Last week I was in Texas, as part of a church missions trip, so I didn't have time or facilities to blog. Now I'm back, and want to share how Fidelity Investments "blindsided" me.
Because of lack of access to a computer, I could use only the Fidelity telephone system, FAST, to get quotes or trade. One day last week, I called and placed a trade. I specified the stock, quantity and type of order. The system announced it back to me, I indicated that I was OK with it, and then the system made the trade.
A few seconds later, the system told me that the trade was complete. However, it also gave me a commission amount far higher than what I was expecting, specifically one far higher than what I receive when trading on the Fidelity web site.
I spoke to a representative, and expressed my concern over the different commission levels. After listening, the representative agreed, and said that this one time, he would credit me for the difference.
I was glad to hear this news, but was still irritated by being surprised. There might well be good reasons for the differences in commission amounts. However, to avoid similar customer dissatisfaction, Fidelity could have done things differently, in particular, they could (and should) have alerted customers to this matter beforehand. Here are some possible ways:
- As soon as caller presses the key for "trading," the system could announce in general a message "caution: the commission levels for telephone trading may differ from those via the Fidelity web site."
- (even better): when the system announces the desired trade, prior to execution, it also could include the commission amount as well
In either case, callers have notice.
You can learn from this experience of mine, because it doesn't have to do only with trading with Fidelity. In your own jobs, try to minimize those instances in which you surprise people negatively.
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3 comments:
I was watching a video on customer service which starred the founder of Farrell's Ice Cream Parlors. One of his pushes was "don't surprise the customer." I have found that to be true. Be consistent.
You mentioned not negatively surprising the customer. Always true. The real challenge is knowing which surprises will be perceived as positive - what I might perceive as going above and beyond in a good way might be considered annoying or impertinent to another person.
Usually, the best move is to be consistently good. A wise friend once told me: 'Better' is the enemy of 'good'. Scary to hear this particular man say that, him being a doctor... But it is often true.
I specified the stock, quantity and type of order. The system announced it back to me, I indicated that I was OK with it, and then the system made the trade.A few seconds later, the system told me that the trade was complete.
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Neal, thanks for the comment. The critical question, though is whether or not the system told you what the commission was going to be, prior to your authorizing the trade. In my case, I wasn't told, and so was surpised that the telephone commission was significantly higher than the web commission. Thanks.
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