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Just for the record, I give everyone a fair chance before I say I'm getting bad customer service. To error is human. It's not the missing up that bothers me, it the recovery. When something happen 2 or 3 times repeatedly there's a problem. And when it happens in a random sampling of companies throughout the city repeatedly, it's more than coincidence, It's a way of thinking. I have even had people tell me that that's just the way it is here, so get used to it.
I'll say it again, I think the people here are great. Very nice and helpful. But being nice does not equal good customer service. I think the bar is set a little bit low here. I am not alone in this, because most of my neighbors here in Alamo Ranch say the same thing.
wCat -I can't speak on the Metroplex, but I don't think that there another city that is a big as San Antonio and has grown so slow technologically. Look how hard it is to attract companies like Frys and trader Joe's that everyone is hoping for(including myself). I'm not dumping on SA, I'm just saying that a city this size would and should have a lot of businesses that other major cities have. Companies should be tripping over themselves to get service a population this big. I think it is because SA still thinks of itself as a small town and which I think actually stunts the city from maturing- Which means lack of competition- Which in turn effects service. I not saying that this is good or bad, it just an observation.
I hope I not stepping on toes , that not my intention. I have lots of luv for ya SA!
".......I don't think that there another city that is a big as San Antonio and has grown so slow technologically. Look how hard it is to attract companies like Frys and trader Joe's that everyone is hoping for(including myself). I'm not dumping on SA, I'm just saying that a city this size would and should have a lot of businesses that other major cities have. Companies should be tripping over themselves to get service a population this big. I think it is because SA still thinks of itself as a small town and which I think actually stunts the city from maturing- Which means lack of competition- Which in turn effects service. I not saying that this is good or bad, it just an observation.
F10.....you make some very good points.....and I actually agree with the first portion of the statement above. In theory, you are actually correct.....this city is definitely huge.....and getting businesses down here at you mentioned would be fabulous, if it were that simple. But the bigger picture is not just "opening" a business and running it. The logistics of where San Antonio is on a geographical location has been a long time problem for business supplying and stocking merchandize. Shipping costs are HUGE this far South because transport leaves here empty....which is very costly. If SA was on a highly trafficked trucking route, trucks could deliver to one location in town, and then share ship with another company to send goods elsewhere.
There are several problems with this. SA's largest "industry" is tourism, so we don't produce or manufacture much to keep return trucks filled. That means places like Trader Joes have to pay double shipping if they can't share ship with some other company. Those huge shipping costs keep prices high. Secondly, the tourism "industry" as a rule doesn't pay big $$$ so we have a large sector of employers that cannot pay large wages. This tips the economic purchasing power toward a lower income scale. That weak purchasing power in turn hurts places like Trader Joes and then the next thing you know it becomes a vicious cycle.
Hopefully, with new businesses moving to this area like Toyota bring better income and better purchasing power to domino into attracting more new businesses to supply the needs of the changing consumer base.
That "small town" mindedness may in reality be a "weaker economic base" IE fewer consumer spending $$$$. I can't see it being a collective mindset that is preventing growth and progress in this "big" city.
And bottom line.....none of it really has to do with customer service. Mom and Pop businesses, to small franchises, to the biggest companies ....it starts at the top. And the top of some of these businesses are not even based in San Antonio!
I don't think San Antonio's "lack" of technological growth has anything to do with attracting Trader Joe's or Frys Electronics. You can't find a Trader Joe's anywhere in Texas. Frys will get to SA eventually...sooner than you think probably (considering there's only one in Austin).
wCat, Good points! I love the intelligent conversation. Since I am not familiar with the trucking routes here, I can't speak intelligently about that. but I will say that I have dealt with some of the same companies in other states and had better experiences with service. It is true that it start at the top, but it is also true that companies are broken down in to regions. Each region is marketed to and run by the local culture. You wouldn't market a product or service in NYC the same way would market it in Seattle. The local people are the face of the company in that region, which means that the company now take on the face of the local culture. In this way the company is more in touch with the people that they service. So if the customer service bar is set low to begin with, or there is no high demand for it, a company is not going to spend a lot of time improving on it in because it not hurting them. Also, the lack of competition for companies here doesn't hurt either.
I have to admit that my overall experience here hasn't entirely been bad. I could tell you the specific places that I have beefs with but I've already addressed it with them directly and not looking to give anyone bad publicity. My laundry list is LONG, but here are just a few:
Bad:
- KLRN- didn't fulfill an obligation as advertised during the Blazing Gavels auction
- Geico in Texas- AWFUL customer service
- Allstate- Great customer service at the agency level, but TERRIBLE service if you go thru the 800# for anything!
- Kinko's on Broadway in Alamo Heights- sometimes good, generally POOR customer service (by the way, did you know that Kinko's farms out a lot of jobs to other printers around town and marks up the costs for you, the customer? I hear they don't like paying their vendors either. A friend of mine had to quit doing business with them because they owed him quite a chunk of change)
- Car wash- can't remember the name- up by Medical Center, on Evers maybe? It's a full-service place that tries to sell you every service you don't want or need, tacks it on the bill even after you decline verbally (surprise at the register!) and then for $80 doesn't even clean the interior very well, unless you point it out and ask them to real nicely.
- Jiffy Lube on Bandera and 410- they don't vacuum the interior unless you ask them too, even though it's part of the oil change package/ included in the price
- HEB on FM 78 & Rittiman- mixed review. Sometimes the produce is old and wilted and sometimes very fresh. Sometimes the customer service is great. Generally, however, the checkout process is impeded by personal conversations about high school and sometimes even drug abuse. really.
- Scrubs Medical Laundry- EXTREMELY polite and nice with me, but didn't fulfill my order as promised- ALMOST cost me to lose business!
- One particular local, private university- lost FIVE sets of my transcripts so I had to keep resubmitting them. The financial aid department is also notorious for "budgeting errors" and the like that put students in very difficult financial positions.
- Good Stuff, small retail store in Selma- great place, but one particular employee dismissed my inquiry as to whether they had more of a particular item without actually checking. I asked the other attendant, presumably the owner or manager, when there would be more of that item, and she immediately was able to produce at least 20 of them from the back. Funny how he didn't care to check and see if they were back there or not.
Good:
- USAA- OUTSTANDING customer service!!!
- Cha-Cha's restaurant on Babcock- excellent food, excellent service (and wouldn't you know it- the owners are from Chicago- must by why. Ha!)
As for the "Sir" / "Ma'am" deal- I have to disagree that that makes SA any better than Chicago. I could easily do without the "Ma'am" if people could just get things right the first time, or at all even!
This was not intended as some sort of jilted gripe. It is a legitimate discussion about what I've found to be the culture of this city. Mind you, my perspective is different from yours.
Yes, there are a lot of friendly people here. There are just as many nasty ones- one even threw a Gatorade bottle out the window of a car at me because I turned into his lane (Don't get me started on your driving here!) Nice or not, I care most about precision- and that is definitely lacking around these parts!
As for getting back what you put out, I am very nice, understanding and patient. I do express my concerns and it floors me that I have to actually ask people to do their jobs right- I mean, wouldn't that just be common sense for most people??? It seems that the more tolerant I am, the worse things get because they take advantage of that. It's not helping people do a better job that I mind, but rather the time lost in repeatedly addressing the same issues. We don't all have that kind of time to spare and I'm sorry, but when I pay for something to be professionaly done, I expect the outcome to be better than what I could produce myself; otherwise I would do it myself and save the money.
I agree with the other posts about customer service lacking in other places as well. You almost have to expect a certain degree of error when doing business in any city, state, or region...but I find that here, the inaccuracies and overall lack of precision or care are much more consistent than anywhere else I've lived!
As for the comment about there not being a "demand for dry cleaners here"- um, have you noticed that this is a military town? Servicemembers' uniforms require a great deal of attention to detail (some services requiring more than others)! You almost can't get that here. If someone knows WHERE please tell me. Thanks.
Seriously? This sounds like experiences I have had in almost every single city I have lived in or worked in the US including NYC, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, DC, Missoula, Honolulu, Albuquerque, Tampa, Tulsa, etc...
Like other cities, San Antonio has workers who would rather be somewhere else than serving you (you as in "you in general"). That doesn't excuse the bad service but it also doesn't mean that the city at large deserves to be slapped with a label of having a "disappointing work ethic".
I notice that it is very easy to ruffle feathers here if you have a not so positive point of view about SA. Life is not all sugar and spice. Just remember these are real experiences. These experiences shape a person point of view. It doesn't make it any less real to someone just because it has not happen to you. Who are we to judge someone else's disappointing work ethic experience. It's surely not being made up.
Since it hasn't been said and I have now officially become a resident of San Antonio (one year!), I want to apologize on the behave of SA for any bad customer service experiences anyone has had and we will try our best to do better! So you can focus on all the great things that SA has to offer.
F10gear - not sure if your response is aimed at me but LOL - I don't even live in SA anymore so my feathers are not ruffled.
While I am SURE the OP had those experiences, all I was trying to say is that this happens everywhere and SA doesn't have a monopoly on bad CS.
One of the examples cited is bad CS from an 800 number - that 800 number could have been connected to any city in the US or even a foreign country. That probably has nothing to do with SA yet it was cited as a bad San Antonio CS experience.
If one can judge an entire city's work ethic because of bad CS, then I would have to say that the work ethic of the people in Manhattan, Chicago, San Diego, Detroit, Miami, Boston and DC is non-existent (based on some of my personal bad CS experiences). That the people there are all lazy, rude, disrespectful and don't know the meaning of "customer is always right".
BTW - regarding Trader Joe's - I was amazed that Boston didn't have a Trader Joe's. It took several years before it made its way there. And Chick-Fil-A? We didn't get one in San Diego until about a year ago! That is just WRONG!!!!
Sorry Sampaguita, I should have been more clear. This wasn't directed at anyone in particular, it was just an overall vibe at the beginning of the thread.
Your right about the 800 number scenario.
In regards to the judging of work ethics, it was mentioned that not all of the experiences were bad here in SA. I think some of us have experience an unusual concentration of back service in the short amount of time we have been here, Thus leading us to question the work ethics. It could just be Murphy, I don't know, but remember it's just a point of view from that persons experiences, not a definitive answer.
Sometime we are so quick to disagree, we don't acknowledge or give credence to someone else's feelings or experience. I'm not saying that's what you are doing, just food for thought.
And you are right on the money about Trader Joe's, I'm heading out to Boston in a couple of weeks to visit my parents and you know I'm gonna hit it. I need my fix.
I didn't realize that there wasn't a Chick-Fil-A in San Diego up until a year ago. Your right that is wrong.
And Chick-Fil-A? We didn't get one in San Diego until about a year ago! That is just WRONG!!!!
OMGosh......that is so funny! My daughter's best friend opened that store in San Diego!!!! I was shocked at how hard she worked for a year to get everything in place to open! She works for them nationwide.....and this precious little dynamo is the epitome of GREAT customer service! She's no longer there because her job is just getting them started. I'm not sure she even has anything to do with employee training. So how are they doing out there???? I'm dying to know! Next time you are there....ask them if they met JoAnn!!!
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I want to apologize on the behave of SA for any bad customer service experiences anyone has had and we will try our best to do better! So you can focus on all the great things that SA has to offer.
