Bad Buisness

There is no excuse for bad telephone etiquette. The service tech. will take all the blame and consequences although other people in the company should take the blame as well.

The service technicians are usually among the lowest ranking employees in the company, although to my opinion representing the company more than sales and advertisement together. Upon the first contact with the customer during machine installation, the service tech. irons out the discrepancies between the colored brochure and the reality. �What did the sales guy tell you the machine can do?� The same sales person gets all the credit for selling the machine. But how about the next machine the customer was buying? Was it not due to the good service effort? Was the service tech rewarded for his effort? Who took care of his travel expenses? Did the bean counter cut off the meal he had spend for the operator? Isn�t that expense justified with the valuable relationship of machine operator and vendor service? What about the dinner meal the sales guy had with corporate management? Service is a difficult job, in particular if you don�t have enough experience or training to repair the machine to begin with. If the machine is not back up and running within a few hours, the customer calls the vendor and ties in the tech in a three way call. Only certain breed of people can do the job for a longer time. Again there is no excuse when the service tech�s fuses burned. I know how it can happen. I wish like you this site would be read by corporate management and sales.

reply »

Hi mates,

back over at our side, bad service is not only prevalent in the machine service industry, it occurs even in esteemed department stores and restaurants...etc.

only in recent years has our local government revamped the quality of service, starting from the government sector and semi-government institues. I think we still have a long way to way.

unlike at countries like Oz, where a cheerful disposition is the norm of daily life, our side service industry staff expects a "smile" to be rewarded by the customer.

For those rare breed of top executives, who took the effort to read this thread, here's a tip : get the book "How to Drive the Competition Crazy, by author Guy Kawazaki".

Hope the lessons revealed within Guy's book, can "wake up your F***ing idea" as our military drill instructor used to declare during our motivational exercises.

reply »

In general, I always consider machine support a key factor when buy equipment. Being rude on the phone is a part of it. There have been several times when I have asked the service guy why he's being such an ass to me - and most times they tell me why and lighten up a bit. Most of the time it because they just got off the phone with an engineer that was busting his chops over a problem. And believe me, from reading some of the threads here at SMTNET, some of you can be pretty rude yourselves. I know your shaking your head and saying "How can an engineer be the problem?" Sorry, it's just the truth. Next time a guy gets rude with you, just ask him why. It breaks down the invisible walls and ya might learn something. I don't have a popular book to quote, but can tell ya if your just complaining about a problem, then you're apart of the problem itself.

And yes, I'm also an engineer.

reply »

Can we assume from your request for web site info on F_J_ that this was the company that treated you bad.

Was your machine registered ?

reply »

Tech: "good afternoon ABC co. how can I help you?" Eng: your machine broken. Tech: okay, what is the problem you are having ? Eng: it no work, my boss is mad at me, no production. Tech: yes, uh, what exactly is the problem ? Eng: I don't know, night crew broke machine, no production. I come in today not working, machine stinks, not like old machine I used to work on this machine no good. Tech: yes, we covered that, if you tell me what the problem is I can help you. Eng: you can't help me, send service. now. Tech: I still need to know the problem before I can call a field service guy. Eng: I tell you, machine broken, no good machine, you no good either. Tech: Please tell me what the machine IS or IS NOT doing. Eng: machine is no good, the old machine I worked on is much much better than this machine. Tech: YES, what is your PROBLEM ? Eng: your broken machine not putting paste down like it should, and stencil inspection doesn't work and auto cleaner doesn't work either, has never worked since it has been installed, never worked for three years. Tech: excuse me, are you having a problem with your screen printer ? Eng: YES, what you can't hear me all of a sudden ? I tell you this bad machine is broken, has always been broken not like the old machine I used to work on. The paste is not going down the way it should,and stencil inspection doesn't work and auto cleaner doesn't work either, has never worked since it has been installed, never worked for three years. Tech: uh, sir ? Eng: YES ?? Tech: I would like to help you but, Eng: But what ? you do not know the answer ? The old machine company service always knew the answer you are no good either. This machine is broken. has never worked.... Tech: We only manufacture OVENS, you have the wrong manufacturer. We don't manufacturer the machine you are having a problem with. Eng: Huh, oh? Oven is bad too. -click-

Sad but True. Try tolerating this kind of caller on a daily basis. I used to work in service and my hat goes off to all who do. You get the good and the bad on both sides of the phone line.

I agree with what Hussman had to say, try it.

reply »

This is quite a list of frustration. Several asked if management is listening. We make carts to suport those machines you are complaining about service. Here is one senior managers view.

There is no low level people in an organization that is managed right, the pay rate may vary depending on the job requirments and not all pay is fair across the country.

Any senior managment worth the title should be treating everyone as the most important person and job function in the company or why are lower paid people on the payroll if you do not need them.

with out the janitor you office and plant will not be clean and that drags down moral. With out the service people the machines will stop.

there is no excuse for poor or rude handling of a customer or a vendor. The customer is never wrong. Or more accurately the customer may not be right, but he is never wrong.

engineers also need to call the factory and tech support before they have a melt down when possible, to simply describe the problem and see if the factory can help speed up the fix, everyone will be much more calm. We get calls for support also and usually the engineer tried to fix it themselves and caused more harm than good. We still are glad to help regarless of what happened. We are part of the solutiion not part of the problem, other companies and managers may need to wake up, especially in this economy.

reply »