Hello dear readers!
Panama Secret Shopper is starting a new segment for Fridays called Thought of the Day...mini posts that I hope will get us all thinking about the client's due. Today I'd like to address the no-reply email. You may not know what I'm talking about at first, but read on...you've received these, and you are likely to agree that there's something very wrong with this model.
Here's the deal: in today's super-tech-social-media-crackberry-spam-overload world, promos come to our inboxes via messages sent from a "no reply" email. Often this is the words "nor reply" followed by the service provider's server. (Don't even get me started on how "service provider" is more of an oxymoron than a descriptive these days).
For example, "noreply@cableandwirelesspanama.com" (you know who you are and why you make for a great example, considering your customer service is notoriously poor).
The email address is meant to impress upon you one basic fact: the company peeps don't want to hear back from you. Reply with feedback of any kind--criticism, praise, or suggestions--and you will get an automated message which, eloquently and diplomatically (or sometimes not) explains that the company isn't interested and thus isn't accepting messages to the inbox in question.
If you want to provide feedback you either have to work hard at it...search the provider's website for a miniscule link and click through a series of pages...or, in the case of the many Panamanian companies that don't accept feedback online at all, take your time to call (often feedback isn't accepted this way either...cough cough, Air Panama) or go in person (in which case often, the one person assigned to receive feedback isn't present or doesn't know how to apologize...Banco General and Hard Rock Hotel Panama...excuse me, I know...need to get that cough looked at).
Sure, I could unsubscribe from Cable & Wireless Panama's mailings. If you don't want to allow me the possibility of replying, CWP, then I don't want to read your banal promos. Amazingly, Cable & Clueless I mean Wireless (goodness, what Fridays will do to a growing brain) does include an unsubscribe link. I tried it once. I stopped receiving my monthly bill via email. The "I'll just guess how much I owe this month" game didn't work so well--I started receiving automated phone calls telling me to pay up. Yes that's right...no replies, and no chance of talking to a human C&WP rep on the phone, even when they call you.
Panamanians of the world, unite. The next time you receive a promo from a company's "no reply" email address, take the time to tell them (they make it hard, but persist) that it is not ok to basically spam you and then not allow you to respond. Do it via your blog, Twitter, and any and every other outlet available to you.
Today, a friend of mine had a valid complaint about CWP. She called dozens of times and then was told she had to wait 72 hours for her complaint to receive any kind of attention because it was her first call. (Um no, it wasn't...get yourself a decent Consumer Response System to track complaints, praise and suggestions, CWP!) I received a promo from CWP today, too. I'd have liked to reply and say "Hey, I'll read your promo if you take this complaint seriously."
It's a FAIL for you, again, from Panama Secret Shopper, CWP.
The "no reply" is a copout from companies that assume it's ok to hire less staff to sift through email and phonecalls and root out the real issues. What's even worse, these same companies ignore real clients trying to send feedback via the company emails or phone calls, but will often Tweet back immediately and pay attention to comments received via Twitter, because it's public. Shame on you. The excuse "we don't have enough staff to deal with feedback" is a total cop out. You don't have enough staff because you stopped hiring and you stopped caring. A lack of accountability and interest in what consumers want is exactly what's wrong with today's companies, and it's easy to fix. Stop being lazy...CEOs, step out of the office now and again (and for God's sake, hire a secret shopper now and again and LISTEN to what he or she reports back).
Have a great weekend Panas!
Your Panama Secret Shopper
Panama Secret Shopper is starting a new segment for Fridays called Thought of the Day...mini posts that I hope will get us all thinking about the client's due. Today I'd like to address the no-reply email. You may not know what I'm talking about at first, but read on...you've received these, and you are likely to agree that there's something very wrong with this model.
 |
| They don't want to hear from you... |
Here's the deal: in today's super-tech-social-media-crackberry-spam-overload world, promos come to our inboxes via messages sent from a "no reply" email. Often this is the words "nor reply" followed by the service provider's server. (Don't even get me started on how "service provider" is more of an oxymoron than a descriptive these days).
For example, "noreply@cableandwirelesspanama.com" (you know who you are and why you make for a great example, considering your customer service is notoriously poor).
The email address is meant to impress upon you one basic fact: the company peeps don't want to hear back from you. Reply with feedback of any kind--criticism, praise, or suggestions--and you will get an automated message which, eloquently and diplomatically (or sometimes not) explains that the company isn't interested and thus isn't accepting messages to the inbox in question.
If you want to provide feedback you either have to work hard at it...search the provider's website for a miniscule link and click through a series of pages...or, in the case of the many Panamanian companies that don't accept feedback online at all, take your time to call (often feedback isn't accepted this way either...cough cough, Air Panama) or go in person (in which case often, the one person assigned to receive feedback isn't present or doesn't know how to apologize...Banco General and Hard Rock Hotel Panama...excuse me, I know...need to get that cough looked at).
Sure, I could unsubscribe from Cable & Wireless Panama's mailings. If you don't want to allow me the possibility of replying, CWP, then I don't want to read your banal promos. Amazingly, Cable & Clueless I mean Wireless (goodness, what Fridays will do to a growing brain) does include an unsubscribe link. I tried it once. I stopped receiving my monthly bill via email. The "I'll just guess how much I owe this month" game didn't work so well--I started receiving automated phone calls telling me to pay up. Yes that's right...no replies, and no chance of talking to a human C&WP rep on the phone, even when they call you.
Panamanians of the world, unite. The next time you receive a promo from a company's "no reply" email address, take the time to tell them (they make it hard, but persist) that it is not ok to basically spam you and then not allow you to respond. Do it via your blog, Twitter, and any and every other outlet available to you.
Today, a friend of mine had a valid complaint about CWP. She called dozens of times and then was told she had to wait 72 hours for her complaint to receive any kind of attention because it was her first call. (Um no, it wasn't...get yourself a decent Consumer Response System to track complaints, praise and suggestions, CWP!) I received a promo from CWP today, too. I'd have liked to reply and say "Hey, I'll read your promo if you take this complaint seriously."
It's a FAIL for you, again, from Panama Secret Shopper, CWP.
The "no reply" is a copout from companies that assume it's ok to hire less staff to sift through email and phonecalls and root out the real issues. What's even worse, these same companies ignore real clients trying to send feedback via the company emails or phone calls, but will often Tweet back immediately and pay attention to comments received via Twitter, because it's public. Shame on you. The excuse "we don't have enough staff to deal with feedback" is a total cop out. You don't have enough staff because you stopped hiring and you stopped caring. A lack of accountability and interest in what consumers want is exactly what's wrong with today's companies, and it's easy to fix. Stop being lazy...CEOs, step out of the office now and again (and for God's sake, hire a secret shopper now and again and LISTEN to what he or she reports back).
Have a great weekend Panas!
Your Panama Secret Shopper
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