Wednesday, November 12, 2008

A call for Customer Service 101

George and I have been on such a high since visiting Loreto last month. Being able to see firsthand the progress on our Casa Encantada was an incredible experience. In just four short months we saw our lot transformed from a dusty, barren patch of ground to the beginnings of a real home with walls and ceilings. It was so exciting to see our home take shape and to share in the excitement of other home owners during the Agua Viva tour.

All that excitement created a little flicker of hope that the information flow from Loreto Bay to home owners just might be improving. Unfortunately, that is not the case as evidenced by an email we received this evening from Loreto Bay and a transcript of Kaz’s most recent podcast on Nopolo News.

This latest email from Loreto Bay proudly claims to be providing accurate and up-to-date information and photos of the construction progress on our casa. Not even close. The construction “update” didn’t even include the progress we saw while in Loreto and the photos only showed our neighbors’ homes in a shot apparently taken from the tower of our house.

What gives? If this is the new and improved product being offered by customer service then we’re all in trouble.

Making matters worse was the latest podcast transcript on Nopolo News. I didn’t have a blood pressure cuff handy today when George read Kaz’s transcript, but judging by his demeanor, I’m sure it shot up a few points! (Click on Nopolo News under Blog List)

The responses from LB’s marketing rep Stacy to legitimate questions were unsatisfactory to say the least. When asked about providing more pertinent information in the monthly (not quite) newsletter, Stacy responded by asking which newsletter… Hello? How many newsletters are there anyway? Her responses were generally snarky and unresponsive (see response to management attending home owner event), something we’ve noticed whenever marketing responds on the official home owner site.

We understand that management may not have all the answers – or any answers for that matter. Instead of being defensive, why not try a little courteous honesty? “Sorry, we don’t have the answer right now, but we’ll work on finding out for you.” That’s what we heard from Jesus with customer service down in Loreto and it works. It generates goodwill and patience. The problem is that there is no customer service consistency within LBC. A crash course in the fundamentals of customer service is desperately needed for everyone - from top to bottom - in LB/Replay.

2 comments:

Penny Gwilliam Davis said...

I too was disappointed with the monthly update. I was trying to think who I could ask to get an actual picture of my home and not the neighbourhood, without going through those forms. The update was sadly lacking the pertinent info.

tracy said...

I totally agree, and feel that the new format for the progress reports are a waste of time and effort on LBC's part. I have noticed that these reports do not correlate to the TCC prgress inspections, as they are only reporting the last milestone that you have paid for when reporting % complete. Needless to say, I see very little value in having this information sent to me each month as it does not truly reflect what is going on in my home.