Feature Article - August 2008
An interruption to service often times exposes organisations without service recovery processes in place as being incompetent and inefficient. Customers don’t expect things to be perfect always but they expect that whenever a problem occurs their first point of contact with the provider should be able to effectively fix the problem.
A key point we must remember always as CSR’s is that a problem occurs when the customer says it does. Don’t try to argue it out with the customer. An incident may appear mild to you but if the customer feels that its a serious issue then by all means treat it as such.
Service recovery simply means to return service to its normal state. And good service recovery begins when you recognise and admit that the customer has a problem. It scores you lots of points.
As CSR’s we need to be remain attentive at all times to spot a service failure from afar and begin the recovery process. Some organisations do have a process in place that serves as a guide for recovery from those blips. No one process fits all customers and problems but a guide surely helps CSR’s work within the confines of what is allowed in each organisation.