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09/16/00
Customer Service Is Terrible Because We Let It Be So
by Jake Davenport
It's amazing to me how poor customer service is these days. Like road construction in Chicago, bad customer service has become so commonplace that the general public has become indifferent to it. Instead of boycotting the companies whose brand of customer service leaves foul tastes in our mouths, most of us simply save the unpleasant experiences for anecdotal conversation over dinner.
Of course, it doesn't help that in many cases poor customer service is related to regional monopolies like cable TV, telephone service, and other so-called necessities. Even as the Feds go after Microsoft, I still can't get cable modem Internet access in my area because the only cable company that services this neighborhood feels it's not a priority.
But the tolerated monopolies aren't the only source of customer service misery, nor are the big computer companies or the government: in pretty much all walks of life, customer service has hit rock bottom. Restaurant wait service has gotten downright rude. Clerks in retail stores are under-trained and over-worked and tend to be resistant to actually helping customers. Even the products they sell are faulty, poorly manufactured and packaged.
All of this is tolerated by us, the consumers. I've made a conscious decision not to buy from stores, restaurants, and companies where the service is rude, incompetent, or ineffective. I'd rather pay more than fight with a company's customer service department.
If everyone banded together and agreed on basic standard of service, I'm sure that we could effect the marketplace. Just as there's a push to create privacy standards on the Internet (and hopefully off of it, as well), I believe we need to push for a customer service standard.
We need to set the bar for the bare minimum of expected service and certify the companies that agree to meet the requirements. These certifications, then, would provide us with a metric by which we could determine whether or not to do business. Additionally, it would enable the consumer to put pressure directly on companies that fail to meet these basic standards.
The only way customer service in any arena will be improved is if we make it so. Let's stop settling for less than what we'd give ourselves.
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