We cannot please everyone.
This post is prompted by a recent email and comment we had from someone. I shall withhold name and gender. This sort of thing does not happen often at all and we get customers like this once in a couple of years. Which is part and parcel of offering tutoring service.
The person was dissatisfied due to the following reasons:
- Not being able to speak to us on the phone.
- Not guiding them through the Skype connection process.
- Not being able to find their application.
Let me deal with each point separately.
As for not being able to speak to the person on the phone. The lesson appointment was scheduled for 7pm. The person did not connect or email until 7.50pm by which time the lesson time had already passed. The tutor had other obligations afterwards so was not able to change the time from 7pm to 8pm. So the person was unhappy at this point. There was no request to speak to us on the phone prior to missing the lesson time. When asked what exactly they wanted to speak about there was no clear answer except repeating that we could of spoken on the phone sooner. Our office hours are until 8pm so by the time we had seen the email it was already closing time. There was no mention that they attempted to call us. As the lesson had been missed for the second time that week, there was little we could do except try to reschedule.
The person mentioned that no one had guided them through the Skype connection process but this was never requested and as it is a simple process we have never had to guide anyone through the process. Not sure what other guidance is needed when all you have to do is look for our Skype name in Skype and connect. If help had been requested prior to the lesson starting or even shortly after it starting then we might have been able to assist sooner. In fact we had emailed days before to suggest that the person connects with us on Skype a day or two before the lesson. This was a missed opportunity. Not only that but a direct link had been sent in the email to connect with us, not only in one email but in each email that we corresponded.
The application form. We had initially asked them to fill out an application form, they said they had filled it out but we could not locate it. They did not mention that they had actually filled out the form five months prior which is why we could not locate their application form. We were expecting the application to be at the top of our Google forms contact list but it was actually at the bottom. The only way we managed to find it was by taking another look into our Google forms list as this situation was very odd. To add to it the tutor actually remembered having a conversation with the child of the parent on Skype, back in September 2020, in fact, the old messages we still present in the Skype chat. So it shows that they knew how to connect and did not need any help. Apparently, they had a few technical issues as was always the case. The first lesson they missed due to internet issues.
It is not always easy doing this job especially when someone:
- does not follow our instruction and suggestion
- when they are not open about having contacted us before and when/what date they submitted their form
- when they are dealing with issues that are beyond our control.
We wish that the person is able to find alternative suitable tuition. We cannot please everyone.
ADMIN
Sulayman