Customer Service Breakdown

Between the dog biting me and the alternator belt breaking it was a great holiday. But the two incidents that book-ended our trip this summer demonstrated that expectation management has a huge impact on customer experience and ultimately customer happiness.

My heart sinks whenever I enter A&E - you just know it’s not going to be a good experience. But after a swift triage and a much-needed patch-up, I was given a number (942) and a priority (Blue - one up from the lowest tier of White). Back out in the waiting room, the screen told me where I was in the queue and what time I had been triaged. With some simple deduction from the other numbers, colours and times on the board,I knew I was in for a long wait.

4? hours later, diverted by a good book and refreshed by coffee and focaccia from the hospital café, I was seen, given a tetanus jab and written up for antibiotics (‘No sir, we only do rabies for fox bites’). A dull afternoon but great treatment: and I knew that the only reason it took so long was that there were people in greater need in front of me. Can’t argue with that.

I’d never broken down before so had nothing to measure it against. After a quick roadside rescue by the French motorway service, a call to my European Breakdown provider: we’ll mark your file as urgent (small kids, on the way home); leave it with us, we’ll work out a plan and get back to you in 15 minutes. 

They called me back 2? hours later. Don’t worry, sir, we’re dealing with it: the only flights back are from Lyon to Southend. Eurostar? Oh yes, let me look into that, leave it with us. Call you back in 15 mins. 2 hours later: taxis booked, just booking your train to Paris, can you give me the names in your party so I can book the Eurostar? 90 minutes later: sorry, can’t book you a taxi, can’t get your tickets to Paris. Oh, you’re now too late to make your connection in Paris? Really sorry. All afternoon spent outside a breakdown garage surrounded by write-offs and wheelie bins: strung along for 5? hours and then told there’s no plan. Livid doesn’t even come close.

If you can make life work out just a little bit better than your customer expects, then chances are they end up happy. If you set an expectation and then fail to meet it, you’re in big trouble. It’s time more companies understood this and started to act on it.