So next on the list of articles that I've been asked to write about is about customer service in the legal field. MSN Money recently published an article about poor customer service, and it voices many of the same issues that everybody has felt at one time or another.

I'm not writing about other law firms that I've had to deal with. After all, I am not their customer, so even the rudest lawyer, clerk or assistant on the phone with me may well give good service to their clients. I'm writing more about the everyday struggles with various institutions that we need to deal with.

Just like any other consumer, there will be days in which you have a bad experience and other days where it will be good. This article talks about our personal experiences with institutions, but if you have either a negative or positive experience and wish to differ, please feel free to leave it in our comments section.

The easiest target for most people is the government, but they have actually been fairly efficient. We have left messages with the Land Registry Office on several occasions and have had our calls returned on the same day. The only experience with the government that could be construed as negative occurred when I was attempting to obtain an income tax lien payout statement, but that was when the systems were down, and it was well publicized in the media, so I'll give them a break.

We've also had some issues with title insurance. With more and more of them becoming automated online, they have usually been easy to deal with. Sometimes, they expect us to be mind readers (one title insurer wanted me to submit a certain document but didn't bother to ask me when they had the chance). Other times, they held up deals without giving much care to our timing (they had a small issue with the computer form used and demanded that I use a completely new form, thus restarting about an afternoon of work).

I think that the most conflict has come from the "financial pillars" being banks, credit unions, insurance companies and so forth. Since the organizations are so big, everybody is passing the buck to the next person. Fax a mortgage discharge statement request to the discharge department? Thanks, but everybody knows that it should go to the mortgage statements department, so they don't need to tell you. Inexperienced receptionist at the bank lose a report and its documentation? Say we didn't receive it a year later and blame it on the lawyer. Need to change a name on a fire insurance policy? Go through five drafts and 10 phone calls because the person on the other end cannot spell the word "Trust".

As ridiculous as these situations may be, I've experienced all of them first hand. The financial institutions can hire better as I know many qualified applicants who would be happy with a customer service or administrative job. But I guess existing staff can get their idiot nephew into the company through the "family and friends plan" and let it be the customers' problem. With the record profits the banks are making, maybe they should go out and hire better administrative staff. But then again, not every bank can do that. And some can't even maintain their own building. Maybe it's just poetic justice. If you want to know more about what banks do, you can read about it here.

 

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