It's the people stupid

I went over to the Citibank office this morning to get my address change done. (Read my earlier post on this.)

I met the manager. She remembered me because she was the person that I'd handed the last letter to, the one that caused the latest screw-up. She typed up an email right away (while she was talking to me) and sent it off. She listened to me and disarmed me completely by agreeing that Citibank had "messed up big time" (her words). I went away thinking, I was angry when I went there, I'm not angry anymore.

Why? Partly because, I met a real person, flesh and blood, who listened to my problem and who did something to fix it. See, she's part of this organisation that I was upset with (and I still am) but the way she treated me, I'm less upset with the organisation (Citibank) than I was yesterday.

Automation is great. I love being able to check my balances at any time in the night. I love being able to transact wherever I am. But, there are still some things that as a customer need me to meet with people, face to face. Organisations must have face to face contact with customers, even if it's limited. If the employees (who meet customers) in an organisation are customer friendly and find solutions, you can BET your behind that the customers will be happy with the organisation. It's that simple.

Now, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that the address change will happen.