I had an unusual phone conversation with a gentleman last week. He called me asking how can he get paid. He mentioned that he filled out the application on my website and he wanted to know how do I pay him. Do I send him a check or can his money be deposited in his account. After I asked him a couple of questions I realized that he was inquiring about Square a company that I wrote about in an earlier Blog post. You can read about Square HERE.
I was curious as to why he called me and not the people at Square so as I talked with him I pulled up Square’s website and notice that while they have an excellent social media tech support system and I can reach almost their entire company on Twitter they did not have a telephone number listed anywhere on their website.
The caller found it easier to get my phone number because I learned my lesson earlier on and I wrote about it HERE. Now this gentleman was not technology illiterate, he has a PayPal account but he knew that the ability to swipe credit cards on the spot would mean more sales for him and he thought that Square offers a solution that can make his business more money.
Our society is changing fast as we spend more money in online purchases however, that should not be an excuse for not providing customers and potential customers the ability to contact the merchant in a way that is convenient for them. Sometimes when it comes to purchasing or getting paid we want to speak with a real live person.
Fortunately for this gentleman I took the role of customer service seriously as I not only answered his questions about Square which he was grateful for. I also suggested a couple of other options that may assist him in getting more sales. I wonder if I should charge Square for the customer support call. What do you think?