Rant - sorry - Customer Service is dead???????

[tpop1]

So, I’m in line & the server asks me “Can I help you?”
I barely say, “What kind of muffins do …?” & the phone rings.

5 minutes later, after a discussion with a “potential” customer, she returns to this real customer and doesn’t know why I might be disturbed.

Heard of voice mail?

Am I wrong??

Bad service is all around and will kill a lot of businesses.

Who's more important; the one there or the one on the phone?

.... and that's all I'll say about that! :o

[Mudder]

There isn't much that you and I can agree on....being as how you must be a Yankee fan.....but I TOTALLY agree with your small rant about customer service. I guess no one trains them to wait on the customer who is standing right there in front of them with money in hand. To go along with that ......standing in the grocery store line for ten minutes, suddenly a new register opens and the cashier tells the LAST person in my line to come over there! Now that one, I usually speak up, just to make a comment. Even worse is when they answer their cell phone and hold it with their shoulder while waiting on you. Ok, I feel better.

[golf2140]

I made a call to a local doctors office yesterday to request an appointment (my first). I explained to the lady on the phone that my wife was a current patient and I have been told to see this type doctor. (trying not to name names). She immediately put me on hold which forwarded me to a voice mail. This person called me back in ten minutes. How's that for treatment of a potential new patient. :mad:

[graciegirl]

Was her name Peggy? His? He is a nightmare!

[swrinfla]

No, Gracie, I'm convinced that "Peggy" only exists at the other end of credit card associated calls. Medically-associated calls come from or go to someone located on the other side of the world, someone whose ability to understand and/or speak the American language is severely impaired!

Sorry, I've just been dealing with such a session! :ohdear:

SWR
:beer3:

[BowleesCreekYachtClub]

There are those who can not tell the important from the urgent - when the phone rings for example it is always thought to be urgent but it is rarely important. When I take my goods to the cash register and the person there answers the phone then I put the merchandise down and leave the store. That's it.

[Jane52]

All of the above drives me nuts and it's happened too often.

One thing that sends me into orbit is when you are standing at the cash register with cold, hard cash or plastic in hand, waiting to pay and leave, but the workers and their supervisors are all doing "more important" things like stocking shelves and folding clothes or organizing merchandise. Sometimes I've asked "How can stocking or folding piles of clothes be more important than completing a sale and taking in MONEY from a customer?" but was met with a sneering look. Many "workers" simply do not care.

[Larryandlinda]

We found the following with a short 'Top Ten' list years ago we had copied and posted behind our counters and registers, and bathrooms for staff members to see and practice.
Why not make some small copies and hand them out to places that could benefit?
--------------------
Giving your customers the VIP treatment - to meet their needs and keep them coming back - is the cornerstone of any small business. This can include subtle touches, such as the simple words and phrases you use when dealing with customers.
The key point, and this should be common sense, is to get rid of negative statements and replace them with positive.
1. I don't know - I'll find out
2. No - What i can do is....
3. That's not my job - This is who can help you
4. You're right, this stinks - I understand your frustration
5. That's not my fault - Let's see what we can do about this
6. You need to talk to my manager - I can help you
7. You want it by when? - I'll try my best
8. Calm Down! - I'm sorry
9. I'm busy right now - I'll be with you in a moment
10. Call me back - I'll call you back


We have had some great experiences in The Villages with most establishments, especially Publix, Crispers, and Ace in the Southern Trace area.

When we get exceptional service we threaten to report them for their good efforts, though we are far behind, but we get names when we remember.



Happy Shopping!

L and L

[ceejay]

Coming from a retail background, I can attest to the fact that MANAGEMENT INSISTS that you answer the phone.

I worked for a major box club. The phone was constantly ringing. We were instructed to answer the phone by the third ring which meant leaving the living, breathing customer in front of us, picking up the phone, making sure you answered with the 3 sentence phone greeting, listening to their request and then directing them to the right department. The right department was always a manager, who, of course, did not EVER pick up the phone.

I pleaded and begged constantly with them to change this policy, to no avail. It MUST be picked up by the third ring. My greeting went something like this:

ThankyouforcallingBJ'sWholesaleClubwherewefeaturet helowestpriceintiresshopwithusandcomparepleasehold .

Half the time, I never got back to the call and they hung up...guess it wasn't that important. Hey...at least I answered by the third ring (nearly killing myself in the process to rush from one end of the counter to the other).

Now I work for a bank and they expect us to do the SAME thing...yeah, right.:grumpy:

[Talk Host]

Coming from a retail background, I can attest to the fact that MANAGEMENT INSISTS that you answer the phone.

I worked for a major box club. The phone was constantly ringing. We were instructed to answer the phone by the third ring which meant leaving the living, breathing customer in front of us, picking up the phone, making sure you answered with the 3 sentence phone greeting, listening to their request and then directing them to the right department. The right department was always a manager, who, of course, did not EVER pick up the phone.

I pleaded and begged constantly with them to change this policy, to no avail. It MUST be picked up by the third ring. My greeting went something like this:

ThankyouforcallingBJ'sWholesaleClubwherewefeaturet helowestpriceintiresshopwithusandcomparepleasehold .

Half the time, I never got back to the call and they hung up...guess it wasn't that important. Hey...at least I answered by the third ring (nearly killing myself in the process to rush from one end of the counter to the other).

Now I work for a bank and they expect us to do the SAME thing...yeah, right.:grumpy:


How about this simple idea?

Phone: "ring ring ring"

Cashier to live customer: "I've got to answer that, I won't tie you up, I'll put them on hold."

Cashier to phone caller: "Hello, Duffy's Tavern, where the elite meet to eat, this is Peggy, I've got a customer right in front of me, if you can hold I'll be with you in about one minute."

Live Customer to cashier: "Wow, that's great, I've never had a cashier do that before. They always just ignore me and take the call."

Cashier: "Oh, it's nothing really, just normal customer service. Thanks for shopping with us today, I hope to see you again soon.

Cashier to phone: "Hello, Duffy's, I'm sorry to have you on hold. I had a customer handing me money and I didn't want to say the wrong thing to either of you. I'm sure you understand."

[Talk Host]

My wife and I were looking for a small desk lamp at Staples in Ocala. We couldn't find one, but we did by some paper clips or something.

As we were checking out, the (adult male) cashier said, "Did you find everything you were looking for?"

I said, "As a matter of fact, we didn't.

He said, "That's too bad." and he handed me the bag with the paper clips.

[ceejay]

How about this simple idea?

Phone: "ring ring ring"

Cashier to live customer: "I've got to answer that, I won't tie you up, I'll put them on hold."

Cashier to phone caller: "Hello, Duffy's Tavern, where the elite meet to eat, this is Peggy, I've got a customer right in front of me, if you can hold I'll be with you in about one minute."

Live Customer to cashier: "Wow, that's great, I've never had a cashier do that before. They always just ignore me and take the call."

Cashier: "Oh, it's nothing really, just normal customer service. Thanks for shopping with us today, I hope to see you again soon.

Cashier to phone: "Hello, Duffy's, I'm sorry to have you on hold. I had a customer handing me money and I didn't want to say the wrong thing to either of you. I'm sure you understand."

If only it was that simple...what do I say to the other 15 customers who are in line, staring me down? Or the customer who walks right up as soon as the other one has left, not even giving me a chance to finish the last transaction or to say, politely, "May I help you?"?:undecided:

[redwitch]

I've never worked at a store but I have great sympathy for store clerks. They're in the proverbial rock and hard spot position. If they leave the phone customer hanging, that person gets angry. If they ignore the paying customer for even a second, that person gets angry. Some customers want help, others want to be left alone. If they displays look slopping because customers have looked through them, they get blamed. They have to stock so customers can find what they want. They're underpaid and overworked.

I've seen clerks yelled at for the stupidest things by customers. Is it really the clerk's fault that that beautiful blouse has lipstick on it? Someone just spilled something on the floor -- let a clerk know, don't yell because it wasn't cleaned up immediately. You, the customer saw it drop, not the clerk. And so on and so forth.

Quite sadly, some of the worst behavior I've seen has been by Villagers. Many really do seem to have a great sense of entitlement and do seem to expect service above and beyond on a regular basis. I've actually apologized to clerks for their rude treatment. I once saw a server at Burger King apologize because things were not as she felt they should be (two employees didn't show up and the delivery was late). Rather than graciously accepting the apology, one woman started yelling at the server. Mind you, the woman had not been complaining about the mess, the server was just letting all of us in line know that she was aware there was a problem and she would get to it as soon as possible. It was one of the very few times I was ashamed to admit I lived in The Villages -- I didn't want to be associated with her or her ilk.

The good stores have managers who are available and helpful. If one department is crowded, they don't hesitate to move clerks as needed. A good store doesn't require store clerks to answer the phone -- they have one person do that. The phone greeter can also do the stocking, etc. It even works in small stores. I've seen it done. The good stores truly care about all of their customers -- both those in the store and on the phone and on the computer. They do their best to serve all of them. They don't always succeed.

I have frequently asked to speak to a manager. Rarely for a problem -- I can usually handle those via mail or phone. I do, however, let the manager know when I feel one of their clerks went above and beyond. It might take a few minutes for the manager to show up, but it's worth it when you see the manager beam with pride and the clerk get a well-deserved thumb's up.

[Talk Host]

If only it was that simple...what do I say to the other 15 customers who are in line, staring me down? Or the customer who walks right up as soon as the other one has left, not even giving me a chance to finish the last transaction or to say, politely, "May I help you?"?:undecided:


The only answer I can offer is that my employees travel all over the United States and greet hundreds of customers face to face each night they are on the road. They process the customer request, run credit cards and provide them with product. Some times they have as many as 600 people an evening, but never fewer than 75.

We insist that they are polite, courteous and communicative with each customer. Most of our employees have been with us for over 5 years and we have received no more than two or three complaints from our patrons. Meanwhile (as I pat myself on the back) some of our employees tell us that this is the best company they have ever worked for.

We respect them and they respect us. It is hardly ever the fault of our customers. They come first.

How I come to know how this all works, is that I traveled and did their job for the first three years we were in business. I enjoyed meeting and greeting every one of our customers, and most of them went away laughing or at least with a smile on their face.

JLK

[2BNTV]

I just love these two scenarios:

You call up a place of business to order a product and the person says, "they cannot come to the phone right now as they are with another customer", I always wonder what I am.

Calling a place of business and they have voicemail that states, "all of our lines are busy, please hold until we can connect you to a customer representative'. Some will not give you an idea of how long the wait will be as I prefer a recording that says the wait time is xx minutes.

Stocking shelfs should be secondary to waiting on a customer. The only thing I can think of is their manager instructed the staff to do so and they have to follow his/her command until told otherwise. This is not what customer service is about.

[redwitch]

Frequently, stockers cannot man the registers and are even told to avoid the customers as much as possible. That means that unless you walk up and tap a stocker on the shouler and ask for help finding something, they will keep on stocking for fear of a reprimand. As ceejay pointed out, sometimes management really doesn't make a lot of sense and just makes the employee look bad.

If you ever have the time and the store is slow, you might ask the sales clerk the store policies and some of their personal horror stories. It can make for some interesting conversations and maybe even get you thinking as to what you can do to make their lives a little easier.

[ladylake1]

I find customer service runs hot and cold here. Have had some excellent experience and some not so good. Sometimes that not so good comes from management when I voice a concern or objection. I try to seek out a manager as it is even more so their role so insure that the customer is always right. I have gone round and round both of our department stores trying to find someone to take my money for a purchase. Bet I would get more attention if I just walked out with it.

[ceejay]

I enjoyed meeting and greeting every one of our customers, and most of them went away laughing or at least with a smile on their face.
JLK

And that is exactly how I feel and work. To a T. I figure if my customers turn away from my window with a smile, I've done my job. And the next time they come in, it's like we're long lost friends.

Which brings us back to the topic of this thread. I don't want to make my customers annoyed or angry if I have to answer a phone...they're too important to me. :beer3:

[Mikeod]

Maybe I have the wrong attitude. If I call a place of business and the phone is answered with the name of the establishment and " Good morning, can you hold, please?" and they give me time to respond, it doesn't bother me at all. As long as someone comes back on the line in a minute of two. Much longer than that and I'll hang up. If I get the "can you hold" without allowing me to say "Yes", that is not good.

Years ago, our medical group sent all the providers and service reps to University of Phoenix for training. It involved interacting with members of their drama faculty in customer service scenarios. Despite knowing this was not real, those actors really played the part of irate/frustrated customers well. They knew what buttons to push to try to get us riled up and responding angrily. The training on how to turn an unpleasant situation to a positive one was invaluable.

[getdul981]

The office staff at our old vet used to answer the phone with the "Is this an emergency or can you please hold?" when they were busy. They always wait for a response. Once I had to tell them that it was an emergency and there was not a problem with them handling our situation. Wish we could have brought the entire staff to TV with us.

[Tweety Bird]

There are those who can not tell the important from the urgent - when the phone rings for example it is always thought to be urgent but it is rarely important. When I take my goods to the cash register and the person there answers the phone then I put the merchandise down and leave the store. That's it.

How about the person answering the phone and asking THEM (the caller) to hold until they are finished with the current LIVE customer standing there?

Or how about "EXCUSE ME"???????? WOW...lol...I can't believe you do that. After taking the time to pick out your things?