I loathe poor customer service. In fact, to be blunt – little pisses me off more!
I judge a company on it’s service generally (ie speed of delivery, competitive pricing, ease of navigation / use, packaging etc) whether it’s a retail business or something like a utility company, and on it’s customer service.
Reading this post on my brother’s new blog (shameless plug) really made me think, and after thinking for a while, my heckles started to rise.
I have worked in both retail & services and know just how important customer service is – so why do some companies put so little effort in?
Three companies I have had excellent customer service from recently are:
1) Cosatto. I contacted Cosatto about getting a new raincover for my Cabi (damn wind ripped the last one when we had those awful gales!). My call was answered quickly, by a friendly female who was polite, professional and reordered me one immediately, had my details on screen very quickly, was chatty without being irrelevant and made a point of asking me if there was anything else that she could do for me whilst she was on the phone.
2) Eon. I have my gas & electricity through Eon and have done for years. Every so often I ring them and ask them to review my account to make sure I am on the right tariff for my usage, I give them updated readings and basically just make sure I am on the best plan for me. Everytime I have rung them to do this (haven’t ever had to ring them with any other query etc as there has never been a mistake on my bill or problem with my supply) they have been helpful, gracious, and often find a way to save me money. I feel valued as a customer.
3) Sky. I have my broadband, calls, landline and of course Sky TV with Sky & have contacted them a few times with broadband queries and the like. My call or email has always been quickly answered / replied to, advice is relevant and giving when needed in idiot-proof form (I’m not the most technical of people). Can’t fault them for politeness, helpfulness, knowledge and being able to answer my query quickly and efficiently without having to pass me from department to department.
You might wonder why I applaud what these three companies – after all isn’t this what they are supposed to do? Isn’t customer service about basically giving the customer good service? Sadly good service nowadays is the exception, not the norm. I find many companies are nonchalant about how they treat their clients or are just plain rubbish.
What about you – does poor customer service make your blood boil?
If you had to name one company, large or small that has provided you with excellent service recently, who would it be??
Poor customer service is really easy to do especially in medium to large businesses where there’s little training and supervision. Companies where you find good customer service are actually making an effort.
I think micro and small businesses should take advantage of the fact that bigger companies can’t really offer the best customer service and do just that.
I have to say, I think that customer service as a whole needs turning on it’s head and really looking at as standards are slipping across the board. You do tend to find better CS from smaller businesses (they have more to lose!) which is another good reason to use small business but over all sectors improvements need to be made.
I agree, we always try to give good customer service and most important of all a personalised service.
If we are not sure on the answer to your question when you call us we always take a number and get back to you asap.
As a small business you always get the same couple of people answering the phone so regular customers get to know us too.
I like to think we do our best! Hopefully our customers think the same 🙂
Monica
Personalised service and that extra care is what endears me to a business, large or small. I’m sure you have your finger on the pulse when it comes to customer service at MyFunnyBunny 🙂
I don’t think it’s a case of training – if the first person you call can’t help you, I’m not too fussed about this, I don’t mind being passed along to someone more senior. But it’s all to do with manners. It’s just a case of hiring the best people for the job, i.e. the most personable, patient staff you can find. Just a shame that too often customer services are recruited en masse or are outsourced to call centres that, like you say, are huge and don’t have too much supervision.
Let’s revolt! Petition! For polite customer services!
Vive la revolution!
No, I don’t mind being passed to someone else, although hate being put on hold, especially when customer service numbers seem to be rarely freephone or local rates nowadays (but that is a blog/rant for another day!). You are absolutely right Russell, manners cost nothing and a polite & friendly CS agent makes all the difference in relation to how you perceive a brand or business.
Thanks for your comment.
I’m the same, loathe bad customer service. There’s absolutely no excuse for it. I walk out of a shop now if I am not greeted with curtesy and manners. These people need to remember who pays their wages. The customers do. If they didn’t have customers in their establishment, there would be no wages to pay. It’s amazing how quickly they forget this.
CJ xx
I hate poor customer service ALMOST as much as I hate talking to computers on the phone.
But I have had excellent customer service from a company recently.
We bought a couple of YUU bags for our oldest two last july and in the beginning of Jan, one started to fall to pieces. I didn’t hold out much hope but emailed the company anyhow and they apologised and sent me a replacement within a week!
2 days ago, the strap fell off the 2nd original one so I emailed the company again. I thought this time they were sure to say ‘hard luck’ but no. They are sending out a replacement straight away!
Once I’ve received the 2nd bag, the bags will get a blog entry of their own.
Sad to say but I am really scratching my head to find a company that has given me excellent customer service recently – shame really!
Unfortunately I can think of many who fail miserably in that category – and more often than not they are the companies that we rely heavily on and we lack alternatives.
I can think of a certain rail company who moved 10 yards and stopped for an hour on the tracks only to go back 10 yards to the original station…and charged me £8 for the privilege! When I complained and asked for a refund – the guard told me to write to Boris Johnson!
Can you imagine? If it wasn’t so serious, it would be funny!
That sounds really pathetic! “Write to Boris Johnson” – sigh!
Very sad that you can’t think of an example of good customer service – says a lot really 🙁
Don’t get me started on poor customer service- it is such a bugbear of mine! Particularly at the moment, as I’ve recently been on the receiving end of some shocking customer ‘service’ from PC World- as Russ said, often it’s about manners, and if the monosylabic assistant had at any point just said ‘sorry your new laptop has broken, we’ll do what we can to get it fixed’ I would have been a much happier customer 🙂
I think I get so cross because I spent years working as an air stewardess, dealing with customers on a daily basis . It was front line stuff, because inevitably with air travel people are stressed, there can be delays and some customers just really don’t want to be there 🙂 – and yet day in day out I smiled, was polite, and provided (I think!) pretty darn good customer service. And yet now it’s my turn to be the customer…
Thanks for your comment Elizabeth.
It can be so frustrating can’t it. A smile, a sorry, a “I’ll see what I can do” rather than a sulky look, snipe or monotone reply can make all the difference!
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