When it comes to customer experience, everything matters. The way a website looks and works, the way a brand’s service people talk with and treat customers, and certainly the way purchased goods and services are delivered.

Recently I ordered an iPhone 7 plus. The sales specialist told me I could expect my phone to ship by December 1st. He said just to bring the new phone in with the old phone and they would transfer data and put on accessories. I received the confirmation about shipping exactly like I had been informed.

My phone arrived on time so I went to the Verizon store to get my data transferred and accessories added. I gave the specialist my new and old phones, indicating what I needed to have done, but he said he couldn’t get the information to transfer. He suggested I go home and connect it to my computer. He instructed me on what I needed to do.

I got home and followed his instructions, but couldn’t seem to get it to work. I contacted the store from the phone number on my ticket. The IT representative was very helpful and walked me through the procedure. I hung up because this seemed to be a very simple process, however for some reason the data never transferred. I called back and got another IT representative, so I reviewed the problem again with him. He said that maybe I was given the wrong information but he seemed eager to help me. He told me he needed to connect to my computer so he could walk me through the steps. It was taking a lot of time for something that was supposed to be simple. After almost two hours on the phone, I finally told him I had to leave for an important client meeting. He instructed me to leave everything connected and it should be complete when I came back. When I got home it looked like everything had transferred. The representative did call to check to make sure everything was transferred correctly however I missed the call. I did call back and told the person to thank Brandon for me.

The next day I went to the same Verizon store to turn in my old phone in and get final accessories added to new phone. I waited about 10 minutes or so before my Sales Specialist was available. He happened to be the specialist I had ordered the phone from at the store. I explained what I needed and shared that transferring the data was much more difficult than what I had anticipated. He said he would check to make sure everything was okay. After waiting for him to check everything, he said that will $13.66 for bringing back my old phone. I asked why would I have to pay for old phone when I was returning it? He stated “because we can’t sell it when it’s been used.” I reiterated once again that I just wanted to return the old phone. He then said “I thought you were returning new phone.” In the process of the misunderstanding, he erased all information that was just transferred from new phone! He then walked away to get his Manager at that point and I was very frustrated. I had just spent two days getting my new phone set it up and now it had been erased. This process should have taken a maximum of one hour the first day. He proceeded to re-upload everything and the Manager said my account would show a credit for the $13.66. I got home and realized my I couldn’t make any calls on the new phone so I had to call again for help. The IT representative fixed the problem in about 15 minutes. He said sometimes this happens when phone is activated. This whole process could have been avoided if the first Sales Specialist had known how to transfer the data at the store.

This process was very frustrating and it was obvious the staff was not properly trained or all this could have been avoided. All representatives were pleasant to work with, but it didn’t leave a good experience in my mind of Verizon on future phone upgrades.

The Hart Experience can help you avoid these negative experiences with your customers by conducting regular mystery shops at your business. We investigate how well your employees are trained and the experiences your customers are having to make sure you are always offering the best customer experience possible.

Contact Debbie Hart at 602.717.3271 or Debbie@thehartexperience.comwww.thehartexperience.com