I want to takeover Epassporte and make things run smoothly.

[JAY SPRING]

Here are my ideas:

1) Hire a bigger staff.

Epassporte is suffering from an extreme case of denial. Anytime something "unusual" happens every second of every day for almost a year, there is a chance it might actually be normal. If I were in charge, I would make them understand this. I would hire more people and then we could get rid of the standard "we are experiencing a unusually high volume of calls at this time" that you hear EVERYTIME you call.

2) Use phone calls -- NOT emails -- to get things done.

I had an eye-opening experience the other day at the bank. I wanted to check if they had rejected any deposit attempts from Epassporte. What happened next was truly a thing of beauty. The teller used a telephone and by calling another department, had my answer within a couple of minutes. (Surprisingly, it appears that it is Epassporte, and not Bank Of America, who messed up the withdrawal.) Anyway, this made me think -- if only Epassporte customer service agents were able to call their technical support deparment. Imagine this scenario.... You call Raymond at Epass and inform him that you sent in your documents to have your account unlocked. Raymond then puts you on hold to make a quick call to the account verfication department. They confirm they did indeed receive your documents and give Raymond the go ahead to unlock your account. Raymond tells you your account is unlocked and follows with the standard "is there anything else I can help you with today, sir?" I admit, I get a little teary-eyed thinking of conversations like that. By having the customer service staff using phone calls instead of emails, we could shave 6-9 business days off of the current 7-10. Instant answers and solutions to your problems.

3) Fix mistakes with urgency.

I have yet to travel abroad, but it is customary in the U.S. for most companies to put a rush on fixing mistakes made involving their clients/customers. Imagine going to a restaurant, ordering your small meal, and then seeing a large table who came in after you being served first. Then this happens over and over. But when you ask the waitress what happened, she says "I'm really sorry I forgot to put in your order. Let me just seat the remaining customers in the waiting room, get their orders, and then I'll make sure your order gets put in right after." Things just don't work that way. Except at Epassporte. If they ever lose a document or even worse, your money - you must wait 7-10 business days for them to verify this, then an extra 7-10 for them to fix it. I promise to change this once I am in charge. No more being returned to the back of the line, if it is our fault. If we ever make a mistake, we will put your account at the top of our priorities list and should be able to resolve the issue during your phone call.

Shoutouts to Raymond, Shyanne, and Shirley (although she was a little grumpy this afternoon). I hope you will embrace me as your new boss.

[a nonymous]

Try posting this in the ePassporte thread.