What's the Acceptable Wait Time for Customer Service?

[SV THIRD DAY]

I've been having a somewhat heated discussion with some of my peers in the marine industry on what constitutes poor, fair, good and then excellent customer service response times to client questions (phone or email). I'm a little shocked that some consider 24hrs or 36hrs to be an acceptable amount of time to get back to a client, while some have reply-back goals of under an hour and fret if people have to wait for an answer for more than a few hours.

I guess there are Two situations to consider:

1. You are contacting a Marine Vendor for an initial outreach to get some technical details on their product to decide if you want to make a purchase

2. You have already purchased from the Maine Vendor and are now trying to get some technical assistance with the product.


You send an email or leave a voice message, now what type of response time would you consider:

A) Above and Beyond
B) Excellent
C) Good...nothing special but acceptable
D) Poor
E) Unacceptable...I won't do business with a company like that.

I appreciate some CF Feedback on what people expect, want and don't want. My wife, for example, gets grumpy with me if I hear my smart phone email chime after I'm already in bed and then crawl over her in our pulman bunk to check my email. She always says it can wait till the morning...but my retort is that I'm awake now and I can't goto sleep knowing there is an unanswered email. I guess the solution is to have an Island Bunk so I don't have to crawl over her...ha ha ah

[Spindrift NH]

I think your entitled to family time . If I email you in the evening, anytime after 5, I would not expect a return call before 8:30/9 am the next day. I would consider that to be excellent service. To be honest, I probably wouldn't answer a call from you after 10 pm.

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

1. You are contacting a Marine Vendor for an initial outreach to get some technical details on their product to decide if you want to make a purchase

2. You have already purchased from the Maine Vendor and are now trying to get some technical assistance with the product.

You send an email or leave a voice message, now what type of response time would you consider:

A) Above and Beyond
B) Excellent
C) Good...nothing special but acceptable
D) Poor
E) Unacceptable...I won't do business with a company like that.

Initial Enquiry
A) 1-2 hours
B) Same day
C) 2-3 days
D) 4-5 business days
E) Next week

Purchased Product
A) within 10 minutes (i.e. I am still sitting at my computer)
B) 1-2 hours
C)24-36 hours
D) 48 +
E) 5 business days

But I'm Canadian and we're supposed to be "nice" so...

[LeaseOnLife]

Hey Rich

My requests (sales or service) would always come by email first, not by phone. If my timezone is close to yours, during daylight I'd expect a return in 1/2 business day for "good service" within few hours for excellent service. If I am a customer and my problem could not be solved via email, I'd expect a phone/webex/skype session next working day to help me out.

I am sure there are plenty of extroverts trying to call first. A voice-mail pointing them to your business hours and suggesting an email instead could keep your wife happ-ier.

Dirk

[daletournier]

C. I don't expect exceptional, people are human ,but I do expect communication , that is letting me know what's happening.

For 3 months ive been buying lots of stuff, from suppliers such as, Atlantic arches, vesper marine, speed seal,hydrovane, defender, whitworths, rainman watermakers and you......there are many more, im upto 43k aud with this fitout.

Ive purchased more in a short period of time than I ever have before, this has given me a good opportunity to unintentionally compare customer service, some are very good, some are ok and some are just terrible.

The speed at which some parts have turned up has been quite astonishing, ive found these companies have kept me in the loop with tracking numbers etc without me following up. If products are delayed that's ok, just let me know. On the other end of the scale there was one company that didnt send me any form of confirmation, didnt respond to emails didn't have a phone number, it was to the point I thought it may have been a scam and filed a complaint with PayPal, first time I've ever had to do that, suddenly they were very service oriented although they sent me the wrong spinnaker bag x2!!!

I certainly don't expect perfection, I was in business for many years, but I do desire to be kept in the loop regarding payment acceptance, approx delivery times ,tracking numbers etc......one more thing is vendors need to follow up on emails, even if questions may seem silly to them. I had one vendor practically tell me I was annoying her even though I wad spending 3k usd plus $1800 freight, I wanted to get this right and had questions even if they may have been annoying questions.

Cheers Dale.

Sent from my vivo Y35 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[J Clark H356]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

I've been having a somewhat heated discussion with some of my peers in the marine industry on what constitutes poor, fair, good and then excellent customer service response times to client questions (phone or email). I'm a little shocked that some consider 24hrs or 36hrs to be an acceptable amount of time to get back to a client, while some have reply-back goals of under an hour and fret if people have to wait for an answer for more than a few hours.

I guess there are Two situations to consider:

1. You are contacting a Marine Vendor for an initial outreach to get some technical details on their product to decide if you want to make a purchase

2. You have already purchased from the Maine Vendor and are now trying to get some technical assistance with the product.


You send an email or leave a voice message, now what type of response time would you consider:

A) Above and Beyond
B) Excellent
C) Good...nothing special but acceptable
D) Poor
E) Unacceptable...I won't do business with a company like that.

I appreciate some CF Feedback on what people expect, want and don't want. My wife, for example, gets grumpy with me if I hear my smart phone email chime after I'm already in bed and then crawl over her in our pulman bunk to check my email. She always says it can wait till the morning...but my retort is that I'm awake now and I can't goto sleep knowing there is an unanswered email. I guess the solution is to have an Island Bunk so I don't have to crawl over her...ha ha ah

1.

A. Within an hour
B. Within 2 hours
C. Same day
D. Next day
E. After next day

If I'm just inquiring, I am much less concerned about time than after I buy a product.

2.
A. Within 5 minutes
B. Within 15 minutes
C. Within 2 hours
D. After 4 hours
E. Next day

I may be impatient, but after I buy a product, I expect pretty fast technical response. I am probably trying to make it work, haven't fully read the directions, but get frustrated when I can't get it to work right away.

Just so you know, I called you and discussed a water maker about 5 years ago, a couple of years before I made a cruise to Florida from Kentucky Lake. I still haven't bought one as I really can't justify it given my cruising grounds and don't want to deal with the maintenance at our lake. You called me back within a hour or less. If I ever buy one, it will be yours and only yours. You took the time to explain how easy it is to operate in fresh, brackish and salt water. I really appreciated your explanation and learned a lot from you. It is not only response time, but the sincerity and willingness to share your experience that separates the excellent from the almost. I have also recommended you to others. Based on your response, you rate "Above and Beyond".

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

You send an email or leave a voice message, now what type of response time would you consider:

A) Above and Beyond
B) Excellent
C) Good...nothing special but acceptable
D) Poor
E) Unacceptable...I won't do business with a company like that.

A) Above and Beyond = a few hours
B) Excellent = same day
C) Good...nothing special but acceptable = within 24 hours
D) Poor > 24 hours
E) Unacceptable...I won't do business with a company like that. > a week later

.
.

[dwedeking2]

Not the same industry but I've made a career on being the most responsive compared to my competitors. I'm not the best in my industry. But you know I'm ready to take care of you. At the very least I fire back that "I'll look at this in the morning". Definitely not above family time but a quick note says a lot. I'm also one of those up in the middle of the night so its not a bother.

On my expectations, 24hrs M - F

[valhalla360]

The real issue is if I send out 3 emails to 3 suppliers...the first one to respond is much more likely to get my business (assuming similar cost/quality).


You have to balance the risk of losing an occasional customer vs how available you are willing to be. One trick to be responsive, is to send a quick note that the email has been received and you will get back with them by X time/date (not an automated email as many just find those annoying but just a quick 1 sentence personally written email).


It also depends on when and where the email comes from. If I send an email out at midnight, I'm generally not expecting a response until the next morning at earliest.


It also depends on the nature of your business and the request. If someone calls to inquire about purchasing a superyacht you represent, it's a much higher priority than a parts shop and someone is asking about an fuel filter for a 60's era outboard.


In the modern world, assuming it's during normal business hours, a response within an hour or two is expected. After that the customers opinion starts to go downhill and they start looking at other options.

[JPA Cate]

Above and Beyond: They pay the shipping both ways for warranty repairs.
(hasn't happened yet.)
Excellent: phone call from Tasmania to part from US in hand, installed within
3 days. [by West Marine]
within 1/2 day response by Vesper marine [same hemisphere.]
Good: next day e-mail is waiting when we get up, within 4 hrs if local.
Poor: any failure to get back to you within 24 hrs...but allowances for time
differences from States to here.
Unacceptable: lost expensive part 3 times, paid for express delivery, it was
over 6 weeks, with extra airport fees because they lost it;
required re-scheduling of haulout, and we won't do business
with the shipper again.

a note: when you have no fixed address, arranging the shipping can be quite time consuming, as is pickup, involving long dinghy rides in any kind of weather.

Ann

[sailorboy1]

[QUOTE=SV THIRD DAY;2335523

I guess there are Two situations to consider:

1. You are contacting a Marine Vendor for an initial outreach to get some technical details on their product to decide if you want to make a purchase

[COLOR="Blue"]to me this is sales and a response within 1 business day is expected, it should come via a "request sales info" link[/COLOR]

2. You have already purchased from the Maine Vendor and are now trying to get some technical assistance with the product.


You send an email or leave a voice message, now what type of response time would you consider:

for voice mail as people who call are looking for an answer NOW
A) Above and Beyond - they have a live chat or person answer the phone each time if called during business hours
B) Excellent - within 1 business hour
C) Good...nothing special but acceptable - within with 1 business day
D) Poor - 1-2 business days
E) Unacceptable...I won't do business with a company like that. - more than 2 days

for email I consider 1 business day good and acceptable, more than that poor/unacceptable
/QUOTE]

a phone call is always a higher priority than an email

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

a phone call is always a higher priority than an email

I have commented on thousands of boating forum posts that go: "I sent them an email and I'm still waiting to hear back from them..."

Two cases:

1) The company is not so good at emails, but are great on the phone. "Have you tried calling them?" Usually the answer is no. These days "the kids" are so into texting and emails they don't know their phones can be used to, uhm, PHONE!!!! Garhauer and Catalina Yachts are notorious for lousy email replies but superb on the phone.

2) The questions, as posted, if they were anything like the emails they claim to have sent, make little sense, don't explain the issue, don't ask a specific question, lack fundamental understanding or reasonable communication skills or reading comprehension, or ask a question so simple that one wonders why it was asked. Mostly all of the above. And 99% of the time, it was right in the manual, that they either claim they didn't have or were too damned lazy to snag off the internet. And then ask the boating forum respondent to show them how to find the manual!!! (Happened just yesterday on a Harken furler topic.)

Rich, I agree with all the detailed responses. Your reputation proceeds you and others would be wise to follow your example.

You could also switch sides of the berth with your wife, but I know that's easier said than done. (From a fella that always has me on my wife's right hand - when laying on our backs. )

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

You could also switch sides of the berth with your wife, but I know that's easier said than done. (From a fella that always has me on my wife's right hand - when laying on our backs. )

Too much information....

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

A) Above and Beyond = a few hours
B) Excellent = same day
C) Good...nothing special but acceptable = within 24 hours
D) Poor > 24 hours
E) Unacceptable...I won't do business with a company like that. > a week later

I agree with these exactly.

Pet peeve is the companies that have an e-mail address, or a "contact us" form on their website, but take days and days (if not weeks and weeks) to respond. If you are not going to check your e-mail at least once a day then -- for God's sake! -- take it off of your website and just admit that you haven't yet joined the 21st century!

[boatman61]

I usually respond the same day.. unless it comes in the form of a CF PM and I'm not at home.. to much messing about with the phone.. those I leave till I'm home.
If at sea on a delivery sadly they have to wait till I dock.. aint got an office or secretary..