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COMMENTS:
IMO, several major problems include:
* The limitation of access to customer service (not offering it at all, imposing complex and time- consuming telephone menues/ queues, requiring additional costs for support, etc.)
* Attempts to driving down costs (limiting pay to Cust. Svs. employees, increasing workloads, lack of training, etc.)
* Changing Customer Service focus (keep costs down vs ensure customer satisfaction)
* Pushing inconveniences/ costs back to consumers.
Voted : Yes: It has become a drag on consumer willingness to buy
TOTALLY!!
I try to do all my transactions via the internet, because I feel like I'm talking to a robot (if I am 'fortunate' enough to engage an actual human being), and they invariably try to 'upsell' me. Not to mention the level of service, which is going downhill at an alarming rate in all sectors.
by mojo on Sat Aug 26, 06 11:41am
[+]
I think that customer service has always been considered a cost. There are negative and positive costs to customer service. For example bad customer service is though to have extreme negative costs in the fact that supposedly a pissed off customer will tell ten friends about his/her experience.
While a pleased customer will definitely return again and again {a returning customer is much cheaper than finding new ones}, they don't necessarily speak out about their experience with the ferverency that a disgruntled customer will talk about bad service.
I do agree with you that im my perception the idea of service has slipped. But then that might be because I am falling victim to the "back in the good ol' days" mentality where one perceives that things were better in prior times regardless of the "real" truth.
I wouldn't necessarily blame it on the corporations in the sense that they have more to lose by having a "disgruntled" consumer, but then again they are the ones who are trying to squeeze every penny out of the worker.
The rise of mega-corporations is a factor.
The relevance of the individual (employee or customer) is reduced to such a ridiculous degree that just about everyone is expendable.
I've had 7 customer service-type jobs. On the (rare) occassions that someone would say: "Well, I'm never shopping here again." I would think about what that meant to a store that was pulling down upwards and over of $100,000 a day during the busy season.
The point is that things are more impersonal now.
I also blame fluorescent lights for cutting costs at the expense of making everyone uncomfortable.
Voted : Yes: It has become a drag on consumer willingness to buy
Its all the more galling when you pay out for a big purchase, a car, computer etc..
Glad the 'customer service' on B&W works well, as I can now post comments again 
Voted : Yes: It has become a drag on consumer willingness to buy
Maybe it has to do with Individuals as well as companies' cutbacks. Most big companies won't break their bank to give you a nice person to deal with or maybe even help you, but even in retail where you ought to be able to talk with Someone it's gotten worse. Every job I've had, in retail or in offices, I liked helping people, customers or clients or whoever, it just made working nicer. But I rarely come across anyone like that now, people don't mind being difficult even if it means wasting more of their own time in the end. So maybe Everyone's just changing?
(anyway people in the South are still A LOT nicer :)
by Jyl on Sat Aug 26, 06 2:21pm
[+]
Voted : Yes: It has become a drag on consumer willingness to buy
My worst problems have been with phone companies, but maybe that's just me.
Voted : Yes: It has become a drag on consumer willingness to buy
I find it particulary bothersome when it comes to services we basically have little choice in purchasing, such as our utilites, or even medical services. We are more or less captive consumers for some commodities and the corporations know it and they don't seem to really give a damn if we have a problem. Working for a utility, I also see it from another perspective, in that I often receive calls from customers needing assistance to resolve their problems. Sometimes, it is beyond what I can do to help them out - we don't have enough people working to get to their request in a timely manner, someone else along the chain has screwed up and now i'm trying to resolve a problem that never should have got to this point, or the situation just doesn't have a good solution. i try to place myself in that customer's shoes and at least be honest with them. But it's frustrating on my end as well. We preach "customer first" but then I hear some folks talk as though the customers are just a nuisance. I always tell customers the short cut to get past the tele-prompts - "just press 1-1-4, and you'll get to talk to a live person....." LOL
there are still individuals who want to provide "customer service" but as a whole i think corporations treat it more as an expense than as a required service.
Voted : Yes: It has become a drag on consumer willingness to buy
It is a problem for me when I call for customer service and I can't understand the person to whom I am speaking. That and the fact that company employing these overseas workers likes to paint itself as all-American.
Regular customer service within a store or shop (face to face) is generally excellent. I think this part has improved greatly as a much greater emphasis has been placed on customer service skills.
If it has, I have not been alive long enough to notice the change.
Voted : Yes: It has become a drag on consumer willingness to buy
In business today, people/customers needs are considered an unnessary business expense. Your money is all that matters to them.
Serving customers is an expense. SELLING to customers is where the profits are, so that is all they care about.
This mentality started in the Reagan years and has continuted to today and it is going to get WORSE!
The attitude that "people are stupid and if I fleece them out of their money, well it's their fault for being stupidly trusting of me in the first place"
is growing daily.
People aren't important anymore, MAKING MONEY is all that is important anymore. It gets worse with every Republican administration.
Voted : Yes: It has become a drag on consumer willingness to buy
Dell Computers is a prime example of that. At work, our computer guy used to be a 100% Dell guy. He strongly encouraged everyone to buy Dells. Now, because of the significant decline in customer service, his attitude about Dell has really soured. Once, I spent over an hour on a call with someone in India to get a warranty exchange on a Dell printer that clearly had a hardware problem. Plus, if you want to buy printer cartridges for the printer, the only place you can buy them is directly from Dell. And their standard warranty is now 90 days, rather than one year. If you want a measly one year warranty, you have to pay for it.
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