How Important is Customer Service to YOU?

Cephus said:

Funny, I get that with most products, I don't get ass-raped for the convenience and I don't have to deal with pretentious Apple asshats.

Click to expand...

The last time I went to Apple I had to bring my computer in because it was on the fritz. It only turned out to be a dying hard drive which was a huge relief, so I happily told him to switch that mofo out. Then he said, "Yeah, about that, if we give you a new hard drive it's going to cost $300." He looked genuinely guilty about this and continued, "Just go to Amazon and get yourself a new hard drive, it'll cost sixty bucks." Which of course I did.

Customer service is a pet peeve of mine, especially when dealing with a secretary. I can't tell you how many times I've decided not to use a company because the secretary didn't know what he/she was talking about. I think companies figure that answering phones is a low skilled position, but imo it's one of the most important positions in the company because the secretary is the first person we talk to (first impressions) and really the number one salesperson. If the secretary sucks, it doesn't bode for the rest of the company as far as I'm concerned.

Cardinal said:

The last time I went to Apple I had to bring my computer in because it was on the fritz. It only turned out to be a dying hard drive which was a huge relief, so I happily told him to switch that mofo out. Then he said, "Yeah, about that, if we give you a new hard drive it's going to cost $300." He looked genuinely guilty about this and continued, "Just go to Amazon and get yourself a new hard drive, it'll cost sixty bucks." Which of course I did.

Click to expand...

Apple is ridiculously overpriced. Hard drives are dirt cheap today, even solid state ones. How they can get away with charging an arm and a leg for something that, as you said, Amazon sells for 1/5 the price, I have no idea.

Being in the retail business for 30 plus years, customers make or break you

And in the car business, customers have little issue in voicing their displeasure

We try very hard, but we can't make everyone happy. We do what we can within reason to appease customers, but sometimes they are unreasonable

One of the things I have learned is that every happy customer will tell maybe a couple of people where they bought, and who they dealt with. Every unhappy customer will tell upwards of ten others.....so when we get one, we really do try to make it right

Cephus said:

Apple is ridiculously overpriced. Hard drives are dirt cheap today, even solid state ones. How they can get away with charging an arm and a leg for something that, as you said, Amazon sells for 1/5 the price, I have no idea.

Click to expand...

Yea Service, Quality and Price all matter to me. how much of one you can sacrifice for another I suppose is a personal thing.

Extremely important to me... especially in dining/hotels, etc. If service sucks I will never go back to that place regardless of how great food/rooming might be. This might be hard for some to believe about me but I was a fine dining food server for a decade at top dining establishments and was always outstanding, polite, caring, forward thinking, etc. Got me the best tips. I expect good service even at Denny's. If I am paying then I better get it.

Ntharotep said:

Inspired by This Thread, I was curious of how much people value customer service in this day and age and how it effects their being a customer.

When discussing this with friends, coworkers, family- I hear a lot of different opinions. One of the arguments that seems to rise more and more (and more) is:
"Well look at how much they are paid and how they are treated by their employers..."

My problem is that I've worked a range of jobs over the years, some good jobs and some crappy jobs with crappy management. I have very rarely if ever taken this out on the customer. It is simple logic to me. If I have a crappy boss that isn't the customer's fault so why provide anything less than good customer service?
Everyone has bad days, of course, but these days it seems less and less expected that the service industry treat you like a customer unless you are paying hundreds or thousands of dollars (and even then you might be treated like an inconvenience).

So is it a big deal? Is being treated well as a customer a thing of the past to fall to the wayside like Disco?

Paing is the new paying...oops.

Click to expand...

I think it's odd that people hold that view (fear of being retaliated against by food tampering) when they don't hold that fear with any other line of service.

If people are that paranoid about a stranger fixing them food then why are they going out to eat?

I've never had a situation in which I felt I was treated poorly as a customer, that my food wasn't edible, or that the waitress was a slobby pig that wiped boogers in my coffee cup. In my view - customer service is alive and well.

I know this is kind of a moot point in today's world, but when I call customer service and get an automated system, the company automatically loses points. Then, depending on how complicated their system is, and how hard it is to reach an actual human being, they will lose more points. Last week I had to call a computer company to find a part for one of my machines and I was shocked when a live person picked up the phone.

I can't remember where I read it, but companies with front-line reception who redirect calls to appropriate departments tend to have much better customer loyalty.

haymarket said:

Good question. Customer service is very important to me and I prize it highly. for example, I only buy Apple computers because they have superior customer service where I can walk in with the product and get fast help from a professional - an actual GENIUS :mrgreen: - and get my problem taken care of.

Click to expand...

That is the ONLY reason you buy Apple computers?

You don't buy it for the product or the operating system or the App Store...you buy it only because of customer service?

So if I start making/selling computers that are adequate at best but give INCREDIBLE customer service...would you then buy my computers instead?

The only time I need customer service is when I have a problem.

I would rather deal with a robot/computer until I do have a problem. That is one reason why I buy whatever I can online.

That and if I go outside the Oxygen Monkeys will get me.

Hey now...I actually prefer unsalted fries sometimes...fast food fries are ridiculously salty sometimes. I could swear they store them in a bin of salt or something...probably why I avoid them now.

But as for customer service...
I think it can harm a product if poor, and help a product if good. But it cannot make a bad product good.

DA60 said:

That is the ONLY reason you buy Apple computers?

You don't buy it for the product or the operating system or the App Store...you buy it only because of customer service?

So if I start making/selling computers that are adequate at best but give INCREDIBLE customer service...would you then buy my computers instead?

Click to expand...

Not at all. I buy it for the entire package - product and service.

haymarket said:

Not at all. I buy it for the entire package - product and service.

Click to expand...

Well you did type:

'for example, I only buy Apple computers because they have superior customer service'


That's why I asked.

DA60 said:

Well you did type:

'for example, I only buy Apple computers because they have superior customer service'


That's why I asked.

Click to expand...

I did post a bit more in other posts. No problem.

Very Important. I was a Verizon Home customer for 15 years or so. I had their home phone, and DSL for 15 years, then the last 2 years ago FIOS. I just dropped them.

For 3 months my on-line account was all screwed up. They weren't billing me. So I called them and for 3 months not only weren't they billing me, they had no idea how much to bill me. lol

A multi-billion $ company, and one of the leading Tech companies in the world, but they couldn't, or wouldn't fix my simple on-line account. 5 times I called them in 3 months, and 5 times I got the run around.

The last person I talked to was a supervisor, and she didn't give a rats ass if I stayed or left. So I left, I was on the phone with TW, and had an appointment to install their Internet within 30 minutes of hanging up with Verizon. And for 1/2 the price I was paying Verizon.

These companies all want you to do business on-line, and paperless, etc. Saves them some money. But it is amazing how awful some of their on-line sites are. Even top of the line tech companies. Their sites are awful.

Product quality and customer service are very important to me, and I think they go hand in hand.
It does not matter what product we are talking about...food, merchandise, quality care at a restaurant, hotel, hospital, store, online. Proprietors who stand behind their product will seek to offer great customer service.
Of course a "boss" can't be everywhere 24/7, but frequent spontaneous checking into employees conduct are very important. It can take one lousy employee with a bad attitude to make everyone else look bad.
People in general should take pride in what they are doing, no matter what the task, and do the job with integrity.

I will say though that customers seem to believe that everything is in the control of the staff in a business. That simply isn't the case when it comes to places that are large corporate run entities. We have policies that are there and so many want those policies to not apply to them. If I tell you our policy and you don't think it's fair why do you think I should violate the policy for you and not the next twelve people that come along? On top of this, if you are waiting in line because a place only has one or two cashiers, even if they have other staff doing things, it isn't necessarily because they are ignoring you. It could be that they have to get other things done, have to consider payroll and are only given so much money for their payroll, which in many cases is unreasonable for the volume of customers they serve.

Northern Light said:

I know this is kind of a moot point in today's world, but when I call customer service and get an automated system, the company automatically loses points. Then, depending on how complicated their system is, and how hard it is to reach an actual human being, they will lose more points. Last week I had to call a computer company to find a part for one of my machines and I was shocked when a live person picked up the phone.
I can't remember where I read it, but companies with front-line reception who redirect calls to appropriate departments tend to have much better customer loyalty.

Click to expand...

It is becoming more and more common for this to be automated though I still find vendors who use live operators to be able to help me much quicker, depending on the operator of course.

roguenuke said:

I will say though that customers seem to believe that everything is in the control of the staff in a business. That simply isn't the case when it comes to places that are large corporate run entities. We have policies that are there and so many want those policies to not apply to them. If I tell you our policy and you don't think it's fair why do you think I should violate the policy for you and not the next twelve people that come along? On top of this, if you are waiting in line because a place only has one or two cashiers, even if they have other staff doing things, it isn't necessarily because they are ignoring you. It could be that they have to get other things done, have to consider payroll and are only given so much money for their payroll, which in many cases is unreasonable for the volume of customers they serve.

Click to expand...

This is also true. Staff does not always have the say and should never be faulted (or have it taken out on them) if their company has a "stupid" policy.
I'm also not sure if I could do customer service in today's world as easily as I did in the 80s-90s just be virtue of the fact that, locally at least, customers and people in general seem to have gotten worse attitudes.

One of my best friends is a waitress and I've witnessed situations like a table of eight wanting each of their desserts (just the desserts mind you) on separate checks and then leaving her a $1.00 tip for the entire table...she is amazing at her job though and never takes it out on other customers. This is why she was one of my favorite waitresses before becoming one of my best friends.
Patience of a saint.

Another issue I ran into once upon a time was with CVS once they replaced Eckerds Pharmacy locally. My wife at the time and I went in to fill her prescriptions. There was some little thing or another that Eckerds did for us with prescriptions and we let the person at the Pharmacy know this. The words that should never leave the mouth of someone wanting return business then were heard. "Well. We aren't Eckerds".
I informed them that no, they were indeed not Eckerds and then we never went back.
We used Target Pharmacy for some time and that was pretty awesome. They put little color coding rings on the medications which helps I imagine if there is a household with different people's medications lying around.
Now, years later, I just use a discount pharmacy for my couple of meds and I have stopped at CVS for this or that but never for my medication needs. Never again.

Ntharotep said:

Another issue I ran into once upon a time was with CVS once they replaced Eckerds Pharmacy locally. My wife at the time and I went in to fill her prescriptions. There was some little thing or another that Eckerds did for us with prescriptions and we let the person at the Pharmacy know this. The words that should never leave the mouth of someone wanting return business then were heard. "Well. We aren't Eckerds".
I informed them that no, they were indeed not Eckerds and then we never went back.

Click to expand...

I'm with you on this. For me this would necessitate a letter to corporate.

roguenuke said:

I will say though that customers seem to believe that everything is in the control of the staff in a business. That simply isn't the case when it comes to places that are large corporate run entities. We have policies that are there and so many want those policies to not apply to them. If I tell you our policy and you don't think it's fair why do you think I should violate the policy for you and not the next twelve people that come along? On top of this, if you are waiting in line because a place only has one or two cashiers, even if they have other staff doing things, it isn't necessarily because they are ignoring you. It could be that they have to get other things done, have to consider payroll and are only given so much money for their payroll, which in many cases is unreasonable for the volume of customers they serve.

Click to expand...

Sometimes the employee can't win. My wife used to work the returns counter at a large national home improvement retailer. They had very specific return policies, and you would be amazed at what people try to return... contractors abuse a drill for 6 months, then expect a new one for free, often without a receipt even, that kind of thing.

My wife was expected to toe the company policy regarding return standards, and would literally get in trouble if she didn't. So, she did.

Many of the "regulars", however, knew the store manager was a push-over. My wife would deny the return, they'd demand to speak to the manager, the manager would waive her hand and say to "just do it", without so much as a question.

My wife would be upset because that always made her look bad, but she had no other choice. She wasn't about to get in trouble with the manager for doing what the manager did.

That manager is no longer at that store, but is still a manager somewhere in the chain. And yes, she was/is a terrible manager.

Cephus said:

Apple is ridiculously overpriced. Hard drives are dirt cheap today, even solid state ones. How they can get away with charging an arm and a leg for something that, as you said, Amazon sells for 1/5 the price, I have no idea.

Click to expand...

I know people who have never done laundry, and not because their parents are doing it for them, but because they're wealthy and the idea of doing their laundry makes about as much sense to them as sewing all my own clothing or growing all my own produce makes sense to me. And yes, they pay deeply for that service, but they can afford to do so and they feel their time is better spent doing something else. Anyway, the Apple clerk clearly discerned that I was comfortable with opening up a macbook and replacing the hard drive on my own, and rather than corral me into paying a 500% markup, he happily led me instead toward an alternative that wouldn't even make his company money. So in that sense, I left the store feeling like I was treated well.