Dealing with Sensitive Customer Situations

foreign
customer service and experience expert
and today I'm going to talk about the
difficulties people face when someone
dies now I'm sorry for this somewhat
morbid topic of this video but I wanted
to catch your attention a friend of mine
shared that one of his in-laws passed
away a few months ago the family tried
to cancel their newspaper subscription
several times but the Publisher's
customer service agent kept saying no
the newspaper continued to be delivered
every day and even after the
subscription expired at the end of the
month the paper continued to be
delivered now this isn't the first time
I've heard stories like this companies
that operate using a subscription model
charging their customers monthly or
annually which could include newspapers
magazines software utilities and almost
any type of product they should have a
process to deal with a customer who
passes away and any other tragic or
unusual scenario they should make it
easy for the family or whoever is
managing the Affairs and help them
easily and empathetically close an
account now unfortunately that is not
always the case just do a Google Search
and you'll find plenty of horror stories
similar to my friends and even far worse
now chewy.com is an online pet supply
company that operates a subscription
model where pet food treats and many
other items are shipped regularly now
they're known for their amazing customer
service and Chewie is a role model for
handling the delicate situation of a
customer who passes away in this case
their customers are pets yes the pet
owner is the paying customer but their
furry friend is the real recipient of
Chewie's products so when a pet owner
informs Chewie that their pet has passed
away they not only make it easy to
cancel the subscription but they also do
it with style class and
they send bereaved pet owners flowers
cards and refunds for recent purchases
they also request the pet owner donate
any unopened pet food and treats to
local pet shelters now it's obvious that
Chewie has a process and there is a
protocol for delicate situations like
these their people are properly trained
and not just what to do but also what to
say and how to say it so it may be the
death of a customer or perhaps they're
just going through a difficult or
emotional time we must have a process
mapped for these situations our people
must know how to properly manage these
delicate experiences with empathy
sympathy and Care well I hope you
enjoyed this short lesson thank you very
much for tuning in this is Shep hyken
reminding you to always be amazing