Email customer service: plumbing new depths

If a customer (or potential customer) called your company only to have their call go unanswered, would your CEO accept the situation? If a letter of complaint comes into your office, is it OK to ignore it?

The answer to both questions is, of course, no. So why do so many companies think it's reasonable to brush emails to one side?

New research (see Silicon Says box, left) reveals that only one third of companies have some sort of automated, 'thank you for your email' acknowledgment system in place.

To be fair, most of the companies surveyed did eventually respond to consumers, but only 52 per cent got back within 24 hours, while 32 per cent took three days or longer. That's an age in these heady days of instant, internet-enabled communication.

This situation is ridiculous. Not only do such companies risk losing potential customers, they're not making as much money as they could out of the ones they keep. We all want to encourage email interaction, because it's often the cheapest way of doing business. Making sure you answer the initial contact is surely the first thing you do.

Reputation is another key factor: your humble correspondent has a blocked drain, and emailed a plumbing outfit (called Plumbfast) this afternoon. Plumbfast has a very professional-looking website. It wisely encourages its customers to use the web, with a £25 discount for orders made online. Its site boasts that a plumber will turn up within 90 minutes. Once you've filled in your details in the online form, you click on a button emblazoned with the words: 'Call me now!'

Not only was the query not acknowledged by email, but there wasn't even a phone call within 90 minutes (not quite the same thing as 'now'). Heaven knows how long it would take them to get a plumber to turn up

Nice try, but goodbye, as they say. That's money gone to a competitor.

In this day and age, any failure in customer service is costly, and when it comes to email, it's practically a crime. So sort it out.

PS Anyone know a good plumber working in the Ealing area?