Is Britain’s customer service going down hill?

That’s exactly what I do, I vote with my feet. There are one or two shop in Edinburgh I don’t set foot in because the shop assistants/till operators couldn’t care less, plus one restaurant with racist waiting staff, one coffee shop with permanently dirty tables, chairs and floors, and one with a permanently dirty toilet (cleaning all that up is part of customer service as far as I’m concerned, if not b****y essential). And I tell everyone who cares to listen who they are.

At other times it’s more difficult if you get rubbish and very good service from the same company. Virgin’s call centres has been fantastic (one help assistant happened to be Indian and the other one Scottish) when I’ve needed help with my modem and my new computer, but absolute garbage with my telephone service (English staff at the call centre). It’s only when I eventually threatened in writing to switch provider that they (re)acted. I advise a friend of mine to dot he same with BT, who was messing her about, and it worked!

Having mentioned Indian, Scottish and English in the paragraph, my experience with nationalities, regionalities and the likes is that more often than not, generally speaking, it’s down to the company and especially the managerial style whether you get food service or not.

Customer service in Britain is very poor and we put up with it. Today’s culture of ‘couldn’t care less as long as I’m alright’ doesn’t help. A smile and a civil manner goes a long way but unfortunately these days this does not come naturally to a lot of people so when their job entails having to deal with customers they have to be taught how to behave. Unfortunately a lot of companies do not do this. I do not tip anymore if the service is bad or I walk away and never go back but when I do get good customer care, it is out there, I tip well or the company keeps my custom.

I recently purchased goods online from Maplin. After assembling and testing I discovered that the hard disc in the unit would not boot up. I telephoned the customer service department and explained the fault. They contacted the technical department who agreed that it was faulty and recommended the item be returned.
It was picked up before 5pm that day, and after following the telephone return confirmation proceedure an exchange unit was despatched, and arrived two days later.
This is how it should work. Other retailers please take note. Maplin Electronics is now my online retailer of choice.!! I always dump the bad guys.

I always tell companies when they are bad! they don’t call me grumpy for nothing!

In terms of customer service dept’s – I have a hit list of companies that don’t deserve my support – even if they offer the best price.

Full marks in my mind to British Gas, they have improved incredibly recently and I am now happy to use them again.. John Lewis is a model company that heads the list and most businesses would do well to copy them!

My worst ever experience of customer care was from the Sony Corporation. I purchased a top line VAIO one piece computer with wireless keyboard and mouse. After a few months of domestic use, the lettering on the keyboard began to wear away. After calling the telephone support call centre for Sony VAIO computers i was told that this was not a fault and was considered to be fair wear and tear. Numerous calls later after urging them to escalate the complaint I was advised they would not replace the keyboard and suggested that to prevent further deterioration of the keys i should follow this advise.
1. CUT MY NAILS
2. LEARN TO TOUCH TYPE so that I don’t have to look at the keys
3. DON’T HIT THE KEYS TOO HARD
It took the intervention of a newspaper and the Sony PR department to Sony to reconsider their decision and replace my keyboard.
The most shocking part of the whole process was the aloof and indifferent attitude from the Sony call centre. I will NEVER knowingly buy a Sony product again

The arrogant rep working for EDF [the french electrictity utility now providing our new-house connections] put the phone down on me after I corrected him on the dimensions of the required installation. I went to his supervisor after being given the run-around,[he said he would refuse to quote me] and I had to contact a different office to find out who she is. I then was advised by the site technician that the contracts experience repeated problems, mine is not unique. The supervisor eventually said that they “had had a word”. I suspect that their initial quote of over £5000 pounds was the reason for their arrogance, in an attempt to put me off reducing it, which I eventually did – but that’s a whole different story!

Best customer service? It has to be Lakeland. I bought a top of range Magimix from their Cardiff store (my old one jad finally died after 15 years) and it died within 2 years. I rang the store; the manager asked when I would next be in Cardiff to collect a replacement. We agreed that I would drive to the store at 2pm that day and return the faulty Magimix. I was 10 minutes early, but she was waiting outside with the replacement – didn’t ask for proof of purchase, didn’t even check to see if I was handing over a Magimix box filled with bricks. Assuming that customers are honest is all too rare these days!

Nastiest? The aggressive and suspicious ‘customer service’ staff at Marks & Spencer’s furniture call centre – somewhere like Hull to judge by their accents – who refused to accept that a piece of conservatory furniture had been damaged in transit despite insisting on an independent report from the Furniture Research Association confirming the fact. It wasn’t properly sorted until I’d threatened to reject the goods (paid for on an M&S credit card, so there was extra leverage as the credit card company was jointly liable) AND I’d written a steaming letter to the Chairman.

Worst AND best in one go? Step forward BT. They changed my telephone number at the request of another customer who wanted to transfer her number to an address similar to mine but with a different postcode. First thing we knew about it was when she rang us up (on her number) at 7 in the morning to check if it had happened. Later that day, we had a letter from BT (dated a fortnight earlier but postmarked 2 days before) asking if we could confirm that we agreed to the transfer – and telling us that we had three days from the date of the letter to do so. Every time I tried to contact them to sort matters out I got someone different, mostly in Bangalore, but eventually got through to someone in the UK. She took immediate action and our telephone number was restored by 1030. Even better, the customer who really had wanted her number transferred was sorted out by 1100 with her own original number, and a local engineer even drove out to tell her so. So complete procedural incompetence by BT was at least rescued by local staff who responded quickly and sorted a problem of their firm’s own creation. It didn’t end there, of couse: three steaming letters to the local ‘Customer Service’ centre (whose address I’d been given to complain to) went unanswered – and so another steaming letter to the Chairman of BT finally provoked a response. They still didn’t seem to accept that not checking out a full postcode for a transferred number, or posting letters to check with affected customers (rather than ringing them up!) was sloppy procedure – especially when a BT bill could be used fraudulently for money laundering – but I did get two quarters’ phone charges refunded.

Customer service in the UK is patchy. I don’t know why, because good customer service is a sure fire way of upping your business profile and turnover. It’s cheaper and easier to keep an old customer than to get a new one. Good service is a matter of luck (which of course it shouldn’t be). Although there are notable exceptions, the banks and utility companies are serial offenders – plus of course, Ryanair!

Maybe it’s down to poor staff training and rock bottom wages. The UK is a high cost, low wage economy, but even so, good bosses can motivate staff. You always get good customer service from people who are proud of their company – Waitrose/John Lewis?

On the positive side, my on line experience with internet sellers has been 100% good, with some suppliers providind outstanding service.

Also – maybe controversially – I think service from government departments has improved massively in recent years. I’m thinking of HMRC, The Courts Service, The Pensions Service, Vehicle and Licensing etc. The bureaucracy can still drive you mad but the people are pleasant and helpful. Of course, their pay and conditions are better than shop assistants! Food for thought.