Is great customer service too much to expect?

re: Is great customer service too much to expect?

Nicole — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:36:53 GMT

Babushek, if you give up a mere ten cents a day, it comes out to $36.50 a year. That may not sound like much to you, but for me that is not chump change to just throw away. As a musician, $36 to me is:

- 3/4 of the Henle edition Beethoven sonatas, Vol. 2

- a little over 2/3 a pack of new strings

- 1/2 bow rehair

How about this way:

- nine boxes of cereal

- four bags of higher-end grocery store coffee

- ten gallons of milk

Or...two full tanks of gas for my car at the regional low price. Is this putting things in perspective at all? You may call the guy cheap, but he might just as easily call you a sucker.

Besides, the issue at hand is that the company made a misleading offer.

John, a person can only take so much. I avoid a local big box store like the plague because I was tired of standing around waiting for somebody to have the sense to open another lane while an idle worker looked on.

re: Is great customer service too much to expect?

Ir1 — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:23:12 GMT

In plain language, SEARS SUCKS!! I bought a 3500.00 crafstman riding mower 4 yrs ago, it came with a 54' deck. 1. it dug up the yard 2. you could not get it to mow level. and the frame looked bent as if it had been dropped (it had been and was bent). I ended up buying a JohnDeer commercial mower while Sears argued that there was nothing wrong with their product, at the end of the 2d year Sears told me that the warrenty had expired nad they would do nothing. The store manager took it upon himself to replace the 54' deck with a new 48' deck to keep me from sueing. The same thing is now happening with this mower, The turn radius is 11ft to the left, the mower has a 2' list in that direction. 23' to the right! Service man says this is normal!! BS. I was not born yesterday. I have left it on the street for a week and cant get anyone to steal it. Its that bad! Now because I have too many open accts. They cut my credit from 4000.00 down to 400.00. Stick it SEARS!! Your 3yr old mower only has 60hrs on it my JD is only 1 1/2 yrs old and has nearly 180hrs. Sears mower was in the shop longer than in the yard.

re: Is great customer service too much to expect?

KA Harris — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:19:34 GMT

A friend and I often talk about how bad customer service is now. We remember that when we started working in high school, minimum wage was 2.35 (!!) and you did whatever it took to make that customer happy. I know there are obnoxious customers out there, but there were in the "old days" too. You just had to grin and bear it, and you could rant about it after they left. But really, I have found, during the many years I've worked in retail, the majority of customers were okay, or even better. Most of the time it has to do with how a customer is treated, from the greeting to the "thank you" after the transaction.

re: Is great customer service too much to expect?

Red — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:30:41 GMT

I am pedantic about customer service, I expect it, and when I am disappointed I will make sure the company knows. After all they are happy enough to take my money, they will penalize me if I do some thing wrong, like make a payment late, or not follow washing instructions exactly!!! However recently I had a problem with Macy's and my Macy's credit card, I spent several weeks on this matter and finally told them I had, had enough! I wanted to talk to whoever was in charge and they actually gave me the name of a wonderful woman in charge. I won't print her name here without permission but let me tell you, this is how customer service should be.

I left a message and she called me back asap. She told me she was mortified at the way I had been treated. She fixed the problem after a few hiccups, but was always available to address my concerns. She offered me a gift card, which I told her was not the point, and that if the company wanted to give a charity a gift card for my trouble them I was ok with that. She did that, at my request she chose a local charity sent them the gift cards and then forwarded me the letter of thanks. Macy's get the gold star for their time, effort and for hiring such a fine example of manners, grace and reliability.

Every customer should be valued. Without us there is no business... they want our money and our loyalty then the very least they can do is treat us as if we matter.

re: Is great customer service too much to expect?

Chris — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:19:32 GMT

A friend of mine works Sears retail and gives me the other side of the story.

Customers that throw a hissey-fit when they are told they can't buy the display model and have to wait for a backorder.

Customers that arrive 5 minutes before closing and expect to get the full sales pitch about LCD vs plasma televisons, and then leave not buying anything because he actually planned to buy one somewhere else.

Customers that call him an idiot because while he works in electronics, ha can't answer questions about automotives or housewares.

Customers that think that if they want your attention you should drop what you're doing with that other customer.

Customers that don't ask for help when offered that then complain that they shouldn't have to ask you for help when they're ready to purchase (you should just know such things telepathically).

Customers that think refunds should be processed without question, even for damaged merchandise, then blame the clerk for being to one that broke it in the two minutes he touched it.

The general attitude that any and all questions, problems and schenarios should be able to be handled by that low level clerk, and having the ask the manager is a sign of stupidity.

All that's just retail, should I get into food service?

re: Is great customer service too much to expect?

John — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:51:09 GMT

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.

re: Is great customer service too much to expect?

mikehomeant — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:54:18 GMT

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.

re: Is great customer service too much to expect?

mbschlost — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:20:54 GMT

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!!!!!

re: Is great customer service too much to expect?

Babushek — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:06:16 GMT

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.

re: Is great customer service too much to expect?

Funny about Money — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 01:38:02 GMT

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.