"Poor customer service costs UK firms billions – so why can’t they get it right?"
 

Rersearch showing what we all know!!
The Observer, Consumer Affairs
All of this applies to Big Airways and others. It does not apply, in my view, to the famous LCC as they have never pretended to give customer service!

Today, I spent 75 minutes on the phone to the Council (having spent two hours gathering the data) to correct something that - had they send me a letter or an email seven months ago - would never have got to waste so much time. They said, "We sent you two letters - the fact that you did not receive them is not our fault" I pointed out that the original Council Tax bill had arrived so why not the other two letters that they said they posted? No answer. When I asked why they had not emailed me? "We are not legally obliged to send you emails." So, if their computer can send automatic letters - why not automatic emails? Such a waste of everyone's time and money.

All companies know that good customer service wins all the time. I remember arguing this in 1989 when I worked in the City. My boss wanted to use a cheaper supplier of fax machines (that was what we needed!) and I pointed out that, part of the purchase price was ensuring that they would turn up rapidly when there was a problem.

Are you sure about his. i thought we had World Beating customer service as everytig else in Global Britain is World Beating

Investing in customer service is like spending on advertising - half of it is wasted, but nobody knows which half. :O

Is that famous as in 'biggest and most profitable'? Hence...

But if you factor it into the price of your product the customer goes and buys your rivals cheaper product and then moans about the poor customer service...

Except punctuation, spelling, etc? :E

I don't know about other countries, but in the UK we all seem to have caught this disease which makes us want to spend the minimum amount on everything. Folk walk into a shop to look at a product but then buy whatever it is on-line instead, so the shops suffer and cannot pay for good staff. This trickles through to worse customer service, since most companies think it is a corner that can be cut, and they don't realise the consequences.

I have just come back from Saudi as a pax and the locals at the airport were polite, helpful, and smiled and said "welcome" etc. Contrast that to Heathrow where most staff were sour faced and looked as if they did not want to be there. A sweeping statement, I know but that's what I saw.

Unfortunately, customer service has gone the way of all things. Customer service used to be path to ensuring customers returned for further goods or to replace the one they just bought when it needed replacing. Nowadays, in my experience, it's a case of "Well if you don't come back there are plenty of others who will buy from us, not interested, next please". Really saddened by this.

My wife insists on buying things using Amazon simply because their customer service has, for us, been second to none. Items arrive on time and if they do not work or do not meet our requirements, returning them is simple, painless and refunds arrive promptly. Contrast that with two items recently bought from supposedly specialist suppliers. The items took a long time to be delivered, neither worked and trying to organise returns and refunds was far too complicated. In the end we found what we wanted on Amazon and bought them there.

I agree with the Amazon problem. They are a new company who put IT at the heart of their operation. Their customer service is not always tops but it does work.

I do understand the attitude that Doctor Cruces points out and that is certainly the case with many companies. I have long suggested that certain LCCs don't worry because, each year, there is a new generation leaving school and wanting to go on holiday with their mates. They will put up with anything for the low price. Next year? Another lot.

Being old fashioned (or just old) I respond to good customer service with loyalty. For example, the only reason I no longer travel as mich with VS is that their menu now seems to have every meal with either pasta or spice - neither of which I can tolerate. It's only when in Upper that I can be sure of a good meal and that makes it an expensive meal!!

The reason I will never use Turkish again was down to their truly terrible on the ground service. Their Biz class was brilliant all round. Their chef spoke with me, I told him what I could not eat and he gave me a lovely meal. Same on the return sector. On the ground? It would take many hours to tell you all the things they did wrong.

I think that as a nation the British aren't open to being 'of service' to others/customers, save for some niche careers that pay well. The latin nations are very open and see it as a proper job, the Scandis and Germanics do it in a professional and perfunctory manner. Perhaps it's that other countries and cultures are proud/feel a part of their nation and are more likely to be engaged with the customer.

In the UK, it seems to me at least, that over the last 30 years, bit by bit the jewels have been sold off and aside from sporting events and royal events, national belonging has waned considerably and this filters down through everyday interactions and perhaps into company culture. Workers just go through the motions, feeling no-one cares about them and that they are just cogs in the machine, rather than an integral part of the mechanism, which becomes all too apparent when things go astray. You only have to see how many people in customer facing jobs are on their phone, or have earpods in listening to whatever, only half there to know that non-customer facing positions(incl customer service) are similarly afflicted in only being part engaged. My latest long customer service experience was dealt with exclusively by tech, rather than a human being and even that was painful! it would seem that above a certain point, the service is there that one might expect, below that point it's hit and miss.

Interestingly, Tony Fadell, the guy who led the team who designed and developed the Apple iPod, and Nest, (before they sold the company to Google), makes sure that his team spends a lot of time and effort in ensuring that their customers have good service, and good help, post purchase. Not the cheapest product, but Apple have a very healthy bank balance, so they must be doing something right.

I'd agree with SpringHeeledJack. Customer service has been seen as something of a dead end job and one to do until you find something better. But, there is ONLY customer service. As everyone competes on price it is the only thing left - but it costs money. Customers always want the lowest price and the highest service. A similar problem is that everyone hates the bad roads and potholes in the UK now - but how many want to pay more taxes? If the Brits truly want the NHS, then everyone has to pay more - not just the high earners.

SOS
I think customer service tends to be lacking in the UK. Roles such as waiting tables / bar tender,
in Europe tend to be professional jobs where as in UK a student job or occasional full time as an example, and it goes on from there. We had a reputation almost based on literature like the Jeeves and Wooster books for service , but alas nothing like that now.

Some people do have a knack for customer service in UK, but it seems that it is a skill that is in retrograde for some reason.

Cheers
Mr Mac

If you are polite I don't think customer service in the UK is that bad in fact I think it's pretty good.
M&S spent 30 minutes trying to find me a waistcoat for a suit I had selected.
The biggest issue with customer service is being accosted as soon as you walk through the door.

My most amusing bad customer service was in a restaurant where the food was barely edible. When the waitress asked "Is everything okay with the food?" I began a 10 minute diatribe pointing out all the problems we had to which she replied "Oh, okay". We never saw here again.

Most annoying customer service. Having to go into a HSBC bank so I could have my HSBC online only credit card activated.

Always two sides and examples of 'The Good, The Bad & The Ugly' in customer service. Just like airlines. On one BA flight last year (long haul) I got bad vibes from the CC within 10 seconds of stepping on board. A feeling that I have never had before on BA. Sadly, my hunch was correct.

During the call to the Council that I mentioned at the start of this thread, I have forgotten how many 'Select from the following n options' that I went through and then their muzak. For the first 20/25 mins, I got the voice telling me where I was in the queue. Then just muzak. I held on in the hope of being answered and, after some 30+ mins of just the same looped bit of dross, suddenly the call was answered.

In the telecomms career, I worked for two different local Councils and a good telephonist would have been able to route my call considerably faster then the computer. Leaving a caller suspended in muzak for 30 mins would mean something had gone very wrong. But humans are money and some humans shout at other humans.

What is deeply ironic is that the 50+ find it hard to get jobs because companies - be they airlines, train companies or supermarkets - only want the young ones, (despite ageism being illegal in the UK). This applies to the highly qualified 50+ too. Even volunteering for the lifeboats is not possible after 55, no matter how fit, slim, healthy and active one is.

Yet the 50+ and 60+ remember the days of good manners and good service, and did not have smart phones when they were young, so they would be ideal for customer facing roles, and would be polite, attentive, and able to solve problems based on their life and career experience. One reason I prefer to shop in places such as M&S and John Lewis is that you get more intelligent and diligent shop assistants, who will take the time to help you and find solutions. Or rather you used to. Sadly, even those companies are going down market in their staff selection.

The 60+ would be good answering telephones in call centres I would have thought, as long as they were up to speed operating the computer systems.

Now that the retirement age is increasing, the country needs to do something to provide employment for the 60+. The younger folk can do the jobs where physical strength and stamina are needed, the older folk could do the gentler stuff that requires brain power.

Customer service? UK estate agents? Has there ever been a bigger oxymoron?
As the buying party. Spending more than life itself. What service could one expect? What service does one get?
Deception and being misled, hidden information, by a 17 year old living with mum and dad who apparantly knows all about property values, who has no qualifications at all, and earns???? multiple thousands of pounds by taking 6 crap photos on an Iphone and writing 2 deceptive paragraphs in a crappy one page print off that conveniently does not mention council tax charges, maintanance charges, ground rent etc.? Nothing that a prospective buyer might want to know? And then hands the whole sale process off to a 3rd party with no responsiblilty. ' incredible!

I always use a Credit Card for ALL purchases then of there's a issue and tbe retailer doesn't / won't sort it I make a claim trough the CC Company for a charge back and so far I have had thr money back 3 times out of 4....the one I didn't win is currently with the financial ombudsman.....so still hope for 4/4

I would go for the notion of cut costs and increase profits. I used to work for a big security company. The bosses kept telling how good we were at customer service. Once we decided to deny service to a customer because we didn't want to bother providing it. He threatened to write to the global HQ. We scrambled to provide the service. In the same company, a customer wanted the contract in English not the local language. We forgot all about being a global player and tell him not possible.

Hence it doesn't make much sense to buy a more expensive products since it is hard to know if the extra sum will go to bigger profits or better salaries and customer services

For my last two house moves we have had very good estate agents - very diligent, personable and pro-active. We chose ones with good reputations and with offices on the high street, so we could go and speak to the agents in person, rather than via a call centre, and they couldn't escape us if things were not going well and we wanted action. (It never came to that).

We stayed well away from the cheap online agents - one of our purchasers in the same chain used them though, and they had a lot of problems.

Ours were not cheap, but you generally get what you pay for.

Yesterday I encounterd another aspect of modern 'customer services'. We needed to put some things into storage for three months whilst we do a project. Many companies compete and I selected one based 50% on their service by email and phone.

When I had completed the paperwork with them and was about to leave, I had this exchange with the assistant:
"We would appreciate a Google review, if you can."
Yes, I can do that.
"It's just that we get assesed by those reviews"

We talked a little further and I could see that it was another way that the corporate world outsouce their staff managment to someone else. They have decided to read what customers put online, rather than understand their own staff. I will give them a good review because that is part of why I selected them but I feel very sad for the staff. She also said that she works part time but had to meet the same review targets as full time staff.

A few yers ago, I had the same request from a car salesman, although that was a paper feedback form. Happily, I did have a good experience and could answer honestly. When I started work, it was still called Personnel, then it bacame Human Recources, now?

It used to be a thing to sneer at the Americans and their "Have a nice day!" approach - how unauthentic, keep it real!

Then you experience it, and it's actually quite nice to deal with somebody polite and pleasant. Way better than a totally authentic disinterested grunt and sneer.

One of the upsides to Japan is the friendliness of staff and willingness to run in any direction for you to find what you want. Absoute basic line for any company wishing to succeed, and for any staff wishing to keep their job.

In the USA serving people is not considered demeaning at all it's considered a worthwhile job in its own right - much the same as waiting was in France - a career not a part time job.
I worked for a very large US company in the States and the wife of a VP worked all day in a local diner serving. She liked it , she was good at it and no-one thought it was odd

When I was at college in the US one thing I found strange was when entering an eatery for example, my friends would call the male staff at the counter 'sir'.

I work as customer service agent. We used to be rated by a member of the staff - based on using specific text or how our voice was heard. Company scrapped that employee review system. Instead we are judged by the customer on how we performed on Fist Contact Resolution, Net Promoter Service (or something like that), Customer Satisfaction and Average Handling Time. The customer gets an automated call after we hang up. Problem is the customer does listen very careful on what the scales are and he may use the system to attract attention from management by giving the agent a bad grade.

Yes, I have had those kind of feedback request. Some are by TXT/SMS and others are email. Often I find, the options are very limited and they are very 'Boolean'. More often than not I want to say (and do when given a free text box): "Your Agent worked very hard to resolve the problem created by your company. They were very helpful - the company was not."

Trying to tell us something?? :ok:​​​​​​​

Today's NON Customer Service is with the old enemy VS. Once they were majority owned by Delta - I think we all saw the changes. Their website was ported to the USA and screwed up a flight booking we had had, we got the flight but not the seats that had been Confirmed. At the time the CC quietly acknowledged the problem on the website.

My sister has a Voucher and needs some information on changing it, it's validity and so on. I logged into her account and started through the webchat with the Bot. I finally got it to direct me to a human - only to be told that all agents were very busy and try later. No, you are in a queue - just dumped.

Do the UK mgmt have any authority left in them?

Delta have certainly had a huge influence over Virgin Atlantic, but I don't think they have ever owned more than 49%.

Yes, I know that Delta have never owned more than 49% but, since they bought in, I see the change in service levels. We also see that they dropped a number of routes so that the aircraft could be deployed elsewhere. Feeding Delta's network? One simple example is CPT. They used to run all year round, now only for the Southern summer. With SAA gone, BA have the route to themselves for much of the year, they often operate two rotations on a Friday or Saturday. At JNB, whilst they do serve the route every day of the year, BA have often run 1x 777 + 1x 380 a night. I see that, in June this year, BA are running 2x 380 a night. There is so much 'fat' in the South African routes to keep BA happy for years. As far as I can tell, over the last six years, Delta are calling the shots.

Today, I did another long wait through their web-chat. The first two attempts would not connect me to a human as they were two busy and 'chat' was terminated. At the end of the afternoon, I got through to a human, after waiting for over 40 minutes. If you are waiting on the phone, you can do lots of other things but you HAVE to keep the webchat window open - eventhough you are getting no kind of 'We'll Be With You Shortly' message. You dare not leave the computer in case the agent pops up and thinks you have gone. Ther is no muzak (fortunately) but some kind of automated msg to let you know that you are connected, should not be difficult.

When they answered, they were very helpful but it is so slow to type everything in, especially when your next question depends on the answer to the first. When I went through this last year for another voucher, I got the distinct impression that the agent was handling two 'calls' at the same time, due to the amount of time that elapsed when I was waiting for even a very simple question to be answered. Today was a little better. But it would have been faster by phone. I appreciate that some callers will keep the agent trying all sorts of options and not get off the phone ..! They could start by allowing you to rebook online with the voucher. But that simple option is not possible.

BUT since we have already paid them several thousand pounds and have been using their airline since 1986 - I think they are shooting themselves in the foot.

well the LSE consider 30% to be effectively a "controlling interest" in public companies so 49% is VERY controlling

They're effectively a Delta subsidiary

Thanks Asturias56. I did not know that but it makes sense. If the UK allowed more than 49% ownership - Delta would have taken 51%! My sister has confirmed details so today I have to tackle the web bot again. Will have a pot of tea to hand and possibly a brandy.

S.O.S Customers always want the lowest price and the highest service.

It is a general trend especially among the younger generation (well, younger than me) but I wouldn't say "always". I am one of those odd-balls (by today's standards) who is willing to pay more in return for a good service and after sales service. That of course depends if I can find an establishment which offers that option. They do exist and those I use I have used for years without any complaints whatsoever. They are admitadly becoming more and more difficult to find though.

If you want instant customer service when you enter a bank - wear a hat. Particularly if it's wide enough to hide your face from CCTV. Banks have discovered that they can derail a would-be robber's script by approaching them first.

It is some years since I gifted some VS points to my sister for her next trip here to upgrade to PE. I was expecting the usual administration fee but, wait for it, the cost of transferring the 33k of points was £247.50 since I had already promised my sister, I had no choice but to continue. Then the kicker 'Handling Fee £15.00' = £262.50

Those 'ancillary' costs are so beautiful. Of course, I know that no one wants to pay and that the airlines have been crushed but I really find that difficult to stomach.

Customer service in the USA is much better now; The assistants simply look up from rehanging clothes as you walk in and say "good morning" and "how are you?".

It might be a script, but the assistants in American Eagle, Banana Republic, and Abercrombie and Fitch, smile as they say it and seem quite sincere to me; and I don't object at all.

I have travelled many times from Canada to Vietnam, always via an East Asian airport. This transit stop sometimes is up to eight hours and so I try to find a transit room.

Once at Narita, after sleeping and showering, I had more than an hour left on my room rental. I decided to leave early and get something to eat.

Upon handing in my key and my receipt, the agent glanced at the clock and gave me a refund for one hour!

I doubt that would happen anywhere else in the world.

do not do this in the usa!!

When first in Hungary we ordered a TV / Internet package from Magyar Telekom.
Engineer called 2 days later to connect us up but was unable to as our apartment block did not have MT's infrastructure and so we had to go with an alternative supplier - which we did. Some weeks later the postman called and gave us (the equivalent of) €150, compensation from MT as they were unable to fulfill the contract.