To Err is Human, so is to Care.

My father called Quest to have a new phone installed at the house.

On Monday, as scheduled, the technician came and connected the new line on the outside of the house. After some time, not knowing they had come, my father checked to see if the line was working and found the main line was not working, but the secondary line (available only in some of the rooms in our house) was now present.

He called Quest and asked them to return and install the line correctly. A new visit was scheduled on Thursday.

On Thursday a technician knocked on the front door to let my father know he had finished re-installing and was leaving. My father, who is not easily fooled twice, asked him to wait so they could test the line together. They found once again, the connection was made incorrectly. They both went outside and the technician quickly discovered the problem, fixed it and went on his way.

What is wrong with both of these customer experiences?

Most of us might say what went wrong was the technicians’ inability to complete their work correctly the first time. However, when I talked to my father about it, he seemed to understand and accept the inevitability of human error. What he was having trouble with was the lack of intention to provide a good service. Both times the technicians were uninterested in the effectiveness of their effort and more interested in moving on to the next task. The problem in my father’s mind did not seem to be lack of expertise as much as lack of intention.

Interestingly enough, if the right intention had been present, the problem, the costs associated with the second visit and the strain on the customer relationship would have been averted.

Why then, would Quest not ask their technicians to check with the customer before and after doing the work? The return on investment is certainly clear.

Intention overpowers errors and inefficiencies – because we are human and we value experiences more than error-free service.

Rudy Vidal

Committed to XCS !