Quality customer support is not only elusive but it can also be expensive. To a consumer buying antivirus software, a new laptop or even some genealogy software, it can be the make or break between a good experience or endless hours of frustration. As a person familiar with both sides of the customer service equation, I can understand the consumers frustrations while sympathizing with the customer service department that is trying to complete this daunting task.
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With that said, consumers need to beware. Not every product you purchase comes with
free customer support and there are many types of support. So what do you need to look for to make sure that you get the service that you want and need? First of all, you need to understand your skill level in the particular area of interest. Do you like to investigate issues and solve them yourself or do you just want to have someone tell you what to do so you can go about your day? These are question that you need to answer because you can't, expect a company to support you in the way you need.
There are many different types of
customer service that you can expect and the very first thing you want to do when you visit a website is look for the contact us page. If you are just getting a link with an email address in it, that is a sign that you will get limited if any,
customer support but if you see a site with Live Chat and an extensive FAQ section, then you could be on the right path.
Different Types of Customer Support:
- Email - this is a great way to communicate with a vendor when the issue is not time sensitive. It also allows you to get very detailed answers on your questions.
- FAQ (frequently asked questions) Section - An even faster way to get answers to common questions. Some companies expand this and go beyond common questions and can be very in depth in their support with FAQs.
- Live Chat - a very popular form of support as it offers you personal contact with a support person in order to rectify your issue. Live Chat is a specific place on the site that links you to a customer support representative via a web browser. This gives you the ability to get answers immediately and allows the customer support person to handle multiple people at the same time.
- Phone Support - The highest level of support but this can be frustrating on both sides. If a customer service department has 10 people and they get 11 calls ... someone has to wait and that is where frustration begins. This is one to one support and obviously very popular with the consumers.
- Premium Support - Phone support but with a charge. The cost of phone support is so high that not every company can put that expense into the cost of the product so they charge for the support. Some charge on a flat fee or some charge by incident. Either way, if you go on the contact us page, this should be stated there clearly.
In order to save your time and that of the customer service person, make sure you are prepared. If you are having problems with your antivirus software, don’t call from your car on the way to work. Make sure that you have all your information including order number or customer number available and include that in any communications. There is nothing more frustrating than explaining your issue via email and waiting for a response and when the response comes, all it says is "can I get your order number"? Include as much detailed information in all communications as possible.
So when you purchase a product don’t expect someone to be sitting waiting for your call. Figure out what kind of support that you prefer and require and what your time frame is to get support and then do a little investigating. In order to make the purchasing experience positive, you need to make sure your expectations for customer support are met.