Warning Signs: Please Tell Us What You Are Seeing\Hearing !!!

[WillyT]

What I'm seeing: Almost a total death in customer service. Been going this way for some time now, but going from rarely well done, to just plain rare.

What I'm hearing: A buddy of mine works for a major utility in the area. He makes safe, and delivers, power to residential and business properties. He is almost ALWAYS on overtime because he is the top of what he does, and because there is so much work out there. One of the things he does, is provide power to new developments. He has had one "tag" to hook up new real estate in the last two weeks. No overtime.

Anomalies, or trends???

:shrug:

[MadMaddie]

1. When outsouring became the norm...Customer service went down

the tubes...and CEO's got richer....

No refinancing bad loans....because many of the buyers who had marginal credit and got bad loans cannot get credit approval for refinance....So more homes on the market.....not enough buyers....builders, electricians and the rest of the downstream are impacted......

No this is more than anomolie.....What goes up will always come down one way or another. This administration ignored the warning signs in a dereglulate Mortgage market and the US is only seeing the tip of the iceberg...

This is a very bad trend....

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

2. I've Found Customer Service To Be No Different Than Years Past.

Some of it is really good, some mediocre, some plain unresponsive. But if anything I've had more experiences of the 'really good' kind in recent years, but overall nothing leaning either way on the scale that I'd consider significantly different.

As far as what I'm hearing, not sure what you were looking for there.

[WillyT]

5. Simple... I Have A 24\7 Service, And If It Goes Kaflooey...

I used to get 24\7 help. That was a part of the deal when I signed up originally.

Now, I have to wait for 'business hours', on hold to bad music, for over half an hour to find out that they are not able to deal with my issues. And if the issue isn't solved before billing date, I get nailed for more money.

Seems as though they don't really try anymore.

:shrug:

But they sure want my money when they want it.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

6. Wait; So This Is All Because Of One Recent Issue With One Company?

:rofl:

Sorry, I just had thought it went far deeper than that when I replied.

I don't see any issue at all with having to do it over normal business hours, but a half hour wait is quite the pain in the ass, no matter what the issue.

[WillyT]

7. Let Me Try To Be Logical For You...

Did you miss the part where I was asking for others to reply with similar problems they encounter? Ya know, seeing if it WAS just me???

Did you expect me to name every fucked up company I've run into over the last 5 years with similar problems?

Where they went from great customer service, to ass suckage service because they wanted to squeeze the last penny of profit out of their customers before the customers bail?

Or is OMC in Bash Moodifulness again tonight?

:shrug:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

8. Relax A Bit. It'll Do Ya Good. Also, Try And Look On The Positive Side More Often.

I understand that you were trying to gauge if others are seeing the same thing or not, but I just got a kick out of your explanation to me, as it was so specific rather than a broader condemnation of seeing a trend. It was like this one episode just totally set you off, and I did find the drama a bit humoring. No biggie though, really.

But we all have bad experiences with some companies and their customer service, but that doesn't mean it's taking some huge plunge. There are tons of times customer service is great too, but it seems you are focusing more on the negatives, seeking out further examples of how it sucks, in an attempt to sway the discussion into a "yeah! businesses suck!" type conversation. Maybe not, but that's the vibe I got (hell, I am tired as shit right now, so who knows?).

But still, relax a little bit and take it easy. You ain't gonna get great customer service all of the time but don't let it get to ya so much when ya don't. There's plenty of good companies out there that thrive on good customer service (the one I work for is one of them).

[WillyT]

9. OK OMC... That's Good To Know, And Good On Ya !!!

:toast:

I also give good customer service, and work my ass off every day. Although by looking at my ass, ya wouldn't know it.

And you are correct, 1 thing did set me off today. And several things in the last several days.

But i'm glad you are giving your best, as am I.

I guess it just rubs me raw to make sure that others have what they need from me in my little sphere of influence, and then when it's my turn to ask for help, I get squat.

Just a little tender in the nerves these days I guess.

:shrug:

Plus... it's a shitty business model to let it go that way.

[Skittles]

15. I beg to differ

I am in the IT industry and see first hand the plunge in customer service directly related to offhsoring - stuff that used to be resolved in twenty minutes now taking three, four five hours is the norm.... it really, REALLY sucks but as long as the bigwigs are making money from it that is what we can expect

[Warpy]

3. Trends

Healthcare workers have to work extra 12 hour shifts at management's convenience because all areas are kept short staffed as a matter of hospital policy.

The repair of anything is now delayed by many weeks because repair personnel are also short staffed as a matter of policy.

Short staffing reduces corporate per employee costs. It is much cheaper to work trained staff 16 hours a day than it is to double the number of staff.

Also, the quality of goods for sale has declined steeply. I strongly suspect China of shipping seconds to the US while shipping first quality goods to markets they hope to develop. Items are either defective or break quickly. Poor customer service policies ensure that few will return bad merchandise.

[AlCzervik]

4. Car sales are way down in California and that says something, we are a total car culture here

and things tend to start spreading east fast, foreclosures are up huge and my town some nationally known chain stores are moving out.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

10. This is a trick question right?

Customer service. Since 2000 that's sort of like "business ethics". There ain't no such thing. It's the wild wild west out there. Everybody for themselves, no government oversight and you're on your own!

[WillyT]

11. I Know...

It's not that this is new, it's just that it is now rampant.

:shrug:

[LibDemAlways]

12. Customer service is not what it used to be, at least

in my experience when it comes to large corporations.
3 recent examples:

Husband's 2-year old Sears lawnmower wouldn't start. It was one week away from the warranty expiring. I called the local Sears store, and found it impossible to get connected with a human who could answer my questions about the repair procedure. After working my way through 10 minutes of recorded menus, I was told I was being connected to an operator. I asked the operator for the lawn and garden dept. She put me on hold, and before I knew it I was disconnected. This happened three times. Husband finally loaded the thing in the car and took it to the store. He was told they don't have a repair facility at that location and we would need to take it to another store 40 minutes away and that the repair could take possibly two weeks. By then husband was pissed. He took the thing to a mom and pop shop 20 minutes away. The guy diagnosed the problem that day and we had it back fixed $50.00 and 4 hours later.

A couple of years ago bought a stove from Best Buy. Were promised delivery on a Saturday between 10 and 5. Sat around all day. Delivery guy never showed. Made multiple calls to store. Finally they fessed up that their delivery guy had called in sick. They could send someone, but he wouldn't know how to do the installation that we had paid for. We told them we weren't interested in excuses. Just wanted what we had paid for. At 10 PM substitute delivery guy shows up with stove. Had no idea how to install it. Husband finally did it himself. Wrote multiple letters to be reimbursed for the installation that didn't happen. Refund never happened.

Last November I had a very unpleasant experience at Disneyland when a nasty security Nazi ordered my daughter and me off a park bench where we were sitting minding our own business. When I politely questioned the need for us to move, the woman loudly threatened to have us removed from the park. I filed a complaint on the way out and wrote a follow-up letter to customer service asking if that was any way to treat paying (through the nose) customers at the "Happiest Place on Earth." Received a friggen form letter thanking me for visiting! They couldn't even be bothered to apologize or address the issue at hand.

Very tough to find a business these days that's interested in good customer relations. Loews is one of the few I've dealt with recently that seems to do a good job. More and more, however, the attitude toward the customer just sucks.

[moonlady0623]

13. Lowe's

That's funny, Lowe's is my story. Purchased new dishwasher on a Sunday after watching tv commercial with "next day delivery and installation" being touted. Salesman continued to imply that it would be next day. Nobody showed Monday or Tuesday. Called on Tuesday, it'll be there on Wednesday. Didn't show. Finally Thursday it showed up. Problem: vacation, only one guy to back up on appliance installs, older retired guy they had on standby.

MY problem: I was misleaded and purchased an expensive dishwasher based on the expectation that I would NOT have to live another week handwashing dishes. Ick.

The manager I spoke with was rude and did not refund anything.

I stayed out of the store for a couple of years but just dropped $2K for new laminate flooring. Oh well. This time around things went much better. Next time I'll get a delivery date in writing.

Dearest friend just quit customer service job for Sprint/Nextel, which is outsourced to a US company for some odd reason. The job pays for shit and requires a ridiculous amount of knowledge from the customer service reps. They are not allowed to disconnect a call despite how rude and abusive the customer becomes. Every word, keystroke, and probably facial expression is recorded and tracked. Sick? better come to work cuz you get negative marks for a sick day. I'm so glad she quit. Respecting the customer service rep leads to happy customers. How simple is that.

[LibDemAlways]

14. Outsouring of customer service has probably done more to

foster ill will toward corporate America lately than anything else. The reps are forced to basically read from a script, and are encouraged to sell, sell, sell. A simple call the other day to Direct TV for some help in getting my dad's remote to work turned into an ordeal of saying "no" on his behalf to all sorts of "special offers" they were hawking. I'm not blaming the reps. I know management is behind it, but it sure is maddening.