I was just on the phone with my credit card company as my current card expires in two weeks and I haven’t yet received a replacement.  I waited on hold for a reasonable amount of time then was directed to a rep who did the following:

1. Listened to my issue
2. Verified my identity
3. Identified the problem
4. Relayed the problem to me
5. Fixed the problem

That’s what anyone could ask for when dealing with any company providing a service.  Except, I left out a few extra steps; It really went like this…

1. Announced herself and said she was here to provide me excellent customer service
2. Listened to my issue
3. Apologized for having an issue and said she will do everything to fix the issue and provide me with excellent customer service
4. Verified my identity
5. Told me what steps she was going to take to provide me excellent customer service
6. Identified the problem
7. Apologized for the amount of time she was gone while she was identifying the problem
8. Relayed the problem to me
9. Fixed the problem
10. Closed the call with a monologue about how she hopes that she provided me with excellent customer service while she offered me a 0% balance transfer

Needless to say, there were many unnecessary steps that could have turned this 10 minute call into a 5 minute one; Thus saving both the company and me valuable time to allow us to accomplish a little more in our day.

The funny thing about this situation is the complaints I hear from time to time(at Pervasive DataSolutions) that we do not provide phone support for our products.  Maybe it’s personal preference or a generation gap, but I’d prefer to never talk to a customer support rep on the phone assuming I could get the same quality of support over various other mediums.