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| Have you noticed lately that even the most basic of tasks take a ridiculous amount of time and cause an infinite amount of frustration? It’s getting to the point where it’s easier to just put up with faulty products, lost baggage, and a proverbial fly in your soup than to actually seek a measure of effective customer service. | What if companies (and their well trained employees) started putting you first, and their bottom line (and complacency) second? What if everyone realized that by wisely exercising their own personal purchasing power, they can send a powerful message to companies that don’t believe that “the customer is always right?” | |||
| Take customer call centers, for example. We’re not racialist, but there’s just something incredibly irritating about being connected with someone in India to “help” figure out why our Cuisinart isn’t properly cuisinarting. Yes, it’s plugged in, you moron. And yes, we turned it on before dialing in. We have no intention of wading into the politically charged waters of overseas outsourcing, but with a 10% unemployment rate, you’d think that U.S. companies would see the wisdom in hiring entry-level Americans to perform these kinds of functions. You know, because more people with jobs means more people with spending prowess. Ultimately, how much profit is enough, anyway? When is their a corporate responsibility to make sure that our citizens (and their end-users/customers) get a piece of the pie?
And where is the employee training nowadays? A perfect example is that national behemoth we all know as Home Depot. The next time you find a knowledgeable floor associate in the store will be the first. Check that, the next time you actually find anyone employed by the store will be the first. Whatever happened to knowing the subject matter related to your profession? It isn’t just Home Depot either. Shop after shop is staffed by unqualified idiots who could care less about helping you accomplish what you came for. What’s that, can’t locate that product on the shelves? “Guess we’re out of that, it’s special order, why don’t you come back in four weeks.” F*ck you pal, I would rather go without whatever it is I “need” than spend a dime in your establishment. It’s ridiculous how much red tape there is out there. We just wish the red tape would be less like this, and more like that. |
At LessThis, we’ve made a commitment to you, our loyal readers, to not only bitch about the infinite number of things in life that annoy us all, but also tell you how things should or could be. In the spirit of that intent, we think there are some easy changes that can be made to ensure a better experience for all us. They don’t need to cost big business any money, and they might just attract (and keep) more customers in the process.
Here’s an easy one. Instead of basing prices on Zod knows what, how about pricing goods so that when taxes are added, your tab always comes out to an even dollar amount (or maybe even .50)? Seriously, how hard would this be to implement? We could finally relegate Lincoln to just the $5 spot, since pennies would be rendered virtually obsolete. Imagine the sheer joy of living a change-free life. Less coin. More dolla-bills y’all. Speaking of prices, wouldn’t it be nice to have all of the “options” built in? We’ve covered this ground before when it comes to the airlines, but seriously, we’d gladly pay another $20 for a flight where the baggage, peanut and legroom fees are already included in the price we’re paying! It’s the little things, really. It’s the kind of stuff that can simultaneously make us happy and irk us to no end. If the airlines wanted to get more customers, how about choosing ten fliers per month at random for a lifetime unlimited flight pass? Now that’s some serious red-carpet treatment that wouldn’t cost them a dime; the flights are already scheduled anyway! We’re not asking for miracles here. Just a real effort to actually provide good service and even better value. Just out of curiosity, when Indian people call customer service, do they get a clueless American on the line? |
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Tags: Airlines, Corporations, Customer Service, Home Depot, India, Red Carpet, Red Tape
Sincere thanks to “Natly” for coming up with the idea for this editorial.
As a customer service rep, I can safely say this is what is wrong with customer service… hmmm
“Racialist”. I need to use that one more. ha! I just started what I fear to be a brief stint in the service industry. I’d rather be on the red carpet side, for sure. I’m all for being treated like the queen *I think* I am. Good one!
BRAVO, Chairman – this is one of your best posts yet. Zappos.com is a perfect example of a company executing exemplary red carpet customer service. They have mastered it, and should be an inspiration for all other companies.
When I think about customer service, I think only of this piece:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=2024239745
Great article!
And please stop showing knowledgeable, friendly and helpful customer service staff on commercials. It’s never like that.
Good one, Chair.
Well executed Chairman. Common sense was really NOT common at some of the establishments I had the pleasure of engaging with. My favorite was walking into a bank where I watched all the lounging employees just look at me while I waited to speak to someone, anyone. I am not picky really. Human is my basic criteria. So bring on the red carpet treatment and I will gladly open my wallet.