Recently I had the misfortune of having one of my credit cards compromised and this necessitated updating all my pre-authorized credit card payments — one of which was my Bell Canada phone bill.
I dutifully updated the online account on July 4 — 10 days before the published due date on my electronic invoice which arrives by email each month.
On July 15, I received a letter dated July 10 indicating that my payment had been returned by the bank for insufficient funds and warning of NSF service charges and disconnection 2 days after the due date.
Here is a perfect example of 2 departments not talking to one another.
The invoice I receive each month clearly states that my due date is the 14th of the month — however because I am on pre-authorized payment by credit card — my actual payment is taken the 4th of each month.
As a customer I acted upon the published information and found myself in conflict with another departments procedures.
When I asked why my invoice stated one date and the actual payment was taken 10 days prior, I was told “that’s another department”. Further, when I asked to confirm that there would be no interest or penalty for the late payment due to the conflicting information, I was told they would add it into their notes, but I may have to call back when my next bill was received if the penalties were still applied — because that was also another department.
My Perspective: A customer does not see a difference in department or divisions in an organization — to the customer we are a single organization.
So make sure your organization is focused around the customer and the experience you design reflects a single relationship — not a splintered relationship with different elements that are not working together to create a single, loyalty building experience.
