It's pretty simple. You need to take care of your customers, especially your most valued ones. Long accumulated goodwill can be eroded quickly by mistreating them, and then failing to rectify the situation.

Here is a perfect example.

The incident

1. A few weeks ago I received a terse email from Progressive announcing that my home insurance policy had been suddenly terminated. No explanation, nor any prior warning or courtesy alert.

2. Incredulous and upset, I called their customer service center the next day for an explanation. The representative who answered could not have been less empathetic to my situation, as further worrying details emerged. Apparently, there was an internal miscalculation or miscommunication that resulted in a negative discrepancy between my payment amount vs. the policy premium for the grand sum of $1.50.

3. When I asked how it is possible that a discrepancy of just $1.50 can terminate the policy of a longstanding Progressive customer who pays thousands in combined annual premiums, moreover that I received no prior warning or opportunity to rectify, the only response was 'These things happen'.

4. The representative then proceeded to put me on hold, saying it was necessary for me to wait because once the issue is finally resolved internally, I will have to make the (ridiculous and demeaning) payment of $1.50 over the phone in order to reactivate my policy. After over an hour of waiting, I finally hung up in indignation without any seeming resolution.

5. After another 24 hours of anxiety, I called again and received news that my policy has in fact been reinstated and a letter was issued stating" "Please disregard any previous cancellation notices we've sent related to Underwriting reasons -- we'll continue providing you coverage without any interruption."

6. In light of my disturbing saga, I wrote an email to Lori Niederst, Customer Relationship President at Progressive. This set in motion of flurry of correspondence by numerous agents. However, these served only to magnify the lack of transparency in the company’s customer interface and negligence in providing a clear and consistent understanding of my account status.

7. And when I asked what they planned to do to make me feel better and to compensate me for all my wasted time and anxiety, a hollow apology was provided, along with the excuse that industry regulations don’t allow for any compensation. In essence, Progressive is acknowledging customer mistreatment, then hiding behind external factors to do nothing about it.

Of course, I understand that hiccups can happen in the treatment of customers. What really defines the fabric of a company is how it handles such situations, whether it makes the impacted customer feel cared for and treated right. If handled well, such incidents can actually strengthen customer attachment.

Regretfully, this was not the case here. Nowhere during the post-incident interaction was I made to feel better. And as a result, a valuable,

long-standing customer relationship is needlessly broken.

#progressive #customerexperience #leadership #businesslesson #customercare