Disclaimer:  At the time of this writing, I work in the Customer Management division of Convergys. My opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

I work in in outsourced customer service, and I think my company does a great job of it.  In my experience, I see that we perform and operate as our clients expect, and great care is taken to deliver service in the manner they intend their customers to experience.  And we should all check out the experience delivered by Netflix.

I’ve always enjoyed the service, but yesterday I had a technical issue:  distorted audio in streaming content at a specific timeframe one particular video.  Fast-forwarding past the distortion restored audio, but it was then not synced to the video (by my estimate, it was 3 minutes behind the video).  All other videos were fine, and this video had the same issue even after clearing my cache and restarting the system.  To me, this was clearly a content issue and not an issue with my equipment or Netflix’s delivery service.  In other words, the actual content file had the audio issue.

I decided I’d try my luck at reporting an issue.  I took out my Windows phone and surfed to support.netflix.com.  I looked around for a ‘report an issue’ link, but found none, so I clicked the Contact us link at the bottom of the page.  Instantly, the support toll-free hotline number appeared, in large, bold print, predominately on the page.  Amazing.  I wasn’t forced to search for keywords or dig helplessly for a way to contact them.  No frustration.  As soon as finished dialing I heard, “Thanks for calling Netflix. One moment…” There was no long menu, no press-1-for-English annoyance, and then: an instant answer from a live person.

“Thanks for calling Netflix, how can I help?”

No schpeal, no ‘gimme your account-number’ demand in an angry troll voice, just an instant opportunity to voice my concern.

“And can I have your name please?”

She then found my account by name – not number, phone or email – and even asked if the problem was with the active video, currently paused on my Xbox, saving me from trying to find or describe what show, season, series, episode number, etc.

After I explained my issue and what I had tried, the rep agreed that the conclusion was probable, told me she checked her troubleshooting while I was talking and already knew I had covered the recommended steps, and offered to send a content issue report so the engineers could check the file and restore it, re-dub the audio, etc.

The entire call took less than 2 minutes, and my story took most of it.  The call was only extended by my thanks to the associate as I praised the ease of contacting them and the kind lady for her assistance.

I don’t know if Netflix operates their own customer service or outsources, but this should be a model to us all.

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