Tag Archives: customer experience

Why Mega-Corporations Fail at Customer Experience

Palveluista eli On Service, , ,

Why Mega-Corporations Fail at Customer Experience?

You’re nothing — not even worth an answer from a Mega-Corporation’s customer service. Have you ever felt the same?

By Mega-Corporation, I mean a global player that practically holds a monopoly in its field. Not all Mega-Corporations fail at customer service. Many have perfected their systems so well that customers can manage everything themselves. Most of the time, these services work almost flawlessly. But when they don’t…

Recently, I had three experiences where the service utterly failed.

Case 1: When Usability and Customer Promise Don’t Match

I get especially frustrated when the service promise doesn’t align with actual usability. These situations do happen, but when customer service can’t solve the problem or even take responsibility, my patience ends.

I had booked a hotel for two nights with the right to modify or cancel until the day of arrival. Due to a change in travel plans, I wanted to shorten my stay to one night. However, since the hotel was fully booked, the booking system wouldn’t allow the modification.

Finding the customer service number took quite a while (common, right? “Customer, don’t contact us” is often the message). The agent tried to fix the issue but said she couldn’t. She promised to contact the hotel and get back to me. I waited 24 hours — nothing.

I called again, this time reaching the international service in English. An overly polite agent promised to help and sent me a long, flowery email full of words but no substance. Then — silence.

I contacted the hotel directly. The manager advised me to cancel the two-night booking and rebook one night — now at a higher price. She said she had asked the booking company to honor the original price, but two weeks later (and while I was already staying there) she still hadn’t received a reply.

I then sent a polite complaint email to customer service. The automated reply told me to call their UK number: “We’re waiting for your call.”

After returning home, I called again. A sweet agent “served” me but when I asked to speak to someone responsible for handling my complaint, she kept asking me to repeat the details. I just wanted to know who I could discuss it with. The call went nowhere.

What I wanted was a solution, not polite platitudes. Another observation: agents should be trained to understand cultural differences in what good service means. In Nordic Europe, repeating “Ms [Name]” with flowery phrases doesn’t help — it irritates.

I had previously rated the agents poorly (1/5) but decided to give this agent a chance. I emailed both her (via general service) and the company’s European CEO in the Netherlands. Finding his name naturally took time and his email I guessed. No response within 24 hours, so I wrote again, stating I would contact Consumer Rights Authorities by week’s end. I got a call.

This time, the agent — or her superior — was someone I could finally have a reasonable conversation with. I didn’t even need to ask for compensation for the price difference (€30); they offered it immediately.
But was that enough? Not really. It covered the system’s mistake, but not the frustration, wasted time, or poor experience. To make it worse, they added the credit to my account for future bookings — as if I wanted to use their service again.

Yes, they solved the issue. But they didn’t fix the experience. Guess if I will recommend the booking company.

Case 2: When a Corporation Shows Zero Empathy

We purchase annual licenses essential for our business from a Mega-Corporation. A misunderstanding led us to pay far more than expected, a significant sum for us, but pocket change for them.

Since all meetings were recorded, we requested the recording to understand how the miscommunication happened. Conveniently, it “couldn’t be found.”
Yet, the company still demanded full payment and on time.

Mega-Corporations don’t make mistakes. They don’t need to see things from the customer’s point of view. You dance to their tune; take it or leave it.

Case 3: When the Consumer Is Left to Fix It

I tried to buy a flight ticket online, but at the payment step, I kept getting a notification: “Please contact your bank.” I did and received prompt confirmation that my card was fine.

I then reached out to the airline via WhatsApp. The chat was quick but unhelpful. A few days later, at 5 AM on a Saturday, I got a call. The agent tried to process the booking, but at payment, she said: “There’s a problem with your card. Sorry, can’t help.” The 15-minute international call cost almost as much as the flight.

After digging through their website, I discovered the issue: the airline doesn’t accept euros. What international airline refuses to sell tickets in euros but accepts all other major currencies?
Thankfully, I had friends abroad who eventually bought the ticket for me.

Why Such Arrogance?

Mega-Corporations are imperious because they can afford to be. Their customer base is so vast that losing a few clients means nothing. They’ve built nearly flawless digital systems, which is cheaper to maintain than dealing with service failures. Makes sense.

But when those systems fail, customers like me fall through the cracks. And I’m not alone. With years of professional and personal experience in customer experience, I find this pattern troubling and it tricks me to react.

I give presentations about customer experience and in one of them I feature a local shoemaker who didn’t care about his customers. I’ll pardon him and exchange his story with these Mega-Corporation examples by adding their exact logos.

Learn the Lesson

No matter how big or powerful your company is ensure your service is usable and seamlessly designed and, in case of incidents, empower your customer service to solve them.

Don’t be a cocky sucker.

Customer Experience on Finnair

Travels of a Business Anthropologist, , , ,

WELCOME TO FLIGHT HEL-HKG

First impressions count. Being offered with a smile a small bottle of water can make a difference. It brought a smile on my face. I had heard quite a bit about the new aircraft (mostly via #Finnair itself and its advertising, not from customers, which would be more convincing!). Entering the plane it stroked me as new. It’s always nice to try something new, and I noticed that it brings a certain kind of a feeling of security. New plane = advanced technology = safer flying. But no “wow” effect whatsoever, just an aircraft. The newness could even be smelled. How does new smell? What about bringing the wow effect into that by adding some scent?

Out of all senses smell leaves the strongest memorable touch or engram.

DURING

Service and everything was ok. Critically looking the staff (presumably Chinese) could attend equally to all passengers rather than three of them attending to just one with a baby. Second, I wonder afterwards that what kind of a message it conveys that the English accent of flight attendant(s) of a Finnish/ European airline only reminds as if travelling in China?

The food was good, maybe the best I have eaten in Finnair and one of the best in any airline. And we weren’t even hungry so it cannot explain the good appetite. The overhead lockers appeared truly the smartest I have ever seen!

The content of flight entertainment was nothing special, but the browsing system was nice. The chairs were as comfortable in tourist class as they can be and you could tell that there was a bit more leg room than in most planes, or felt like it. Sadly, however, the plane travelled only maybe about 70% full. Good for us as we occupied three seats instead of two. But for business, such capacity is too low. Furthermore, this wonderful new aircraft flies half empty? Shouldn’t it be full? What could be done to gain at least 95% occupancy year round?

ARRIVAL

I know we have flown #A350 – it is reminded on almost all announcements. What’s there for a customer who is not an aircraft enthusiast? And isn’t that a bit of old news already? Are we talking about engineering technology, benefits it brings, or how the customer perceives it? The benefits are not explained to passengers. Instead of saying “new A350”these benefits should be emphasized: ecological flying, environment saving, safe flying and landings, comfortable atmosphere, more leg room and nice sliding chairs to accommodate the best seating experience, easy-to-use-flight entertainment (special notice from the teenager), etc.

The light show would have been better without announcing it as a light show: let the passenger make meaningful observations. Now it ended up being childish. If the atmosphere – cleanliness, scent, and lightning – is simply created, the customer buys it as a feeling.

Feelings are longer lasting than words.

Overall, the flight was just what Finnair is to me: safe, steady, reliable, but a bit indifferent.

Tiedätkö mitä on PEM?

Palveluista eli On Service, Toimiva yrityskulttuuri ja johtaminen, Uncategorized, , ,

Bisnes rakastaa lyhenteitä. PEM tarkoittaa jo montaa asiaa, mutta annan sille vielä yhden merkityksen: Personnel Experience Management:n. Se olkoon vastineena nykyisin paljon puhuttavalle CEM:lle (customer experience management).

Perustelen tarvetta sillä, että CEMiä ei synny ilman PEMiä. Asiakaskokemusta ei saisi lähteä rakentamaan ainoastaan ulkoapäin. En lainkaan vähättele – vaan suorastaan korostan – asiakkaiden mieltymysten ja fiilisten selvittelyä onnistuneen asiakaskokemuksen luomisessa. Mutta jos yrityksen sisäinen palvelukokemus ei tue sitä, se on päälle liimattu kuori joka pysyy paikoillaan vain sen ajan kuin sen muistaa, vähän niin kuin tekohampaat.

Siispä. PEM + CEM =PnCEM eli Personnel and Customer Experience Management.

Kun yrityksessä on päätetty, mikä merkitys palvelulla on, sen tulee sitouttaa henkilöstö toteuttamaan tavoitetilaa. Työkalut, prosessit ja systeemit on hiottava tavoitteen toteuttamisen tueksi. Sekä ennen kaikkea ohjata sisäinen palvelukulttuuri (PEM) sellaiseksi, että asiakkaan palvelukokemus (CEM) on tavoitteen mukainen. Ei muovitekareita vaan aidot ja pysyvät.

Asiakaslähtöisyyttä tai –keskeistä (customer driven tai centricity) yritystä ei ole, ellei ensin ole henkilöstökeskeistä (personnel driven or centric).

Niin että kotipesä kuntoon ja tekarit hiiteen!