When choosing a service provider, we usually focus on an attractive financial offer, without thinking much about how cooperation with other departments, e.g., customer service, will proceed.
After all, who among us hasn't waited on a helpline so long that we eventually hung up,
or couldn't resolve our issue right away?

An example from our company will show that it's not always worth changing contractors for a cheaper offer when we have a proven and trusted partner with whom cooperation runs smoothly.

We lease cars and until recently, we worked with one leasing company - let's call it X. Our account manager is Mr. Krzysztof, who is essentially our only contact person, starting
from preparing the leasing offer, signing the contract (which aren't at all simple to sign), handling the "soft “and "hard” registration, to answering all questions, inquiries, and clarifications during the contract period.
When buying more cars, we decided to look around the market and see what others were offering. An attractively priced proposal came from a company - let's call it Y.
We decided to work with them.

The contract, like any other leasing agreement, consists of dozens of pages, numerous signatures, stamps in the correct order, which is very important. It was sent by courier and returned by courier, unlike with X, where Mr. Krzysztof comes personally to help in case of any confusion, and also to chat and advise.
We signed the contract with an error because the company stamps were in the wrong order,
and the CEO's signature wasn't where it should have been.
Another courier, more signatures. Finally, we succeeded.
The lease started, or rather four leases, for four cars.

The first discrepancies began to appear in the amounts on electronically sent invoices and in the statements of interest on unpaid invoice amounts, which differed from each other!
The second issue was charging us for liability and comprehensive insurance premiums, even though we had insured the car
with another insurer. Trying to clarify both situations was nearly impossible,
perhaps even a miracle would be easier.

First, the only possible contact was a helpline, which meant waiting several minutes listening to music, pressing several numbers, and starting over in case of a mistake. Finally, we get through
- only to find out that for our issue, we need to call a different number...
Another 10 minutes, more number pressing....
Like in Maciej Stuhr's comedy sketch!
Finally, we managed to get an email address! What a relief, I'll write, they'll explain, and the matter will be resolved.
But not with company Y!
Here, over the course of a month, I corresponded with nearly 10 different people. During this time, a colleague from accounting was trying to clarify inconsistencies in accounting matters. The contacts looked identical.
When it finally seemed that the issue was resolved - nothing changed on the invoices, and more days and weeks of explanations passed.
The last straw was a call from someone in the debt collection department - we hadn't paid invoices from some previous month, and if we didn't pay them immediately, they would terminate our contract.
"Terminate the contract" - what a relief! Yes, please, let's terminate this contract!
As it later turned out, terminating it isn't so simple. The invoices either didn't arrive or got lost
in the large amount of incoming electronic mail. But it's supposedly not a problem to issue duplicates.
Not a problem? My colleague was told that he's from debt collection, not from issuing invoices
and duplicates. When asked if he could transfer to the appropriate person or report this fact to the appropriate department, he rudely told her to call the familiar helpline!!
Another few hours of work lost. When we finally managed to straighten out most issues
and I thought we would terminate our contracts with them, it turned out that we first had to pay interest on amounts that were different from the amounts on the invoices. Explaining the discrepancies is definitely impossible.

The conclusion is simple: how cooperation with the customer service department looks is very important.
Whether it's trouble-free as with company X - and here we'll reveal it's Societe Generale,
or like with company Y - whose name we'll omit.

How does Societe Generale surpass company Y?
- throughout the entire contract period, they provide professional care from an account manager, not a helpline - when signing the contract, registering cars, and buying them out,
- invoices are consistent and logical,
- contact with the account manager is quick and the response is appropriate and flexible,
- we don't spend time on many matters that our account manager handles

A good contract isn't just one where the price offer is attractive, but one where daily cooperation is successful and satisfying on many levels: with customer service, sales, technical departments, and others.

Every company is evaluated based on many factors, and each employee influences the overall assessment through their diligence, reliability, and professionalism. Therefore, let's take care of our Customers and choose to work with companies that do the same.