One of the biggest topics of conversation to come out of this week’s Spring announcement regarding the eBay Marketplace was the changes to the resolution process. Yesterday, I shared an interview with Todd Lutwak and focused more on the Smart FAQs and package tracking.
Today, I’m sharing a conversation with Chad O’Meara, VP of eBay Marketplace Customer Service focused more on the resolution process. Again, I managed to include our regular questions with the more specific ones around the news. So with that, I give you 5 Minutes With… Chad O’Meara:
Full Name: Chad O’Meara
Nickname: I don’t really have one, but people do funny things with my first name sometimes like “Chadly” or “Chadster” or “Chadwick”
Official Title: VP Marketplace Customer Service
What You Really Do: Improve things for our Customers, Employees and shareholders
Your First Day at eBay: My first Day was at eBay Live last June
Education/Schooling: Drake University – Finance Degree
Interests: Spending free time with my wife and children, I like most sports… played Football, Wrestling and Soccer… but that was too long ago to remember. Now I just watch it on TV or when my children play… I like reading mostly about Business, Money or Leadership, I also like to travel & exercise.
Favorite Quote: “ To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe” by Anatole France
Most memorable eBay Inc. experience: I travel quite a bit, so it was the first time I Skyped my family from the hotel… the kids were so funny.
Most recent eBay purchase/sale: I went on a little bit of a shopping spree a couple weeks back and bought an external battery pack for my iPhone, pair of Tommy Bahamas shorts I could not find in stores, an exercise ball for my wife, socks and the deal of day… ink cartridges for my HP Printer
Favorite Albums: Aerosmith – Gold “Sweet Emotion” , Van Morrison, U2 – The Joshua Tree, Sheryl Crow, Buddy Holly & the Crickets, Elvis Costello
Favorite Movies: Caddyshack, Gladiator, The Godfather (any of the 3)
What You Wanted to Be Growing Up: Professional Athlete
Fill in the blanks:
I should have talked with more customers yesterday.
I wish that I could sing or play a musical instrument.
The first thing I do when I get to work is Check E-mails and Calendar
Regarding the eBay Marketplace announcement of April 14:
Q. Why did we change the resolution process?
We are currently in the pilot stage of this initiative, but it is one of the biggest changes we can make for our customers to build more trust in the eBay Marketplace. This new process will give buyers and sellers a better experience when they have a claim or dispute and will also reduce the time spent on resolving issues.
Q. How does the new resolution process work?
If you have an issue with something you have purchased on eBay either Item not received or Not as described, eBay is there to help you get resolution. You can contact eBay using a toll-free number and if your claim warrants further investigation, eBay will contact the seller.
Q. How are we changing CS to accommodate these changes to the resolution process?
We are changing the process to allow for a quick resolution for our Customers – both buyers and sellers. We are working to improve our member to member experiences and partnering with PayPal to simplify the process to ensure all of our Customer Service leaders, that deal regularly with these customer issues, can apply the new process.
Q. What else do we have planned for improving CS in the future?
We are making bold changes in 2009 on behalf of our Customer’s. We discussed resolutions above, but we are also improving other major pain points for our Customers including Listing Policies and Product Defects. These priorities will improve the Customer experience and reduce the need for these customers to contact us.
If our customers do contact us, we want to ensure that our service representatives can deliver a world class experience and resolve their issues the first time.
We are also investing in several enabling initiatives that will make it easier for all of us to service our customers. Examples include an enterprise CS system solution that will help our representatives do their work and consolidate many systems and the recently launched “Voice of Customer Portal” to give our Customers and our representatives a stronger voice in our business.
For more on the new resolution process, please check out the latest blog post on the PayPal blog by Monroe Labouisse, director of PayPal’s business on eBay in North America.
Cheers,
RBH