Customer Service

From now on, I only want to interact with people who have been trained in the art of customer service. There is nothing better than good customer service.

This morning I was on my 8th phone call in what has become a battle to get my dad's hospital records transfered to his primary care doctor. When my dad got out of the hospital, I asked how what we had to do to have the records transfered. "Oh it's automatic, don't worry, we'll get them there."

Uh huh.

When I called his doctor a week after he was released, the records weren't there. So I filled out a request form. And then I called back a few days later. And then I made 6 additional calls to try to straighten it out. It's a simple thing that I assume they do on a regular basis.

Finally this morning I was ready to burst into tears of frustration. I have done everything right. I am being as thorough as humanly possible. But it wasn't working and no one could help me. When I was transfered to the supervisor of medical records at the hospital, I was mentally preparing myself to be calm- I know it wasn't her fault. But my frustration got the best of me and as soon as I started talking to her, it turned into a two minute rant without pause for breath or to let her get a word in edgewise. I could hear myself and I knew I sounded hysterical. His appointment is tomorrow, so I also knew there was really nothing she could do to get the records there, but I couldn't stop my words from spewing all over her.

But this woman had obviously been trained in customer service and when I finally stopped speaking, she was prepared. First she apologized and then she empathized, and even though or maybe because I knew her technique, I immediately calmed down. Then she told me she was looking into it, giving me specific information that told me she was actually looking into it. And then she told me she would personally call the clinic and make she the records arrived via fax and that she would work out getting his scans transfered. She gave me her name, phone number and pager number and she told me she would call me back later to follow up. And later, she did call me back and somehow, the office had the records and my dad's doctor's nurse was personally looking at them to prepare for the appointment tomorrow. And I could have cried out of relief and appreciation.

There is nothing worse than having a problem and feeling powerless to fix it. And there is nothing better than when you finally find the person who has the power and can fix it for you.