The I’m Sorry School of Customer Service
Companies are getting better at saying “I’m Sorry” but still need to improve at “I’m going to fix it.”
I’m on the phone with my cable company, which is usually like passing a kidney stone. The woman representing the cable monsters is apologizing over and over and over. I like the act of contrition but her “I’m Sorry” has serious limitations.

“I’m sorry again that we charged you for the wifi gateway,” she was saying in such an understanding tone I thought she was my therapist. But as soothing and as empathetic as her tone and words sounded, when I requested that she remove the $10 charge for shipping me a gateway to replace their gateway that had malfunctioned, she apologized yet again.
“I’m sorry but I cannot remove that charge,” she replied in a remorseful tone.
After 10 more minutes on the phone and a final barrage of 10 more “I’m sorrys,” I finally gave up trying to get the shipping charge removed.
Today, companies have perfected the art of apologizing to angry customers. In fact, customer service departments hand out apologies like free samples at the chocolate store at the mall.
And customer satisfaction studies show that customers do expect an apology when a company messes up. But, more important, customers expect some type of action to fix their service issue and improve their processes so it doesn’t happen again.
“Customers want that apology,” begins customer service researcher Ken Grayson, “but they also want the company to take the next step and fix that laptop or refund that monthly subscription or give them a credit.”
“Solve a problem and you create a loyal customer who will tell 10 to 16 others about your company,” states customer service consultant Jeanne Baker. “Fail to make them happy and you’ve made an enemy who will tell an average of 28 people about their terrible experience.”
In the last 20 years, companies have perfected the playbook about treating customers with dignity and apologizing.

“But it’s problem resolution that is the logical next step in service excellence,” notes Grayson. “If you’ve called five times about the same problem — say a refund you’re expecting — and the company apologizes the fifth time without getting you that refund, the ‘I’m sorry’ is going to sound insincere and anger them.”
What’s the solution?
“Absolutely apologize,” begins Baker, “but have vigorous processes in place to solve that problem and get that customer the refund immediately.”
Finally, both experts recommend that companies have processes in place to solicit feedback from their own customer service people. No one knows better than that group the service weaknesses of the company they work for.
