Is Ireland particularly bad for customer service?

Goose76

this is something I've thought about a lot in recent years. I've lived in the US and Canada and I can honestly say one of the main things I miss about living in those places was the focus on customer service. People will moan and say it's the hyper-capitalist culture there, it's the tipping culture etc but so what? It bloody works and generally I was a happier consumer/client there than I am here.

it's not even those countries, either - I visit the UK regularly for both leisure and business. I go regularly to rural areas, London, other cities, Scotland, N.I ... and generally I find the customer service better there also.

Of course there are exceptions, blah blah blah, but here are some things I've noticed generally in Ireland:

- Menus and prices on restaurant websites and social media not being the current menu/prices actually available in the restaurant. There is no excuse for this.

- Opening hours on restaurant/business websites, google and social media not being the accurate opening hours. See above re: zero excuse. This is a pattern I've noticed by the way, not just my local corner shop man running late the odd-time.

- Restaurants saying they have e.g: dedicated vegan or gluten free menus/options and then when you get to the restaurant, turns out they don't. Make fun all you like, this isn't acceptable.

- Inaccurate allergen information on restaurant and takeaway menus. Potentially seriously dangerous.

- Just a general lack of focus on customers. I've used a local repair shop a few times. Each time I drop an item in, I'm told they'll text me when it's fixed. They never text. I have to drop in each time and guesstimate if it'll be ready.

- Lack of disclosure of information. E.g: booked a hotel for my OH's 30th. got to the hotel and entire leisure/spa area closed for renovations. No e-mail or information on their website to tell us about this.

- And the one that baffles me the most....not responding to queries from people who actually want to use your business.

I'm getting married in a few months and keeping it very small. Registry office and then very nice restaurant is the idea. I e-mailed about a dozen restaurants over a 2-3 county area two weeks ago inquiring if they could accommodate us for the occasion. I got one response. I thought we were facing into a recession - are these people not keen to get custom? Am I missing something? We would have had a party of 15, a three-course meal and it's a wedding so plenty of alcohol. Thousands of euro of revenue for the restaurant. Why no response? If it was too far in advance notice for the restaurant to actually make a reservation for us, they could have responded to inform me of that. Same if they were concerned about COVID etc.

Won't waste time disclosing that I think most Irish businesses are amazing and all the above are not the norm etc etc because I hope that goes without saying. But I definitely think despite a) our alleged friendly culture and b) our looming massive recession that businesses here do not help themselves when it comes to customer focus compared to other countries. really curious for opinions to see if others agree.

irishgeo

Goose76 wrote: »

this is something I've thought about a lot in recent years. I've lived in the US and Canada and I can honestly say one of the main things I miss about living in those places was the focus on customer service. People will moan and say it's the hyper-capitalist culture there, it's the tipping culture etc but so what? It bloody works and generally I was a happier consumer/client there than I am here.

it's not even those countries, either - I visit the UK regularly for both leisure and business. I go regularly to rural areas, London, other cities, Scotland, N.I ... and generally I find the customer service better there also.

Of course there are exceptions, blah blah blah, but here are some things I've noticed generally in Ireland:

- Menus and prices on restaurant websites and social media not being the current menu/prices actually available in the restaurant. There is no excuse for this.

- Opening hours on restaurant/business websites, google and social media not being the accurate opening hours. See above re: zero excuse. This is a pattern I've noticed by the way, not just my local corner shop man running late the odd-time.

- Restaurants saying they have e.g: dedicated vegan or gluten free menus/options and then when you get to the restaurant, turns out they don't. Make fun all you like, this isn't acceptable.

- Inaccurate allergen information on restaurant and takeaway menus. Potentially seriously dangerous.

- Just a general lack of focus on customers. I've used a local repair shop a few times. Each time I drop an item in, I'm told they'll text me when it's fixed. They never text. I have to drop in each time and guesstimate if it'll be ready.

- Lack of disclosure of information. E.g: booked a hotel for my OH's 30th. got to the hotel and entire leisure/spa area closed for renovations. No e-mail or information on their website to tell us about this.

- And the one that baffles me the most....not responding to queries from people who actually want to use your business.

I'm getting married in a few months and keeping it very small. Registry office and then very nice restaurant is the idea. I e-mailed about a dozen restaurants over a 2-3 county area two weeks ago inquiring if they could accommodate us for the occasion. I got one response. I thought we were facing into a recession - are these people not keen to get custom? Am I missing something? We would have had a party of 15, a three-course meal and it's a wedding so plenty of alcohol. Thousands of euro of revenue for the restaurant. Why no response? If it was too far in advance notice for the restaurant to actually make a reservation for us, they could have responded to inform me of that. Same if they were concerned about COVID etc.

Won't waste time disclosing that I think most Irish businesses are amazing and all the above are not the norm etc etc because I hope that goes without saying. But I definitely think despite a) our alleged friendly culture and b) our looming massive recession that businesses here do not help themselves when it comes to customer focus compared to other countries. really curious for opinions to see if others agree.

Most Irish business don't bother answering emails unless they are online only.

listermint

Can't say I experience this widely tbh. Have majority of good experience with customer experience here.


And anyone that likes the lickspittle over fake faux niceness in American stores, well you can keep it. There's nothing more obviously vacuous than being constantly asked do I need assistance buying a pair of boxers in the states.

sidcon

Don't agree, most of your points above are related to IT in a way and that is the crux of the issue. Our businesses don't invest in time, money or general IT house keeping.

Were still in the pick up the phone land here unfortunately.

Dav010

I’m not really surprised that restaurants are not replying regarding a group booking in a few months. Some owners don’t know if they will be open in a few weeks, never mind months, and there is inherent risks involved in accepting a booking from a larger group at the moment.

As for the other stuff, can’t say I have noticed any of it.

whisky_galore

Customer service in state or semi state is usually crap as it's a dumping ground for the unsackable who got demoted from elsewhere.

LuasSimon

Have you rang EIR ?
If carlsberg did the worst customer service in the world EIR would win hands down .

LuasSimon

LuasSimon wrote: »

Have you rang EIR ?
If carlsberg did the worst customer service in the world EIR would win hands down .

I'd nominate Fastway for that award, there's no way to contact them at all,complete joke.

Cosmo Kramer

I would agree with the OP, although less on restaurants and more on customer service for banking, utilities, insurance etc. Someone has already mentioned Eir, their customer service levels simply wouldn't be tolerated in the UK.

Some of the stuff I get from banks here as well is ridiculous but ultimately it's a disadvantage of being a small country, there isn't as much competition and standards drop as a result. And don't even get me started on tradespeople in the west, the concept of agreeing start dates, timescales, pricing and sticking to it seems to be an alien concept to most of them.

Celtic Tiger years have a lot to answer for as well, a lot of businesses basically decided then that they didn't need customer service standards anymore because they were making so much money anyway. Then when it all went wrong they either didn't or couldn't adapt. Customer apathy plays a part as well, Irish people seem to be more willing to accept poorer standards than make a fuss I think. This leads to a lot of corners being cut in terms of service levels.

Obviously there are exceptions as well, it's not fair to tar everyone with the same brush. But the above is my experience in comparison with the UK.

MadDog76

One word ......... SKY

GetWithIt

Not to deflect from the poor customer service highlighted by the OP, but what you get in the States is generally a thin veneer. Once you have a genuine query or concern the service is as good or bad as you get anywhere.

JohnC.

Everyone thinks their home customer service is the worst, because they are living with it. They are only experiencing stuff in other countries for a while and don't see the full extent. I'm in contact with a lot of UK and US folk and all that stuff happens there too. Someone said Eir customer service wouldn't be tolerated in the UK, well, it most certainly does happen there too. So many issues with bank customer service in the UK. And the horror stories of Yodel or Hermes for deliveries are worse than anything I've heard here.

This is simply a case of "The grass is always greener..."

Goose76

Thanks for the responses, interesting range of opinions.

To those who say that Irish businesses haven't adapted to IT and won't answer emails unless they are a tech business etc, I say WHY?

Why aren't we adapting? Why aren't we responding to emails??

Talk to Joe.

whisky_galore

Goose76 wrote: »

Thanks for the responses, interesting range of opinions.

To those who say that Irish businesses haven't adapted to IT and won't answer emails unless they are a tech business etc, I say WHY?

Why aren't we adapting? Why aren't we responding to emails??

It's a lazy "shur if they want us bad enough they'll ring" attitude.

Del2005

Goose76 wrote: »

I've lived in the US and Canada and I can honestly say one of the main things I miss about living in those places was the focus on customer service. People will moan and say it's the hyper-capitalist culture there, it's the tipping culture etc but so what? It bloody works and generally I was a happier consumer/client there than I am here.

I've the opposite experience. I like to browse a shop before I commit to buying or dealing with the staff. In the USA you get the fake "How can I help you" as you walk in the door but if you don't take up their offer there and then they'll ignore you for the rest of you visit. And it's not customer service when they are paid commission, which is what most US companies do it's the staff trying to make you buy more.

KaneToad

Goose76 wrote: »

Thanks for the responses, interesting range of opinions.

To those who say that Irish businesses haven't adapted to IT and won't answer emails unless they are a tech business etc, I say WHY?

Why aren't we adapting? Why aren't we responding to emails??

A business who is contacted solely by email knows that the customer is likely to have contacted several competitors as this medium lends itself well to multiple contacts. A real time contact (face to face or phonecall) is much harder to replicate.

Email only customers are usually price-driven customers. These are hardest to satisfy - particularly in a service industry where service provision can be hard to directly compare as quality plays such a big part.

Business owners aren't stupid (mostly!). They know which customer to focus on.

Heroditas

GetWithIt wrote: »

Not to deflect from the poor customer service highlighted by the OP, but what you get in the States is generally a thin veneer. Once you have a genuine query or concern the service is as good or bad as you get anywhere.

I was going to post exactly the same thing. In many cases in the States they're patrntly incapable of actually fixing an actual problem. It's all smiles until something goes wrong and then it's pot luck if your issue is dealt with properly.
That's the real indicator of good customer service.
Regarding good customer service here, my experience of Center Parcs would rank right up there with the best I've ever experienced.

Cosmo Kramer

JohnC. wrote: »

Everyone thinks their home customer service is the worst, because they are living with it. They are only experiencing stuff in other countries for a while and don't see the full extent. I'm in contact with a lot of UK and US folk and all that stuff happens there too. Someone said Eir customer service wouldn't be tolerated in the UK, well, it most certainly does happen there too. So many issues with bank customer service in the UK. And the horror stories of Yodel or Hermes for deliveries are worse than anything I've heard here.

This is simply a case of "The grass is always greener..."

As someone who has lived for a considerable period of time in both Ireland and the UK I can categorically say from my experience that the above is untrue - while there will always be one off bad experiences here and there customer service from businesses in the UK on average is streets ahead of what people are subjected to in Ireland.

gmisk

LuasSimon wrote: »

Have you rang EIR ?
If carlsberg did the worst customer service in the world EIR would win hands down .

- virgin media have joined the call...with a clueless customer service rep based in Thailand..."thank you for patiently waiting"

gmisk

whisky_galore wrote: »

Customer service in state or semi state is usually crap as it's a dumping ground for the unsackable who got demoted from elsewhere.

The poster was talking about restaurants and hotels not sure they are state or semi state....but enjoy your off topic rant...

whisky_galore

gmisk wrote: »

The poster was talking about restaurants and hotels not sure they are state or semi state....but enjoy your off topic rant...

Ah we found the public service employee.

440Hertz

To be quite honest, with exceptions, I've found semi-states and public bodies pretty excellent for customer care, even Revenue who've bent over backwards to get me passwords and log ins and so on and have always been very helpful if I'd had any questions.

Also Department of Transport: Pay for your road tax online, the disk arrives super-fast and it's very easy and the passport service is brilliant - all online and where I've had queries they were super-helpful.

I've also found Gas Networks Ireland and ESB Networks service to be top notch, both semi-state companies.

Eir, a private sector company owned by a French outfit, is just shocking on wait times to speak to anyone. It's beyond a joke at this stage, but then 3 can be pretty bad too.

I moved my broadband to Digiweb, which is an Irish company based in Co. Louth and I've found their customer service excellent.

As for small Irish companies and online service, yeah that can be hit and miss because they don't take most of their orders online. Too many companies seem to go off and develop a web presence and then not use or maintain it properly. I'd say that could be a bit of a catch 22 too - if you don't put the effort in, you won't get returns on investment in a website.

That being said, plenty of restaurants doing a great job online too with deliveries and takeaways, particularly during the pandemic. I know in Cork for example, I've had brilliant service from the likes of Novocento, a really good pizza place etc etc.

SuperValu online is just top class too. I have ordered groceries online, they always arrive bang on time and if they're doing substitutions someone calls from the store, while doing the picking and you get a really cheerful and helpful call making suggestions for alternative products if they're out of stock. Can't really fault that.

Tesco on the other hand don't seem to care that much.

I find American customer service sometimes very annoying. They can be more about smile at you like a robot or chasing tips/commission to the point they're pestering and it's very saccharine sweet. When you've a real problem they can also just suddenly become mired in "policy" and you find they've little or no flexibility and just keep smiling inanely at you. On the other side of it, I also find a lot of American customers treat staff abysmally and it can backfire in Europe very badly.

For example, in France I've always found customer service is actually very good, if you're nice. Walk into a hotel and say "Bonjour Madame!" make a bit of small talk acknowledge people around you and so on and you will get the best customer service ever. Treat a waiter with respect, ask about the stuff on the menu, let them do their job and you'll have great service. There's also an extra layer of politeness and greetings e.g. you don't walk into a small shop and not say "Bonjour! / Bonsoir" to whoever it is behind the counter when you walk in. It's not about chasing tips or sales, it's about showing respect for someone who's doing a job behind a counter or waiting tables and operating as equals.

Go in as a demanding US customer who expects them to grovel for tips and you'll get your dinner served with a clatter or they'll ignore you with polite dismissal.

CivilCybil

As someone who works in customer service and has for a long time in various companies, I can honestly say that when cost cutting comes into effect, customer service is usually the first to suffer.
I've worked in companies in amazing teams and then seen it chipped away where people aren't replaced or if they are it's with inexperienced or unsuitable staff resulting in existing staff becoming over worked and growing resentful and who leave if they can. If they can't leave then you have a team of unhappy people who hate their jobs and that naturally has a knock on effect as to their demeanor and willingness to help.

A lot of it is down to either picking the wrong people for the job or not valuing the ones who are good at what they do.

440Hertz

CivilCybil wrote: »

As someone who works in customer service and has for a long time in various companies, I can honestly say that when cost cutting comes into effect, customer service is usually the first to suffer.
I've worked in companies in amazing teams and then seen it chipped away where people aren't replaced or if they are it's with inexperienced or unsuitable staff resulting in existing staff become over worked and grow resentful and leave if they can. If they can't leave then you have a team of unhappy people who hate their jobs and that naturally has a knock on effect as to their demeanor and willingness to help.

A lot of it is down to either picking the wrong people for the job or not valuing the ones who are good at what they do.

From a customer point if view I think Eir sums that one up, but so do many of the big international telecoms companies like 3 and Virgin (Liberty Global) (and they're as bad in the UK). Everything's outsourced to the lowest bidder and it comes across very much like that.

Valresnick

I recently had an unexpected surprise on customer service. I wanted to purchase runners and needed specific advice on cushioning. I went to a running shop which will remain unnamed and they pretty much ignored me once I entered the shop. I then ran the Nike shop and received an incredibly helpful response from their staff. I thought Nike would be worse and the small shop would be better !

CivilCybil

440Hertz wrote: »

From a customer point if view I think Eir sums that one up, but so do many of the big international telecoms companies like 3 and Virgin (Liberty Global) (and they're as bad in the UK). Everything's outsourced to the lowest bidder and it comes across very much like that.

Absolutely. It does take skill to provide good customer service. However it is becoming more and more undervalued.
I was job hunting recently. Years of experience. Most jobs were barely above minimum wage. Even for supervisory roles the packages were shockingly poor.
Pay peanuts etc...

Wildly Boaring

To the OP

Disagree on customer here, but agree on a lot of your points.
Websites, Google times and emails can be hit and miss.
But actual customer service is great.

Few examples from last few weeks.
Bought a gilet off Irish company. Galibier. Talked to them (via email) on sizing. I was falling between 2. They sent me both and I returned the smaller one after fitting.

Ordered a shed off Clane Sheds. Took no deposit or prepayment. Gave me a delivery week. Rang me that there would be a 2 week delay as the had some covid cases. Delivered on the correct week. Put up and allowed inspection. Then took payment. They did not answer an email initially. Once I picked up the phone it was painless and streamlined.

Floors and blinds for the house. Off coastal carpets. Ordered and deposit. He put an installation date in the diary. We had to defer twice awaiting new house snag. Once we got the keys he did blinds instantly. Did floors the day he said he would. My wife paid up. I wasn't happy with a few snags. No argument that wife had inspected. Sorted within the day.

Our local restaurants went to facebook for collection soon as covid lockdown. Give a collection time. Never an issue. And great attitude.

Maybe I'm just hitting the right businesses.
Maybe I'm just used to Irish service and always call.

Lived in UK. Similar to here. Some excellent, some good, some Hermes.

gmisk

whisky_galore wrote: »

Ah we found the public service employee.

You didn't make it past the entrance tests then? Shame.

This is off topic anyway if you want to discuss more on the public versus private sector thread no worries

Fred Cryton

This is an Irish trait and arguably our biggest falt as a people. By and large we lack conscientiousness and diligence...we don't follow up on things. We're great at virtue signalling and making an announcement of how great we are, but then we don't actually do the required work after that to follow up on this promise.

Germans are the complete opposite, they mean what they say and do it. Brits are somewhere in the middle but more like the Germans than we are.

Dravokivich

whisky_galore wrote: »

Customer service in state or semi state is usually crap as it's a dumping ground for the unsackable who got demoted from elsewhere.

Its more likely death of a thousand signatures.