Whatever happened to good customer service?

Question

I am so tired of calling a company's customer service number only to get nowhere. I always get someone from India or someplace calling themselves "Ricky" or "Joe". I understand why companies outsource work and I also get we live in a global economy, but enough already. If I wanted to deal with an idiot, there are plenty of qualified ones here in the USA. Not only do you have to get past the language barrier, but most of them know nothing about the product they are supporting!!! they are just reading to you from a manual. I can do that myself and most times have already! Just today alone I have spent almost 2 hours at work dealing with this nonsense. I finally told "Jessica" to find me someone from the USA to talk to because I was finished with her incompetence. After 20 min on hold i gave up. These companies are saving money, but will start to lose customers because I know I am not alone in my frustration.

Answer 1

I think that "good customer service" went the same way of good manners, good music, and common sense! All of which are just a little too scarce today! - Ah, for the "good ol' days" of courtesy, old-time rock n' roll, and civilized behavior!

We think we are making SO much progress - but sometimes I really have to stop and wonder if people were not better off (at least in terms of how they cared for each other) in the past? What do you think? I can totally sympathize with your story - as consumers, we should make it plain to "corporate America" that they are falling down on the job as far as customer service goes!
I don't think people in previous generations would have ever put up with the treatment that gets handed out to people now! It would not have been acceptable to be treated like you were -- it wouldn't have been acceptable then, and it's not acceptable today! :-) I guess you can take some comfort in the fact that you're not alone in your frustrations - "we" are all with you! :-)

Answer 2

I thought it was just me, and I am considered a minority
in our country and I am definitely not a prejudicial individual,but you are sooooo RIGHT!! Enough is enough, I do not understand
why employers can't at least place English speaking persons
in customer serving positions..

For example,if you are trying to get help on a computer problem
and you call up the service that comes with your computer for help--------LOOK_OUT!!! First of all if you really don't understand all of the terminology or familiar with the usage the last thing you need is a person on the other end of the line talking
in a heavy accent. You may ask them very politely to please re-
peat what they said, but after the 4th time they can start getting hot under the collar and so can you, even worse you can start
feeling sorta stupid because you don't understand a damn thing they're saying!!!!

Also certain words in their native tongue may not be easily translated into English. So any personel manager that would
like for your company to flourish-----REMEMBER this is an
ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRY!!!

Answer 3

It died when Jimmy Carter became president. Before that, consumers ran companies. If you didn't get what you wanted, or the product was bad, you could tell the company where to stick it. Now, there are so many people who just take a product, whether it is up to par, because we just don't want to deal with it, and said company has too many customers to care for the few who complain. People need to stop accepting dime-store products, at the over-charge, and shove it up the cheap-skates noses! I am tired, also of getting second rate products from foreign countries, like China,Taiwan, and Indonesia! American made is always the best!

Answer 4

What customer service?

Did you just full from the 80’s. It’s all about the $$ at your expense. Companies have been cutting cost in all direction so that they can make more $$. They don’t really care about customer service unless it has a direct impact on sales.

As far as Indians. . . that will take some time to improve. They have improved quite some looking back five years. You can’t really blame them, they are just doing the job the best way they can. If you want to blame anyone blame yourself. Most of share holders of American companies are held by Americans, we want more $$, so the corporation make cuts in extra services or find ways to provide similar service at a fraction of the cost.

If you don’t like the product just take it back to the retailer and tell them your story. Tell them that when you buy a product you also expect the manufacture to provide customer service. And if their customer service sucks then you don’t want their product, they need to stand behind their product 100% (that’s what happened to dell and gateway about 7 years ago). It did not take dell and gateway a lot to pull all the customer service back to the U.S. I am sure they have slowly migrated the work back to India now.

Answer 5

I am old enough to remember when the stores knew who you were after the second visit. The term "good customer service" ended around 1960 when the business world decided in quanitity instead of quality. I suspect I'll die before our builder will submit an estimate that we've been waiting a year to receive. You would think $400.000 would get some action, but apparently $l,000,000 plus is the key.

Answer 6

Companies are both saving money and selling products at prices that you would be willing to pay. Say someone who is competent in the product and gets paid $15 per hr (you can see why minimum wage can't work), your call ties up that person for 1 hr and that is $15. All depends on the product and the margin

Answer 7

If you ever find a solution to this problem, please let all of us know. I've spent small eternities on the phone either on hold or trying to communicate with someone whose grasp of the English language is poor.

The problem extends to all service areas, though. I've waited until I'm dehydrated for a waitress to stop chatting with her friends long enough to get me a drink; I've had to listen to family histories between the clerk and a customer while waiting to pay for my groceries; and I've grown old, died and been reincarnated at the DMV many times... This has become the norm, unfortunately.

Answer 8

Large companies that do this are only interested in making money. It is cheaper for them to outsource jobs than to deal with the riduculous buearcracy of in-state business laws. Until the laws change, bad customer service will never change.

Answer 9

Not only are you completely correct but it’s like the customer and supplier world is completely out of touch with each other. its possible to feel like your walking into a car dealership just in Wal-Mart. I’ve got employees running to ask if I need help finding anything but cant even figure out if they carry the product in the first place. I remember working in retail and did exactly what the customer wanted plus more and having the feeling of a rush with some kind of like achievement. Teens that go in for their first job just go there to get paid, the businesses don’t care anymore. They want your money and that’s it. I can’t just blame the business though, vie seen some crazy customers too.

Just yesterday I called to ask my bank if there was anyway to help me with some overcharges I found myself getting charged for over a $20 dollar mistake... and the charges we're ridiculous! $34 dollars every time it goes over plus a $23 dollar fee everyday it goes un-noticed! So I called the customer service line, just to get thrown back and forth between people that just want to hear the problem but never fix it. All I asked for is to try to find a way to pay it so it won’t get in the way of my rent. But all they had to say is: "we can’t reverse what’s been done..."": I’m thinking to myself... how do they expect their customers to pay $80 dollars in fees when the cost of the overdraft was only $20 bucks... I’m not paying for 100 dollars for a $20 dollar mistake.

" As long as you pay them to be stupid, it can’t be fixed."

Answer 10

I know how you feel, I constantly repeat myself "I can't understand your English, is there someone else I can talk to" and when they say "No ma'am" I am constantly asking them "What are you saying, I don't understand, what was that, what does that mean?"

If they put you on hold, they are laughing at you and you will have to wait and wait and wait!