eFax Earns Back Some Points

• January 12th, 2007 /
•  Blake Killian

On Wednesday, I got a call from Sean Hitchings, Office of the President at j2 Global Communications, Inc. Mr. Hitchings seems to be a high-profile member of the j2/eFax team, which is why I was surprised he called me directly in response to my post earlier this week. I was so impressed that he called to smooth things over and apologize that I asked him to send me a statement about the incident, and I would post it here.

As bad as my cancellation experience was, this was the perfect way to handle it. Mr. Hitchings brought it all back to human interaction. It’s completely understandable that they can’t predict the behavior of every representative, but they can take steps to curb the probability of such incidents which apparently what they are currently doing according to his message below.

Consumers have power, and blogging consumers have even more. Companies need to acknowledge this phenomenon, and start “ego searching” themselves every day. Go to Technorati or Google Blog search and search for your name, your company’s name and your products’ names. You may be surprised to find a conversation is already taking place about you.

Here’s his message:

Dear Blake,

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me yesterday.

I was pleased to have the opportunity to let you know that we at eFax were very troubled when we read your blog article, eFax’s Cancellation Procedure Is Impossible (Almost) regarding the difficulties you experienced when trying to cancel your service.

Upon reviewing the transcripts for your live chat session we immediately identified a number of issues with the method and manner in which our agent went about handling your request. We, like many companies, do employ programs aimed at trying to retain customers. Through our Customer Service representatives this is often in the form of offers (such as the one you were presented with in chat) to allow the customer a bit more time to evaluate the service and determine if they truly do not have further need of it. Our preferred practice is to have these offers, when available, presented to the customer in a polite and courteous manner. If after hearing the offer it turns out that the customer is still uninterested, and he/she makes this clear (as you did), then the account should be canceled without further delay. That is how your chat should have gone.

I would like to once again offer you an apology for the insistent and hard-line tactics that were employed by our Chat representative. This was certainly not the manner in which eFax trained him to handle customers contacting us to cancel. Upon seeing how poorly your request was handled I have personally taken steps to see that this specific incident is addressed as well as making certain that the entire team responsible for handling our chat cancellations undergo review and retraining as is necessary.

We very much appreciate the opportunity this has provided us to improve our service and to correct any mishandling of customer contacts that might have been occurring. Rest assured that your blog and willingness to provide us with feedback (during our call) will go a long way in helping to make certain that our customers, who contact us to cancel, have a smooth and agreeable experience.

Regards,

Sean Hitchings
Office of the President
j2 Global Communications, Inc.

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