I started to post this as an update on my original blog post, but decided to break it out as a separate post because I think it teaches another valuable lesson.

Today I got this email from Peter Sisson, the Founder & CEO of Toktumi:

Hi Ryan,

I wanted to thank you for your coverage of our service and reach out to you to let you know we are working aggressively to expand our support capabilities. Our new mobile app Line2 was a runaway hit when it launched in September, much more so than we anticipated. Our support team got swamped and couldn’t keep up with our 2 hour guaranteed response window. We are hiring additional reps now – one already started – and anticipate things will be back to normal withn two weeks. I’m very sorry you had a bad first experience but I can assure you up until last month customers were raving about our support and we are committed to restoring their faith!

It would be great if you would be willing to update your post to let folks know I contacted you and we are doing something about the issues you experienced. I’m happy to talk to you on the phone as well – similarly any of your readers can feel free to contact me as well at xxx-xxx-xxxx or at xxxxxxx@toktumi.com.

Thanks!

Take care,
Peter Sisson
Founder/CEO
Toktumi, Inc.

I have to say, I was a bit shocked for two reasons: 1. The CEO took the time to send a personal email; and 2. It came so quickly after posting yesterday afternoon (less than 24 hours ago). Of course, I jumped on the chance to try the service again (as I mentioned, this is darn near the holy grail of price to features in PBX systems and something I’ve been dying to find). You may say I’m too easy, but a company that has a leader that’s willing to jump in, acknowledge a frustrating situation and personally ask for a second chance, deserves it in my book.

Within half an hour of sending a response back to Peter saying I’d be happy to give things a second try, he responded back and got the ball rolling with a fresh account for me. I’m going to try the service for a couple of weeks with one of my business numbers and I’ll make sure I share my experiences and what I think about the service.

To me, this is exactly the way companies should respond to customer dissatisfaction. 95% of the time, we as customers would be more than happy with a company owning up to our frustrations (doesn’t matter if they’re at fault or not, that’s not the point) and just simply asking how things can be resolved. Sure there are people that are going to bitch and moan no matter how much you bend over backwards for them…that’s the other 5%. Taking the time to apologize for what has happened (again, fault isn’t the issue in many cases) and ask a customer (or former customer) if you can do something to remedy the problems is oftentimes all it takes to turn the situation around.

I hope everyone takes the lesson here to heart with your own customer service operations. A little can go a heck of a long ways in turning things around with customers.

Related posts

1. My Experiences With Toktumi
2. Toktumi After 2 Months & A Couple Of Tips
3. 4 Ways To Put The “Service” Back In “Customer Service”
4. Big Boys Sales Tracking At A Little Guy Price
5. Take a Guru Break Update