The regional customer service center at Louisville, Ky., that handles calls for dozens of Gannett papers was overwhelmed by calls due to a storm and production problems at some of the papers, The Courier-Journal said today.The C-J warned readers of missed deliveries after a huge weekend snow storm, and said customers might not be able to get through to the center. Ironically, the center is in Louisville; it opened as part of Gannett's drive to consolidate work.
Here's what the C-J said: "Calls to the newspaper's circulation call center also were at high volume levels this morning, and managers at the regional center said they were unable to answer all local calls due to production problems at other papers owned by Gannett Co. The center is based in Louisville, but it also handles customer service for several dozen other Gannett papers across the eastern United States."
[Image: this morning's C-J, Newseum. The C-J's lede storm (lots of video!) at the moment says: "The worst winter storm in a decade buried the Louisville area under more than a foot of snow in spots, forcing many residents to stay inside and sending work crews scurrying to clear the roads in time for tomorrow morning's commute."]
Post Script....
ReplyDeleteIn the weekly newsletter (3-17-08)from the Louisville Publisher, Denise Ivey -- one who admits to not wanting to hear bad news. Praised the Center of Excellence (how Orwellian a name is that) and the great work they did. Um, despite the extra employees coming in to lend a hand, the automated, computerized phone system shots down at a specified time, sending all calls to voice mail. There you go -- that's excellent. I guess all the extra hands on deck discussed how great a job they did.
Here is the item in the publisher's newsletter -----
{{name removed)) a circulation manager, sent this note out to circulation employees thanking them for their dedication and overcoming odds to deliver newspapers on Saturday, March 8.
I would like to thank the following employees who worked this past Saturday during the snow storm. You did an excellent job both helping get carriers out into the field and delivering the more than 100 down routes cause by the extreme weather conditions. I know your efforts were appreciated and show your dedication to our customers in extremely difficult conditions.
Of course, there was no mention of the hundreds of angry calls that came into the newsroom that was trying to cover a significant weather story with a skeleton -- thin because because of the fear of having to spend money on overtime.
Prediction - 15% drop in highly touted circulation and penetration in Louisville for 2008.
All:
ReplyDeleteLong story short, this comment was left on another blog -- one I was testing on WordPress, using the text of this post. I don't know when it was posted on the WordPress blog, but I'm moving it hear at the request of a WordPress administrator.
I just quit the Center of Excellence after working there for a year and the reason that this center cannot keep up with the calls is because employees are expected to keep to calls under 3 minutes per call and the turn over rate is about 97%. This leaves the customers, from the 85 different newspapers, being handled not helped in order to get the customer off the telephone as fast as possible, usually by a customer service representative that has only had 1 week training, no experience and not a lot of help from the very few supervisors. This leaves most customers on hold and very frustrated. A center for execellence it is not but that is my opinion and I left the company on good terms.