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Customer Service will it improve with current world economy
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06-10-2008 8:47pm#1
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Its going to get worse...a lot worse and you can quote me on that. Most Call centres these days are being sent to India, as the cost of outsourcing to them is about 50% less than what a company would have to pay Irish ermployees. I've seen it and I've been a victim of it:
Worked for a service I will not name, which was focused on complex technical support for customers of a well known computer manufacturer. The service itself was quite popular, one of the strongest points that always came up in customer feedback was how nice it was to have FLUENT english speakers to talk to.
You'd think that this point would be an indicator of everything going well...nope. We were informed that the service was being to sent to India ("internal reintegration" I think it was dressed up as). Definitely not a customer focused move, definitely not a move to improve the service...just a move that saved a few quid and earned some dickhead high up a pat on the back.No longer the customer was right or the company would go out of their way to help you.
Personally, I don't think I could hate any single phrase in the world more than I do "The customer is always right". That statement is 99.9% bullsh1t, and is accountable for a huge number of headaches for me over the years. The customer is NOT always right, in fact most of the time the customer is talking **** on repeat because he's been told by people that if he shouts loud enough he'll get his way. So please, try doing CS yourself for a year or 2 and see if you can use that phrase then
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Personally, I don't think I could hate any single phrase in the world more than I do "The customer is always right". That statement is 99.9% bullsh1t, and is accountable for a huge number of headaches for me over the years. The customer is NOT always right, in fact most of the time the customer is talking **** on repeat because he's been told by people that if he shouts loud enough he'll get his way. So please, try doing CS yourself for a year or 2 and see if you can use that phrase then
Summed it up perfectly, along with "I pay your wages", I'm guessing if anything it will get worse, working in the retail sector if it get's harder to make sales I'd gladly pay less attention to come customer complaining about x if I know there's another customer waiting to purchase y. Sorry if that sounds crap but I can't tell the back I can't afford my mortgage because I spent too long helping some random punter who really just needed to be loved.0 -
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Personally, I don't think I could hate any single phrase in the world more than I do "The customer is always right". That statement is 99.9% bullsh1t, and is accountable for a huge number of headaches for me over the years. The customer is NOT always right, in fact most of the time the customer is talking **** on repeat because he's been told by people that if he shouts loud enough he'll get his way. So please, try doing CS yourself for a year or 2 and see if you can use that phrase then
Well ****ing said, i HATE that line of thinking, the customer is not only mostly never right, but if they hadnt made a balls of something themselves in the first place they wouldnt need to ring customer care at all, i had a guy try to tell me once we should provide him with a new phone because he dropped it in "water" read:toilet:D and we should show a bit of goodwill and send him a new phone as he was a customer of gasp, 3 years. now I've owned 2 VW cars so if I ram mine into a wall or drive it into a river will VW provide me with a new one for being a loyal customer? will they ****.
The other day saw a great example of this in Tescos, mother tries to cram a pile of shopping into one normal light plastic bag, gets 2 feet from counter, bag go boom, shopping on floor, jar of marmalade so splat and make mess, woman angrily storms around picking up stuff while an assistant goes to get a mop, manager type person walks over and says will glady replace marmalade, woman replies with classic line "ye'd ****ing want to it was your stupid bag that broke!" no you dumb bitch it was your failure with simple pyhsics that broke it! light bag vs heavy shopping= mess for some poor sap to clean up0 -
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I think that on the whole customer service in Ireland is pretty decent and prompt. I'm working on the continent at the moment and I must say that I'm surprised at the slowness of service over here and lackadaisical attitude at times.
Indeed.
Indeed, I often find alot of people who moan about poor service often do so about the most minor or self inflicted of things (my computer should have been able to withstand a fall! That should be normal wear and tear! Curtains should be able to withstand a boil wash!) and the real crunch time comes when something more serious arises, and when it does for me I often seem to find a helpful, friendly person at the other end of the phone/ counter.
Maybe this has soemthing to do with not going in all guns blazing. You should never say "I know my rights!" unless you really are sure of it.
I've worked in countries where the attitude is "Wait there until WE get to YOU".0 -
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Indeed, I often find alot of people who moan about poor service often do so about the most minor or self inflicted of things (my computer should have been able to withstand a fall! That should be normal wear and tear! Curtains should be able to withstand a boil wash!) and the real crunch time comes when something more serious arises, and when it does for me I often seem to find a helpful, friendly person at the other end of the phone/ counter.
Maybe this has soemthing to do with not going in all guns blazing. You should never say "I know my rights!" unless you really are sure of it.
True, a lot of the problem seems to be that customer's seem to expect the ultimate service, I'm no problem with the turning customers into fans concept or Fergal Quinn's Boomerang Theory, but customer's seem to expect everything these days, forget about offering fries with that they a lot of people expect a back rub and foot massage thrown in just for buying their groceries from you.
I think new money has a to to do with it, it may actually be good when people start to feel the pinch.0 -
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"I think that on the whole customer service in Ireland is pretty decent and prompt. I'm working on the continent at the moment and I must say that I'm surprised at the slowness of service over here and lackadaisical attitude at times."
I would respectfully have to disagree
I left Ireland in 1988 and have lived in the UK since then. I returned in November last year, and as a result of buying a new house etc etc etc.. have had plenty of opportunity to deal with retailers/customer service within Ireland. There have been some great experiences, but on the whole i found the majority of retailers i have dealt with provide poor service (missed delivery dates, lost orders, general we don't give a crap attitude), compared to the service we received in the UK.
My hope is as the economy tightens, those who consistantly provide bad service will either have to up their game or go out of business. They will be fighting for a lot less customers in the future, and people will eventually vote with their pockets.0 -
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"I think that on the whole customer service in Ireland is pretty decent and prompt. I'm working on the continent at the moment and I must say that I'm surprised at the slowness of service over here and lackadaisical attitude at times."
I would respectfully have to disagree
I left Ireland in 1988 and have lived in the UK since then. I returned in November last year, and as a result of buying a new house etc etc etc.. have had plenty of opportunity to deal with retailers/customer service within Ireland. There have been some great experiences, but on the whole i found the majority of retailers i have dealt with provide poor service (missed delivery dates, lost orders, general we don't give a crap attitude), compared to the service we received in the UK.
My hope is as the economy tightens, those who consistantly provide bad service will either have to up their game or go out of business. They will be fighting for a lot less customers in the future, and people will eventually vote with their pockets.
And I, conversely, have had some of my worst in the UK.
Or maybe it is because bad service stands out much more than good in your head? 0 -
Or maybe it is because bad service stands out much more than good in your head?
Well i think thats probably true of most folks
I suppose it's all relative though.. Have we gotten to the stage with many companies that processing my order and delivering it when agreed is now considered good service? Because so many don't even seem capable of providing that level of service (here AND in the UK)
My main annoyance is companies telling me what they think i want to hear rather than actually telling me the truth.. Waiting 3 months for a table to be delievered that was guaranteed 1 week delivery.. Every friday being told that they have checked and it has been shipped the previous day.. for 3 months.. now look.. you're getting me all wound up again 0 -
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