customer service, this are not real , stores only do this to get the customers impressed but as my parents have always said and being 60 years old, I have proof, anything done out of convienence will never work!! Think about it and be honest with yourself, what have you done that was truly rewarded was probably done from your heart.

I had the same problem with Best Buy. I called repeatedly, but to no avail. I called another branch of the store, and told the rep at that store that there was no answer at the. The rep replied, "They're too busy to answer." What? They're too busy to take my money? Are you serious? When I asked the other-branch rep what I could do about that, he lazily answered "I don't know what to tell you." Well, I know what to say! No more of MY business, Best Buy.

I have noticed that stores, especially my nemesis Home Depot, have improved their customer service dramatically.  I haven't been in a Best Buy lately, but one of my problems with them was the prices in stores didn't match the lower prices on their website and I would have to argue to get the lower price.

Great customer service seems to be an oxymoron these days. And its sad. I am an office assistant at an insurance company you call and oh my great service. I've ran into the worst of the bunch. Even  I when mailing out a poiicy or an endorsement want to make sure that you the customer has all the information you need and who to contact when or if you need to call the rep

It's a lose lose situation for retailers today.

FMF is complaining there were no sales associates to take his call.  If he got to the store and all sales associates were on the phone, FMF would be complaining there's no one in the store.  The store could hire more people but they would have to raise prices ... which FMF also wouldn't like.

Of course the best part of that story will be the complaining done when the microwave stops working in 10 or 15 years and Lowes - where he didn't buy the microwave in the first place - makes him wait a full 20 minutes until they refund him his full amount.

Horrible customer service indeed!

Thanks for the link! I loved FMF's post: hilariously infuriating. Retailers who treat their customers like human beings do not find themselves in a "lose-lose" situation. Some of us -- maybe a lot of us -- make it a habit to go back for repeat shopping trips at establishments that treat us decently, and never to shop again where we're treated badly. That's why I canceled Qwest, why I prefer Ace Hardware to Home Depot, and why I buy as many of my clothes as I can at Talbot's. Customer service does matter, and I'm willing to pay more to get it.

Seriously? He flipped out that much over a 20% discount? What would that come to, on an averaged-priced microwave.. at the very most $20?

I feel sorry for Sears here, putting up with raving, ill-mannered tightwads like that.

thats why shopping on ebay is so popular. you can rate each transaction, and you always know what to expect as far as customer service and you save money $$ in the process! Screw big business!!!!!

Most of the "customer service " people at big box stores are teenagers or 20 somethings who are basically doing the job for beer money.  Do you seriously expect service?  They have at least three levels of employees before you can get someone capable of decision making, and even they may be locked out of making a decision.  The corporate philosophy is that most people will give up at that point.  If you want service nuts to bolts you have to go to privately owned specialty stores, caveat- good luck finding one as these have been priced out of the market.  Other than that, the only thing you can do is research the heck out of major purchases (know the price points, warranty, return policies etc) and take the smaller losses as learning lessons.

The tough thing for people who run a business is that you can have the best customer service in the world, but if Joe's Electronics Shack, who is known for their horrible customer service, sells the same product for 5% less the customers will flock there and complain about the experience, but still buy the product from there.  You asked in the article, "How do retailers develop and keep our loyalty, particularly when times are tough?"  Customer service might do the trick sometimes, but low prices is what does the trick all the time.  Look at the biggest of the big box stores, for example.  We all know how terrible their customer service is.  Long lines, the constant refrain of "not my department", employees that look like they're one more irate customer away from walking off the job, etc.  Yet they're the busiest retailer in the country because of their low prices.

Customer service is important, but if you don't have the low prices to go along with it you're not going to succeed.  Customers want the best of both worlds but they often don't realize just how difficult it can be to combine the two.  Payroll is often any business's number one expense.  If you pay your employees low wages you can offer lower prices, but then your customer service suffers.  It's a catch-22 for every business out there.  You can keep hoping for good customer service, but if we keep demanding lower and lower prices to help our ever-shrinking budgets, we're going to get what we pay for - both in the products and in the service that goes with them.