Do the ones who run companies which employ over, say, 250 people care about their customers? Do the actually listen to the frequent comments posed by the people who use their services?

“Your call is important to us and maybe recorded for training and quality purposes”.  

Pah!

I’m not sure if anyone actually believes this.

If this statement read true then over the years the service provided by companies should be second to none but many fall way below the standards set a few years ago let alone fifty.

Okay lets look at this another way.

One wants to buy a new car. There are so many to choose from and they all live in shiny new showrooms dotted up and down the country. It all looks beautiful; even the sales staff have friendly smiles and clean smart clothing. Nothing is too much. Coffee, tea or something? They bend over backwards to try to sell you something there and then.

That’s brilliant so long as you ask the right questions, do your homework, stick to your strict budget and haggle the best deal; it can be fun. Honestly, it can and the results can be very appealing and in your own favour.

So after a few weeks your new car arrives, you shake hands with the dealership boss, get behind the wheel and wave a happy goodbye as you drive away in your gleaming new car.

With me so far? You are happy, proud and basically very pleased with life at this point and so you should be.

However; “Dun dun dun dun dah!!”

After a few days, weeks or even months something goes wrong. This is where the problems start for many customers. You pick up the phone and dial the customers service desk. Once one has tackled the dreaded lists of menus and there is finally a voice at the end of the line, that isn’t automated or transferring your call, one can advise the assistant of the problem. Then they tell you they can’t deal with the problem but promise a member of the service or workshop team will call you back. This seldom  happens and then the above process has to be repeated with a further promise of a call-back. On the third or fourth attempt, and after loosing your temper, you finally get through to someone who informs you they don’t stock the parts but can do the work in two weeks or so when they arrive.

You agree after holding back a tidal-wave of emotional outrage and then finally the day arrives to take you car in for its simple repair.

“It should only take half an hour so if you take a seat in our waiting area then we will tell you when its ready” a nice member of staff informs you. “Help yourself to a drink from the machine” So armed with that knowledge you sit yourself down and relax for a while. Its a great excuse to have to do very little. But these places are very clinical, warm and boring. So out comes the phone and that’s the e-mail done, the Facebook caught up with, the next level in that addictive game reached and a few texts sent and replied to. An hour and half has passed by so you imagine the car to be fixed and waiting but the staff member has forgotten to inform you.

“Is it ready yet?” you meekly inquire.

“They’re just putting it on the ramps now” you are told.

“I thought you said it would be half an hour? And that was an hour and a half ago.”

“We are very busy you know!!” Daggers look response.

On this goes. One has to get angry and threaten complaint in writing to Head Office before finally something is done and some form of satisfaction is reached.

Now this is my point. Why should it be so hard?

It never used to be like this. if someone said they were going to do something then nine times out of ten it was done unless there were unforeseen problems and even then they told you and tried to offer an alternative solution.

If you contacted customer services in the past then your call was answered within 5 rings (or as near as they could) and staff used their common sense to solve a problem and they spoke the local language.

Now it can take half an hour of menu options, being told your call is important but is in a queue, being transferred and re-transferred. Once you get through (if you can understand a word they say) you have to limit questions to what is on their computer screen (any deviation results in a stock answer reply of no use) and get bounced around from department to department as they can only deal with one thing only.

Complain in public about the service on offer or someonelses behaviour and you are subject to red-faced humiliation and ridicule.

There are so many faceless managers and officials with vague job titles that a complaint can be side-stepped as no-one wants or thinks they need to take responsibility (unless you are at the bottom and are a worker which is often the position of “scapegoat”) and heaven forbid they have to make themselves known to the unwashed public.

I know some big companies with fantastic after sales and customer services. Winalot/Purina pet foods, Apple, Garmin, Kellogs, PC World and Tesco to name but a few. I praise these with gusto but this should be the norm across all business whether it be a doctor’s surgery, a new home, a car or insurance issue.

I have tried blanking those who offer poor after sales services or bad customer relations but there are just some areas where this is not possible like doctors, banks and some shops but on the whole its possible to take back some control. Cars; I shall not be using Renault or that group again. Windows and doors; I will use my local chap instead of AllWeatherline Roofing. A Home phone Broadband; I shall never, ever use TalkTalk.

So Business Bosses be warned. Up your game, employ enough staff to deal with complaints and praises, take a more active role in after sales and most of all treat customers with honesty, integrity and worth.