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In May I was listening to an audiobook I'd purchased from audible.com. The narrator informed me that there was a diagram that would help me understand the text. I just needed to "download it from the site where you purchased this audiobook."

I went back to the audible site. I found the listing for the book I was listening to. But I couldn't find the downloadable supplement.

I did notice that there were several comments from other listeners noting the lack of downloadable diagram. There was no sign that anyone from audible had read the comments or initiated corrective action.

So, rather than leave one more comment that wouldn't be read, I sent an email to customer service. I received a reply in less than twelve hours.

The reply told me that, sure enough, I was right. They had checked the site and they couldn't find the support material either. Then they added: "I have submitted your query to the Content Department for further review and will contact you via email with an update."

Three weeks later, another email arrived. The writer told me that the support material was now available. She gave me download instructions. She also said: "I hope I have met all your needs and requests, as it has been a pleasure assisting you today." Then she told me that if I had other questions I could contact "customer service."

By that time I'd finished the book. I didn't need the support material anymore.

Almost immediately, another email arrived. The text follows. The misspelling is as it was in the original.

"We recently provided assistance to you regarding a question or problem you had with our service.  Audible is commited to providing a world class customer experience and in an effort to continually improve our service, we would appreciate hearing how well we helped you."

Audible provided a link to a satisfaction survey. Here's the one question they asked.

"How likely is it that you would recommend Audible to a friend or colleague?"

Obviously, someone at audible has been reading about Fred Reichheld's Ultimate Question. The question they asked would have been perfect for finding out how I felt about their company. But it didn't give me any opportunity to share what I thought about how well they helped me. Therefore it blew away the opportunity they had to learn something important. Here's what I would have told them.

I think you need better quality control on audiobooks you receive for sale. You should know that support materials are mentioned in the narrative. You shouldn't need customers to tell you.

I think you should have someone read and act on listeners' comments on audiobooks. Then you could have caught the problem early. A simple post on the page could have told us you knew about the issue and were working on it.

I think your customer service person could have simply attached the support material to her email to me. Why make me return to the site and run through a download process? And why not let me respond to the customer service rep? Why make me go back through the customer service maze if the issue isn't resolved to my satisfaction?

I think that if you want to find out what I think about your customer service, you need to ask me about customer service. You should give me space to make suggestions, like the ones above.

Since you didn't do that, you'll have to find out about various problems and suggestions some other way. Like, perhaps, by reading this blog.

I doubt that you will. Audible, I love your products. I love the ease of download. But it seems clear that you're not really interested in improving service.

Boss's Bottom Line

Your team's job is to improve the service you deliver to your customers, inside and outside the organization. Make it a point to get out, to call customers, to ask questions and then listen.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.