I got a call on my cell phone today at around 3:30PM from Verizon Wireless, with whom I’ve been a customer for about 6 years. The woman on the other end introduced herself and informed me that in order to provide me with the best customer service, the call may be recorded. Then she got to the point.
The reason I’m calling today is to help you renew your Family Plan contract and to offer you an extra free 100 minutes of (something that sounded complicated). I just need a few pieces of information from you today to get you all set up…
Knowing that I will be leaving Verizon this fall when my contract is actually up, I interrupted her there to say, “No thank you.”
First: Someone at Verizon Wireless decided that I should receive this call at 3:30PM on a Thursday. A call during which they really, really want me to say yes.
If you want your customer to say yes to an important question, interrupting them at work is a bad start.
Second: The caller was obviously trained to mumble quickly through the part about “renewing your contract” (they don’t even use those words) and get straight to the confusing part about getting free stuff. Then, she made it all sound so simple — just a few pieces of information to get you all set up. All set up? The text was all meant to sound as if she was doing me a big favor by interrupting me at work and tricking me into renewing my 2 year contract.
Companies that think they can avoid the death of long-term contracts by tricking and trapping their customers into renewal will be the first to disappear.
Be careful, Verizon.
Filed under: xid | Tagged: customer experience, long-term contracts, User Experience, Verizon Wireless
