Hey UPS & Comcast, you owe me a thank you and a cup of coffee!

Dear UPS and Comcast,

If customers and employees really do matter to you, you will take the time to read this letter.

Imagine expecting to arrive home from work to your new Comcast television cable equipment. Your weekend plans might include that special movie, pay event, or child’s party favorite. Imagine pulling into your driveway and not seeing the package you were promised. You know the disappointing feeling.

On Friday morning one of you dropped a Next Day Air package off at my house. I’ll let you guess who. The package was not for me. Right house number but wrong street. Trying to be helpful I called you. I pressed 1, 2, 3, 4 or whatever other sequence was required to reach a real person; where I was informed by an irritating computer generated voice to please hold. Ten minutes later a human finally took my call.

I shared with the UPS customer service rep where I lived and where the package was supposed to be delivered.  She asked me for the tracking number. During the long hold I had left my home so I did not have that information with me. I reminded her where the package was and where it was supposed to be delivered. She told me there was nothing she could do. That was not how the process worked.

After asking me to go back home and get the tracking number (yes, she did!) I responded “May I remind you I am trying to help you folks do your job? I could very well keep the package for myself. Or throw it out.” I asked to speak to a supervisor. I was placed on hold again. After a few minutes I was disconnected.

I called back. I was still thinking about your disappointed customer. I was placed on hold again and disconnected. At this point UPS I gave up on you.

Now Comcast, don’t you go laughing or getting upset….it’s your turn.

After giving up on UPS and their “processes” of not letting employees keep a customer happy I thought I would call the people who shipped the package. That would be you Comcast.

After your sequence of number pressing and hold times, (as an aside, wouldn’t it be nice if all companies were required to use a standard sequence? Maybe Congress can waste some time on that one in their next session) your representative was equally as “helpful.” I gave her the scenario. She too told me there was nothing she could do. She could not access the account. And even though I told her the name on the package, where the package was and where it needed to be delivered, she told me that was not “your” process. I didn’t even ask for a supervisor. At this point I had spent forty minutes trying to help you both make a customer happy and I needed to work on keeping my own customers happy.

In Entry #36 of Diary of the Happiest Employee on Earth: 52 Provoking Thoughts for Creating a Great Workplace I describe a company where every employee is responsible for solving customer issues; to figure out what needs to be done. Every employee is responsible for getting issues resolved. You can’t imagine how shocked and appalled I was that these two big companies had trained people not to solve issues. Talk about creating a great employee experience, let alone the customer experience. (Please note the preceding was sarcasm.)

I’m still dumbfounded that you both knew where a package was, you had my name, the name of the person who was supposed to receive the package, the address where the package was supposed to be delivered and your “processes” could not get this resolved. I’m even more dumbfounded that your employee customer service training left me feeling that helping a customer was not on the top of your priority list. All I heard was what could not be done.

I find it hard to believe that the UPS facility which services my neighborhood could not be contacted. I find it hard to believe that a driver who was in the neighborhood could not be contacted. I find it hard to believe that SOMEONE at Comcast could not access the address where the package was being delivered to access some sort of tracking information. I find it hard to believe…..

May I remind you both that you have competitors out there who would happily take your customers?

I was gone all day Friday. On Saturday the package was still outside my door. I delivered the package for you.

I think you both owe me a cup of coffee – a Starbucks gift card would suffice. Or Comcast, you can give me a free month of service. It’s the least you both can do.

Rich DiGirolamo

P.S. If anyone reading this has a connection to anyone at Comcast or UPS with one of those big important fancy titles would you please direct them to this letter. My coffee supply is running low.

Or more importantly, maybe any company reading this should look at how your “processes” kill the employee experience and do nothing for customer service.

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RICH DIGIROLAMO, founder Recess At Work, works with organizations to create happier work environments, strengthen work teams, design new programs, and create better relationships with customers and peers. In his new book Diary of the Happiest Employee on Earth: 52 Provoking Thoughts for Creating a Great Workplace he talks about why it is important for every employee to understand as much of your business as possible.

Are you ready to take a Recess with Rich, inject some new energy into your organization and create an even better employee experience?

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