Observations and Comments regarding Customer Service
Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 9:30 am
Dear Sirs and Madams,
Although when all is said and done Hubsan does make a fairly decent product It also can be said that Hubsan has some key issues that result in unhappy customers. You (Hubsan) need to understand Customers and their expectations better than Hubsan currently does. In my 1 month of experience with Hubsan I have observed the following.
Observations:
1) Hubsan USA does not have enough service resources. Considering the US appears to have 1 or 2 bodies to support the continental US and other locations is inadequate.
2) Worldwide Customer Support has 3-4 bodies including the LA office. Again Inadequate.
3) Warranty policy is archaic, not Customer friendly but is indeed Customer Hostile and too subjective in nature. To not cover product failure from non-abuse is nuts. The product should hold up to normal everyday use. To make the customer pay to ship product to Hubsan and back if the failure is covered by warranty is unfair. To charge a $30 diagnostic fee is also unfair. In the electronic industry especially within the first 90 days it usual and customary to waive these types of charges.
4) Not recognizing to customers that a problem exists. I don't know is not a satisfactory answer.
5) Product Manuals often are incomplete and missing information resulting in high amount of service requests.
Expectations:
1) Customers expect a response to their problems in less than 8 business hours, not in days.
2) Customers do expect a response to their Forum Posts, PMs and Emails.
3) Customers also expect solutions yesterday but will live with the process as long as it is moving forward and they are kept informed.
4) In relation to warranty customers expect the benefit of the doubt and not the burden of proof.
5) Customers don't expect to have to jump through hoops to get a warranty claim processed in their favor.
6) Whoever thought up the Hubsan forum did so with the best of intentions but with responses taking 2-3 days or longer it is not a viable tool. It just exemplifies the understaffing issues.
Recommendations:
1) Add resource to Service the customer. Souble your overall staff at a minimum from 4 to 8 staff members.
2) Hire or contract Technical Writer(s) to improve all End User Documentation. Prioritize it based on high volume product sales This in the long run will reduce the number of customer requests for assistance.
3) Make sure service personnel are communicating with customers in a timely manner from birth to grave.
4) Work with the Customer in regards to Warranty issues. To refuse to send replacement parts for items that have failed out of the box or within the warranty period that have not been abused in not pro-customer or even pro-Hubsan. Warranty is for 1 year not 1 hour. Customers would accept a shorter warranty duration if the warranty was honored.
Myself and other customers appreciate the efforts of Ailsa, Anne, Shally and Vivian but they are too few trying to serve too many customers.
Please share with management. I come from both R&D as well as Customer Service backgrounds. My career spanned 35 years in Hardware and Software roles at multiple companies from Technician to R&D Engineer, Support Engineer as well as VP Customer Service and VP Engineering.
I hope this is viewed as constructive criticism and actions are taken to improve operation and solve Customer satisfaction issues.
Although when all is said and done Hubsan does make a fairly decent product It also can be said that Hubsan has some key issues that result in unhappy customers. You (Hubsan) need to understand Customers and their expectations better than Hubsan currently does. In my 1 month of experience with Hubsan I have observed the following.
Observations:
1) Hubsan USA does not have enough service resources. Considering the US appears to have 1 or 2 bodies to support the continental US and other locations is inadequate.
2) Worldwide Customer Support has 3-4 bodies including the LA office. Again Inadequate.
3) Warranty policy is archaic, not Customer friendly but is indeed Customer Hostile and too subjective in nature. To not cover product failure from non-abuse is nuts. The product should hold up to normal everyday use. To make the customer pay to ship product to Hubsan and back if the failure is covered by warranty is unfair. To charge a $30 diagnostic fee is also unfair. In the electronic industry especially within the first 90 days it usual and customary to waive these types of charges.
4) Not recognizing to customers that a problem exists. I don't know is not a satisfactory answer.
5) Product Manuals often are incomplete and missing information resulting in high amount of service requests.
Expectations:
1) Customers expect a response to their problems in less than 8 business hours, not in days.
2) Customers do expect a response to their Forum Posts, PMs and Emails.
3) Customers also expect solutions yesterday but will live with the process as long as it is moving forward and they are kept informed.
4) In relation to warranty customers expect the benefit of the doubt and not the burden of proof.
5) Customers don't expect to have to jump through hoops to get a warranty claim processed in their favor.
6) Whoever thought up the Hubsan forum did so with the best of intentions but with responses taking 2-3 days or longer it is not a viable tool. It just exemplifies the understaffing issues.
Recommendations:
1) Add resource to Service the customer. Souble your overall staff at a minimum from 4 to 8 staff members.
2) Hire or contract Technical Writer(s) to improve all End User Documentation. Prioritize it based on high volume product sales This in the long run will reduce the number of customer requests for assistance.
3) Make sure service personnel are communicating with customers in a timely manner from birth to grave.
4) Work with the Customer in regards to Warranty issues. To refuse to send replacement parts for items that have failed out of the box or within the warranty period that have not been abused in not pro-customer or even pro-Hubsan. Warranty is for 1 year not 1 hour. Customers would accept a shorter warranty duration if the warranty was honored.
Myself and other customers appreciate the efforts of Ailsa, Anne, Shally and Vivian but they are too few trying to serve too many customers.
Please share with management. I come from both R&D as well as Customer Service backgrounds. My career spanned 35 years in Hardware and Software roles at multiple companies from Technician to R&D Engineer, Support Engineer as well as VP Customer Service and VP Engineering.
I hope this is viewed as constructive criticism and actions are taken to improve operation and solve Customer satisfaction issues.
