The customer service offered by some companies has a lot in common with airport security.  It's designed to stop you getting through to someone who can help, by making the process of connecting as uncomfortable and inconvenient as possible.

And just as airport security is not designed around the traveller's experience or comfort, customer service systems are often not designed around the customer or resolving issues.  They're designed despite the customer and designed to make things convenient and easy for the company.

An experience I have just had with my British bank, Lloyds TSB, is a case in point.   It felt just as bad as, "sir can you please take your shoes and belt off then step through the X-Ray machine - we need to search you while your laptop is taken out of your bag."

Unfortunately this morning's experience with the Lloyds TSB Customer Care system was not unique because it's happened to me time and time again over the past decade I've been banking with them both personally and for my business.  And I've experiences it with other organizations too.

I recently received a letter from London from my business banking manager.  She wished me well as I moved to the United States and ran through a number of regulatory details I needed to attend to before the end of April.  But I needed to ask her a quick question.  The question had nothing to do with how much money I had in the account or any personal data.  It was simply about a legal requirement one has to follow with regard to closing bank accounts for limited companies and I needed to know some more.

The person I wanted to talk to is really good
Now my business manager in the UK is actually, really good.  She knows her stuff and whenever I talk to her, she is more than helpful.  She almost always does what needs to be done fast and effectively.  But the problem is, I more often than not, can’t get to talk to her.  But it’s not her fault.

This morning I picked up the phone to call her.  The only number for her, my branch or anyone else in the bank is a customer service call center.   This seems to be the trend these days - call centers.  Well, today a pleasant chap named Shazatt answered the phone in their call center after I had been on hold for four or five minutes. 

But the system was designed to stop me talking to her
I feel sorry for people like Shazatt.  Because while they are generally courteous and professional, they have to come up with fancy methods of avoiding my questions which are usually along the lines of, “is this the way you would like to be treated?”  While they desperately want to agree, they’re not allowed to because it makes the bank look vulnerable.

I told Shazatt that I didn’t need any specific account information.  I was simply calling to talk to my business manager in relation to a letter she had sent me on a matter of banking regulations. 

However, Shazatt told me I had to pass a security test first – I couldn’t talk directly to her.  That’s right, I had to answer questions which I easily knew answers to like what was my mother’s maiden name.  And then other’s which I had no clue about.  Such as, “you had a transaction in Las Vegas on February 9 for the sum of twenty two pounds and eighty pence”.  Of course I had spent dollars not pounds so I had no idea – was it a taxi, hamburger or book?  This was simply to respond to a letter she had written me.  What has gone wrong, here?

Getting through airline security is easier than getting through to some service providers.  My bank manager knows me.  She knows my history.  She knows that I am a direct, honest, plain-speaking Australian.  But instead, Lloyds wants to beat Heathrow Airport Security on discomfort levels when providing services.  Surely it does not have to be so.

But not all systems are bad
Imagine my surprise when I signed up last week with American bank, Wachovia.  I got just what I’d always dreamed about from a bank – productive customer service.  And it was because they didn’t stand a Rottweiler – the customer service call center – between me and my bank manager. 

Now, I’m new to America.  And there may be people with different experiences than mine but I still can’t believe how good it has been for me. 

Last Friday I opened an account for our new business at Wachovia here in the US.  I met the business account manager and she set everything up for me last Friday.  The only remaining thing after meeting her was activate my online banking.  This is something she can’t do – for security reasons, I had to respond to an email and then go online in my office.

Direct access = direct success
As I left her office on Friday afternoon, she said, “Jonathan if you need anything call me – here’s my direct line.  If something doesn’t work, I’ll make sure it’s fixed for you.”

Well, I got back to my office and followed the instructions in the email to set up online banking.  But the process didn’t work for me.  So this morning, I called my account manager.  No call center or airline security process here.  Just a direct call to the person who knew me and could help me with generic information.  Five minutes later it was fixed.

Wow.  What a breeze.  How do some companies get it right and other fail so miserably?

Even the cable guy offered direct access
I had a similar experience with the cable company.  I called them to set up cable internet for my company and spoke to a chap who gave me his direct phone number and email address.  Unbelievable. 

There were a few hiccups along the way with the installation and guess what?  I called him direct, he knew what I needed and sorted things out.  No call center.  No wasted time having to explain to different call center agents what I was calling about.  Just direct to someone who remembered and was able to help.

So what’s my point?  America has better customer service than Britain?  Hah, I’m not getting into that conversation. 

Customer service may benefit from pulling down customer care systems
I think my point is that there may be more value in approaching customer service from a perspective of pulling systems down rather than building them up.  I've been in organizations where they spend time working out complicated workflows and touch points for their customer service systems but never talk about the personal relationship.

And usually, the businesses with the complicated workflows and call center models end up acting more like airline security stations than customer care centers.  And their systems slow down and sometimes close off interaction between companies and customers.

Some customer care systems are too big to fail

It's interesting that in news reports and media commentaries of late,  we're hearing the phrase that some companies are, "too big to fail".

These are the companies that were allowed to get so big in the fat times of economic boom that should they fail today, they would criple the economy here in the US and by ripple effect elsewhere around the world.

Some customer cares systems are too big - so they should fail
I can't help but think that some customer service systems - epitomized by the call center mentality - are in exactly the same boat. 

They're too big to be really helpful in doing anything but cause customer frustration through sluggish performance and high barriers to providing help.  which in turn causes anxt within the call centers where morale drops because staff only ever deal with disgrunteled customers who make work-life miserable.  And it all spirals down from there.

It would be better for customers if these big customer service systems - like the one at Lloyds TSB and other places - did fail.   Because that failure may just cause them to morph into an organization that provides more localized and personalized customer care where customers are at the heart of communication.