Averting Service Disasters – Quicken Loans the Sequel

Last week, I used my unpleasant mortgage application experience with Quicken Loans to demonstrate the danger of force locking in consumers instead of fostering loyalty. Since then, I have received some interesting communication from Quicken Loans. As a consumer, I emerged from the entire experience feeling OK again about Quicken Loans as a lender. While Quicken Loans had lost us as a customer for this mortgage because we already chose another lender, it successfully averted future negative word-of-mouth and ill will against the company. I detail my experience in this post as a case study of how companies can use social media to discover and address service failures and customer dissatisfaction.

Chronology
June 29 My unpleasant phone conversation with a Quicken Loans customer service representative
June 30 My blog on the experience as well as negative review on Epinions.com (note: consumers act fast when they feel unhappy)
July 1 Kelly at QuickenLoans commented on my Epinions.com review, offering to look into the problem and requesting more information from me
July 2 I emailed Kelly with full details of the incident
July 6 (after Independence Day Holiday weekend) I received a call as well as an email from Scott King, Lead Client Advocate at Quicken Loans. He had listened to my original conversation with their customer representative and read my blog. In the phone call and email, he apologized for our unpleasant experience and offered to introduce us to one of their best mortgage banker for a second chance.

The Response
You can read Kelly’s original comment on Epinions.com. With Scott’s permission, I am publishing his email response below:

Good afternoon Mrs. Liu-Thompkins,

Thank you for taking the time to provide these additional details regarding your experience with one of our mortgage bankers. We find this feedback valuable, and appreciate the time you spent in sharing.

The experience that you have had with (name removed) is unique, and unacceptable . I apologize for the way you were treated and the lack of service you were provided. I listened to your conversation with Mr. (name removed) and do find this to be a valuable coaching opportunity. This has been brought to the attention of his director to be addressed internally.

I read your blog, and you hit the nail on the head. I felt that all of your points were valid and true, however do regret that Quicken Loans had to be the example used. It was fitting, but unfortunate.

I take pride in this firm, and the service that we provide each and every day. If willing, I would love to have the opportunity to refer you to one of our best mortgage bankers. I trust that our process and products are among the best in the industry, as well as many team members that I am very confident could give you a fantastic mortgage experience.

I will not have any further contacts go out to you unless you wish to revisit. We would love a second chance.

Best Regards,

Scott King
Quicken Loans
Lead Client Advocate

Take Aways

There are a few important lessons to be learned from this incident in terms of managing customer loyalty.

• Do listen. Consumers talk about their negative experiences online. While the ripple effect through online social networks can be bad, the silver lining here is that these conversations also reveal failures and dissatisfaction that used to be hidden in private offline communication. Therefore, if a company is willing to listen, more likely than not, problems can be discovered and mistakes can be corrected.
• Every apple counts. Every interaction a consumer has with a company, whether it’s the operator, the customer service representative, or the salesperson, is an opportunity to enhance or destroy customer loyalty. It is not an exaggeration to say that building customer loyalty is a company-wide effort. While Quicken Loans have received high recommendation rate according to its website, it was the one bad apple in its customer service team that could have created long-lasting negative impact. Therefore, social media listening and recovery efforts aside, a fundamental strategy is to teach every employee to be on board with building customer loyalty. The company culture should be a loyalty culture.
• Be fair. One thing I really liked about Scott’s response is that he actually listened to the original phone conversation I had with their service employee to get the full facts. Although many say customer is the god, I believe in being fair as well. The fact that Quicken Loans did not rely on one-sided argument to punish its employee signals respect to me. I would recommend the same practice to other companies. Without being fair, your employee morale will be damaged, which can eventually affect your customer loyalty.
• Do the homework. Before addressing a customer request, it is important to actually read through the message for all details. Nothing is more disheartening than sending a company a customer service request and getting back a standard template response that obviously had little to do with your request. I understand how those sem-machine generated responses may save costs. But if customer loyalty is your goal, these are areas where corners cannot be cut. In this incident, Scott actually read what I wrote in my blog, which shows me that he has done his homework before getting in touch with me. This is what I call relationship building practice.

In the end, an important thing to remember is that we all make mistakes, but it is how we respond to mistakes that reveal who we are.

Good things are better shared!