definitely still with you.

Lisa needs to seek treatment for her IBS. She is either gone or ignoring my questions.

Then, “Michael. Are you still with me?” REAAALY.

So, at this point, she’s either completely incompetent, messing with me, or in mortal danger.

Did you really just ask that question?

Did you really just ask that question?

This isn't happening

This isn’t happening.

Thirty minutes in, she confirms that she “can cancel” the order for me. Just to make sure, I asked her for a confirmation with the specific order number.

Yes… all done. Lets wrap this up.

Nope, not that easy:

“I noticed that sale order [CRITICALORDER#] is the same as address as sale order number [OOPSORDER#]. Would you like me to cancel sale order number [CRITICALORDER#] for you?”

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I flash directly to “This isn’t happening.” scene from the X-files where the stereotypical alien is abducted by a monster alien. I’m not quite on the floor in fetal position, but almost.

I said specifically at the beginning of the chat that “Order # [CRITICALORDER#] is not to be interfered with.”

Myself and every member of my staff spends countless hours every month on both sides of the support equation. Most support technicians spend very little time doing anything other than supporting people.  For us, we also provide vendor management services, requiring us to handle many of the support calls to other vendors. I love (and hate) this part of our service model. I end up getting stuck with the most difficult vendor management issues, but my staff is exposed to the other side of the customer service equation on a daily basis.

There are three things that will NEVER happen to me when I’m on a support call as the supported:

  1. Get stressed
  2. Become emotionally charged
  3. Give up

On the flip side, there are three things that I will AVOID on EVERY SINGLE CALL when I’m supporting someone else:

  1. Leaving a question hanging for more than a few seconds
  2. Failing to address frustration or emotional responses from the customer
  3. Giving up

Never give up.

Have a great day!! Bye bye now.

Have a great day!! Bye bye now.

On to the finale, where I received only two more “I have not received a response from you for 3 minutes” messages.

Lisa, you need a new career path or you superiors need to address your workload. I’m not sure who is to blame, but something should be addressed.

Without the “3 minute” warning, I would have been able to split my focus between this and other issues.  This conversation required 90% of my attention for nearly an hour.

I gladly fill out the survey following the support chat. Every single one of my company’s support encounters offers the client the ability to provide anonymous feedback on the interaction.  They can rate the technician as well as provide comments. Believe me, we pay attention to your feedback.  I’m hoping someone at this unnamed vendor does too.

TL;DR Customer support requires attention to the customer. Don’t leave them hanging.

The Whole Conversation

The Whole Conversation

My first cross country flight to Lake Tahoe!

Michael flying RV6

Heading back from Lake Tahoe at about 10,500 feet.

I flew the new plane around Lake Tahoe today. The weather was perfect for the trip.  It was very cool to be in Tahoe in less than an hour.  By the time I cleared the Tahoe basin heading back to the Central Valley, it took 45 minutes to fly back and hanger the plane.  I was there and back in less than half the time it would have taken to just drive there.

This was the first time I used the auto pilot. The plane I flew to Vegas had a broken auto pilot. It doesn’t look like I’m going to be flying any more this weekend, but I plan on getting quite a few more hours in next weekend.  The next cross country is going to likely be Los Angeles or Vegas.

East Peak Lake

Flying directly over East Peak looking due East over East Peak Lake into Minden, NV

In this last picture you can see East Peak Lake, a bunch of the Heavenly Ski Resort Slopes, Joe’s House, Minden, and off to the left is Minden-Tahoe Airport (KMEV).

I love it. Out of all of the hobbies I’ve had, this one is here to stay. (Sorry Dad)

Six months later… I’m back in the air.

So, six months after my new years resolution to get back in the air, it finally happens.  I’ve been up twice in the past week.  I’m looking forward to getting some major time in over the next couple of months.  Our new plane has been here for a couple of weeks. I’ve only flown it a couple times, but that will soon change.  I took the family out to see it, and Maddox and Zeek love it.

RV-6a N144KL

Taxiing preparing to take off for my second flight in our RV-6a.

We ended up getting an Vans Aircraft RV-6a.  This plane was built in 2006, and I like a whole lot better than any of the other planes we looked into.  I feel a quite spoiled after flying this plane.  It cruses at 160 MPH on around 8.8 GPH and can go 200 MPH at around 11-12 GPH.  This means that Las Vegas is less than 2 hours away and requires less than $90 in fuel.

After flying this, I really don’t want to fly another plane.  Instead of a typical flight yolk it has a very sensitive flight stick.  The slightest motion equates to a very responsive change in direction.  It really reminds me of an airplane version of my 2006 BMW M Roadster; from the angle you sit in the plane to the physical connection you feel to the control of the aircraft.

This plane really opens up all of California to TMPros. It really does make the world a much smaller place.  I look forward to bringing our health IT experience to a much larger geographic area in the coming months.

 

 

Too much electricity…

Energy UsageI’m pretty sure that we use far more electricity than we should be.  I need 1,700 square feet of photovoltaic material to significantly reduce my energy costs. That would take a good portion of my back yard.

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It’s time to get back up in the air!

This was one of my first landings during my flight training.

This was one of my first landings during my flight training.

The last time I flew an airplane, it was hot out.  I really need to find some time to get up in the air again.  I’m about halfway done with my flight training, and it’s been about two months since I’ve made a radio call as 9576C.  My New Years resolution is to make time to fly.

Zeek went missing today.

20121215-205748.jpgAfter unloading groceries today we realized Zeek had disappeared. I looked in his room, all over the house, out back, out front, in his room again, and again outback. Apparently he had buried himself completely in the leaves for more than ten minutes.

Jimmy’s Birthday Party

My nephew Jimmy’s first birthday party was this weekend.  It’s actually what prompted me to revive MikeAndDanelle.com.  I setup a website for him and gave him a 7″ Android tablet to blog with.  I figured it wasn’t right to have a website for him, but not my family.

Maddox had a great time at the party.  It was the first time he had the opportunity to run around and play with multiple kids at the same time.  He’s definitely not a shy boy.  Surprisingly he didn’t stick to his motto of, “Hi, I’m Mad Mike, and I’m here to #!@# stuff up.”

It was kinda crazy to see all of these babies and young kids from my generation.  Apparently we’re all getting old and every decided to have kids at the same time.  The past 8 years I’ve been the youngest parent at school functions, and now I’m about the same age as other parents with kids the same age as Maddox.

Christmas Hull Family Style

 We added another several hundred lights this year, along with some additional candy canes, two light trees, a train, and a mickey mouse inflatable.  Maddox is about to turn two and he loves the “Christmas Magic.”  That’s what he calls the lights.

It looks like the photo missed the synchronized color changing lights on the roof, but I’m to lazy to retake it.  I assume that next year the lights are going to be out of control. Seeing Maddox go crazy over Christmas brings back memories of Zeek and Angelica’s early Christmases.  We’ll definitely have to step it up a notch net year.

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