When a process fails (for your customer) - a true tale of woe.

Everyone has a tale of when a service has failed to meet expectations, causing unnecessary stress or work to remediate. Whilst I am myself responsible for delivering products and services to meet (or exceed) our client’s expectations, I am also a customer (consumer) of services. So take a couple of minutes with your morning cuppa as I retell my tale of process breakdown (and of course how I believe it could be so easily avoided)

Let me set the scene… I have played guitar since I was 12, never to any amazing standard, just for fun. Last year I was invited to join my local ukulele jam. As a guitarist, playing a ukulele is not a giant leap except ukuleles are traditionally tuned a 4th higher and are missing the lowest two strings. To avoid the ‘pain’ of having to re-name chord shapes in my head (a D now is a G etc), I found a baritone ukulele which is tuned to E standard (like a guitar) but still only the 4 strings.

Anyway I digress, what I really wanted was a 6 string guitalele (essentially a guitar / ukulele hybrid) that could be tuned in E standard and (I don’t want much) had steel / wound strings like an acoustic guitar. Most guitalele are tuned a 4th higher (like ukuleles) and have nylon strings more like a classical guitar. It is a ukulele jam so just turning up with a guitar (even if 1/2 size) seems a bit wrong as well. Finally, a few weeks ago I found one with just a small complication - only sold directly from the US.

Well, I have placed international orders before... The order was placed (with great customer service from the company owner) and my USPS tracking number was emailed 24 hours later. I watched as it left Bend (Oregon) and arrived 2 days later in California. On to Los Angeles, flown to Heathrow, up to Coventry and then finally, 4 days later, arriving at my nearest Parcel Force depot - just 15.2 miles from my door. Of course I needed to pay the customs import duty / VAT on the item before it could be released for delivery and here is where the issue arose.

To pay your customs fee, you need a letter (yes a letter) advising you of the charges and providing a unique 17 digit code that allows you to pay the charge. You cannot use your tracking number, you cannot turn up at the depot and simply pay to take it away. No, you must have your code. By post.

Despite the order being placed entirely via the web and therefore supplying my email address as part of that process, it appears there is no process to send my customs document digitally - instantly. So I waited. And waited. I then realised I hadn’t had a post delivery for some days. So I went on the Royal Mail website and eventually found the service status pages - no issue in my postcode. It had been a few days so I called their customer service line and 25 minutes later I was informed there had been a problem with deliveries but that was 5 days ago, deliveries should be as normal. Miraculously, an hour later, my post was delivered for the first time in days.

I eagerly sifted through the envelopes and nothing. What I did discover was that one of the letters was postmarked as sent over 2 weeks ago. The rest of the post also hinted at severe ‘delays’. This did not bode well for my ‘urgent’ correspondence. I then decided to call Parcel Force - their website stated I must have my letter and you cannot pay without the code, however, I wanted to ensure that the process was underway and my notification was at least sent. Another 25 minutes later, I am speaking to a very friendly customer service representative who informs me she can give me my 17 digit code over the phone! I have cleared enough security and she has the data on their system so she can simply tell me the charge and the code - yes yes yes. A mere 2 minutes later, the charges were paid via the portal and delivery was completed (a mere 36 hours later) but still (as of writing) no official letter.

It has taken longer since the package arrived at the depot to have it released from UK customs than it has taken for the item to be prepared and travel 6490 miles. If I hadn’t taken it on myself to spend that time on the phone, I would still be waiting.

There has to be a better way?! A way that doesn’t involve me (the customer) waiting unnecessarily or chasing for the information (which clearly was prepared days ago) to progress the delivery.

Of course there is. There is clearly a bottleneck or weak link in the process. Despite the online digital tracking system (automated from depot information feeds) and the online instant payment system, there is a process still using paper and a third party service that can halt the delivery. A step that is no longer under the service suppliers control but impacts their reputation. Not only that, the longer a package remains stored in the warehouse, the greater the risk of loss or damage - again a cost that will be borne by the courier's insurance but as a consequence of third party delays.

A ‘simple’ solution is to allow the package to travel with email recipient information and issue (once customs have confirmed the rates) the code and payment instructions instantly. Parcel Force clearly had the data (sums owed & unique reference) on the system associated to my USPS number so why not just send it to the recipient directly, taking control of that process once again?

I will make a couple of assumptions in this comparison but roughly (at time of writing):

Process as of today:

Package Sent → 4 days transit → Customs duty notification sent by post → 8 days held (and counting) = >13 days

Process with email notification:

Package Sent → 4 days transit → Customs duty notification sent via email → paid → 1 days held → delivered = 6 day

I will update this article once the official paperwork arrives* but it is easy to see how this process could be improved dramatically, not just for the customer but also for the business's reputation and service levels. It is a pain point for customers and it could be resolved through digital transformation of this one process piece. The feeds / notifications between the courier and HM Customs must be in place as the courier knows the charges and their breakdown, all that is required is the email to the recipient step.

I also cannot be the only person enquiring about their customs clearance delay - imagine the reduction in calls to customer services?

So for the improvement in service, customer experience, protection against reputational damage, protection against financial loss and to have control of the process itself, do you think the change would be worth it?

*It took 14 days from posting for the paperwork to arrive meaning the current process (assuming I did not intervene with a phone call) would have taken 19 days for delivery

Toby Gilbertson. Director of Operations at PacSol. September 2023

#pacsoluk #customerservice #customerexperience #documentmanagementsystem #digitaltransformation