What happened to good customer service?

that went out the window with chivalry. the only thing companies worry about now are lawsuits, and if customer service has nothing to do with lawsuits or a direct effect on their sales they wont give a shiiiiiiieeeeeeettttt.

Everyone that understands customer service went to work for Nordstrom and Zappos… or at least that’s how it feels sometimes.

I usually get good service, but that’s because I make the effort to be a good customer.

The idea that “the customer is always right” is often a cop-out for being rude to sales people, and expecting to be the exception to the rule and store policy.

Example: I was at the movies over the holidays, and the woman in line in front of me attempted to pay for 2 movie tickets with a credit card, and her card was declined. She had $20 in cash with her, but didn’t want to pay for the tickets with cash because she wanted money for popcorn and snacks. She then asked if she could pay for part of the transaction with a credit card, and part of it in cash, but putting most of it on the credit card. The boy in the box explained that he could not do that, the way the register was set up, the transactions had to be either credit card or cash. He then tried ringing up the tickets separately, but she didn’t have enough available credit to pay for one ticket. She got a suspicious transaction alert on her phone, and her credit card became blocked. She then tried to argue that she deserved free movie tickets because of “the way she was treated.” She kicked up a fuss with the manager, saying “the customer is always right!” and left in a huff, vowing never to come back. Meanwhile, the long line behind her, comprised of people with adequate funds to pay for an $8.50 movie ticket, waited for 5 minutes for her to conduct her tirade.

@PandoraBoxx exactly! I was going to say that customer service went the way of the genteel customer with a valid complaint that would state their problem respectfully, and without screaming, yelling, threats, or violence.

@PandoraBoxx That is a great example. Man i would of been pissed off if I was in line waiting for that lady. I remember a similar story that I had at a Walmart except the lady wasted 10 minutes of everyones time for a $1 off coupon that was expired. I offered to give the lady a dollar to shut her trap and get out of the line but that made her even more mad. =\ On the other end though, i tend to run into some terrible customer service people. The question that i have to is, do companies give customer service training before filling those types of jobs. Can you actually train someone to give good customer service?

You can train people to give good service, but attention to service has to be a company priority. Proper training enables associates to retain control over various situations. When you are interacting with a business, the service you are receiving is a combination of company policies, technology provided to the associate to expedite the transaction, hiring practices, training and the human element.

I had a bad experience with a grumpy checker at the grocery, but in the course of chatting, she confided that she desperately needed to use the rest room, and the manager refused to have someone take her place, or close her register for 5 minutes, and she had asked 15 minutes ago. Her scheduled break was not for an hour. She was trying desperately to focus on not having an accident.

@PandoraBoxx That was a fantastic response. And very good handling of a situation that could of gotten ugly. :) We need you as a corporate trainer!

Interestingly, Chris Brogan’s blog entry for today is on how systems thwart service.

It went out the window with the reliance on quick profit rather than long-term company goals.

Customer service representatives are the poorest paid, often no benefits workers that the company has. Oftentimes, it is a function that is outsourced. Meaning that the customer service people have no stake in what they are doing and no loyalty to the company’s brand.

Add to that that the company’s cost cutting efforts have meant a reduction in customer service so that customers are forced to wander through voicemail hell for long periods of time before even getting to a human being and you have a volatile mix.

They all moved to India to get theyre jobs back.

Generally don’t have a problem with it,but I am not above pummeling the cable guy ;)

If at all possible, I patronize only locally owned businesses. They know that customer service is all they really have to offer as they cannot compete in price with the “big box”. Being a reasonable customer is also key to getting good customer service. Also, whenever possible, I buy American made products, these small companies know that customer service is very important.

It’s making a slight come back. I have noticed a shift in attitudes in the places I shop. They are competing for their share of my dollars.

Home Depot used to have the laziest, uninterested customer service representatives EVER. They were the only game in town and they acted like they were doing you a great favor just opening the doors. Now between the new Lowe’s and the economy, they are very nice, very alert and very busy.

The store used to be so dirty you didn’t want to touch anything let alone pay for it. You’d stand in line waiting for the cashiers to stop talking or to finish their game of grab ass. They resented you for interrupting their play and made no bones about it.

The employees who shaped up and got busy are still there, the ones who didn’t have joined the growing number of people in line for unemployment benefits and food stamps.

I’ve found that, as a customer, you mostly get what you give. If you give grief, you get grief. If’ you’re kind and considerate, you get kindness and consideration. If everyone were a little more self-aware and a lot less myopic, they’d see a lot fewer idiots and assholes along the way.

@lucillelucillelucille – I know what you mean about the cable guy. “We’ll be there sometime between 9am Monday and October!” Comcast is the worst.

My observations are not so favorable. I think customer service has declined rapidly over the years, but I think it’s because there has been less of a focus on training staff and accountability and more on a quick profit. This is of course the fault of management and ownership. I’ve observed this the most in retail. I used to work in the customer service industry (and dabbled in telemarketing) and it’s definitely not what it used to be. I suspect it’s due to lack of investment into ongoing training and assessment, because the management would rather just hire people “as is” then offer any progressive development or invest in their staff in any way.

I think also since a lot of retail can be bought online, that’s another reason companies aren’t investing in people as much, and are instead putting their dollars into online shopping. The industries where I have observed consistence in high levels of friendliness, efficiency and good overall service have been in the grocery store chains and in the restaurant industry. I understand that there are really bad customers out there who abuse customer service, but I still think the balance is on the customer service side, from what I have observed (slow response times when someone is patiently waiting for the cashier to look up and serve them, finding a customer service rep in a store, etc.).

I think people have become assholes overall. The customers hold some responsibility as well.

Bravo @PandoraBoxx!
I’ve always tried to be a courteous and reasonable customer which has gotten me more satisfaction than not. Being in customer service, I see many though not most customers are inattentive or outright rude and wouldn’t be satisfied anywhere they went. The customer is not always right. Coupons expire, taxes are different, they don’t bother to read instructions, they didn’t bother to listen to a voicemail to get a name, blah blah blah.

@casheroo People were always assholes. It’s all a matter of how well they can hide it.

I feel like this has to do with the how much people care about what others think of them. In the past, when people would stay in the same community for their entire lives, reputation was extremely important. Be unkind to people and you were screwed. That still exists in small towns. I grew up in a small town with a graduating high school class of 90-something kids. My reputation began in elementary school and still exists today in the minds of my former classmates. Now that I’m in a much bigger school it’s a lot easier to be rude to people that you don’t see every day, because, in all likelihood, you’re not going to see them very often.

Think about it. People don’t feel the need to be nice to customers because they’re only going to talk to them once or twice at most, really. If you’re getting paid next to nothing to sit at a phone all day and talk to stupid people who don’t know what they’re doing, wouldn’t you get a bit testy too?

Customers can be just as frustrating to service people, too. I’ve worked in retail for about 6 years and it’s all I can do not to slap some people across the face for the way they treat me and my coworkers. My dad is guilty of this too; he gets very impatient with people who are just trying to do their job and then blames them for being incompetent. I can emphasize with them to an extent. But as a retail worker I think the reputation of my workplace is extremely important, so I always try to be a helpful, friendly salesperson. It works… most of the time. I just make fun of them after they’ve left the store. :)

What happened to customer service? it went with the disappearance of most of our social capital. Simple politeness and consideration are now too much trouble for most of us.

@Rufus_T_Firefly -That’s exactly who I mean :)