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I had a bad customer service experience where confidential information of another person was shared. Should I share my experience with their employer?

Elaine Varelas provides guidance on the importance of providing feedback after experiencing a poor customer service experience and the best way to do so.

Boston.com

February 14, 2024

2 minutes to read

Q. I recently had a less than stellar experience at a medical appointment. The front desk attendant who checked me in scanned in all my information, driver’s license, health insurance card, etc. to another person’s profile in their system. The person who checked me in apparently heard my name incorrectly and obviously wasn’t paying attention. The whole check-in process took 25 minutes due to their mistake. Is it okay to share my experience when I get that “How was your experience at…..” survey email? I don’t want to get them into trouble, but I feel like their employer needs to know they aren’t doing a good job and possibly breaching patient confidentiality. In this instance, the receptionist told me the birthdate of my “husband”, the test I was there for, etc. except it wasn’t ME. Do they really want the feedback they ask for?

A. It’s important that you provide feedback on this debacle of an appointment check in due to the exposure of confidential information that absolutely should never have occurred once, never mind multiple times. If an employee doesn’t know how to handle confidential information such as health information, driver’s license, all the information needed for someone to steal your identity, or hack into your medical records, then they shouldn’t be in that role. Providing someone else’s confidential data and potentially giving you access to someone else’s test information can lead to separation for cause.

Hopefully you feel obligated to share your experience. You’re protecting other people who may not even be aware of the level of exposure from mistakes that happened hopefully only once. Companies do want feedback from customers, patients, and those they service. Most are invested in the data and aspire to achieve the top ratings in the surveys. Whether or not that employee gets “into trouble,” is not your issue. The employer does need to be made aware of this situation and you should leave your contact information should they be interested in learning more about your experience.

When going to a doctor’s appointment, your anxiety is already high, and it shouldn’t be added to by negligence on the part of their employees. In this case, they either have a hiring issue, a systems issue, or both, and it’s in their best interest to remedy it after you make them aware of the problem.

Many of us are suffering from review fatigue and ignore 90% of the reviews and surveys that we’re asked to provide. But if you do have a stellar experience, whether it’s with a service organization, at a restaurant, or from anyone who wants to hear about your experience, take the time to share the positive to balance the times you need to share the negative.