What the hell happened to Customer Service?

Call me old fashioned if you want, but I remember a time not so long ago when sayings like "the customer always comes first" and "the customer is always right" were more than simply a useless plaque on the wall in the managers office. Why the hell has society degraded to the point where simple family owned "Ma n' Pa Shoppes" are so concerned with covering their assets and asses that they delegate the customer service to the botom of the priority list. My sisters job title was just changed from "customer service representitive" to freaking "client management officer", for fucks sake I forsee a not so distant future where automated tellers handle ALL customer/client based interactions and the standard company employee is delegated to iner-business duties only. And something as simple as ordering a double cheese burger from McDonalds involves talking to a machine and hoping the people behind the wall in the kitchen get your order at all. Front counter, casheers? HAH! its a freaking voice recognition device imbeded into the solid wall that takes your order and relays it to the people making the stuff in a kitchen completely isolated from the oustide environment! Order window, pickup window? Surprize! Its another voicebox and a freaking drop shute!

Have we as a people really become so concerned with the bottom line that we forget its people like ourselves that determine whether or not they want to do business with us? How the hell has it gotten to such a point that my sisters job title has "customer service" removed from it entirely?

It's a magical phenomenon called "cutting costs" that businesses hire sorcerers to do.

In all seriousness though, stop whining. Customer service is just another form of marketing, and makes sure customers come back to your shop again because of how nice you were to them. If your product is needed enough, or your other facets of marketing are strong enough, then you can forget about delegating money to make sure the customer feels wanted, and use that money for more useful things, like covering lawsuits from dickish customers who are filing suit because the 20 cubic inch fishing lure didn't have a "DO NOT SWALLOW" sign.

Also, things like "the customer is always right" refer to the market and performance of a product. I.e. You launch a brilliant, revolutionary product, market the shit out of it, and it sells like a used diaper (not very well). You just have to shrug, and remind yourself that if the customers don't want it, then you need to scrap the product and look for a more profitable venture. They don't refer to customer complaints or service whatsoever. The customer is in fact usually very wrong when they are complaining.

All in all, quit your bitching. If you are snubbed or mistreated by a business, then use another one. If there are no other ones around with the same prices or quality, then shut up and drudge through regardless. A business can treat you however they damn well please, and they're going to. So it's up to you as to what you do about it.

I may be bitching about the current situation, but what i want to know is how/why people got so damned concerned with the bottom line? Did the economic style we chose lead to this and could the commies have been right, or do we as a people secretly want de-personalization? I mean hell, Sci-fi rule #2 robots rulling the world by starting in on our lives with automated tellers. <-- Okay maybe that much is slightly off base but you have to see why someone might be concerned with where this de-"servicing the customer" ends up at? Is it something along the lines of machines deciding our external life choices (hospital diagnosis/procedures, etc)? And why are we comfortable with the lack of service but we cant seem to wrap our heads around computerized voting ballots?

I am definitely a stickler for excellent customer service. Since I choose where to spend my money, I figure if you're not willing to give me the service I pay for then I'll pay someone else for it. I also don't mind paying extra for that level of service. And I definitely don't mind complaining about terrible customer service either. No matter what fancy machinery companies come up with to service us faster and cheaper, ultimately a lot of customers are still going to be looking for a human-facing experience.

It's sad because a lot of people don't realize that by providing bad customer service, they're just driving their clientele away. Even some rude phone rep or store clerk is hurting their own bottom line.

Reps treat customer 100,000 customers with a shitty attitude = 50,000 customers never shop there again = Company does not meet quota and must cut costs = Reps are fired and replaced with cheaper labor, possibly offshore. It's a broad picture, but I think it's important to remember who pays your paycheck. It's not your boss. It's the people walking in the door.

I don't think you're bitching, I understand it's strange to see industries become so impersonal. But I'm the type of person who prefers to talk to a person rather than a machine for many of the transactions or questions I handle. Maybe it doesn't matter for buying a burger, but when I need help with my bank account, you better believe I want to talk to a real person, not a recording. I guess it's just different for everyone and what their expectations are.

I think Grover is right in that it's your money, if you don't like what you're getting there, you just have to walk to somewhere else where you get exactly what you want.

Fast food is called fast food for a reason: You're in and out with your meal fast.
If I wanted customer service I'd be going to a decent restaurant.

Customer service to me is that the salesman/support rep is helpful and polite. After working in customer service you'll find it's easier to be polite and keep a cool head when talking to the poor guy serving you. It'll make the person want to help you more as opposed to hating your guts and making it as slow/inconvenient as possible.

I don't agree with reps who do that but it's a good feeling to have a customer be nice to you once in a while.

Sadly, in today's economy, business have less time to worry about the customers and more about staying afloat. SOrry to hear however!

The worst is dealing with an automated phone response when you need to speak to a live person. You have go through bullshit for about 40 minutes or so before you can actually get there.

@Circe, I was actually thinking of the last time I called my bank when I posted this.

I have to say working in retail since 16 that the customer is not always right, and more than likely not in the right for their complaint.

Example: I've previously worked at Geek Squad and customer service at Best Buy - and I hated when people would refuse to get anti virus and then come back within 2 weeks wanting a new computer because theirs 'was broken' but instead was infested with viruses. I hated how they would insist that they were in the right for a new computer.

I had gotten in trouble one time because the guy was insulting me and telling me I didn't know what I was talking about because I was female and didn't know anything about computers. So I told him 'if you went out to eat and got a stain on that shirt - would you go back to the store you bought it from and demand a refund for that shirt? No. You'd wash it yourself or pay someone to wash it for you at a dry cleaners.' He got so red in the face that I thought he was going to throw his computer ;| But seriously.

Retail is awful towards their employees when it comes to cutting costs, whether it's in labor, product quality, or both. Corporate dick heads sit around in their meetings determining how things will be run and enforce it on their chains and demand an increase in profit every year, no matter how the economy is.

Then to top it all off customers come in with this holier than thou attitude and complain about any little thing. "I ordered 30 minutes ago and it's not here yet! I want free food." - ma'am... you were quoted for 45 minutes.

I've had food grabbed out of my hands and told fuck you because they had to wait 5 minutes on their wings and I've had people spit at my feet.

This is 'the customer is always right' mentality - and then people wonder why they don't get that bright smiling face when they enter the door when they're being under paid and treated like shit from everyone to the customer all the way to management looking down on them.

I've seen some pretty disgusting things working at the pizza place I work at. They just cut all the drivers wages in half, because they make tips. Sadly though, there's times when I see drivers who are lucky if they made $10 that night in tips.

Luckily I'm middle management and don't make minimal wage, but the amount of stress I have to deal with and the amount of work I do for the amount of money I get does not add up at all.

Customer service doesn't exist anymore.
To a customer, it's complain until you get what you want - and if you don't get what you want from someone, then go to the next person until someone gives in to your demands.

I think the thing that grinds my nerves the most about customers is even when the store doesn't actually do anything wrong, they feel the need to complain and get free shit.

Here's an example:



I'm sorry to say, but fuck customers. I hate the living crap out of 'entitled' people of 'having their way' all the time no matter HOW inconvenient it is or HOW greedy and selfish it is.

I'm not like that as a consumer at all, I find it disgusting. If I ran my own place, I'd tell customers like that to get the fuck out. Especially if they talked down to one of my employees.

I've been working in Customer Services for about a near year now, and I deffintly feel that if the Customer is a jerk/ass, than your only getting me to ring though your stuff.

(I've said it in another Forum) I'm actually socailly ackward, (which makes me thing about why i'm working with alot of poeple) but its not so bad as to when I have to look someone in the eyes when I talk, I know that some poeple find it disresptful to not do it, But if I do I get finiky, and fidget around alot.

- When i was working in a mall, a customer came upto me asking me for help, while helping them, they started telling me there life-story, and asking me questions about "Are you married?" "Have Kids?" ect. After a bit they asked me "Why Aren't You Looking me IN THE EYE?!"

All I could really say was "It's just how i am" After that they started to over-react on that
"I am a Human-Being Too You Know!"
"You Can't Treat Me Like This!"

after a bit they decided to go to the manger, and after coming up with the wrost story to try and pin me as a racist. They rushed out of the store and i never heard of them again

The manager did know me though, and sided with me on this. -

basicly what im getting to is, Customer service isn't JUST about the customer.

Oh thank God someone said that.

I've worked in retail for several years, off-and-on, as well. There is a difference between treating customers with respect and this fallacy of "the customer is always right."

That statement has really led customers to believe that they can look down on the workers. I'm not saying there aren't plenty of retail associates who aren't assholes who refuse to lift a hand to help a customer, but their are two sides to every coin. I tried to help customers to the best of my ability, but was I rather apathetic and half-assed in my attempt when I was with a shitty customer? You bet your ass I was.

This whole "the customer is always right" has evolved into "the customer deserves respect, while the attendant does not."

Everyone has their bad days, but there are generally just some asshole customers out there. I'll help because it is my job, but I may do a pretty horrible job of hiding my disdain.

I see the decline in customer service as a direct result of the decline in customer intelligence. for example, all tech support calls start with, "is it plugged in?", or something equally as obvious. and even if the problem is something that simple, the 'customer' still gets pissed off and blames the company for not making it even more idiot proof than it already is.



i say remove all warning labels and let the problem solve itself.



http://notalwaysright.com/

LOL but yeah Customer Service is now a myth. Now it is how much money can I get without because I know that the customer will still comeback. The world is a dark place.

Well, it costs money to keep up.

And now much of the "help" information for products/services (once only accessible through a professional telephone conversation to a helpline) is available much faster on online FAQ sites.
So companies can have a front for help services online, and have smaller call centers and customer service sectors to save money and time!

Sadly, there's often vital information missing from such sites, or they're not very user friendly (or understandable by the tech-illiterate/older demographics)...
I know for many sites, sometimes individual questions go unanswered, or you get stuck in an endless question/answer loop that doesn't help with your issue...

Tl:dr

everything about money nowadays. and its cheaper to have automated service i guess. or just send people around in loops not helping em, damn corporate assholes

Perhaps some of the people here can find use with this:

Digital Audio/Voice Recorder

I've worked at a Taco bell for 2 years, mostly on the cash register.
Personally I work at my best to provide the best, and rarely made mistakes in there.

However when it came to certain customers, I was entirely confused as to why they would act as they did.
For Example:

I'm not a bad worker, not by a long shot . . . but seriously it's not that customer service is 'gone' per say. It's just being strained to all hell because the customers wanna be idiots.

Customer service isn't gone, it's customers seem to think that just because they shop somewhere they seem to know how it all works. They also believe that "I'm always right" and they turn that into "I can't be wrong, so I'll bitch even though I have clue what the person working can/can't do!"

If you ask someone working anywhere something and they can't do what you ask they'll usually say "I'm sorry sir/ma'am I am not aloud to do that, but if you would like to talk a manager I'll be glad to get them."

Woo!

Not exactly on topic, but for once I felt like a justified, albeit bitchy customer, today.

I was shopping at Meijer, which for those of you who don't live in the Midwest, United States, it is essentially a superstore like Wal-Mart that sells both general merchandise and grocery. It was after midnight and I had a huge cart full of groceries and other miscellaneous items. Well, after midnight Meijer stores close all of their register and only activate their self-checkouts lanes. Well, I hate those damn things. A cashier is there for a damn reason. I may have worked in retail, but I've never been a cashier and I have no intention of checking myself out unless I'm getting paid for it.

I was already in a bad mood, so I went up to one of the workers and asked if she could please open a register because I didn't want to have to check myself out using a register. She said she could not do it because she was responsible for manning the computer that monitored the self-checkout. I told her fine and asked if she could get another employee to do it for me. She said no because the rest of them were on break or were stockers. At this point I admit I was getting shitty. I told her I know that some of your stockers are trained on register, and told her to please get one of those people. She refused so I told her I demand to see a manager. She gave me the most pissed off look and shittingly said "One moment, please." So, the manager showed up, apologized and took the register herself, but I could tell she wasn't happy.

But dammit I don't care. Self-checkout is so stupid. I think it is fine for stores to have those, but they should always only be complementary to normal check-out lanes. The fact that they only have one cashier up front who takes care of self-checkout is unacceptable.

Damn I felt so justified pissing them off. >.>

To be fair Tsurayu, if is indeed what you say.. that they close all registers but self checkout, they also take the money that is in the registers to be counted and prepared.
To have one activated just for a single customer is a waste of manpower (and sometimes resources) that can (usually) be spent else where.
Chances are the register that the manager brought you too hadn't been pulled yet, so in all honesty you were probably lucky.

Quick Edit:
I understand that others are trained in other areas, but when it comes to doing your job, an employee.. hell even the manager sometimes can't exactly pull people from their main duties on the spot.

Maybe, but it wouldn't have matter if the money was not pulled. Typically, superstores like that have policies in place when it comes to registers. I could have kept demanding to speak higher and higher up and they would have been forced to check me out, or delay me enough until I voluntarily left.

Other super stores still keep priority register lanes open during all business hours, but will shift them during counting and preparation during the midnight-to-two o'clock hours. There is no excuse for Meijer not being able to do the same.

No, the only reason they could truly have is to cut employees. Why pay for a skeleton cashier crew to work graveyard shift, when you can have one or two who watch over customers doing it themselves? Fine, it is business sense, but it is not customer sense, and I refuse to accept that.

The hell they can't pull them. That's your job as an employee. Register trained stockers get paid more than traditional stockers. I know, I was a stocker at Wal-mart and my friend was as well, but he was register trained as well. He got paid quite a bit more per hour than I was, but as a result there were handful of times a month where he got pulled to register. I, nor anyone else took his stock times either. He just had to make up for the times himself. That may not be fair either, but customer fairness is a bit more important.

I may not like customer attitudes at time, nor this believe that they are always right. However, they should always take priority over anyone else in the store.