Here’s another thought that a couple of posters have touched on. What about companies that have no customer service, period? I’m sorry, but an automated phone system that never does direct you to a live person so you’re hoping that the message you left might eventually be picked up by a live person is not customer service. Ditto the wonderful websites where you wander around for hours until you find the exact thing you’re looking for and once again have to wonder if what you typed in will ever be read by a real human being. Just recently had that experience with a health insurance company when my employer switched over. All I wanted was for someone–anyone!–at Aetna to send me a friggin card. I now have three of them…duplication of effort and mailing costs on their part, but I’m assuming someone picked up the phone message, email request, and online request…eventually.

Remember the good old days when you could actually have an attendent pump your gas? As gas stations switched over to self-serve, I made a point of frequenting those who still had full-service pumps. Not all gas stations in the early days had roofs over their pumps so you’d have to stand out there in pouring rain. They still don’t have any way to keep your fingers from going numb with cold. But even with those inconveniences aside, my attitude was “You want to sell me gas? Then get out here and SELL it to me!” But, alas, gas station attendents are a thing of the past.

Yep, everytime a company cuts costs by cutting customer service they also cut their customer base. Until, of course, all their competitors are equally godawful….

Renee, I live in North County. The clerks and stockers at my Schnucks are not only friendly and helpful, they actually remember what brand of cigarettes I smoke so I don’t have to play charades if I need a carton while I’m in there. I’ve had both good and bad service in stores and restaurants on my turf. I’m not thinking that North County is any worse than any other locale in this day and age.

Valerie, you should have yelled back, “Everything’s a DOLLAR!”

Maybe I’m jousting at windmills, but if I check out somewhere (fast food, mall store, grocery store) and the person doesn’t say “thank you,” I call them on it. I’m not looking for an oscar-winning performance, just some acknowledgement that I am a person and they are a person and we are having some sort of interaction. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve checked out at a grocery store where the only words spoken were “paberRplasitc.” No hello, no small talk, no thanks, nothing. Like I’m not even there.

Now I call them on it: “You know, since you’re standing there and I’m standing here, maybe we could say something to each other like we are people instead of robots. If you say ‘thank you,’ I’ll say ‘you’re welcome.’ Let’s try that.”

Ahh one of my favorite subjects. Good customer service is so hard to come by these days.
I made a payment recently to pay my cell phone bill through Verizon’s website. I got repeated technical errors that my card could not go through due to communication failure with the STAR network. However, one of the charges did go through, but my Verizon account did not show my balance as paid in full and that I still owed the full amount. The rep I contacted had me fax my bank statement showing the charge had been debited from the account and they would credit it to my account. within 24-48 hours. 48 hours went by and no credit. I called again and was told it takes 48-72 hours. 72 hours went by and no credit. I called again and was told it takes 7-14 business days. I voiced my displeasure for being told so many different time frames and made sure that the amount would be credited to my Verizon account and not refunded to my bank account. I was assured that was correct. Two days later, the credit came through - refunded to my bank account of course. If I were not vigilant about reconciling the balance on a daily basis It would have been several days before I knew the refund was posted, as I was assured my bank account would not receive a refund. No one at verizon contacted me to let me know the issue was resolved. My bill would have went unpaid for days and I would have been slapped with a late fee had I just assumed that they correctly credited my bill. When I called to voice my displeasure, all I was offered was an insincere apology from a rep who sounded really bored. It seems like whenever there is an issue like this, the only thing they know how to do is give you the runaround.
Don’t even get me started on Charter. I’d blow up the message board with my issues with them.

You can predict where you’re going to get crappy service. If you have high expectations at K-Mart or McDonald’s, you have a few screws loose. You get what you pay for, folks, and the whole six dollars you’re shelling out doesn’t entitle you to anything.

Now, if you’re at Nordstrom or Mike Shannon’s restaurant, you should expect higher quality, personalized service. You’re paying for it.

This is not a difficult concept.

Here’s another one that isn’t exactly about “customer” service. It’s worse. A few years back–prior to the 911 universal number–there were a couple of instances fairly close together where I called my local police department and got the dispatcher from hell. One was a nuisance complaint–a dog left alone that had been barking (yelping/screeching, actually) nonstop since 5:30 AM and it was now 2:00 AM the following day. The other was a bit more sinister–a car that was lurking suspiciously near the school bus stop early in the dark morning just a few moments prior to any kids arriving. Both times I was informed by said dispatcher that I needed to call another neighboring municipality because we weren’t in their jurisdiction. She wasn’t even pleasant about it, implying that I was so stupid I didn’t even know who to call and was wasting her precious time. I had to argue with this chickie about where I lived and how I’d been paying taxes to her municipality for years and voting on their council persons, etc. In both cases I finally got her to send over a patrol car. All I could think was thank God I didn’t have an ax murderer crawling in my window. By the way, a short time thereafter said dispatcher was no longer working for my city police department….

In a last ditch effort to fix undiagnosed Dish problem, a 350lb plus man was sent to climb up to roof to examine dish wiring…to avoid smashing gutters, I climbed up and followed his instructions..result: problem still there…switched to Direct TV and started over..installation tech sent to home with promise service and boxes would function same but for an additional $40 custom charge. Tech said $40 check should be made out to him (I checked with Direct by phone and they agreed)..Tech leaves, boxes dont work, installation not appropriate for my agreed upon needs…start calling offices..start calling repair and installation contractors (which takes an act of Congress to get phone numbers) $40 check should not be in techs name…too late, check cashed, tech AWOL..subcontractor promises to reimburse pronto..2 weeks later, no check, another 5 phone calls, 2 more weeks, receive check…bounces!!! Must go to bank myself to collect…still being charged for service that doesnt work…total time to fix…45 days!

RJS

I really disagree with your premise that it is acceptable to render service commensurate with price paid. There is no reason why we should accept anything less than attentive, courteous and efficient service at the Burger Blow Drive In. Should only “people of means”/Ruth’s Chris regulars expect good service? I’m confident that before age 5, most kids have had more exposure to the service at Burger Blow Drive In than at Mike Shannon’s. Your level of expectation may send the wrong message to little Johnny!

RJS, did you include profit margin in your calculations for all of us blithering idiots?

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that RJS must work at McDonald’s and obviously isn’t happy with it. I’m fairly certain RJS is one of the customer service representatives that we’re discussing. Get a clue RJS.

The fact that we’re paying anything to McDonald’s means that we should receive awesome customer service - otherwise, I’ll go down to Burger King and McDonald’s will have lost a customer. Yeah, McDonald’s may not be concerned, but if everyone quit going there, they sure would notice then.