Feb 06, 2019
The VFW’s Member Service Center Director Ken Romine has a simple message to convey: “Call us.”
Established in 2017, the Member Service Center does more than people realize, and Romine wants his customer service representatives swamped with telephone calls.
According to Melodi Dailey, one of the service center supervisors, customers don’t always know to call the center for orders, even if there happens to be a problem with a past order. All questions about VFW Store orders, including returns and exchanges, should go through the service center.
“We do everything in our power to help,” Dailey said. “But if by chance we don’t have what they need, we help them by locating it on the computer and supply them with the information they need.”
The Member Service Center staff also addresses questions about dues and membership and helps members obtain new membership cards. If a member has misplaced an issue of VFW magazine, calling the service center will guarantee you get the issue in the mail.
“We really mean it when we say, ‘Call us about anything,’” said Mary Helbock, one of the service center supervisors.
The staff currently fields some 400 calls per day. About 350 emails have to be answered in a given week, with some 6,800 pieces of mail to be opened and dealt with. Yet Romine said his staff is ready to take on more.
“You can call us, and if we don’t know the answer, we’ll get it for you,” Romine said. “If you want to know the temperature in Alaska on June 14, we’ll tell you. Our job is to problem solve, to help get every caller what he or she needs.”
Romine recalled a story of a member in Montana who called in about a seeing-eye dog and how to get one. Someone in the Member Service Center was able to connect him with the information he needed.
One of the most common phone calls, Helbock said, concerns questions about the Online Membership System, or OMS.
“We’ve been known to walk callers through the training in OMS,” Helbock said. “We can spend up to 30 minutes or more just trying to get new members up to speed on how to navigate the system.”
Romine added that his staff is ready to help.
“A lot of hard work goes into getting everything done each day between 8:15 and 4:30 (Central),” Romine said.
To reach the Member Service Center, call its toll-free number, 1-833-VFW-VETS (1-833-839-8387) or email MSC@vfw.org.
This article is featured in the January 2019 issue of VFW magazine, and was written by Janie Dyhouse, senior editor of VFW magazine.