In terms of customer service, as mentioned above, Tim Perry feels the club have been pro-active in addressing the fans’ concerns, while always looking to improve the customer experience when they need to contact either the club or Fanatics.
Customer service:
“I’m very apologetic if any of our fans have had a bad customer experience through the examples you quote. Our retail outlet is mystery shopped several times a month, and it consistently scores 90%+. This was [by way of an] independent audit.
During the kit launch period, 65,000 visitors have visited the store and the store team are driven to deliver a great experience for every visitor. The issues… were fed back as part of ongoing customer service drive, and the examples used to highlight areas for closer scrutiny.
Regards our on-line store, and in particular Fanatics call centre processes, we were already aware of the waiting time issues for call answering. These seem to have improved since mid-July following our intervention, which was a result of action based on specific complaint tracking.
To reassure the point you make, all complaints are logged and tracked as part of our overall fan experience charter for improvement, and although it’s been an intense summer here at Villa Park, we do feel we’ve tried to resolve everything that has been brought to our attention.”
Not having bought a kit or training wear personally, I can’t really comment on the accuracy of Tim’s observations, but I’m happy to take him at his word.
As ever with customer service, people are far more patient and understanding when problems are dealt with quickly and efficiently, and the service provider learns from mistakes so they’re not persistently repeated.
I’m sure we will see at the season’s end what the final verdict is on the Kappa kits, but it’s certainly been a rocky start. A repeat of this year’s launch and teething problems will not be acceptable to most, particularly as it would be at odds with the ‘going places’ approach adopted by the owners and the CEO.
In the meantime, if you have any operational issues you’d like raised with the club at the next Fan Consultation Group meeting, head over to the forum to raise your questions.
It would remiss of me not to mention Fear’s book, Fear Conquers All! A fascinating look at his battles and victories. You can see all the details, how to buy and the reviews at: https://thefear.net/ and on Amazon (if you don’t have Prime, it is cheaper to buy directly and means he can donate more to the AVFC Foundation: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fear-Conquers-All-mission-inspire/dp/1527244393 and reviews there: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fear-Conquers-All-mission-inspire/product-reviews
