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How to Really and Truly Lose a Customer for Life

Posted December 27, 2008

In honor of National Whiner’s Day, a holiday that was founded on December 26, 1986 by Kevin Zaborney of Caro, MI (suggested forms of celebration include visiting shopping malls to observe clerks whining about customers returning holiday gifts), The Whiner has decided to return to a subject near and dear to our heart: Customer (dis) service.

We’re not alone in our obsession with this topic. Just take a look at the comment trail that follows one of EconoWhiner’s most popular posts, “Another Day, Another Customer Service Nightmare.” It’s truly remarkable how many companies believe that treating their customers badly is somehow what we deserve when we hand over our hard-earned money. (We’d like to believe that one bright spot in the current global Econo-Mess is that some of those companies are going to go out of business — perhaps even because of the despicable way that they choose to treat their customers.)

That brings us to a rather depressing story about Whiner-in-Chief, the Frigidaire oven that never got fixed on December 24, and P.C. Richard & Son’s customer service department. (In the interests of fairness, we must point out that it might just be possible that Whiner-in-Chief is the only customer in the history of customers at P.C. Richard who was ever treated this way. Yes, that’s possible.)

Let’s start this story with a basic point: It’s not easy to lose a customer for life – to make customers so angry that not only will they never come back but they’ll tell all their friends and relatives the story in the hope that they won’t come back either. Yet we’ve all lived through these experiences.

The funny thing is, you’d think that the precarious nature of the economy would cause companies to treat their customers better than ever. After all, the whole retail sector is on the EconoWhiner DeathWatch. But then again, you don’t know the two women we’ll call The Rep and The Supervisor. They work in P.C. Richard’s Customer Service department.

Let’s begin our story with a little background information. Just in case you’ve never heard of P.C. Richard & Son, it’s a Farmingdale, NY-based retailer, founded back in 1909, whose slogan is, “When you’re in front of your purchase … WE’RE standing behind it.” Hokey we admit, but Whiner-in-Chief has been a longtime customer all the same. Over the years, we’ve bought a heck of a lot of appliances there: including a washer, a dryer, a refrigerator, a microwave, a dishwasher (yes, our infamous dud of a dishwasher, although we never blamed P.C. Richard for that one), and an oven.

Fellow Whiners, you may recall that just days ago, that same oven broke down, mere months after our three-year warranty had expired. With Christmas dinner just days ahead, W-i-C was in a tizzy. We called the retailer and groveled. The Rep seemed so nice — at least at the time. First she told us that no one could come before December 30. Because of the upcoming holiday, we kept asking. Finally she said that someone would come on Wednesday, the 24th. And she told us to call if we didn’t receive a call from the repair professional by 9:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. True, that was down to the wire, but it still left us enough time to start cooking like crazy Wednesday afternoon for a feast on Thursday.

Sometime around 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, we called P.C. Richard’s customer service number to say that we hadn’t received that call The Rep had told us to expect. That’s when another customer service professional told Whiner-in-Chief that we weren’t scheduled for Wednesday the 24th — we were scheduled for Friday, the 26th. That couldn’t be, we told her. We practically had an emotional breakdown on the phone. She passed us along to her supervisor, aka The Supervisor.

She was an interesting woman, if you respond well to customer service supervisors who drive you crazy. She listened to our story and then told us this: Whiner-in-Chief had always been scheduled for December 26. But The Rep had told us that she would try to get us an appointment on December 24. She couldn’t get that appointment. So she phoned us on Monday morning and left a message on our answering machine telling us that she couldn’t get an appointment for Wednesday, December 24. The repair person would come on Friday, December 26.

No, we told The Supervisor, that was all wrong. We reiterated that the appointment had been scheduled for Wednesday and that we’d been planning for it all week. We stressed to her that our voice-mail service was fully functional and there had never been a message from The Rep. The Supervisor noted that this was a case of “he said/she said.” That was frustrating. That was disappointing. That left us with seemingly limitless feelings of bitterness and remorse.

The Supervisor had another great line: “We have no way to verify the information you are telling us.” Whiner-in-Chief had no way of verifying the alleged phone message (when we asked, there wasn’t a record in the files of the time when that phone call was supposed to have been made). But Whiner-in-Chief was just the customer.

Occasionally during this conversation, The Supervisor would put us on hold. At that point, we got to hear the nice little tape-recording from P.C. Richard which says, “Your call and your business are very important to us.”

Was Peter C. Richard, an immigrant from Holland who first founded a hardware store in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, turning over in his grave? He probably knew a thing or two about customer service. But that was 99 years ago.

This is the point in our piece where we need to discuss some alternative explanations for what happened. Three occur to us:

1) Whiner-in-Chief had an amnesiac incident brought on by the horror of hearing The Rep’s phone message. We blocked out the fact that the oven would only be fixed the day after Christmas; overlooked the reality that we needed to plan a dinner that could be fixed through a combined use of the microwave, slow-cooker, stove-top, and a neighbor’s oven; and forgot that we had an alternative, since we could have tried to keep making phone calls in the hope of tracking down some other repair firm that could squeeze us in. Amnesia will do that to you.

2) Our Verizon voice-mail service had an inconvenient outage during just one single phone call — The Rep’s. Unfortunate coincidence.

3) There must be a third explanation. But for the life of us, we can’t figure out what it is.

Needless to say, the oven repair never happened on December 24. We got a little weepy for awhile. But eventually, we did rally.

And despite all the mayhem, Fellow Whiners, the Christmas dinner turned out be a very good one. We made a mad dash to the grocery and bought the ingredients for a different kind of dinner, one we could cook with the microwave, slow-cooker, and so on. Lots of cold salads. We were together with the people we love, and that’s what matters most.

The day after Christmas, we woke up bright and early and prepared for the repair person to come.

But, you know what happened next.

When we hadn’t gotten that phone call by 9:45, we called P.C. Richard & Son’s Customer Service department. We spoke to a colleague of The Rep’s and The Supervisor’s. She explained to us that we were scheduled for a repair on December 30, not December 26. This time, we didn’t even bother to continue the call.

In the spirit of National Whiner’s Day, we’d like to leave you with a few simple questions:

1) Why do companies treat their customers this way?

2) Who teaches customer (dis) service people to lie to customers, to say anything at all to get off the telephone, and, above all, never apologize?

3) Who chooses those phone recordings and do they really make a point of selecting the messages that will most closely resemble a knife in the heart?

4) Do the people who run companies actually care when they lose customers for life? Do they know that the reason companies once survived for 99 years was because they used to try to treat their customers the right way?

5) Why don’t consumers fight back by shunning retailers and other companies that treat them like crap?

Here at EconoWhiner Central, we like a story that has a happy ending, so here’s some good news. When we got off the phone with P.C. Richard, we started calling other repair firms from the yellow pages and we found one that could fit us into its schedule that very afternoon. They said they would come between 1 and 3 p.m. They actually did come between 1 and 3 p.m. They made the repair. The oven worked. That made us happier that we can possibly describe.

Best of all, the cost of the repair — including a replacement for the oven’s ignition — was just $195, compared to the $170 that P.C. Richard was going to charge us for the visit, without even factoring in the cost of parts. Thanks, 5th Avenue Appliance (of Manhattan); you really know how to treat a customer right!

Once we finish writing this article, we’re going to call up and cancel that December 30 appointment with P.C. Richard. We’re also planning to fire off a letter to the president of the company; we’ll keep you posted. And then, we’re going to start baking some holiday cookies. Better late than never.

The Whiner wants to know: Which companies have lost you as a customer for life, and how did they do it? And what do you think about W-i-C’s recent experience?

Reader Comments

  1. Geri R

    Dear Whiner: Here’s my standard comment/thought whenever I get bad customer service — which is almost every day: That’s why America’s going to hell in a handbasket!!

    So glad to hear that you found a great repair service. I would urge you to not only talk about 5th Avenue Appliance (of Manhattan) on your blog, but to give them big props on other Manhattan based sites, to Tweet about them — wherever you can find to talk about them so other can learn about their business and the great service they provide.

    Just the other day OPI — the nail care company — lost my business. Why would a company make it near impossible for a customer to buy their product? I know, crazy isn’t it??!!
    Long story short — nice customer service person on the phone, horrible distributor contact, then company cs supvsr who said she’d send info in an e-mail but then never did! And if I find the products online, are they legit or counterfeit, gray market?

    For a lesson in great customer service, everyone should call L.L. Bean. They’re awesome!! Always so nice, patient, funny. There are some good customer service people out there!! Best/Geri

  2. Arlene

    American Express Financial Advisors, now known as Ameriprise. Until recently, they had Dennis Hopper hawking their “financial planning” services on TV. You probably should grab his old motorcycle–and your wallet–and run.

    My “advisor”, whom I inherited when my parents died, was mainly interested in selling me various scams disguised as “annuities”. She never asked a single question about my lifestyle, goals, or (how contemporary!) debt status. As for other investments, she specialized in mutual funds with hefty undisclosed kickbacks. This, in turns out, works better for the “advisor” if various state attorney generals don’t find out, because it’s a crime.

    I knew at once that I wanted to get away from them, but it took years, because they don’t respond to e-mail and don’t pick up the phone. This must be the primary method of retaining customers–who can’t get their money out, after all, if “advisors” just never respond. And yes, I tried the much-vaunted “home office” in Minneapolis. They just refer you back to the “advisor.”

    I finally escaped through pure luck; I moved to a town with a different “advisor.” He took pity on me (or was scared of a lawsuit; I never knew which) and rushed through the enormous amount of demanding “home office” paperwork it took to finally get the money out–three years later.

    With luck, there’s very few people in your life you dislike enough to send them to Ameriprise.

  3. morrison

    Who in their right mind shops at P.C. Richards?????

    That place was so over years ago!

    They are has-beens!

    Lowes and Home Depot passed them ions ago.

    They are overpriced, rip offs, as per my experience decades ago! I can’t believe they are still in business and after what you just told us, I would bet their days are numbered. Long Island is in the worst shape in the whole country! Foreclosures are rampant, bankruptcies are sky high, houses sit boarded up…..quick….run for it!

    You can write them all the letters you want. Deaf ears. Obviously, can’t you see the company has deteriorated?

    Send them a bouquet of white lilies with the inscription: Rest In Peace.

  4. Florence

    Dear Whiner, I think that Health Insurance Claims representatives should be in a class/level of hell all by themselves. Amd it is just never ending. Latest example, they paid for the mammogram but not the radiologist to read it. Several phone calls and much paperwork to get it paid. I think their motto is “Every claim a reject.”

  5. Lainie

    When I’m in the midst of a dreadful customer service conversation — and almost all of them are dreadful — I stop and ask them if they care about keeping me as a customer. It stumps them. They don’t have a scripted response to this. If they manage to blurt out “yes,” I ask what they’re willing to do to solve the problem, and that usually results in complete silence.

  6. bethS

    Lainie, I love your advice and have used it myself on occasion–only if I think there’s a chance in hell that I want to remain a customer.

    WiC & Morrison, when it comes to customer service I can’t recommend Home Depot although I purchase items there on occasion. Lowe’s is usually much better service-wise.

    In fact, I’ve usually found small businesses and local merchants to offer better service overall than any chain. To my mind, that explains WiC’s loylty to Richard’s. We’ve recently suffered the demise of our town’s high-end traditional haberdasher (with a women’s dept). Lenny’s and Mary’s health required that they retire, and none of their kidswanted the business. That loss was followed shortly thereafter by the closing of an ancient (for the U.S.) family-run jewelry store. I hope some struggling entrepreneurs can rise from the current crises to take their places on our commercial streets.

    And last, WiC, you are a trooper! Can’t wait to hear what if any reply you get to the Richard missive.

  7. Geri R

    Update Whiner — who’d have thought I’d have another cs episode from hell to tell you in the same day!!!

    GODADDY.COM COMPLETELY STINKS!!!! I paid (yes, I’m an idiot, I PAID!!!!) for their “Web Site Tonight” service, in the vain hope of building my own web site. I worked on it for HOURS (and HOURS AND HOURS) back in mid-November. Was so frustrated, didn’t return to it until today and GUESS WHAT??!!! MY WEB SITE IS GONE!!!! Yes, that’s right all that work GONE and do you know what they told me? IT MUST BE MY FAULT THAT ALL MY WORK DISAPPEARED!!!!!!

    Currently, I’m holding my breath until “Luke” in the “OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT” gets back to me after researching my account. YEAH RIGHT!!!!

    I would strongly caution anyone from ever using GODADDY.COM FOR ANYTHING!!! I’m going to double check where I registered my domain name and if it’s with them, I’m going to transfer it immediately.

  8. Amy

    For those who are in North Jersey, I would HIGHLY recommend Karl’s Appliances (I know they have them in Fairfield and Montclair, and I know there are a few others around Jersey). Our refrigerator died in September, and we were in dire need of a fridge — it was a Friday, and I was looking at a long weekend with my three kids and no fridge. After shopping at HD and Best Buy (none of whom could deliver for several days), I went to Karl’s. They matched the best price I found for the fridge, and delivered the next day (a Saturday). The saleswoman was great – I told her what I needed, and she helped me find exactly what I was looking for, and she didn’t try to sell me any extra junk that I didn’t need.

    I had such a great experience with Karl’s, I will return to them when I need another appliance.

  9. rg the lg

    Why you ask do company’s NOT care about customer service and provide instead for customer dis-service? In my opinion, as a life-long whiner and observer of whine-causes, the reason is simple. It does not really affect the bottom line. Companies have discovered that service promises do not affect the purchases of products … and if it does, much like the big-3 bail-out, they can appeal to the guv’ment for relief! In a socialist system designed with aiding the wealthy while ignoring the poor such a system may not make YOU happy … but you don’t matter … to the company, to the guv’ment, or to anyone other than yourself and the rest of us like you …

    Sorry to let you in on this. But, reality is real while customer service is a myth.

    In sympathy and empathy,
    RG the LG

  10. knittinandnoodlin

    Wow. I’m glad you were able to get your oven fixed and that you were able to work around your holiday dinner! I really don’t remember ever having an awful customer service experience like that…I feel very lucky.

    The only horrible experiences I’ve ever had have been at car dealerships. I had a car salesman throw my cell phone at me and slam a door in my face when my dad had some questions about the financing deal salesman was offering me (I guess salesman was trying to put the screws to me and got a little defensive). And I paid $48 to have a screw tightened on my car…but they were going to do that for free if I got the brake job and oil change I “desperately” needed. Funny, the mechanic I took my car to five minutes after I left the dealership said my brakes and oil level were just fine. I’m pissed that the dealership falsely noted in my file that my oil level and brakes were low…in the event I ever need a warranty repair that could cause major headaches.

    So, yeah, honesty among car dealerships would be a refreshing change. I cringe even thinking about going in those places.

  11. amy

    I second the praise for Bean customer service. Also have some wonderful customer service locally. Last week, for instance, when the logic board on my ancient iBook died, I called the only Mac repair shop in town (on a Friday! Near Christmas! Close to deadline!), was given a Tom-and-Ray diagnosis, was told to bring that baby in toot-suite if I wanted it fixed before New Years, and they’d squeeze me in and salvage the hard drive that morning. I did as told, had a nice chat with the tech, and while he confirmed the logic-board failure and pulled the HD, I popped out and bought a new Mac. (Wow. They didn’t even try to sell me one themselves.) As I was getting into my car, I got the call telling me my new external drive was done, and telling me the very reasonable cost.

    The customer-service award, though, goes to a lawnmower store in Saskatchewan. I called there because they were one of the few brick/mortars in North American prairie territory selling Brill reel mowers. I love my Brill, but its top height is just under 2″ – maybe that’s fine in Germany, but not out here on the prairie where the lawns bake all summer. Nearly killed my lawn with that thing. The American reel-mower people I talked to in CT and CA didn’t believe it; they just had no experience with the climate. So I called Canada Man to see if maybe I could find big wheels, or something, for the Brill, anything to raise the cut to 3+ inches, and if not, whether he had a reel mower that’d suit. I had the credit card in hand.

    He took his time, asked me lawn-diagnostic questions, and finally suggested that I might not need a new mower after all. He suggested I try mowing with the Brill in the spring, and then when it got hot, getting a lawn service or borrowing a gas mower and cutting high, and seeing if there was any difference. And if there was, I should cut short with my Brill in cooler weather, and just pay for a couple of long cuts each summer. I thanked him and hung up, followed his advice, and sure enough, that Brill’s just no good for high-summer mowing out here. But it’s great the rest of the year. My lawn was gorgeous.

    As for the rest, well, most customer service vanished ten years ago. Excuse me while I get crotchety. These kids today don’t even know what it is — they figure their job is to get defensive. Really all you can do is go in with the presumption that at the first sign of resistance you’re going nuclear, and figure it out fast when you’re screwed. The nuclear option is often successful, but it doesn’t involve whining and wheedling. You have to go straight to indignation, a specific demand, and backable threats. When a health insurance company refused to honor a legitimate claim under HIPAA, for instance, I screwed around on the phone for about two weeks, then dug out corporate names, collected relevant paperwork, went to my Senator’s local office, and started having threatening letters mailed from the Dept of Labor. The claim was paid.

    The other thing you can do in the face of rude in-person customer service, esp. salaried customer service (I’m thinking of a recent airline experience), is to stop dead, look managerial and utterly polite, take out a pad, and ask the person for his or her name and title. Whether or not it’s forthcoming, start making notes. Quietly, politely. At this point there’s a good chance s/he will smell trouble, become civil (if still hostile) and attempt to solve your problem as quickly and directly as possible. Anything to make you go away. This won’t generally work on the phone, though. On the phone you just have to be a jerk and insist on going up the chain until you find someone whose job is problem-solver. Occasionally no such person exists.

    One of the advantages of going up the chain is that you might find someone who knows how many toes he has. Other times, not. My favorite horror story is here: http://media.putfile.com/Verizon-Bad-Math . Be prepared to cringe. And don’t depress me by coming back and telling me you couldn’t follow the math.

  12. amy

    Almost forgot my Target swipe story:

    If you go to Target and pay by check, they ask for your driver’s license number. I have various problems with that, but my DL number’s no secret anymore, so I’m willing to hand it over. About a year or so ago, Target decided it’d be more efficient to have the cashiers swipe DLs instead of hunting/pecking. That I won’t allow, because the mag strip on DLs carries more info than just DL#, and I’d rather not have someone steal or sell a whole make-your-own-ID packet of info about me at once. (I understand perfectly well that Target’s not interested in my eye color, but once they have the info, they have it, and I doubt they protect it well.) I am very, very serious about protection of easily-digested personal info, partly on principle and partly because I don’t have two years to waste retrieving my good name from a thief.

    I go to Target, check out, write a check, and hand it to the kid. He asks for the DL; I give it to him, saying, “You can type in the number, but you can’t swipe the card.” We have some back/forth in which he’s trying to figure out why he can’t, and eventually I say, “Because I won’t let you.” Whereupon he swipes my DL.

    I scream bloody murder and cashier managers come running, and after a couple of moments tell me that the transaction didn’t go through, no harm done, etc. Of course, there’s no way of verifying this, and it doesn’t excuse what the kid did anyway, so I continue to lambast the kid. The managers stick up for him, so I lambast them too and demand to speak to the store manager. My intent at this point: Fire this kid’s ass and scare staff silly about ever doing this, to anyone, again. The store manager’s gone home; the cashier managers go on full defense and refuse to give me anyone’s name.

    I go home, look up info on Target data security breaches, and file a report with the local ACLU chapter, just to see what’ll happen. I also find the email address of the state DOT DL security guy and write to him, asking about policies regarding use of DL swipes in retail check verification. In the morning I call the Target store manager and leave a message. I call the next day and leave a message, too. And the next day. Finally he calls me back, and I’m shocked and pleased to find that I’m talking to a customer-service pro, the kind of guy interested in keeping customers. He’s not only good at pouring oil on troubled waters, he’s knowledgeable and responsive. The cashier and one of the cashier managers (both of whom he names) have been fired. We also have a long and interesting talk about corporate data security, DL request triggers, and the rate of credit-card v. cash/check payment these days — I’m shocked to hear that 85% of all in-store transactions are credit card. They seldom see checks anymore. Still, he promises to get the word out to staff that swiping the DLs without permission is absolutely unacceptable, and indeed I’ve had no problems since.

    A month after I spoke with the Target manager I heard back from the CLU legal guys; they were interested, but were trying to figure out what to do with the case, exactly, since it was a form of corporate and not government abuse. About two months later I heard back again with a note saying they couldn’t take it because there was no way to get away from the corporate angle, but that they’re keeping the info for reference, thanks etc., and referred me to a few other consumer data privacy lawyers who might’ve been interested. I didn’t follow up, though.

    I heard from the DOT security guy, too, who understood what I was talking about and asked for more details, then said they didn’t have any policies at the moment but that some would eventually emerge because of the potential for abuse of DL info. Asked if I minded if he kept the info &/or contacted me later.

    Dick Blick’s corporate people can also be quite responsive.

    I think you have to be prepared to turn on a dime, in a totally nutty way — appreciate and praise good customer service and efforts at it, but be zero-tolerance on the issues and dollar figures that matter to you (in a manner that won’t have security showing up). And you have to have a sense of how far you’re willing to be screwed over, too — if the problem’s below that threshhold, just drop it, move on. You can’t be scared of small-claims court, either.

  13. Carolyn W.

    Sounds like it was high time to liberate yourself from PCR&Sons! It always peeves me to be told there’s no proof that a conversation did or didn’t take place about appointment times or other business transactions.

    My personal ongoing customer service tug of war is with my dentist’s multi-hat wearing receptionist/billing clerk/account collector/dispenser of sample tooth brushes and floss/ and compulsive liar. I’ve caught her in so many mistakes through the years…not billing my insurance company, not cashing checks or losing them (so it looks like I’m behind on the account), holding insurance payments that should be paid to me when the account is reimbursed on top of my prepayments. Taking scorn from her about my dental insurance company being “weenie” and hardly worth her time to bill them….on and on. The worst was when she led me to believe we were all squared away and ambushed me and my husband after routine appointments with….”oh, by the way you owe $$$$$$”, even though she hadn’t sent any bills or statements for six months. Have you ever tried to argue your case when your face is flushed and your mouth is numb from shots, and hubby is still high on nitrous oxide? Each time I confront her mistakes she dumbs down and implies it’s my fault even though I’m armed with my insurance EOB’s and canceled checks and statements….I take the cr*p because my husband’s teeth need a lot of care after chemo treatments years ago left them weakened and prone to fracturing. Our dentist is on faculty with a top university and has brilliantly diagnosed, treated, and gotten us in with the best specialists ASAP if necessary. He also can be reached and responds in emergencies. I just take deep breaths whenever I have to deal with her and not lose my temper because he is a dental god.

  14. Petunia

    Why bother with a letter? Just forward the president the link to EconoWhiner! That should get the message across!

    Here’s my personal bugaboo, and I suppose it’s more about language than customer service: when did the reply “no problem” come to replace “you’re welcome”? I DETEST that reply. Of course it’s no problem! I’m the dang customer! Say “you’re welcome” when I thank you for a serivce you’ve provided!

  15. amy

    Carolyn, it’s possible your dentist doesn’t know about the problems and would be aghast if he did. It’s also likely that if she’s screwing up to that extent with billing, she’s got other problems, too. I’d bring it to his attention, then drop it and see if anything happens. My experience is that professional gods who’re reasonable to deal with have very high expectations of their staff, but also tend to be on the naive side.

  16. Zach

    Ramada Inn

    Long story short – they sold my roommate on a “package” of hotel stays; i.e. buy this one trip, and you have 3 years to use these other four “free weekend” stays in your choice of about ten different locations.

    While he was on the phone, he wrote down the details of the package as provided by the customer service representative, including:
    1) WEEKEND NIGHTS INCLUDED
    2) Limited Blackouts (Christmas, New Years, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving)
    3) 3 years to use the free stays

    After we attempted to book one of those stays for Hilton Head, we were first informed of the $100 booking fee – never before mentioned. Further, it turns out weekends were NOT included but expressly excluded from the package. Better yet, at this time my roommate was informed that he had 18 months – not the 3 years – to use the free stays.

    When he mentioned all this to the customer “service” rep, she gave the standard he said/she said “we have no way of verifying this information” response.

    As my roommate now giddily informs all his friends, Ramada Inns is the most rinky-dink organization ever.

  17. Kris

    rg the lg, while I currently agree with you – wouldn’t you think that with every retailer/service provider out there grasping every available consumer dollar, that the situation would improve?

    As things continue to be tight, why spend your available dollars some place where you’ll get treated like persona non grata? There seems to be more than enough options out there in every sector to spend in.

    Amy, that incident scares the schnookies out of me, and for all of our sakes I was relieved to hear it was treated as the serious issue it is. It’s rare I write a check these days to a store, now I’ll be thinking more than twice before doing so.

  18. Lainie

    As I read through the comments – I’m reminded that I always try to praise good customer service, since I always complain loudly when it’s bad. And the best of the best? Is a car repair shop here in Boulder, Colo., called Hoshi Motors. Honest, fair, incredibly nice, and they will always give you all your options, and all the consequences of your choices, without making you feel cheap. Much as I’d love a new car, I don’t mind driving my 1991 Honda as much since I have Hoshi to fix it when needed. And it’s owned by a very smart woman. So — not all car mechanics are crooks.

    On the other hand, I’ll never spend another cent at Macy’s.

  19. Carolyn W.

    Amy,

    I think he knows because he was working over her shoulder in a very impatient way the day she ambushed us. The awful thing is I think he knew what was coming because he hid in back when she presented the back charges that had been collecting dust somewhere for six months. (It’s a tiny office). He had to have heard my tirade about paying in good faith, lost checks, no statements to go on, “here’s your money”….etc. She lamely said in the future they were switching to a new billing system, and we got another cockeyed statement (actually two identical copies kicked out) but this time stating our insurance had been billed and no $ amounts. What I think is the downturn caused him to look at his cash flow and find all these discrepancies that he used to be able to overlook. On a personal non-business level she is very attractive and she’s been there a long time. Need I say more.

  20. Maguire

    Cablevision on Long Island. Call to report a problem and they blame you, the customer. As if I sit around all day playing with the cable box and wires. I have actually been told that I flip through the channels too quickly and that’s why the box freezes on channel 45. This despite the fact that (1) it doesn’t freeze on any other channel, (2) it does it on both of my TVs, (3) it’s happened to my Mom, who lives in the same neighborhood as I do (and I guarantee she is not doing anything too quickly).

  21. Bruce Coulson

    Devil’s Advocate: From the Other Side of the Fence.

    As a ‘CSR’, I can give you some inside information on how things work.

    One. No, the rep does NOT care if you never shop at ‘X’ ever again. Many companies have rules on what your average call time must time, and fire those who fail to meet it. Getting you off the phone is a priority; actually providing service is not.

    Two. Companies emphasize what is important to keeping a job; hence, blame for ‘training’ should fall on the company providing the reps (which may not be the company you actually shop at).

    Three. Automated recordings are made/approved by the customer service managers at a company.

    Four. My guess is that most companies with CSRs behave this way, so it’s a case of the devil you know…

    Hope this helps…

  22. amy

    All true, Bruce, and it’s the price of living in a mass economy that permits oligopolies. Oligopolists are filter-feeders. You, the customer, do not exist. There are only customers, highly plural.

    I might point out, though, that part of what led to the death of mom-n-pops & the growth of gigantic companies with bad customer service was that those mom & pops were often miserably run, and customer service could be miserable there, too. If the lady at your cute little bookstore can’t remember what she’s got in stock, is weirdly heavy on books about the royal family because she never got over Diana, and lies to you about your prepaid orders, Borders looks very attractive. Cheaper, faster, more reliable, less aggravating, less weird.

  23. Hope

    The recent horror stories about people trapped on Amtrak in the winter storms gave me a horrid flashback. In the early ’90’s, I attended a large trade show in Chicago and planned to ride the train back to Michigan. It was hot and humid (June) and long string of weird events (bridge raised that expanded and couldn’t be lowered until it cooled off, crew timing out, new engineer took the wrong route…seriously!).

    Rather than the normal 10PM arrival, we got home at 4:30AM and when our corporate travel agent filed a group complaint, we all received letters of apology and free vouchers to ride Amtrak. But I’ve never set foot on an Amtrak train since. And I noticed their official corporate response to the latest fiasco was (you guessed it) free credit to ride Amtrak and a letter of apology.

  24. JaneM

    A truly great company would have brought out a replacement oven for you to use on Christmas and then worried about making the exhange/repair after the holiday. That is what I would have expected.

  25. The Whiner

    Shocking, isn’t it, how many of us have lived through these customer service nightmares? Do we need to accept this as “reality” — or isn’t there some way that, as consumers, we can try to force companies into a new reality? Is that a utopian fantasy?

    And, speaking of utopian fantasies, we’re with you, JaneM. A truly great company would have done exactly what you said. And THAT would have been a company that would have won us as a customer for life. They’d have turned us into a walking-talking advertisement, because we’d have been so eternally grateful for everything they did to solve our problem. Instead of taking a problem and just making it worse and worse….

  26. Kerry

    Hi Whiner – I know I’m a little late with this comment but both I and my future in-laws have had bad customer service experiences with PC Richards also. The ILs bought a new stove, dishwasher and fridge. The stove and dishwasher were installed without incident, but the fridge had been damaged or scratched and so the company was sending it back. Fine, OK, everyone’s happy about that. Then they were scheduled to come on a Saturday between 7 and 10 to deliver it, and never showed up. Then they said they would deliver it any time at my in-laws’ convenience, so they picked 4:30 p.m. on a Monday, just after my MIL gets home from her job as a teacher.
    When she arrived home, she found several messages on her answering machine saying the delivery guys had been to the house around 4:00 and no one was home, so they would have to call back and reschedule for another day. Needless to say, she flipped out, was on the phone with different managers for a good long time, and the guys eventually came back and delivered it that evening. But a time that’s convenient for you doesn’t mean “come whenever around that time, half an hour early if you like,” and it certainly doesn’t mean they should tell you they can’t really help you after all that!