Rob Clymo: Columnist - Tech & Gadgets
Tuesday, 08 July 2008
The Clymo Brief: Service, please!
Read more from columnist Rob Clymo here

A good friend of mine recently mentioned he was doing a car boot sale at the weekend. “You mad fool,” I thought to myself, while emailing back saying what a great idea it was. Standing in a field at stupid o’clock haggling with a pensioner over a 25 pence tank top is not my idea of fun. These days, I felt like reminding him, you can buy and sell at an online auction site such as eBay.

But even that isn’t without its hassle factor, especially if you’re not very good at spotting real from fake. And if you’re ripped off, whaddya do? Start tit-for-tat name-calling using online feedback? After all, talking to a member of staff at eBay seems nigh on impossible – a problem that tends to plague many online outlets. In fact, websites really need to do much better at adding a pinch of the human touch to proceedings.
Fined over fakes
These aren’t great times for eBay. The site recently got an expensive rap across the knuckles for being a teensy weensy bit lax on monitoring who’s selling what on their website. A French court ordered the outfit to pay around £31 million to LVMH Group, the makers of luxury goods including brands Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton.

The Paris hearing criticised the company for not doing enough to curtail the sale of fake goods on their pages, although eBay plans to appeal. That’s all well and good, but what I’m more bothered about is being unable to speak to eBay via the phone, rather than using email or the web. Have you ever tried to contact them and speak to a real person? No chance.
Considering all the money eBay makes from fees, it seems embarrassingly short-staffed. Got a complaint? Then fill in the online form. Billing enquiry? Select an option from the drop-down list and click the button. Want to speak to a customer services representative? Oh forget it! I tried contacting eBay about this issue, via their PR company, but unfortunately they didn’t reply to my phone calls or emails. That’s a shame as I had lots to ask them!

Could do better
You’ll find this frustrating lack of customer service rears its ugly head all over the web. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve wanted to pick up the phone to call a company and given up after not being able to find a number. Amazon, for example, has a fantastic site but try to give them a bell and you’re scuppered.

Meanwhile, companies that do have a number, often keep you hanging on forever while you’re forced to listed to excruciating piped music. I’ve had nightmarish encounters with really big companies like BT, Ryanair and FlyBe in the past while simply trying to speak to someone, but if I was going to mention all the others then this would be one very long column!

“I think customer service on the web in general today is incredibly non-user friendly,” agrees Jeff Hoffman, CEO of American website uBid.com. “Unlike other sites on the web, we actually want our customers to call if they are having any difficulties to make sure they’re having the best experience possible.”
The uBid site specialises in selling brand name excess inventory and their willingness to respond to my questions was in direct contrast to some of the other companies I approached while writing this column.

Staying alert Executive Vice President Tim Takesue at the company is also keen to stress their vigilance at ensuring products placed on the uBid site are legitimate. “We’ve turned down what we believe to be millions of dollars in potential fees because we do not tolerate these types of sellers on our site.”

“Of course, we could have used these fees to build our business, as some of our peers may have done, but we have decided to adhere to a set of criteria that we believe is best for our customers, employees, and stakeholders.”
“If a customer is unsatisfied and wants their money back, we’ll give them their money back,” adds Hoffman. “I’m not sure you’ll find many places on the web that will do that.”

Showing initiative
I’d like to see some more initiatives like those used on the Yorkshire based eBuyer website too. They do have a customer phone number and, even more helpfully, right underneath there’s an average call waiting time displayed which at least offers you a ray of hope. That’s more than can be said for many much larger operations.

I guess the argument will always be that recruiting more staff means additional costs and that isn’t something easily factored into a web store where prices have to be so competitive. To be honest though, I don’t mind paying a little more if it comes with the reassuring backup of a customer services hotline. Even if they’re based in Calcutta.
Using the web to shop, especially if you’re a bloke like me who hates traipsing up and down the high street, is perfect because it’s quick, easy and many outlets even gift wrap. Magic! It’s just a shame the whole process grinds to a halt the minute there’s a problem and you need to speak to someone.

Shopping around
The internet provides us with plenty of choice though, so I guess it’s always possible to go and shop somewhere else with just a few mouse clicks. And if online stores can take the example of traditional shops and throw in a little bit of humanity to their dealing, I think shopping on the web could be a fabulous experience.

I’m not saying it needs to be run like the little corner shop in Open All Hours, but the idea of customer service is one that needs looking at sooner rather than later. Despite the grumbles though nobody can hold a candle to eBay when it comes to getting your unwanted tat seen. And for buying and selling stuff it’s a fabulous tool. But I do wish they and all the others would take on some people to staff the phones!


Links

eBay customer support

Recent columns from Rob Clymo:

Waging war on spam
Goodbye Mr Gates
Faking it with digital photos

All Rob Clymo's columns for Tech & Gadgets

Rob Clymo is a journalist employed on a freelance basis by Microsoft. The views in this article are those of the author and not of MSN or Microsoft. Microsoft is the publisher and owner of MSN Tech & Gadgets.