Originally Posted by
joshua362
I, a cynical one, don't like it and fear this is a start toward outsourcing and moving Customer Service offshore eventually. I do hope I am wrong. Snail mail provides some level of automatic filtering out the quacks and frivolous items that will now have to be logged, addressed and responded to, bogging everything down which has to be countered by more hiring and costs... You can see where this leads. I can see it now, "my flight was 15 minutes late, what am I owed..."
Joshua,
As someone who spent over ten years dealing with Customer correspondence, we really don't consider anything trivial. Yes, we do get some nutty snail mail letters, but unless they are so bizarre, we will respond. As to frivolous items like a 15-minute delay, we have gotten a share of them before, and we do respond. The worry has always been that e-mail will open a floodgate of these types of inquiries. I used to think that too, but I am not so sure anymore. The rest of the world communicates via e-mail so we really are catching up. Our Res folks will be able to triage what can be answered quickly and what needs to be sent on to Customer Relations.
I think curbcrusher addressed the issue of outsourcing, and just to add to his thoughts. We have a large, loyal and Customer-centric work force with our Res Agents, and we are using them in nontraditional roles because we value their input. Along with e-mail handling, other Centers are taking on a more active role in assiting with lost baggage and Customer communications.