Nobody likes being in the situation where you need to call customer service. Whether you are dealing with your bank or your utility bill, it can be a long and time-consuming process to address the problem at hand. But getting it resolved as quickly and easily as possible is essential, and much as the dreaded customer service call can seem like a pain, it beats email time and again. Let’s take a look at the reasons why.
1. A Quick Response
Whilst you may strike lucky with an email and get an immediate response, most companies have a 24 or 48-hour response timeframe when dealing with an inquiry. And if your issue isn’t resolved in that email and you need to reply, then you’ll be back into the same situation. Emails can go backwards and forwards for weeks, often with a new person responding each time from the support team. So whilst phone calls can be long, at least you can be sure that you will get to the bottom of the problem that day.
2. Get a Better Deal
We’ve all been in the situation where you want more minutes for your mobile contract, or feel that a bad situation with a brand could be erased from your memory with a few perks to sweeten the deal. By talking to the customer service team on the phone, any threat to leave your ‘loyal customer’ days behind will instantly get their alarm bells ringing. Which means you can improve your bargaining power to get what you want.
3. Make Your Message Clear
Meaning and tone can easily get lost in an email, and for important issues you don’t want to risk the company getting the wrong end of the stick. However an email full of explanation marks, underlined words, capitals and emoticons will look childish and unprofessional. Talking directly to someone on the phone allows you to get your point across clearly.
4. Appeal to Their Better Nature
If you are able to keep your cool during the call, you’re much more likely to appeal to the better nature of the person on the other end of the line. They’re human too (honestly!), so avoid taking your anger out on them and try to connect with their generous side. Make your case sound reasonable and put your points across as well as possible; if you can convince them that they should help you out, you’ll be more than halfway to success. Emails, however, are extremely impersonal, so communicating over the Internet is much less likely to elicit a response in your favour.
Like ripping off a plaster, a long phone call can ultimately be a lot easier than communicating by email when you need to discuss an issue with a company. And services such as online customer service number directories can make the process quick and simple, so that you can address the problem quickly and painlessly. So make that call.
Article written by Kelly Gilmour-Grassam, a freelance copywriter from Yorkshire. She enjoys fine food and the great outdoors, you can follow her @KellyGGrassam on Twitter. This article is written with helpful information from Every Contact Number.
