I believe that many people are the same with me, having a habit of calling the customer hotline service once we have got an unsolved problem because we think that might be the fastest and easiest way to get the problem solved. However, here in Japan it is slightly different, you should count on yourself to solve a problem rather than calling the customer service.
From a consumer’s point of view, let me share with you two of my bad experiences with two famous groups of Rakuten’s and Dell Japan’s. After your reading, you should know how effective they are.
My first bad experience with Rakuten credit card hotline service.
Background:
I am a new user of Rakuten credit card. Last time was my first time to apply and one week later, the card arrived. Since I had a problem with my account activation at that time, I called the customer hotline service for help.
Regarding the auto-guide phone menu in Japan, it is famous for its complication of use. Just like Japan’s mass transit railway, it always has too many options and not guided from major topics to go to an in-depth. I was always guided to a wrong destination and finally made me re-dial the hotline. After several dials and trials of different buttons, finally I got to the right place and someone answered my call.
I told the customer officer about my new card activation problem, and he started to do the identity check with me. However, right after the identity check, he told me that I have an old account record, he said I had applied for their credit card service a year ago, therefore, I have to use the old password for login and to re-activate the old account?!
I was very surprised by what he told and I kept questioning him on details. When did I activate my credit card? Any debts left behind, etc. I think that information was important to me and I had the right to clarify everything before I started the applied card service.
However…
He did not help me in clarifying my doubts, also, he requested me to fill out an additional column by adding my new credit card information. I said it was unacceptable to push me there before everything was clear, then, he replied, alright, he will come back to me after double checking the details for me. After the call, I waited for a few days and finally I got his email reply.
In the email, he mentioned that my previous card status was a confirmed case and it is necessary for me to fill out the add-on column to reactivate my account application! It seriously shocked me again! He still did not answer my earlier questions. Therefore, I refused to react for the card. This matter has been in turmoil for three days of email back and forth and my credit card was still in an inactive status!
I gradually became impatient because I was tortured for a few days already and I did not want to waste time with them anymore. I replied to them by email and mentioned that I will just cancel the card service if I cannot get an immediate response from them according to my questions. Eventually, the next morning sharp at 9am, a senior customer service officer phoned me and got my problem solved in just 15 minutes.
If you were in my case, how would you react to the Customer Service officer?
This article was first published on 25.4.2021
Continue your reading : BAD EXPERIENCE 2 – How was my bad experience with Dell, Japan with their after-sales hotline service?
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