DIY Website vs. Local Web Design Part 2: Customer Service

A first impression of a company is usually, or in my estimation should be, customer service. It’s the first line of defense, so to speak, of any reputable business. Customer Service can be the “make or break” case in most instances. It is paramount to have reliable and high performance customer service in any business. Imagine you bought a product or service, and are having an issue with it. Your first move to rectify the situation would most likely be to contact customer service/support, right? What if that customer support is subpar? What if the customer service representative is just reading from a script and has no definitive way to truly help you? What if they weren’t even in the country you’re in? Sound familiar? Probably would make you pretty angry. That is the topic for this blog entry in our series of DIY vs Local Web Design.
1&1.com, and other DIY website sellers that are similar are very interested in using low prices and “buzz” words to coax you into signing with their web site service. I will not use the term “web design”, as they don’t truly design a website for you, they simply provide templates that the customer can then use to design a site. But what happens if something wrong happens with the process? What is a customer to do? I’m not saying their customer service will be the downright worst, but how good can it be when, most likely, their customer service call center is located outside of the country? 1&1 are based out of Germany and the UK. Hmmmm??? Are they reading from a script, or do they have firsthand knowledge on how most of their services and products are supposed to operate correctly? After some research on the internet, I’ve found that many users of 1&1 and similar services have had many difficulties when dealing with customer service and technical support. From getting transferred from on rep to another, with no actual help given.
Customer Service is a cornerstone for most industries, as it’s the first avenue of communication for customers to contact businesses. They must be knowledgeable and personable. They should have good working knowledge of, not only their product, but able to ascertain information from you about your local area, and help you accordingly.