“Please stay on the line to complete a brief survey.” How many times have you been asked that, or something similar, at the end of a customer service call? The question is always something like, “Are you happy with the customer service representative?” … very carefully, significantly, not, “Are you happy with the customer service you received?” or “Did we fix your problem?” No, always a question about the underpaid call-center worker you dealt with. Did they read the script correctly? the question asks. Were they adequately deferential or friendly or apologetic, depending what was called for by the circumstances?
The survey carefully doesn’t ask the question that is at issue nine times out of 10 in a customer service call: Did the company provide the service you needed or a solution to your problems? Instead, they invite you to blame a worker they haven’t given the authority to fix things, a worker probably a minimum of four levels of management under anyone who can do more than offer you a small credit for your troubles.
So next time you get one of those surveys, listen carefully to what’s being asked, and think about who’s responsible for any frustration you may be feeling. Is it the person on the other end of the line, reading a script and being recorded for quality and training purposes? Or is it the company that’s taking a month to get you the replacement part on the broken order they shipped you? If it’s the latter, are they giving you an opportunity to say so in their survey? Are they connecting you to anyone who can do something more than apologize?
If you have a complaint with the company, don’t try to use the company’s survey against it—that’s just going to be pinned on the worker the company didn’t give the authority to help you. Write to the company with a very specific complaint, tweet it, Facebook it, write to the Better Business Bureau or your state attorney general or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But don’t fall for their set-up of a fall guy.