Customer Service

It seems to me that the art of good 'Customer Service' has completely left the building. What has happened to being polite and courteous? If you are treated well by salespeople you either leave a store feeling happy, or hang up the phone feeling satisfie

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It seems to me that the art of good ‘Customer Service’ has completely left the building.

What has happened to being polite and courteous?  If you are treated well by salespeople you either leave a store feeling happy, or hang up the phone feeling satisfied.

Nowadays it is about trying to clinch a sale or reaching a target that appears to be of more importance than taking care of a customer.

Often a customer may be making a big purchase and it may have taken them a long time to save for such an item.  If the salesperson they are dealing with is not keen to give great customer service and only interested in sealing the deal, it can make the whole experience somewhat daunting.  I think it is a sad state of affairs.

Granted, many employers pay bonuses to staff that are performance and commission-related, however I do not think that this has been a good move.  It has resulted in often pushy and over-zealous salespeople.

I like to take my time when I choose something special.  I do not want to end up being talked into something I really did not want to buy.  I have been in situations where I have had to return items that I felt I was pressured into purchasing from young salespeople who didn’t stop to think how someone my age would actually use the item.

I bought myself a new mobile a couple of years ago and I thought it looked snazzy.  Hmmm looked nice yes, but I did not have a clue how to work it.  I tried and tried but could not grasp it.  I tried to take it back after having it for one day and the mobile company refused.  My son-in-law kindly swapped his new mobile for mine.  It’s simple, straightforward and I do not need to do any fancy things with it.  All I want to do is text, take the odd pic, make and receive calls.

I recall in 2008 buying a phone at the railway station in Rome, as my cell was not working.  The young man showed me how to use it, I said yes I understood but clearly, I did not.  Anyway, I had a slight hissy fit and told my husband to take it back.  They would not take it back and would not help me work it so I had to keep persevering with my own phone, which I finally got working.  

I am useless when it comes to buying new electronics, they terrify me.  I do not even put a DVD on let alone try to use my daughter’s iPad.  I look so awkward I think my daughter has given up asking me if I want to use it anymore.

The other area of Customer Service that drives me nuts is when you need to ring companies such as insurers and banks.  You do not get a real person answering your call, instead you get an annoying recorded voice that goes through numerous rounds of ‘press this’ or ‘press that’.  What is so wrong with talking to a real person about your real problem?

Waiting times on the line also seem to be getting longer and longer.  Granted sometimes the music can be nice and soothing but by the time someone answers, you totally have forgotten why you are calling unless you have written it down on a note pad.  Sometimes it is quite nice to listen to the 1812 Overture, but other times you just want your issue sorted!

Then we have the telemarketers.  OK it gives people employment but if you do not want the call or are too busy to take it, the callers can sometimes get quite rude and are indignant as to why you do not want to do the survey or buy the product they are selling.  In this house, you can guarantee they call right on dinnertime.

We have a private number but that does not appear to stop them getting hold of it.  We always make sure to ask to be removed from their calling list.  

I guess quite a few of us do feel that sometimes a little more patience and understanding from the younger generation would not go astray.  Customer Service should be of upper most importance and if we need time to make the right decisions, we should have it.

Maybe I am just getting old and maybe I just cannot keep up with new changes but I still believe old-fashioned values and manners count for a lot.

The younger, ‘shopping-savvy’ generation of today will one day have the shoe on the other foot.  God help them.

By Kay Rayner