The Customer Service Survey
VocaLabs' weblog providing news and commentary on the challenges of providing good customer service.
We Found the Problem. It's You.
Monday - June 05, 2006 03:10 PM in
While Peter is correct that entities like computer makers. wireless phone companies and banks aren't so hot at delivering good service, there is another side to the story. Often our expectations of these institutions are unreasonably high because they perform services critical to our modern lives.
Our knowledge base is in those hard drives far more today than in some filing cabinet. Without our computer, most of us would have a much harder time earning a living. And when we do get paid for something of which a computer is an integral part; banks have our money; the stuff that buys groceries and makes the mortgage payment. And heaven forbid that we could actually go grocery shopping without a cell phone to call home and see if we need peanut butter, or be in constant touch while we sit in an airport (another industry we love to hate).
So we demand that our computers be ever faster and still cost less. We get annoyed at the bank when our account gets overdrawn, but go elsewhere for our car loans and mortgages. We take a wireless phone into the basement, or inside a metal bodied car and go 60 miles an hour talking for hours and complain about the bill or when we lose a signal.
Face it folks. These entities exist to make a profit. And when we make earning a return more difficult by demanding more for less, the squeeze we put on these entities HAS to show up somewhere. Maybe it is a shoddier product, or no more free airline meals. But just maybe it ends up showing in the quality of service we receive.
Yes, sure, we've all said we'd pay more for better service. But we don't. Face it. Even if our relatives owned the local auto service station and have been taking care of our car for years, we go elsewhere because gas is $.02 cheaper across the road.
There is a saying that in a democracy, we get the laws and politicians we deserve. Maybe that's true in customer service as well.
Posted by Rick Rappe
So we demand that our computers be ever faster and still cost less. We get annoyed at the bank when our account gets overdrawn, but go elsewhere for our car loans and mortgages. We take a wireless phone into the basement, or inside a metal bodied car and go 60 miles an hour talking for hours and complain about the bill or when we lose a signal.
Face it folks. These entities exist to make a profit. And when we make earning a return more difficult by demanding more for less, the squeeze we put on these entities HAS to show up somewhere. Maybe it is a shoddier product, or no more free airline meals. But just maybe it ends up showing in the quality of service we receive.
Yes, sure, we've all said we'd pay more for better service. But we don't. Face it. Even if our relatives owned the local auto service station and have been taking care of our car for years, we go elsewhere because gas is $.02 cheaper across the road.
There is a saying that in a democracy, we get the laws and politicians we deserve. Maybe that's true in customer service as well.
Posted by Rick Rappe
Posted at 03:10 PM by | | | |