Help Fill In The Blanks On How Consumers Have Grown To Expect And Accept Incompetence

Mike Finley

I'm convinced that businesses' customer service has fallen so much in the last decade that consumers are now becoming a society that expects compromise. They have become so numb that bad service and lack of delivery of promise is acceptable to some degree.

Help me out by posting examples where consumers have grown acceptable of poor delivery or goods or service.

Some examples :

1. The pay at the pump gas station that asks you to come inside to pay for gas after dark.
2. The fast food drive-in that asks you to pull over and park and wait for your meal.
3. The cable company that gives you a 4 hour window that becomes an entire day lost.
4. The acceptance that the chances are slim to none that your computer problem will be fixed by a call to technical support on the first try.
5. Pizza delivery taking so long because of incompetence, that one company had success by actually marketing to the public on doing what used to be expected in delivering a pizza in 30 minutes.
6. A large percentage of us won't even try to use a warranty because we are convinced that the effort will be futile.

ElliottDoor

Self checkouts
Bagging your own groceries
Automated answering systems (most you have to go through 4 steps to have an option to speak with an assistant)
Ordering from a machine (Jack in the Box tried this for awhile at there front counter!)
Overbooked vacation packages (whats supposed to be for YOU turns out to be for 400 people also = less personal service)
Companies "bait & switch" tactics (Theres too much of this and most times its very attention grabbing, untill you see the fine print)
Telemarketers who don't take no for an answer, and keep calling back!

Man this list can go on forever but i don't have the time to think of them all. Your absolutely right though, It has declined. I think a lot of it contributes to cost of labor. Big companies trying to downsize their labor costs.

I went to Disneyworld once. There was an error in my billing so I called their customer service rep (at the executive office) she said "I had to jump through hoops to refund your 260 dollars" after 2 weeks of phone tag. At Disneyworld!!

Celtic

When is the last time you needed plans reviewed by the city (6 months before "OK") or the last time you got a permit from a town not in your "area" (2 hours and 1 parking ticket later).

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kevjob

thats funny in Denver there is only meter and parking lots so good luck usually I have to circle two to three times before a spot opens up

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Kevin
Basement Finishing Highlands Ranch Colorado
Littleton Colorado, Basement Remodeling
Kitchen Remodeling Denver

Celtic

They don't have a "no cruising" law there

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Mike Finley

We are all consumers here also.

How many of us accept spotty cell phone coverage? By accept it, I mean when you are searching for a new provider what is your criteria? 100% coverage with no drops ever, or the one with the least drops? I know what my answer to that is.

How about the ultimate one. Microsoft windows products. Imagine your truck operating the way windows does. You're driving down the road about to make a turn just pulling on the highway, accelearting to merge and then <blink> truck locks up!

Celtic

Don't they call those vehicles "Fords"?

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walleyed

"Don't they call those vehicles "Fords"?"

hahaha

Grumpyplumber

Cable/internet and volp phone are out...call cable co from my cell...press 2 for English then try 0 ..."sorry thats an invalid request".
Voice prompt tells me to press 1 to continue...I do so.
I then press the incorrect key....and have to wait for the whole message on what key to press for what service...all the way up to 9, to find out how to get back to the main menu.
I start again...press all the appropriate keys...meanwhile conjuring mental images of sending them an invoice for my time and mumbling senseless angry sounds while thinking of the customers I was s'posed to call that night.
I FINALLY get to the right extension...voice prompt says "Sorry, all lines are busy...we will be with you momentarily".
After a half hour, the angry, senseless mumbling has grown to a full blown self invented language as the operator answers with an almost english sounding accent and partially over hears me.
I get into an explanation...he has me unplug a cord, then my cell reception fades...comes back in...fades again and the the "fewest dropped calls" network drops my call.
After spending an hour of my time on the phone with cable...I turn my attention to the cell co....as well as calling on several tool warranties I'd been meaning to get to, and then that unknown charge on my electric bill will be next...yeah...time well spent.
They're not stupid...they market promises that they know you won't want to deal with to see come to fruition.

tinner666

Are we forgetting all the 'new' wonder materials with which we are building and remodeling with? Crap guaranteed for 50 years and going bad in 8-12. AND YES, I point this out to every customer who wants 'X' wonder product! And they buy it too!

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Frank Slate Roof Repairs, Richmond, Va.

ChrWright

Poor service is nothing new... Usually, it's when a company grows beyond its humble beginnings that things start to go downhill. We all know at least one guy with the "too big, too fast" story. Here's how it usually goes: A guy is good at what he does and people start to find out about it. Soon, he has more work than he can handle so he hires some guys to help handle the extra load. If he's smart, he'll grow gradually, and train his people to deliver the same quality and service he always has. If he's not smart...if he's greedy...well, we all know where that road leads.

However, before you complain too loudly--you might think about the things you use and buy everyday and what your priorities really are as a consumer.

You would think, intuitively, that giving good customer service would be at the top of any list of priorities--for any company in any industry. On the macro level, that's certainly true. But we as consumers demonstrate everyday that in certain circumstances we see service as less important than, say price...or convenience...or variety...etc. etc.

To quote your example--cell towers.... I'm no cell tower expert--but my guess is that to create a network with 110% coverage without dropped calls would be cost prohibitive....In a competitive market, most people would rather pay less, and drop a few calls---than pay more for better coverage. That's how a market economy functions--it's the consumer who drives the level of service and the price they're willing to pay for it.

We all have supply houses we deal with and we all buy at the home centers too. Why? You would think since the supply houses usually treat us better that we'd all shop there, all of the time. Of course, we don't. Because the home centers are convenient--we can get a variety of S#$# in the same place. The home centers buy in huge quantities so their prices are cheaper. The service usually sucks, but we still go back... Why? We complain and bitch and moan, but we still go back because the price and convenience are more important than the service. I can pay $40 a piece for a low voltage recesssed can housing at Lowes...or I can pay $80 for the same housing at the supply house. So i'll put up with the morons who don't know what's on their shelf...I'll dodge the cromagnan man on the forklift who drives like a monkey in heat...I'll sit in the line behind the damn check writers...and I'll put up with 101 other things, too... Because I'm not willing to pay more for the fixture...pure and simple.

Look at any product or service that you complain about, yet still continue to buy and use. Chances are on some level, even unconciously--you are unwilling to change to an alternative because something else is more important to you. There is a price to pay for service, and the market always establishes what we're willing to pay.

There are, in any industry, niches of opportunity. Certain people ARE willing to pay more for better service. A lot of businesses have been built on delivering superior service and charging more for it. Nordstrom... FedEx... and the afformentioned Dominoes Pizza...to name only a few.

I'm not trying to sound preachy here, and certainly don't presume to give you all an economics lesson... just some food for thought.

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Christopher Wright, CR: President @ WrightWorks, LLC/President @ Central Indiana NARI, Named to the 2010 REMODELING Big50
www.WrightWorks.net - Facebook - Twitter - Carmel Remodeling
Indianapolis Kitchen Remodeling Contractor - You Can Get There From Here

Grumpyplumber

No preaching allowed!
Seriously, my post was intended as humor...and some venting.
I don't make purchases based on warranties alone because some MFG's take months to live up to their "promises" (Ridgid notably, despite their reputation, has come to be known for taking months to repair or replace simple items like a cordless drill...while I have no drill to use for work)
As for the box stores, yup I use 'em.
They advertize installation services that are in direct competition with me for much less money than I'll work for, which leaves their "subs" in the position to try and convince the customer that there are "necessary" upgrades needed while there.
At 8:pm when I get a call for a leak and see I ran out of 1/2" copper, I have no choice...or lose the job to the guy who will go there to get it.
There's what appears to be an attempt at monopoly going on, I have no power over it.
Maybe, just maybe, WE do.

Grumpy

I have come to realize that as long as you fix your mistakes when the customers complain, they will be as happy as pigs in mud. But what about the mistakes they don't complain about? That's where most companies seem to make their money.

My business model is focusing on quality. It makes the sale harder because I am asking for more money and only a select few people really want a godd (insert product ot service name here). Many companies in my area do an adequate job. They cut alot of corners, but the job will probably last the warranty period but definetly not much longer. Let's say 3/10 customers complain, well they make their money on the 7 that don't.


I will tell you I was die hard against self check outs because I know each time I use one I am putting some poor college or high school kid out of a job, but they are so damned fast in most cases.

Grumpyplumber

Nice name, by the way...
Yup...that was the whole point of my "tyrade" on corporate customer service...we settle for it because we have become dependant on their service...and cable seems to monopolize most area's with very little competition.
You're also right about customers, jump as soon as they express dissent and it usually makes you look even better than before the problem, just be careful and notice little things they may not openly complain about. (cleaning up after yourself is a big one)