Custserv@wizards

[James McMurray]

The other big trick is getting your customers to check the answer database before harassing customer service.

 

[jgsugden]

As I said above, I actually can't see any major benefit to WOTC doing email support in the first place. I could easily imagine an economic analysis being done it and resulting in a decision to just scrap the whole custserv department.

Actually, I suspect otherwise. I bet there's fewer people working at custserv than WOTC has product lines. You could easily see a number of names over time, due to turnover, but not actually have staff numbering as many as product lines. Even if you did, I bet that the card games overwhelm D&D questions, and if staffing was made in an pro-rated fashion that would mean terminating the D&D support.

There is a benefit to customer service. It is not a direct benefit, but it is clearly there.

If there are two people in custserv, there would be enough to specialize. I know there are at least two at a time ...

As for getting people to check an answer database, an automated response to the initial query could easily handle this task. Yes, we see rampant evidence of people being too lazy to look in their books on the boards. Yes, custserv would face that as well. If they use an automated response with keyword triggers, then these people would get their answer without anyone having to actually answer the question.

The fact remains: WotC does have people that are paid to provide answers. Those people do not answer the biggest questions out there consistently.

 

[Pax]

jgsugden,

You're comparing an $18,000 a year customer service rep for a niche product in a subsidiary of a large toy company to a $100-$200k a year lawyer who is getting paid for his time doing research and preparing legal documents.

Actually, most of that research is done, at most, by paralegals. Not full lawyers. And most laywers don't get $100K-$200K per year, either. $50K-$100K, I can believe ... but not your figure.

And for every lawyer getting $100K per year, there're at least four making under $40K per year.

How long have you played 3.0 and 3.5? How long have you frequented ENWorld? Now think about some kid coming to work for WotC who has played D&D a few times, has read the books once or twice, and then is sat down in front of a computer and expected to field emails from gamers wanting answers on (what amounts to them as) esoteric points of the game. You are probably a far greater expert than he on how to adjucate the game or make changes.

Then WOTC is hiring completely the wrong people for the job. They should hire veteran players, not "some kid [...] who has played D&D a few times".

 

[TiQuinn]

Actually, most of that research is done, at most, by paralegals. Not full lawyers. And most laywers don't get $100K-$200K per year, either. $50K-$100K, I can believe ... but not your figure.

And for every lawyer getting $100K per year, there're at least four making under $40K per year.

I don't agree with those figures at all. Mine might be exaggerated on the high end, but those are very low. The average starting salary for a first year attorney is between $45,000 and $70,000. Paralegals have an average salary of $36,000 to $42,000. Even paralegals make quite a bit more than most customer service reps (and I have no idea how much a CSR in the game industry makes. I'm basing off of what I know they make in other industries).

Regardless, you're making a comparison between a professional position and a job that requires minimal training. There are very few customer service reps looking to stay customer service reps.

Then WOTC is hiring completely the wrong people for the job. They should hire veteran players, not "some kid [...] who has played D&D a few times".

I don't think it's quite as easy and clear cut as you want to make out. How many veteran players do you know who are willing to work as a customer service rep for WotC? Again, these guys are making the lowest wage in a fairly low wage industry. Whoever mentioned that customer service departments are seen as cost centers as opposed to profit centers is absolutely correct. Improvements made for customer service are always going to be scrutinized for how much money it will cost, unless you are paying for the service.

 

[jgsugden]

I don't agree with those figures at all. Mine might be exaggerated on the high end, but those are very low. The average starting salary for a first year attorney is between $45,000 and $70,000. Paralegals have an average salary of $36,000 to $42,000. Even paralegals make quite a bit more than most customer service reps (and I have no idea how much a CSR in the game industry makes. I'm basing off of what I know they make in other industries).

Regardless, you're making a comparison between a professional position and a job that requires minimal training. There are very few customer service reps looking to stay customer service reps.

Compensation is very much a factor of location. An attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles or New York will make a drastically different amount than an attorney in a very similar position in a place where the cost of living is much lower. Most paralegals certainly make more than most CSRs, but that is not the issue here. There are good candidates out there that can do the work. (See below)

I don't think it's quite as easy and clear cut as you want to make out. How many veteran players do you know who are willing to work as a customer service rep for WotC? Again, these guys are making the lowest wage in a fairly low wage industry. Whoever mentioned that customer service departments are seen as cost centers as opposed to profit centers is absolutely correct. Improvements made for customer service are always going to be scrutinized for how much money it will cost, unless you are paying for the service.

Let me see ... how many people want to spend their time giving advice about D&D. How many people can I find that will spend hours researching some small, trivial aspect of the rules. Hmmmm ... Well, gee. I think I found a few thousand of them that do it for free on message boards right now. An innovative plan by WotC could take advantage of these board gurus, give them some authoity, give them some tools, give them some access to designers, etc ... and you'd have a work force that would do an excellent job - probably for nothing more than a few free products.

That plan is probably a bit too difficult to implement, so let's look for paid employees instead. We want:

1.) People with adequate command of English (and possibly a few other languages as well - Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, L337, etc ...),
2.) People that will work cheap,
3.) People that have years of experience in role playing games, collectible card games, etc ... , and
4.) People that will be around for a few years.

I knew a few dozen people that fit that description when I was in college. If you culled the ranks of the college folks in the Seattle area, you'd be able to come up with a few hundred candidates. Only a small portion of them would be interested, but I'm pretty sure you could get enough if you looked around. After all, there are many college aged people that do it for free right now on the internet ... if you add in some money incentives, you'll get a good crowd from a small area.

An $8.00 an hour part time college job answering emails (and perhaps phones) to earn pizza money while in college? And instead of secretly sneaking off to post on D&D boards about D&D rules, you get to do it as your job?

And, once again, there are massive revisions that could be made to customer service that would *reduce cost* while *increasing efficiency*.

Automated responses could handle a portion of the questions. Contrary to popular opinion, a simple program that searches for combinations of key words or phrases in an email and then sends an automated response with a link on it that gives the reader a chance to remove his question from the queue of questions to be answered if the automated repsonse handles his query is not an earth shatteringly difficult thing to get your hands on.

Reusing prior stored answers to questions could increase clarity and consistency while reducing the time it takes to answer a question. A huge database that covered every aspect of the rules may be too difficult to manage, but one that handles the big unanswered questions that come up over and over and over is not too much to ask. In truth, it wouldn't need to be anything more than a private message board where the custserv people (and key designers and gurus) post up important questions that do not have clear answers before the answer is sent out. There are a lot of people out there that do this for free every day - how many times have you seen an answer on an email begin with "Andy Collins had this to say on the subject:

[link]". If custserv had a collection of these types of answers and added to them ... and then used them when answering questions ... bingo.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Compensation is very much a factor of location. An attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles or New York will make a drastically different amount than an attorney in a very similar position in a place where the cost of living is much lower.

A first-year associate at my top-tier firm in San Francisco makes $125,000 plus bonuses. (This is down from a high, three years ago, of $135,000.) Typically New York sets the market, and SF and LA follow within a few weeks.

A first-year associate at a top-tier firm in Lexington, Kentucky makes about $60,000 plus bonuses.

 

[TiQuinn]

Let me see ... how many people want to spend their time giving advice about D&D. How many people can I find that will spend hours researching some small, trivial aspect of the rules. Hmmmm ... Well, gee. I think I found a few thousand of them that do it for free on message boards right now.

Heh, and some of them have to work too.

 

[jgsugden]

Heh, and some of them have to work too.

Bah, we're all so fixated on this darn game that we'll lose our jobs, our loved ones and everything that truly matters (to other people that don't have our precious game to comfort them ... our precious).

Regarding wilder_jw's comments: Please rememeber that those are 'top-tier' firms. If anyone really wants to do research on what attorneys make in a given location, there is a lot out there. I know a score of SF attorneys looking for work that would be very happy to get a nice $50,000 a year job at a small firm. Some Bay Area attorneys don't get office views of Alcatraz or the Bay Bridge. Some of them get views of Starbucks - if they get a view at all.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Regarding wilder_jw's comments: Please rememeber that those are 'top-tier' firms. If anyone really wants to do research on what attorneys make in a given location, there is a lot out there.

I don't have to "remember" or "do research." I'm livin' it. I was just using concrete numbers to illustrate the discrepancy in salaries that had been pointed out.

I know a score of SF attorneys looking for work that would be very happy to get a nice $50,000 a year job at a small firm.

Well, I don't think many attorneys actually living in SF could do with $50K, unless he or she likes ramen or roommates (or both). I know I couldn't, but after I pay off the student loans I wouldn't mind dropping into a much smaller firm.

 

[jgsugden]

I don't have to "remember" or "do research." I'm livin' it.

Well, I don't think many attorneys actually living in SF could do with $50K, unless he or she likes ramen or roommates (or both). I know I couldn't, but after I pay off the student loans I wouldn't mind dropping into a much smaller firm.

Well, when you leave your firm, tell them to look at my resume. I'd love to have your job. I'm doing contract work right now ... and it is certainly not going to bring me six figures in 2004.