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Hanneke van Eerden is a Contact Specialist with Cendris, a contract customer service company located in the Netherlands. In her role, Hanneke handles customer service calls, email and texts for PostNL, the Dutch postal company. And, in the winter of 2018, a webchat that Hanneke was having with a customer took a strange and concerning turn. That’s when she jumped into action to help.
During the customer chat, the first couple of sentences were quite normal. But then something strange happened; the customer began to type a series of random characters. So, Hanneke asked the customer if she was OK and she replied that she wasn’t feeling well. Then again, more random characters filled the chat thread.
“From the long strings of random text, I suspected she was lying passed out with her head on the keyboard. I had no way of knowing the cause, but I figured it was connected to her not feeling well earlier,” recalled Hanneke.
Hanneke acted quickly and called 112, the local emergency response number.
“They (emergency response) had trouble believing me at first, but I managed to convince them after a short while. They dispatched an ambulance as well as a police car, as they needed to force their way inside the customer’s residence,” said Hanneke. “From the information she had given me prior to passing out, I was able to figure out her home address. They found her, passed out, and immediately took her to the hospital.”
Hanneke’s customer had suffered a heart attack. And, thanks to Hanneke’s keen intuition and quick thinking, the customer is recovering with family in Spain. But Hanneke is no stranger to this type of situation.
“One time I was on the phone with a customer who went downstairs to get some documentation we needed for his case. As he came back up the stairs, he fell, injuring his hip and his head,” recalled Hanneke. This time the customer was conscious, but barely. And with his permission, Hanneke called the ambulance. After arriving at the hospital, he was diagnosed with a broken leg and a concussion. The man reached out to PostNL for about six months until he found Hanneke to thank her personally.
“For me it was all logical and not very special,” said Hanneke. But her attention and quick reaction meant the difference between life and death for her customers.
“As you can hear for yourself, Hanneke is pretty modest,” said Madelène Doeksen, Hanneke’s supervisor at Cendris. “She doesn’t consider what she did to be overly special and is just glad to have been able to help in a situation like this. She will put the needs of others before her own and is eager to help any way she can. Coincidentally, that is exactly what makes her an excellent fit for customer service.”
Personalization Is the Heart of Cendris Customer Service
Cendris always puts its customers first. “We truly believe a personal connection to be extremely important in customer service,” said Doeksen. “We really listen to what our customers say and feel and strive to create the best experience for them. Our employees aim to do more than just answer a question and try to elevate each conversation. In turn, we make sure to provide our employees with an inspiring workplace, proper training and coaching, and a whole lot of positivity.”
Because Cendris strives to personalize customer experiences, Hanneke takes the problems of customers very seriously. Not everyone would have responded like she did in a situation like this, maybe thinking it was a prank or a technological error. Because she took the situation as seriously as she did, and accurately estimated that something wasn’t right, she made a huge difference in someone’s life.
The Genesys Heroes program celebrates agents — just like Hanneke — who go the extra mile for their customers. Nominate your company and customer service representatives for the Genesys Heroes program today.
