When 'Customer Service' Makes Things Worse

When a customer has to contact customer service, you've already messed up. When that customer service is lacking, lazy or downright stupid, it might as well be an ad for your worst competitor. And this weekend, a Windows 10 glitch and bonehead customer service nearly sent my household to the waiting arms of Apple. So, the situation was this: With the latest updates, some Windows 10 computers are running into an issue where the PC suddenly stops recognizing the mouse and keyboard. This isn't even a new issue, some users have been experiencing issues with this since the upgrades started. And this weekend, that happened to my home desktop (right in the middle of my wife using it, too). Both devices worked fine in the system boot menu — so the issue wasn't with the hardware or USB drives — but once Windows started ... nothing. Since our desktop does not have a touchscreen, voice interface or mind-reading attachment, it was effectively bricked. All I could do was restart it and access the boot menus during start-up, and the only useful thing there was a full hard drive factory image rest. (This was also how I found out Windows 10 no longer has the old reliable safe mode.) OK, I know this game. I need to go find a driver or something and figure out a way to install it with a rescue disk of some sort. ... I'm never, ever getting this time back, but I should be able to find what I need to fix it. To the Googles I Go! (Side note: Don't mistake that for a chipper mood. There is no wasted time I resent more than time wasted fixing a computer problem the OS created.) One of the trends that's emerged in customer service, especially around computing, is the customer service forum. Rather than man countless customer service lines, a manufacturer sets up a forum where it hopes customers will help each other with their problems. It may even staff the forum with CSRs (perhaps AI CSRs). So I find my way to the Microsoft forum where at least a few other users are running into the same problem. And the reply from the Microsoft support person is to launch the hardware device troubleshooter by pressing the Windows Key and X. ... Remember, this is to fix a computer where the keyboard and mouse are not working. Oh, but he has other advice: Uninstall and reinstall the keyboard and mouse drivers ... Also by pressing Windows Key and X ... After some incredulous replies, another Microsoft rep posts a different answer: Perform a "clean boot" (apparently this replaced safe mode) by ... using the mouse to pull up the system configuration menu and navigate around that to start the clean boot. Now, I've been a lifelong Windows user at home. I've used Apple machines at work for years because that's what publishers tend to provide for the creative teams, but at home I've been a pretty loyal Windows user. I even have an Xbox. And I swear by the time I was done this weekend, I was pricing out Macs for my home. I've never seen a more effective ad for Apple products in my entire life than the idiocy of some of the Windows customer service. So, I did the only logical thing and performed a hard disk factory image restore via the manufacturer's boot menu (not Microsoft) ... And now I am once again the owner of a Windows 7 machine. This is not the outcome Microsoft wanted. So, my advice to all marketers, especially IT marketers, is mind your customer service. Because it only takes a few stupid customer service replies to make a loyal customer rethink your entire ecosystem.

Customer Retention

When 'Customer Service' Makes Things Worse

Thorin McGee

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Thorin McGee