Am I the Only One to Notice that Customer Service A Thing of the Past? (wage, 18 year old)

[blisterpeanuts]

Originally Posted by oceangaia

How do you define "customer service" and what kind of customer service are you needing from Amazon that you are not getting? When I go to Amazon, I search for what I want to buy, determine if it fits my needs, read reviews, and then buy it. Never once had a problem with that. If for some reason I need to return it, I click on the return process, print out the label, drop it off at a UPS store or Amazon locker, and my account is credited. Never once had a problem with that. I've been buying a half dozen items per month for over a decade now. I guess I'm just not the type to "have questions" or need to talk to someone in customer service and I sure don't want to pay for that for others in the form of higher prices.

I agree; the few times I've needed an Amazon person to fix things, they've done an outstanding job. Never had a problem with them.

For that matter, I've had 99% success rate at Walmart as well; the narrative is that they're underpaid and exploited, but the actual people working there that I've encountered have been very nice, very helpful, and they don't seem all that disgruntled. [scratch head]

It's actually been more the little mom-and-pop stores where I've had terrible service. Go figure, the mythology is that these are such a great thing and what a shame they're being driven under.

Restaurants are variable. It's a greed-driven business; be nice to the customer, get a good tip and also they'll come back and bring their friends. Today there's the additional incentive of earning good Yelp reviews.

[Littlelu]

The employees act and treat you quite different if their superiors are watching or present. Go in the mall on a weekend and see the employees at those small shops not wanting to provide customer service as they are too busy on their phones and conversing with other employees. I see it time and time again. Where I live, I'd love it if I went to the mgr's office and when I needed something they said, "I'd be glad to help you or find out who can" Instead all I hear is how they can't help me! But....they jump up to take my check on the 1st of the month! It is what it is folks. Customer svc is a thing of the past in a lot of establishments.

[vision33r]

Customer service is an old concept, millennials do not need customer service or tech support anymore. They believe they're smarter and self sufficient they do not need any help when they can search the internet for help or buy things that do not need service.

They prefer kiosks over cashiers, they like ordering online instead of going to stores.

[Steve McDonald]

Originally Posted by mkpunk

Over the last year or so I've noticed that lots of places don't take customer's concerns to heart if there are problems. It's not just banks or car lots now but real stores like Wal-Mart, real places like Amazon or production companies like Samsung. Is customer service that much of a problem for companies?

We have it very good in the U. S. for customer service and returning of purchases, compared to many other countries. Many of them, whose citizens buy the same products we do, have no option for returning anything, in some cases, even if it's defective. This same situation exists for many other things, such as human rights, where we are the best in the world, but small infractions are met with great outrage.

[mkpunk]

Originally Posted by phetaroi

I've kind of thought the opposite. I think most companies realize that if they don't attend to customer service they start losing customers. When it is bad customer service, I think it's more the problem caused by an individual worker or maybe a particular store, but not the whole company.

It depends. Unless it is quantifiable most places will reply "Uh, well, I don't know..." Sometimes even if it is quantifiable, it is dismissed. The executive or manager has to have a customer-first attitude to make headway.

I haven't had to do it often, but things aren't going well, I just say, "You know, I can buy this on Amazon (or some other website) for less", I usually get what I want.

Not often Most places these days only match ads if anything. Except Best Buy who will match Amazon but only Amazon prices, not the lowest price period.

The biggest issue I have is the poor selection of products to choose from, which often leads me to online.

Agreed though for me it is usually a price thing. Nine times out of 10, stores don't have the best prices. It is online.

Originally Posted by Nov3

And I would respect your decision to buy online or thru another vendor. I work customer service and its often a tactic for a customer to basically say- If you don't give me what I want RIGHT NOW I am taking my toys and going home. I deal with Adults and for the most part able to accommodate the realistic requests or resolve in a timely manner.

That's partially due to the in an instant world we live in these days. I mean we can contact someone in ways we couldn't 25 years ago. Letters would take a week to come back while e-mail went from being when you get online next to straight to your phone to check right then and there. The other thing is often we don't find people who can answer the question of "Is this widget in stock?" Let alone the right person since most times customers tend to find the person who is bringing items from another section that got placed there.

Since I started working retail, my department has seen an increase of sales in the 15% . I do not think my payscale determines how civil or gracious I am in the work I do. Some of us actually cannot have our dignity bought or sold.

I have helped be apart of that increase in figures along with my team staff. "WE" work to retain and sometimes that means being direct and respecting them for finding a better deal elsewhere. Transparency is key. Those who have been returning customers have often remarked on the courtesy extended them.

That is something I would try to do. Do things right and communicate before customers make a bad call. I work at a stadium and they had a monster truck show a few months back that had tons of walk-up tickets and a lot of bad tickets. The event was over halfway over and people were still either buying tickets or trying to get their bad ticket issue rectified. I told at least two families to wait for the show in two weeks since the line-up was better on paper. That wasn't a knock on the drivers they had but why see half of a show when the same promoter is coming back to that very venue in a matter of months.

Originally Posted by jertheber

You'd think the corporate focus on customer service would include refraining from establishing what amounts to anti customer policies. But we've all been had by the old "it's store policy" lament on the part of retail clerks who have little to no latitude when dealing with customer complaints. Some years back, I had my dept store credit card refused for the reason that "I hadn't used it often enough." My security, that's what they told me was behind the decision. Making me jump through hoops to get that card reset was the last straw, I declined and went to small merchants for the entire Christmas shopping gig.

The issue is often times the clerks have their hands tied. Some are commissioned so sometimes returns are tied to THEIR pay. A few returns here and there eventually add up for the cashiers/sales reps.

Just a thought about "individual" responses on the employee's part. The disgruntled employee, the ill informed employee, and the recalcitrant employee, are all directly, or indirectly, a management problem and businesses accepting that responsibility manage their employees in a manner consistent with that realization. Every business has an in-house customer service culture, intentionally or not.

As is the grumpy employee. Now yes, some employees are grumpy due to previous customers but they can easily be told to shake their head and breathe so they can get their mojo back. Sadly most places don't or can't allow for that.

And, it doesn't take much to understand the employee as a reflection of that culture, I try to trade with small companies whenever possible, and it has been noted here that paying more for quality of goods and service seems to provide some relief from the big box mentality. Ace Hardware, small auto repair shops, independent eateries, one man contractor outfits, I've used these services and found a lot of satisfaction, and yes, I'm paying extra for that, but it helps me and those who do care about their customers.

The issue is for some the premium is now unaffordable due to stagnant wages to the price of goods and services.

Originally Posted by phetaroi

Fair enough.

You know, a very good example of smart business is what has happened to independent camera stores. More and more they provide their cameras at a competitive price with online...because they know that people will just buy online if they don't. What they push is in-store service. So I've bought my last few cameras in a camera store, because I have nothing to gain from going online.

After my tablet issue, which was what caused my Amazon issue like a poster asked in a later post, I am not doing online buying again on electronics. This was due to their lack of initial response to the problem and Samsung only stepped up after I said that Amazon told me to go to you and now you are giving me the run around and making me go around in circles between the two.

[mkpunk]

Originally Posted by oceangaia

How do you define "customer service" and what kind of customer service are you needing from Amazon that you are not getting? When I go to Amazon, I search for what I want to buy, determine if it fits my needs, read reviews, and then buy it. Never once had a problem with that. If for some reason I need to return it, I click on the return process, print out the label, drop it off at a UPS store or Amazon locker, and my account is credited. Never once had a problem with that. I've been buying a half dozen items per month for over a decade now. I guess I'm just not the type to "have questions" or need to talk to someone in customer service and I sure don't want to pay for that for others in the form of higher prices.

Amazon TYPICALLY is good. Sometimes not so much. Electronics they are terrible on. I had an issue with a one year old tablet that blew an LCD panel line. As I stated in an earlier post, they would accept it because it was one year old and told me to go to Samsung and Samsung wouldn't because it was over a year old. I mentioned to how especially for Prime members who pay anywhere from $49 a year to $99 (student pricing is lower) it was stupid to not offer an extended warranty. Finally both came to their senses and offered their own fixes but I had to be persistant and go up the chain when instead customer service reps shut me down. Another time, my sister-in-law had an issue once where the drop off put her package containing a Christmas gift for my brother on her porch with no notification during a rainstorm. It wasn't until my brother saw the gift that they realized it was left there. She was offered credit for ruining the gift but that wasn't enough. So the returns issue while often is indeed a simple "easy fix," it isn't always the case. Trust me, I've used it and had great experiences but every so often they have issues. The one time I had an issue with a seller, Amazon covered it through A-to-Z so I can't speak only foul about Amazon but rather I can speak of a mixed bag.

Originally Posted by blisterpeanuts

I agree; the few times I've needed an Amazon person to fix things, they've done an outstanding job. Never had a problem with them.

For that matter, I've had 99% success rate at Walmart as well; the narrative is that they're underpaid and exploited, but the actual people working there that I've encountered have been very nice, very helpful, and they don't seem all that disgruntled. [scratch head]

I'm happy you haven't but I'm not the only one to have issues at either seller though.

It's actually been more the little mom-and-pop stores where I've had terrible service. Go figure, the mythology is that these are such a great thing and what a shame they're being driven under.

Hmmm, interesting.

Restaurants are variable. It's a greed-driven business; be nice to the customer, get a good tip and also they'll come back and bring their friends. Today there's the additional incentive of earning good Yelp reviews.

Fast food is notoriously bad due to lack of attention with special orders. The joke with my family is we cannot eat out anymore because most times we have issues other than places like Panda Express, Subway or Which Wich where you build your meal. The last time I went to Taco Bell the staff was in "training" and had issues with at least three orders while I was there, one of which was mine. When the order was up we were missing a taco. I asked for the taco with no lettuce clearly repeated back to me. I get the taco delivered to me and what do you know, it is covered in lettuce. I went up again. I swore off Taco Bell and not just that one just on this alone.

[mkpunk]

Originally Posted by vision33r

Customer service is an old concept, millennials do not need customer service or tech support anymore. They believe they're smarter and self sufficient they do not need any help when they can search the internet for help or buy things that do not need service.

They prefer kiosks over cashiers, they like ordering online instead of going to stores.

Pfff. I am a millennial an I only take kiosks if I have an easy purchase of say 10 or so items, and the lines are too long. I prefer cashiers if the lines are short and I need to make say rainchecks, use coupons, price-match or buy R-rated DVDs or alcohol. Otherwise you wait around for the single person they have working four to six self-serve kiosks. My brother who is an older millennial, won't even use them and he is very tech savvy.

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by mkpunk

Amazon TYPICALLY is good. Sometimes not so much. Electronics they are terrible on. I had an issue with a one year old tablet that blew an LCD panel line. As I stated in an earlier post, they would accept it because it was one year old and told me to go to Samsung and Samsung wouldn't because it was over a year old. I mentioned to how especially for Prime members who pay anywhere from $49 a year to $99 (student pricing is lower) it was stupid to not offer an extended warranty. Finally both came to their senses and offered their own fixes but I had to be persistant and go up the chain when instead customer service reps shut me down. Another time, my sister-in-law had an issue once where the drop off put her package containing a Christmas gift for my brother on her porch with no notification during a rainstorm. It wasn't until my brother saw the gift that they realized it was left there. She was offered credit for ruining the gift but that wasn't enough. So the returns issue while often is indeed a simple "easy fix," it isn't always the case. Trust me, I've used it and had great experiences but every so often they have issues. The one time I had an issue with a seller, Amazon covered it through A-to-Z so I can't speak only foul about Amazon but rather I can speak of a mixed bag.

I've never bought expensive electronics that I wasn't offered a protection plan. And if you are trying to get service or return past the return period, that's on you. Did your sil have a place protected from the rain to leave that package? Why wasn't getting credited for it enough?

Some people have a penchant for having "issues".

[jghorton]

IT's not so much the level of customer service one gets when they finally get to a real person (with a heavy Indian or Asian accent) - that bothers me. It's the fact that every call is automatically answered by the same irritating recording: "All of our representatives are busy serving other customers - Your call is very important to us - Please listen to all of the menu options because some of have changed." Since it doesn't seem to matter when one calls or how many times one may call, it's easy to envision customer service representatives gabbing over a cup of coffee ... while the machine answers calls.

One is then led through a lengthy series of recorded menus and options that extract whatever information will help them ensure you don't happen to get to a real person ... who might not have a full dossier about you and exactly why you are calling ... and they have advised you three times, you could/should go to their website with your concern. "One is then instructed to hold and that their call will be answered in the order it was received."

Finally, when a person offshore somewhere answers, they politely ask you to repeat much of the information they just recorded into the machine (but, which the customer service representative apparently didn't receive). Lest the ordeal end there, about 40-percent of the time, one is transferred to someone else -- and much of the above routine is repeated (unless the call is dropped, in which case, one must start all over again!).

There are a couple of refreshing exceptions to this scenario (Printer companies (?)) - but, that is so rare, one is almost shocked to actually reach a real person within the first 15-20 minutes of any call for customer service.

[Hemlock140]

For retail customer service, I find Costco and small hardware store like Ace to be great. The rest all are bad, including the supermarkets and pharmacies. When it comes to customer service after purchase, they would rather not be bothered, and they already have your money, so the motivation is not there. I have seen some rare exceptions, like Nespresso, and one car dealer that we use and bought from twice, because of the good service. I remember in the 60s and early 70s before big box stores when most businesses were small mom and pops, and they wanted you to come back. Even then places like Sears and Woolworth had weak customer service, but not as bad as typical retailers now.