How much does customer service affect your decision to buy something?

It makes a tremendous difference. Today a company lost a +3K business deal with me because of poor customer service. Basically, their employee screwed up and underquoted the deal by $600 and they would not make good on it. So I’m taking my business elsewhere.

It makes a difference to me. If I encounter poor customer service, I will take my money elsewhere. These jobs, which I have worked myself are supposed to be completely customer focused. You’re paying for a service at the end of the day.

Customer Service is the name of the game. When I dine out, I would expect to be waited on as if I were a celebrity. I’m the paying cutomer who will determine whether the business is worth re-visiting or not. If they’re so bad, I would actually tell their manager about this, contact their corporate HQ (if it’s a part of a chain) and tell everyone I know to stay away from that particular establishment.

My husband and I went to a chain restaurant (something we try not to do often) because we had a coupon. The waitress was one of the worst we’ve ever had. When my husband asked what kind of beers they had on tap, she said she couldn’t remember. Then after some prompting by my husband she said she’d go look. When she came back she could only remember the name of one of the beers that she had just looked at! Then she actually said to my husband, “Can you name some beers? Maybe I’ll remember them if you name them.” We’ve never gone back.

For me, customer service is almost everything. Whenever I have bad customer service, I always notify the company that that is why they are losing my custom.

I switched from my cable internet to a DSL company when my service kept going out, or being mistakenly disconnected in spite of my paying the bill. Every time I called it took literally an hour or two before I could get a live human to talk to me, and then they were unhelpful. They’d often “transfer” me to another department and cut me off in the process. I listened to music for 45 minutes straight just to be insulted. When they would finally send a man to reconnect me it was weeks later, and often he would say I wasn’t home when I was sitting on the front porch waiting for him. They played a lot of games. I never got compensated for the weeks my service was off either. I called and argued once when I got a bill for a whole month I had no service. There is only one cable company in my area, there is no competition or alternative so I switched to DSL.

I pay more for my internet, and it is slower. However it is a small locally owned company. When I call, someone answers the phone personally. Any questions about my bill or service, down time, are answered immediately. When I need technical support, even if the problem is on my end and not a problem with the line, they have a live excellent technical support team that will walk me through checking the settings on my network and connection settings and stuff. I have never been more happy with customer service in my life, and I happily pay more for slower speeds. It’s worth the trade to me.

Usually the customer service issue comes up after you have made the purchase. If I don’t like the service I get prior to a purchase, the purchase will probably never be made.

Customer service is important to me, whether I am purchasing a product or service in a store, sitting down at a restaurant, or any other venue including airline travel. It has a huge impact on whether I will return or be a repeat customer. I want to deal with knowledgeable, friendly staff and sometimes that supersedes any discounts I could be reaping in remaining with a service-deficient company.

I’ve been a customer of the Next Directory for about the last 4–5yrs. I recently ordered a £400 chair for my living room. There were numerous problems, the first call centre must have been somewhere in India as the person couldn’t understand what I was asking & seemed to be reading from a script. Then they ran out of stock so I had to wait. Then there was an issue with the delivery & they promised to give me a partial refund…. which they forgot to do. Consequently, they can stick the entire directory up their communal arses as I’m not going to order anything from them again… sodding chumps!