Whatever happened to good customer service? You know, those people who get paid to assist you when you walk into an establishment. Whether it be an office, restaurant, retail store or other business, there are people who are supposed to be providing customer service. In a restaurant, you have a Host or Hostess who seats you and a wait staff who is supposed to see to your needs, from taking you order, to bringing your food and making sure you are served well and happy and in return you leave them a nice tip, a percentage based upon the cost of your meal. This tip is usually based upon the service that you’ve received from the staff at the restaurant. In a retail store, there are the sales personnal, who perhaps are supposed to help you find a product or make recommendations based upon what you tell them you are looking for and the cash register person who is supposed to ring your items up and take your payment. In a business, you often have a receptionist who greets you as you come in. These are all jobs in which the person doing them is making a salary to provide a service to you, correct? But, in reality, how often does you really get good customer service these days?
This reminds me of an incident I had a few years ago with Cottman Transmission Service in Barnegat, NJ. I had taken my car in to have it checked out because there was a minor transmission leak. The car ran just fine and the only problem I had was when it got low on transmission fluid, it would clunk in gear. I would add some transmission fluid and the car was fine until it ran a little low again. Cottman had an ad offering a free transmission check, so I took it in. A day later, they called me and told me, that not only did I owe them $300 for checking the transmission, but that I needed a brand new transmission which was going to cost an additional $1,200. It turns out that their free check was to check the fluid levels and that was it. Wow, I could (and did) do that myself! I argued and argued with them and told them no, I did not need a new transmission, the car ran fine other then the small leak and since they never mentioned this $300 charge, I didn’t feel it was justified. They refused to release my car and wanted another $300 to put the original transmission back in the car. After a lot of aggravation, I called their corporate office. I got a Customer Service rep on the phone and explained the situation to her. This didn’t get me anywhere, as all she did was conference me on the phone with the local office once again, where I had the same exact arguement that I had been having. She didn’t say a word then entire time I was having a debate with the store manager. After a while, I asked “Whatever happened to Customer Service?” Well, the dumb bitch only then piped in and chanted “I’m right here!” I swear, if I could have reached through the phone and slapped her I would have. In the end, I paid the $300, had my car towed out of there and to another transmission shop, where I paid them $150 to put the transmission back in and do a general service on it. Gee, the transmission that I was told was beyond repair, ran quite well after that and continued to do so for several more years, as I kept the car as a second car for 3 more years before giving it to my now ex, in the hopes it would help him move along and away from me. I wonder whatever did happen to Customer Service…she was pretty ditzy.
How many times have you gone to a store and waited for service while two or more Customer Service people were standing there and having a conversation, and then be treated as if you were bothering them and they were doing you a favor by performing the job that they are getting paid to perform?! How many times have you been met by a grumpy receptionist, who is on a personal phone call when you are standing there and again, you are treated like you are bothering them and they’re doing you a favor?
This is ridiculous! Where is the manager in this case? Sadly, sometimes it is the manager who is the guilty party! If you are so unhappy at your job and you don’t like doing it, then find a new job. Don’t treat people poorly because you don’t want to work at the job you are getting paid for! We all need to take a stand and make people accountable for their actions. And if you are one of those Customer Service Reps who does this to your customers, then I suggest you get a job where you don’t have to deal with people, because we are sick and tired of receiving poor customer service!
