Would that the picture to the left were true for every business we give our hard-earned money to.
I've created this blog to start "showcasing" the myriad bad customer service we encounter every single day -- whether from a retail outlet, business or personal service, healthcare provider, even our own workstaffs -- as a means of (maybe) making the guilty parties and their corporate kingpins, bosses or supervisors sit up and take notice and wonder if they might try to do a little better with the next customer.
We'll also use this forum to give gold starts to those who DO appreciate their customers and provide service WITH a smile -- unfortunately, the more people I talk to, the less prevalent good customer service seems to be. So, it's important to point to those atypical folks and companies and let the rest know what they're NOT doing right.
Please! add your horror stories and kudos, as ,many as you want, as often as you want. In the interest of PMA, I'll start with a kudo from this morning.... followed by a few instances of not-s0-kudos. In some cases I'll name names if I think the culprit deserves it (in most cases this will be true)
Thanks to Fine Books & Collections magazine, for answering a question about a product less than 2 hours after I emailed it. And to its publisher, who a few months ago answered an email within an hour -- about the fact that I hadn't received an answer to two previous emails sent to the magazine's general email/info address. Although the initial experience was negative, she answered my complaint -- and original question -- immediately and forthrightly.
No thanks to.... thrift/second-hand stores that put never-peel price tags smack in the middle of a picture frame glass, book cover, or anything else they sell, solely to prevent shoppers from tag-switching. I understand the need to prevent tag-switching, but at least put the death-grip sticker on the back or somewhere else less conspicuous....
.... booksellers that put unpeelable price stickers on their books smack on the cover, making it impossible to give as a nice gift....
.... stores that don't want to be bothered to round up their shopping carts in the parking lot, and inconvenience customers by installing gates at the exit that are sized to prevent the passage of carts, so when customers makes a large purchase, they have to struggle and juggle to the car with their purchases -- how is an elderly customer supposed to a footstool to his or her car without the cart?...
.... cashiers who fail to say those two little words that make all the difference: "Thank you"....
.... cashiers who parrot the same "company line" to every customer and do so with so little enthusiasm, intonation or even thought that irt means absolutely nothing; i.e., Goodwill cashiers: "Thank you for supporting the Goodwill mission"....
I promise at least a post a day because unfortunately, I'll have a minimum half-dozen a day to choose from. It may not really do anything to change the way most vendors, suppliers, sellers, retailers, service providers, waitresses, cashiers, business owners, bosses, employees, and everyone else who claims they want to serve (sell to) you but who fail to take a few simple steps to ensire you walk away with a smile on YOUR face.... but it gives us the opportunity to vent and, perhaps, get at least a few people out there to think about how easy it is to smile and say, "Thank you."
