Prescription for Disaster

Tax season was approaching quickly. As I do most years, I had postponed doing my taxes until the end of March, just in time to insure high stress and anxiety would occur.

In years past, one of the simplest tax deductions to calculate has been pharmaceutical costs, since these transactions could easily be downloaded via the Internet. Not this year, however.

Walgreens is my pharmacy and they have provided customers with the capability to download annual prescription histories at no cost for some time. The application works very well, but has one serious limitation. In a world of mail-order pharmacy programs, prescriptions that are ordered directlyby mail are not tracked by Walgreens. Therefore, Walgreen's prescription history is not complete unless you order all of your prescriptions directly from them.

On the other hand, if your insurance plan offers prescription benefits, your insurance company will have a complete list of pharmaceuticals, including both mail order and retail. In years past, I would simply go online to my insurance company to get a complete downloaded list for my taxes. Easy enough.

This year things changed. I logged on the same way I had in the past, only I was unable to find a way to download my records from the insurance website. After five minutes or more of searching, I finally decided to look in the "FAQ (Frequently-Asked Questions)". I might have done so earlier, but men typically don't like to ask for directions. I soon located the instructions for downloading my records. The instructions said "Simply navigate to and click the My Account" button located on the left navigation bar..."

I quickly went to the left navigation bar, eager to click on "My Account," only to find out that there was no "My Account" button as the FAQ section had described. After checking several times to make sure I had read the instructions correctly, I finally declared "I give up." It was time to send someone an email to get the right instructions.

After expending more effort than I would have expected, I found a way to send an email to customer service. I carefully explained what I was attempting to download, what steps I had already taken and requested instructions on how to download my records.

The next day, within the typical expected response time for email, I received a reply that essentially said "You can download your records online, or you can call our call center." As I read the response, I couldn't help but feel "They never read my note."

Undeterred, I decided to give this another try. In a reply to the email I had received, I requested them to re-read my previous email and went on to express my frustration with my prior attempts to find where I could download my records.

In response to my second email, I received a note explaining that I should contact the coordinator of the employee insurance plan that covered me since that company hadn't subscribed to the download service.

Scratching my head, I decided that maybe it was a good idea to call their customer service call center to find out what the problem was. After a reasonable wait time, I was answered by a very helpful representative who listened carefully to my story and my growing frustration. She didn't know the answer immediately, but placed me on hold for a period of about 5 minutes while she researched the problem. When she returned, she explained, "The reason you can't download your records is that the employer from whom you receive your insurance doesn't subscribe to the download option."

Surprised, and even shocked, I probed a little further. "Ma'am, I asked. "Are you telling me that you charge an employer more to be able to allow their employees to download prescription histories?" In response, she replied "Yes. It's an option we offer at additional cost."

I then asked, "So, if an employee wants to download her records, she is required to call you?" She replied, "Yes. But we don't actually download the records, we print them out and mail them to the customer."

"So, you have to talk with the customer, print out the records, then send them by mail to the customer instead of allowing them to download them directly?" I asked. "That's pretty much how it works." she responded.

"Okay," I responded while shaking my head. "Please send me my records and my spouse's."

"I hate to tell you this," she replied timidly. "but, because of privacy laws, I can't send your spouse's records without her permission. She'll have to call us directly."

Curiosity had just gotten the better of me, so I asked: "Ma'am, would you know whether or not the employer who provides this insurance is required to pay your company for all of the emails and telephone calls you receive for these type of requests?" She quickly replied, "Yes, I know. We don't charge companies for calls or emails, that's included in the service we offer."

We concluded our business and she agreed to send me the records. Later that day, I requested my spouse to make another call to request her records.

In retrospect, I couldn't help but ask myself, "What are these guys thinking?" How can it possibly make sense to charge an employer extra for a self-service option that offers both convenience and saves the them (the insurance company) money at the same time? Under what circumstances would anyone want to drive self-service transactions to a live agent?

To prove a point, I decided to create a basic cost comparison. For the sake of this example, I've used some relatively average transaction costs to compare live transactions to the cost of self-service. Remember that in my case, I was required to send 2 emails, place 2 telephone calls (mine and my spouse), and the insurance company had to print out and send 2 prescription histories.

Option 1: Self-Service

Download 2 prescription histories: $0.35 x 2 = $0.70

Total self-service cost: $0.70

Option 2: Live Assistance

(2) Email Transactions: $5.00 x 2 = $10.00
(2) Live telephone call: $6.00 x 2 = $12.00
(2) Print and mail records: $12.00 x 2 = $24.00

Total live assistance option: $46.00

As a consultant specializing in call centers, I am often times amazed, but never surprised, how often I find examples just like this one. Imagine the amount of money that can be saved, and the improvement in customer experience that can be achieved, by taking a look at your transactions and asking the question, "Does this make sense?"

Welcome to our new blog page.

I've been putting this off for a long time, even though I understand the importance of having a blog site. Welcome to the new Contact Center Professionals blog page and thanks for visiting.

Managing a contact center environment is challenging, even in the best of times. Of course, these aren't the best of times, which makes the challenges far greater.

This blog site will focus on contact center issues. For the foreseeable future, it will also focus on ideas and suggestions for getting through this global recession. Of course, I welcome any comments or suggestions that readers may have to offer.

Best regards,

Martin Prunty