Informal or Formal when contacting customer services.

Nate Silvers

Nate Silvers

Nate Silvers

Soldato
Joined
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Hull, East Yorkshire
Which is the one to be? Is the customer suppose to act all tough and formal like a robot too? Or as a customer be expected to be a little more formal?

I am talking via e-mail here.
 
Aim to sound middle-class.

Lower class: "Alright geezer, howz you doin' blud? Innit."

Not going to get you very far.

Upper class: "Dearest Fellow, I write to you in distress and alarm."

Probably raise a few giggles.

Middle class: "Hi, this is my problem. Any help will be appreciated, thanks."

Sorted.
 
I have worked in customer service of varying sorts for around 12 years. I wouldn't mind if you were formal or informal.
Some people in customer service remain very formal, be it through mindset or because they are forced to do so by company protocol, which is unfortunate.
 
i used to work in customer services when i was younger

Did my chuffing head in when people tried to act like they had swallowed a dictionary when talking to me to try and put me down. AVOID sounding like that.

Just make sure its spell checked and using proper grammar and you'll be fine.
 
Unless you're very witty I'd be tempted to keep it short and to the point - it might make you feel better writing a long diatribe about their failings but if you simply and clearly set out what is wrong and what you'd like them to do to fix it then you're more likely to get a satisfactory solution.
 
I've worked in customer services loads [this will surprise some people].

The best letter you can write is one which is polite and very short. End of story.
 
semi-pro waster said:
Unless you're very witty I'd be tempted to keep it short and to the point - it might make you feel better writing a long diatribe about their failings but if you simply and clearly set out what is wrong and what you'd like them to do to fix it then you're more likely to get a satisfactory solution.
Click to expand...

I had a short, to the point, witty and informal email from a regular customer recently.

"Hi mate
Can you have a look into this please as they are struggling to make calls for some reason."

The attachment was a photograph of a recently unwrapped Blackberry.
They aren't supposed to fold in half like a Startac are they? :D
 
WeOwnTheSky said:
Just be polite and you'll probably have a better outcome.
Click to expand...
This but I'd be relatively formal too. Not in a serious and threatening manner (don't quote DSR or anything like that), just well structured:

Hi,

I'm having a problem with "X"..... can you help/I feel a refund would be appropriate/etc..

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards/Thanks
So and So
 
Nix said:
Aim to sound middle-class.

Lower class: "Alright geezer, howz you doin' blud? Innit."

Not going to get you very far.

Upper class: "Dearest Fellow, I write to you in distress and alarm."

Probably raise a few giggles.

Middle class: "Hi, this is my problem. Any help will be appreciated, thanks."

Sorted.
Click to expand...

Why did this just pop into my head? :D

 
I work in a complaints team and regardless of your communication method I'd recommend the following.

Remember to make sure you get your point across. So many times I've been on the phone to people or been reading peoples letters/emails, and by the end of the initial interaction I'm still none the wiser as to what their problem is. Also try and keep it simple. It grinds my gears when people write a 5 page complaint letter when 2 paragraphs would have put their point across more clearly.

Don't over exaggerate the problem to much and definitely don't claim the world almost ended/you almost died because you had to wait 10 minutes extra to be served or something equally minor in the grand scheme of things.

Don't try to be funny, unless a) You are genuinely funny or b) Whatever happened to you was funny.

Lastly don't be aggressive. People are less likely to help you even if your situation does deserve an apology. In fact it can reduce the compensation you receive. Like most people I'm more likely to go out of my way for someone who has been put out but is polite about it, than for someone who thinks its ok to be offensive.
 
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I'm always polite and get straight to the point when dealing with customer service, I've never had any issues with staff when calling centres, once they get the initial scripted crap out of the way they're usually a bit less formal and can have a laugh, joke and a human conversation with. But this might be because of the way I approach, I don't know.
 
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