Good service is hard to find

Whatever happened to good service? Got my ranty pants on because it’s Monday.

We’re currently building a big shed. This is so that the cars/car parts which currently occupy my patio can have a home, and the mechanic of the house can have a Man Cave. This has involved getting in experts – because much as C believes he could lay a concrete slab, he did concede that perhaps it was best to leave it up to people who know what they are doing.

So we called a few concreters. We got word of mouth recommendations and even a family friend to do a quote. But they kept making appointments and not showing up. ALL of them. Not just one or two. Every contractor we were dealing with broke appointments without so much as a courtesy phone call.

I was frankly shocked – how can they run businesses like this? In a trade industry where reputation can sink you as easily as it can get you work, why give such bad service?

Long story short, we finally got a good quote and a firm promise to begin work. A loud beeping bobcat showed up at my house at 6.30am this morning and commenced making eternal enemies of my neighbours. The actual shed kit is being dropped off in a few weeks, I guess we’ll see if that goes smoothly.

Let’s just say, I’m glad we’re not building a house. I’m beginning to see why people on Grand Designs have such headaches. Wouldn’t be a building project manager for quids.

Have you been let down in the customer service department recently? And did you badmouth the company to your friends or on social media afterwards?

Ranty McRanterson

A few days ago I threw down my headset and said aloud to my workmates that I have no idea why I work in customer service any more. Because people just GIVE ME THE SHITS.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older, or whether I have just had too many years in this industry, but it seems to me that people are getting ruder. I feel like I’m a complete whinger every day when I say to my collegues how much I hate impoliteness. And I think I have blogged before about my incredulity at the way that business owners speak to other businesses. Not even a skerrick of professionalism sometimes. I’ve heard grown men resort to name-calling when they get upset about something.

Here’s how a typical phone conversation goes at my work these days. It should demonstrate why my “Urge to Kill” meter is constantly rising.

Me: Thank-you for calling X Company Accounts, you’re speaking w-

Them: Yeah you sent me an invoice.

Me: Ok do you have a query about it or are you wanting to p-

Them: Yeah you’ve charged me the wrong amount. I’m not paying this.

Me: May I have you account number pl-

Them: 123456789 (delivered at machine gun rapid pace) and I want this fixed now.

Me: Can you please repeat that numb-

Them: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 (delivered slowly, as if speaking to a child)

Me: Thank you, what I’m going to do is put you through to your account manag-

Them: Ok I’ll wait but it better not be long.

Me: (pause) The person you need to speak to is on the phone at the moment, would you like to hold for them or would you pref-

Them: Yes

Me: So would you like to hold for them or prefer a ret-

Them: Yes I will

Me: So which of those two options do you choose?

Them: What options?

Me: Hold OR a return call.

Them: Hold! Are you deaf?

Can you see how frustrating it is? I literally cannot finish a sentence. I’m CONSTANTLY interrupted and by people who NEVER introduce themselves. I get maybe one call a day where the person gets all three magical introduction points right – “Hello my name is X and I’m calling from Y about Z”.

So now when I’m interrupted on the phone I just keep talking. I finish the sentence I was saying, over the top of the customer if they are waffling on. Call me stubborn or bull-headed or just stupid, but I vainly hope this makes the person realize just how rude they are being.

The other work thing that irks me lately is the stupid names. As in, the stupid names people have and the dumb things they name their businesses. This morning I spoke to a lady named Petal. I made her spell it for me, just in case I was hearing incorrectly (whenever people do actually bother to introduce themselves it sounds like “Yeah this is Krihvoznmrew… “ because they MUMBLE). And I kind of wish I’d kept a list of all the idiotic businesses that we deal with, that have those silly spellings like Nootech or Hi-bryte. But those that amuse/annoy me most are the small concerns that mash the husband and wife’s names together. Like “Denchard Holdings” or “Chervid Racing”.

And some days getting information is like getting blood from a stone. I literally feel like I’m pulling teeth. Some people like to tell a story about all these amazing/strange/horrible things that have happened leading up to the phone call. And then they just trail off uncertainly, waiting for you to do something. I usually end up having to ask them directly exactly what the reason for their call is. And they seem surprised, like I should have known. This is the point where I usually mute the call and scream towards the ceiling  “I’M SORRY MY CRYSTAL BALL IS BROKEN TODAY!”

Ok. Rant over. I gotta get out of this place. If it’s the last thing I ever do.

The Customer Is King

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I love giving good customer service. I enjoy helping people and also solving complex problems for them. Most of my professional life has been spent in call centres, and a good proportion of that in roles where I did individual customer management on a case-by-case basis. I developed relationships with my customers, as often I would be dealing with them for stretches of weeks or months at a time. Everyone I worked with had a customer service-driven work ethic, and thrived on getting good feedback and compliments. My last position at a very large telecommunications company was as part of a team of results-driven high achievers, and it was very competitive in that respect.

So when I changed jobs and moved to a finance department, I was in for a rude surprise. I went from being in a place where the Customer Is Always Right and compromises can always be reached; to a team where frankly, they all HATE customers. And they’re not backwards in coming forwards when expressing their opinions. I was extremely shocked to hear some of them refer to their customers as “idiots” or complain about their complaints. I’m not sure if it’s a company culture thing, or something unique to accounts, but I’m used to it now. I just try to give the best customer service I can anyway.

How do you feel about good or bad customer service? Do you speak up if you are on the receiving end of either? A compliment can go a long way towards brightening someone’s day, and for some, there are even job rewards. Likewise, a complaint about bad service can help the next person in line behind you – sometimes it’s just about coaching a person to do better. I get really riled up about rude service I receive in person or on the phone – probably because I always go out of my way to be helpful and I don’t like it when a customer service person isn’t. I sometimes have to remind myself that it’s a human on the other end of my barrage of words and try to keep any critique constructive and not personal.

The best service of my life I ever received was in a little bar in Bangkok. The worst was over the phone from Elgas. Both these incidents stick in my memory due to the attitude of the person serving me.

Where have you gotten the best or worst customer service?