Reply from Smith.aiSep 20, 2019
Hi Dannielle, it’s unfortunate you took to the internet about this when it was just a usual “phone tag” issue and a huge misunderstanding. So here’s the timeline of what happened on September 19, 2019:
9:00 am PST: At your scheduled request, our receptionist, Cheryl, made a call to you on time, but you did not answer. Following protocol upon not reaching you, Cheryl left a voicemail stating that she would call back in 5 minutes. (Many times, our clients are very busy and meetings run late, so we attempt another call after 5 minutes.)
9:01 am PST: You called back in and reached our receptionist, Janet. Because Cheryl had a meeting scheduled with you and time blocked out for you, her calendar showed that she was unavailable, “in a meeting.” Janet advised you that Cheryl was “in a meeting” and unable to interrupt her. Janet attempted to take a message to let Cheryl know you had called back in and to return your call. At this point, as shown in our notes, you became enraged and started yelling and swearing — dropping “F-bombs” on Janet. The language and aggression used exceeded toleration per our Abusive Caller Policy, which exists to protect the psychological safety of our team.
Janet apologized for the inconvenience and assured you we would reach Cheryl to let her know you called back in. You ended the call with “don´t even bother anymore — I don´t want to be in business with you if you cant even f__king show up to a f__king meeting," and hung up on Janet.
The call lasted 6 mins and 20 seconds.
9:05 am PST: Cheryl initiated her callback procedure, as promised, and was interrupted by Janet, who relayed that Dannielle didn’t want to speak to her anymore. Cheryl terminated the callback procedure at your instruction.
9:14 am PST: You began posting negative reviews of us on the internet, claiming that we missed a meeting with you, and that we spent 10 minutes trying to get a hold of the person [Cheryl], both of which are factually incorrect. This included asking us what we were going to do to compensate you for our “mistake.”
9:28 am PST: After a managerial debrief and time for our team to regain their composure (Janet had to be taken off shift for personal time due to your aggression), Cheryl called you back in an attempt to reconcile and clear up the phone tag.
I hope this timeline clears up the responsibility placed on individuals in this situation. Our team is famous for its excellent customer service and congeniality. Although we don’t have an SLA, our clients are often surprised to find we go above and beyond for them in both timeliness and effort.
In other circumstances, I would say that any miscommunication has 50% blame, and in the spirit of good customer service I would take 100% of that responsibility on us. We do try to bend over backwards for our clients and, in other circumstances, would for you as well. As you mentioned compensation, we’re familiar with that. When we make errors, we know it costs our clients in ways and we compensate them for it. However, these are not those other circumstances. Your interaction with our team, as a potential client, violates the same abusive caller policy that we would apply to your own callers, and therefore you are blocked from interacting with our company.
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss this,
Aaron Lee
Justin Maxwell
Co-Founders, Smith.ai
