Okay, I'm going to throw out a phrase here and let's see if anyone knows what it means. The phrase is "customer service". Yeah, I know, most of you are scratching your head. "What in the world could that possibly mean?" Some of the older folks might know. They remember when there was a thing called "service stations" where someone actually came out, pumped your gas, checked your oil and tire pressure, and took care of the customer. I know, I know, to the younger generation that sounds a bit like a pink unicorn -- pure fantasy -- but it did exist.
Customer service would be where a business would attempt to provide service to their customers. Now, I'm sure you've seen a sign like that at a variety of stores. "Customer Service" in these cases generally means "Come here and wait for an indeterminate amount of time while we jerk you around and deny any culpability for the problem you claim you are having with our product." In other places it is "Our promise to answer your questions or provide what you need ... that we don't actually intend to keep." Somehow it is rarely, "We really want to make our customers as happy as they can be."
I've had too many interactions with "customer service" in the last month. I've asked for information from companies so I can buy their product, and they've been only too glad to ... ignore me. I've emailed folks asking for help and despite the certain reply that "We will respond in the next 24 to 48 hours" I haven't heard back from them. It doesn't matter who it is. Banks, businesses, purveyors of electronics or software or any product you care to mention ... they're all seemingly lost on the meaning of the term, "customer service".
I have a theory. I theorize that if a company actually produced a good product and, if needed, actually serviced their customers, that company would be pretty rich pretty quick, being such a novelty and all. But I have a lot of theories, and some of them don't hold water. My other theory that counters my first theory is that people are so used to the term "customer service" meaning "Go away" that they might not even notice if it meant "Can we really be of help?" People can be funny that way.
2 comments:
Yes 'customer service' seems to be a lost art. But to assure you it still is around, let me tell you a story.
One day driving home I realized deep inside I forgot to put a label on the envelope I dropped in the Fed Express box earlier that day. I fretted, I called my boss, who in turn called Fed Exp. My boss went down to the local Fed Ex office and told them our story. They not only found the package, put a label on it and set it on its way to the destination we needed -- it arrived the next day as we had intended. The cool thing was our Fed Exp driver stopped by the next day to check to see if the package had been found (he had been told about it when he went back to the center that night). He didn't have any new packages for us, just stopping by to be sure all was handled. NOW that my friends is CUSTOMER SERVICE! :)
Blessings to you and yours,
LouAnn
It is rare events like that which make "customer service" all the more amazing. When it happens, it's glorious. I would think that more businesses would want to solidify their relationships with their customers through this means.
(Oh, and LouAnn ... Happy New Year to you and yours.)
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