Customer Service Improvements Are Needed Badly

The issue of Zynga's lack of quality Customer Service has been on my mind for quite a while now. Since I wrote up the blog post about Zynga's Q&A #12: Customer Support Availablity and seeing some of the comments and posts around the web lately, a few things have really been nagging at me.

I like to think that my fellow MW players are aware that there are plenty who attempt to contact Zynga's Customer Support with every little gripe about the game they can in order to get the RP apology. Personally I can't stand seeing people bragging about this. To me it is akin to cheating. Zynga opened the door for players to abuse the system in this way, and I have to say I think it is about time they close that door.

Being a Customer Service Representative is not an easy job to do. It takes a special type of person to be able to deal with upset people day in and day out. I would never think to treat another person with such disrespect as I have heard some people in my friends list have done when trying to get something resolved in the game. I would like to remind those out there who do treat these CS Reps in such a way, you are not 'getting back at Zynga' by being a dink to those that are just trying to help you and you more than likely won't get very far with your complaints as they would be written off due to your attitude.

As far as the current state of Zynga's Customer Service, there is much that can be done to improve upon it. There may be plenty of complaints that there are not enough live support agents available, but if e-mails were handled better than what they currently are people would feel that they are getting just the same satisfaction as those who are able to use the chat feature when it is available.

Overall there still needs to be better procedures, consistency and standardization in how the customer issues are handled. If there are wide-spread issues all revolving around the same 'glitches' in the game, then those who do contact CS should expect to receive the same treatment and 'apology loot'. Of course this can be dependent on Loyalty Tier. I haven't spent much on this game, and I don't feel the need to. I do believe, however that Platinum players have earned the right for better compensation because of the money they have spent.

As it stands there currently is no standard in place that can be seen in the compensations. This is why so many players feel they are entitled to RP apologies each time they contact CS, and then proceed to get huffy when this does not happen. If you have two players and neither have spent any money on the game, or perhaps both are Platinum players, if you give one 5 RP for the same issue that the second person has, that second person should be getting the RP as well.

There is also the fact that many CS Reps don't seem to understand what a player is talking about or having an issue with. It may be harder to do, but what about having separate 'teams' within the department? One 'team' may help with only issues revolving around missions/boss fights and another may deal with Jobs and another with Fighting or however they can best divide them up. This way each 'team' is familiar with that area of the game.

Whatever it is that is going on in Zynga's Customer Support Department, it needs some major addressing from within. I am not saying that they are not working hard, but I am saying that the reps are not all on the same page, many don't understand what the exact issue is and everything varies depending on who is spoken with. All of this has put the company's reputation in the garbage disposal in the eyes of the players. It is time for Zynga to take care of this.