Call us! Why customers always get us on the phone
Despite the EuGH ruling, OTTO will remain true to its telephone customer service in the future. And that 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year
The phone rings. One second, two seconds ... it takes a maximum of ten seconds, then a colleague in OTTO's customer service department picks up the phone. This happens around 12.5 million times a year. To cope with this flood of calls, OTTO has around 2,000 advisors working in 16 customer centers across Germany. They are there for customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year by phone, in writing and via social media - even on Christmas and New Year's Eve. Why are we writing about this now?
But let's start from the beginning: The ECJ has ruled that online retailers are not obliged to provide their customers with telephone numbers for contacting them. This was preceded by a complaint from the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband), which pointed out that companies were failing to provide telephone numbers as well as fax numbers and e-mail addresses.
If there were no contact persons on the phone, we would not have done our job well.
Customer service and product advice on the phone
OTTO's 24-hour customer service also takes orders over the phone, and trained product advisors provide information about individual articles: Does the customer have questions about orders or very special requests? The product advisors know the answers to the main topics of multimedia, living and furnishing, sports, DIY and household electronics. The experts in Hamburg are always available from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the week and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays.
"If there were no contact persons on the phone and we left our customers alone, we would not have done our job well. Whether on the phone or when shopping online, everything has to be as convenient and easy as possible for our customers. This also includes being reachable without keeping customers on hold for minutes," explains Katy Roewer, Divisional Director Service at OTTO.
More than just a callback service
According to the ruling, a company must give customers the opportunity to contact it by phone, chat, messenger or e-mail. OTTO's customer service can be reached via all these channels, and even via Whatsapp. There is also a callback service. Telephone contact remains important - and it will stay that way.
