Good Morning
Customer service. We all think we offer great customer service, but do we really?
Last month I used the George Bush Toll Road. Normally I use the toll roads about once every 2-3 years so I don’t a need a toll tag. Tuesday I finally got an email from NTTA ( for those who are not from the Dallas/Fort Worth area, that is the people who run the toll roads) with a link to view my statement (invoice). I clicked on it and it asked for my account number and password. Now remember the last time I used a toll road was 2-3 years ago. I don’t remember or wrote down my account number.
The web site was no help. It kept asking for either the account number or the invoice number before it would reset the password.
Wednesday I called the “Customer Service” number to talk to someone. Well, welcome to NTTA automated system, there was NO press 0 to connect to a rep. I tried all the options (3 calls) and finally on the 3rd time selected that I needed to connect with the collection department and got a nice person who worked for a third party collection agency!
I explained my problem and she gave me a contact number that led to another collection department. I then Googled NTTA for a phone number and found no corporate office number, but I did find the phone number to their road safety office. There I found a nice woman who could look up my account by my car licences plate and then helped me pay by bill online. All told, I spent about an hour on this. By the way, my bill was $5.36. I was not a happy camper!!
Oh, by the way I asked the nice person who helped me who was in charge of the NTTA and she did not know and could not find out, I could not find it on their web site, I wanted to complain (guess they don’t want complaints or suggestions) So I complained to my county elected official, I’m writing about it here, and I will do more.
So, the big question, you are all thinking, is what does this have to do with me and my business? NTTA in all likelihood did not have someone try out their automated system and realize that there was no way to talk to a person, unless they did not want anyone to talk to a person. If you believe in customer service, then you need to test your system. That means you call or someone else calls and you record or listen in on the customer service call. Are your people treating your customers the way you want them to be treated? If you have an automated system, can people navigate it, and is it easy to opt out of it? Are you customer friendly?
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Till next time,
Great Things Happen, But You Have To Take Action NOW!
Philip Freedman
Your Doctor of Customer Acquisition, Retention and Enhancement
P.S. I can help you uncover the gold in your business. Click Here or Email me or call 817-282-0443.
