Customer Service Is Dead

I know customer service has been dead for a long time. Business small and large view the customer as a source of income and not a resource. They just want you in the door, make a sale and out the door. Most businesses do little encourage customers to return or spread word of mouth.

Years ago I worked for a chain restaurant as a waiter. Back then the philosophy was treat the customer well. They want repeat business and the customer to enjoy the dining experience. On top of that, they knew word of mouth could not only help but hurt business too. I can't remember the exact numbers but they did surveys and found that bad word of mouth is a multiple times worth of damage versus good word of mouth. In other words, don't piss the customer off because not only do you lose repeat business but chances are he will tell his friends and they won't come either. Smart thinking in my book. Not sure it really worked that way but it was a good assumption to work under.

So why my sudden focus on customer service? Simple. Two days and three bad experiences and another one a week ago.

AT&T Wireless Headaches
We all know about the Stalinesque tactics of cell phone companies. Iron clad two year contracts with high early termination fees or Mafia like fees to change the a clause and it will cost a two year extension.

The phone I have is an LG-Vu. I wasn't in my right mind when I bought it. I was helping out a friend by putting her on my account and it was a phone they offered. It's total garbage.

I went in December to remover her from the account and see my upgrade options. AT&T happily removed her from the account for $120 and blew me off on the upgrade. The customer service dork said I can't upgrade until March or there about.

The phone is garbage. I live in the middle of Houston. A few miles from downtown. I get full bars on my signal indicator. I have a hard time sending texts or talking on the phone. I have to stand outside on my patio or in a certain corner to get service.

I figure they could do something for me. I went to one store. He took one look at my account and offered me an iPhone for full price. I said no thanks, told him never mind and walked out the door. I went to a second store. The rep there offered me any phone I wanted for full price plus a $75 upgrade fee. I told him that was bullshit and walked out.

I call customer service and she just wants to trouble shoot my phone. I hung up. I called back and she told me to look online because there are deals there that are better than the store or phone. I looked. Nothing.

I decided enough was enough. I'm changing phone services. I looked up another service and decided to change. I call AT&T one more time to inquire about the early termination fee. The service rep asked me if she couldn't resolve my problem would I terminate. I said I don't know I'm just weighing my options. I explained to her what all happened.

This is what she did. In a heartbeat she sold me a $350 phone for $29...that's twenty nine dollars. And she didn't charge me an upgrade fee either. Just a two year extension of my current contract. Hell she even threw in free shipping for good measure. My grand total for an upgrade was $29 plus taxes and two hours of hitting my head against the wall.

I stayed with AT&T not because I'm happy with the service. I'm not. I stayed because someone finally pulled their ears and their head popped out of the companies ass long enough to make me a deal and used some actual customer service to keep me.

I have more complaints but maybe next time...I'll just say I hate the whole store concept of Ikea.