Customer Service :: HOW BAD IS IT

A man whi lives in a suburb of Boston Wrote this plaintive account of his experience on one very bad day:  The dishwasher, which had been repaired on Monday, flooded the kitchen floor again. Not to worry, said the helpful person at the appliance store. Someone will be over ‘between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m Tuesday.

With my shoes still squishing ihead to the office. But, the train is late. When it shows up there aren’t enough seats and the heater has gone berserk. Iwant to complain, but no one answers the transit department’s toll-free customer-service number.

"things aren't better when i fibally get to work. the copier is out again; i can't get anyone at our Boston office to answer the phone; and my lunch plans go awry when the fancy French restaurant 'loses' my reservation."

Dick Youngblood, business columnist for the star tribune of minneapolis-St. Paul, think that the service economy is a hoax. He lambasted "those troglodytes (anyone who lives in a primitive, low, or degenerative fashion) of the service sector who insist on keeping 9-to-5 working hours" despite the large number of families in which everybody works and nobody's home during the day.
Daytime, Youngblood point out, is the only time that many service businesses operate.

You, the reader, know how bad service is. you most likely experience bad service every day. you may have a cache of personal horror stories stored in a corner of you mind.

You've encountered problems ranging from indifferent sales clerks to rude waiters to the purchase of expensive item whice not only fail to work but also seem impossible to service.

The VCR runs only in reverse, the refrigerator freezes the lettuce but not the ice cream, or a blouse labeled "Machine Washable" shrinks.

Employeess act as if they think: "We could get a lot more done around here if we didn't have all these customers bothering us."

You walk into a business and youbnotice an employee peeking around the edge of a display rack wearing an expression that sys: "Oh, cripes, here comes another one. Just when we ordered a pizza, too."

The waitress brings you a well-done steak when you ordered rare. you can't find your morning paper because it'is nestled behind the bushes. your pharmacist gives you the wrong prescription.

Your flight takes off late. because traffic is stacked up, the plane circles... and circles. By the time you land, your baggage has been put on another plane to yet another destination.

The furnitur you ordered with six-week guaranteed delivery hasn't arrived after two months.

in the supermarket, several chekout lanes stand closed while you wait in one of the open lines, moving one place forward every five minutes.

You stop after work to cash a chek, or to buy something at the deli, or to pick up a gift at one of those all-purpose drug stores. they only sign of life the clereck shows is to take your money and to drop your change in your hand. she doesn't look at you, and her feeble greeting sound more like a grunt.

We are justified in remarking:"this is supposed to be 'the service society.' So, where's the service?"

These experiences and many others are uncomfortably familiar to everyone.

People who earn their incomes providing service to customers - whose patronage pays them - should be courteous, don't you think? they should move quickly. they should be attentive and listen to you. they should be helpful and know enough abaout their product or service to answer question.

This is what you deseve. this is what you should expect. and if you dont't get it, you ought to let somebody know about it.

Nearly one-third of all households in america experienced at least one significant consumer problem during the year before, according to the national consumer survey (NCS) sponsored by the U.S. Office of cunsemer affairs. Of households reporting problems, more than 60 percent told of losses averaging $142.

That $142 was the sum of commercially done work such as clothes washing and drying while an appliance wasn't working, inoperable or ineffective product that was not returned for refund or exchange, cost of repair or replacement when no free repair or replacement was available and uncompensated time lost from work waiting at home for service people.

Nearly 15% of the problems involved lost time from work while waiting for repair people.

""We'll be there between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., "says the very friendly service scheduler on the phone.

you ought to say: "oh, aren't you wonderful. will you pay me for the time I lose from work witing for you?"

Other research support these NCS findings. One study discovered that one out of four puchases results in a problem. Asurvey reported that more than 70 percent of some 100,000 respondents experiences problems with grocery products-from a bug in the jam to spoiled oranges.

This is acommon variety of bad service: you stay home from work to let the plumber in and to lock up after he leaves. But the plumber doesn't show up. He doesn't call to say he won't be able to show up, either.

So You stay home a second day: and this time you lo\se a day's pay. does the plumber reimburse you? Don' ask!