12.13.08
Will Customers Pay For Customer Service, Part II
A few months ago, I wrote a post asking whether customers voicing displeasure with offshore customer service would pay higher prices to support onshore customers service. Apparently, we’ll get to find out.
In a recent announcement, Dell Computer announced that it would be offering premium customer service, called “Your Tech Team” to customers for $12.95/month. For that money, Dell is guaranteeing a customer service agent located in “North America.”
The success of this initiative may provide some good empirical data either supporting or refuting the claim that people would pay extra for better customer service. Personally, I doubt that they will. But I also wonder what signals this approach is sending to the Dell customer community about their existing service offerings.
In any case, this may be a signal of growing frustration with outsourced call centers - particularly in this anti-outsourcing environment.
