Page 77 - The Voice of Authority

look at your modem and tell me if the green light or any
light is blinking?”
At this point I realize I’m caught in a loop, talking to a
person tied to a procedural template. I hang up with the
“Help Desk” and walk outside to find the repair guys,
who’ve now pulled their truck further down the street.
Written templates, just like procedural templates, tease
customers and employees alike, making people think they
might get a real answer to their questions.
Here’s another nightmare—a form letter mailed in re-
sponse to a customer request to switch their membership
from Plan Option A to Plan Option B on a particular le-
gal services policy. Instead of switching the policy and
changing their billing information accordingly, the cus-
tomer repeatedly received this form letter rather than the
corrective action.

Dear Member:
Your membership will no longer be available through
payroll deduction. We value your continued mem-
bership and want to make the necessary transition as
easy as possible. Your membership is as important to
us as it is to you. To avoid the loss of your valuable
benefits, just select the payment method most conve-
nient for you so that you may continue to receive un-
interrupted services. If you have questions regarding
this form or your membership, please contact the
Customer Care Department at 1-800-XXX-XXXX.

Each time the customer called to ask why headquarters
wasn’t switching the membership from Option A to Op-
tion B and changing the invoicing procedure appropri-
ately, she continued to receive this same form letter—with
no answers. It took several phone calls from the customer

Is It Clear? 65