If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed right now, before you forget, to get the latest posts. Thanks for visiting!

It appears that the BlueHost.com helpdesk customer service failure issue has come to an end with my account being closed and the year hosting fee I paid, refunded.

In case you missed the first parts of my horrible customer service experience with BlueHost.com, here are the links.

I. BlueHost Web Hosting Company Tells Me to F* Off. Now That’s UFB Customer Service.

II. Let’s See If We Can Help BlueHost.com Improve Their Horrible Customer Service.

BlueHost missed yet another opportunity to provide good customer service by not even personally acknowledging my cancellation request, that they encouraged, see link I. above. In the cancellation request I had enclosed a copy of the chat and my experience, everything you saw in my first post. You would think someone would have cringed at what happened. That is unless it happens rather frequently or they didn’t give a damn.

In order to attempt to retain me as a customer they didn’t need to do the 45 minutes in hell AOL cancellation process but it would have been a nice touch, seeing how there were some bad feelings, if a manager or supervisor at least apologized for the way I had been treated.

While they might not have been able to keep me as a customer at least I could have left feeling as if my complaint had been acknowledged. Instead here is what I got:

Email 1

Your account has been canceled and a refund issued. Please allow up to 5 business days for the refund to appear on your statement. Please respond to this email if you have any questions.

Rochelle

Email 2

We recently received your request to delete the web hosting account for ****.com. Your account has been deleted and you have been credited $166.80.

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact us.

Thank you,
BlueHost.Com Support

All in all, a sad end to a most unfortunate experience.

Business Problems Arise. They Always Do

Once you’ve had your own business long enough you will discover that problems arise, they just naturally do. But it is how you handle them that is most critical.

I’m certainly not perfect but I think in my different businesses that we have a very good customer service approach. In my business where we sell DVD movies, if someone gets the wrong movie we don’t fuss or fight, mistakes happen. When we get the request we apologize, tell them to keep the movie in error and promptly send out another.

You might be asking why we tell them to keep the one in error? Well, if the wrong movie arrived, that was the fault of someone at the warehouse and not the customers. There is no reason why the customer should be inconvenienced any further for our error, and I can use this opportunity to not only apologize but give the customer a free gift. In this case the free gift is a surprise movie.

What I find is that the cost of not asking for the item sent in error back and promptly sending the replacement results in loyal customers that have now tested the customer service approach and are no longer hesitant to order. In fact they are more likely to come back to me because they’ve tested the system and know we value them and will make it right. The small investment in dealing with the upset customer helps to turn that person into a customer for life.

Many businesses, like BlueHost.com, fail to understand that the small cost in repairing the situation would have been more cost effective for them in the long run. I do know that BlueHost.com pays up to $100 commission for new customers and imagine if they had offered me a $100 refund on my account, apologized for the episode and worked with me to continue my upload they would have had a raving fan on their hands that would have told others how great they handled the situation.

Instead what happened, not a damn thing.

The Greatest Customer Service Moment I Have Ever Experienced

I think this is the best customer service experience I have ever had. And when you look at how it was handled, it was brilliant.

I was having an upscale deck built on my house and the sub-contractor had made some critical mistakes. I was very upset, this was a very expensive project.

I took pictures, made notes and called the general contractor for what I was afraid was going to be an unpleasant confrontation.

The time came, he walked around the corner of the house and before I could say anything, here is what he said, “Steve as your general contractor I accept full responsibility for any complaints or issues you might have and I will do whatever it takes to make things right and I appreciate your business. How can I help.”

WOW! Now if that doesn’t instantly defuse a situation and retain customers when issues arise, I don’t know what will. And you know what the big surprise was, he did take care of all the issues.

The Business Lesson Here

A customer service failure is just another opportunity for you to show people what a good business you can be. Rather than look at it as a failure or liability on your part, turn it into an asset by just being nice. It goes a long way.

-----

If you enjoyed this post be sure to grab the RSS feed or get posts by email so you don't miss a bit of what's to come.

Steve

Related Posts