Wow! Can you believe that in less than 12 hours the year will be over? What a year it has been. Interestingly it’s been a good year for the consumer. With consumers standing up for themselves in more ways than in previous years. If you don’t believe us see the below results for the Telecommunications Industry Ombdusman (TIO) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS):

For the TIO: Complaints have increased by 0.94% over a 12 month period. Interestingly, a quarter of complaints was due to the lack of customer service offered by the provider – no surprises there, this is what we at Vent2Me have been saying since our inception, customer service matters so don’t ignore YOUR customers!

Want to know which providers received the most complaints? Read the TIO results by visiting their statistics webpage. Although one can argue that these stats show that things aren’t better for the consumer, we argue that these stats show that consumers feel more empowered and have easier access to the complaint handling process than ever before. Just search #customerservice in twitter and you will see what we mean.

Regarding the FOS: Complaints to their service grew by 19.20%, with the FOS handling on average 3008 complaints a month:
Could this increase in complaints be caused by a broader range of insurance products being made available to consumers than in previous years? To read the full report by FOS visit their Annual Review webpage.

Let’s get something straight for the record: Businesses will not change if they do not know why they have to, hence the complaint resolution process is an unnecessary evil – it must be done to ensure continuous improvement.

The 2012 Vent2Me Award for Worst Customer Service:

Now from our perspective, the 2012 award for worst customer service goes to Kogan Australia. They received this award because they fail to understand that cheap products does not equal cheap customer service. They also receive this award because they fail to keep up to date with alternative channels of communication, so much so that;

• It’s extremely difficult to actually locate their phone number on the website,
• They have blocked customers from posting new wall comments on their facebook page,
• They do not adequately respond to inquiries/provide sufficient information to the customers.

We really hope that in 2013, Kogan picks up their game and does not become another retailer like Harvey Norman (which is who they did not want to become!). But don’t take out word for it, see below for evidence:

This image shows Kogan’s facebook page and how they have blocked customers from posting new posts on their facebook wall. Instead, the only way you can contact Kogan via facebook is through a message or by commenting on a post of theirs. This is totally unacceptable as Kogan should want to hear the feedback from their customers – blocking it just shows that they don’t value the opinions of their customers.The next image shows how that when you don’t contact them through a direct message, they tell you to contact Kogan through the web enquiry form! Don’t have these channels in place if you don’t want customers to use them!

The last point and we have spoken about this before, shows how Kogan funnels customers through their online enquiry system rather than allowing customers to use a multiple channels. After all, 90% of customers prefer to resolve complaints via the phone, so why not allow your customers to use this method? BTW – if you are wanting to know the phone number for Kogan, it is: 8677 2272!

Happy new year everyone!

Until next time,

Cents & Sensibility