I’ve noticed that lately a lot of people are talking about good customer service experiences.
That we’re surprised to get good customer service? That’s a shame. We shouldn’t be surprised when service is good — it’s supposed to be good. That we’re surprised when service is good is testimony that customer service has generally been a horrible, painful experience.
But I wonder. With the state of the economy, that consumers are cutting back, that businesses don’t want to lose any customers and would still like to gain customers… gosh, amazing how that free market motivates improvement. Customer service is one of those key areas that either make someone loyal for life or swear to never use the product/service again. Of course, when the provider of the goods/services is the government, ever notice that on whole it’s not the best end result? What motivation do they have to improve? it’s not like their revenue will go down… no, if they lose customers they’ll just raise taxes. *sigh*
I can only hope that once times are no longer so lean that customer service won’t go back into the toilet. When times are good, still be good. When times are tough, be better.
Stuff From Hsoi 
Weird.
I just blew up a customer’s car today.
It came in for an oil change. A coolant leak was observed that we had previously repaired. I fixed it for free under our warranty. Took the car for a short test drive to make sure the leak stayed gone. 3 miles into my standard 5 mile test drive the bottom fell out of the engine.
I hate when that happens…
Now I’ll have to do the oil change all over again when the new engine gets here.
But, I digress. I suspect that you have your little corner of the world pretty well sorted out, so there may be some selection bias going on in your Customer Service Improving observations. (Of course, I’m pretty cynical, so perhaps my biases are showing…)
Well, it’s not just my own personal interactions. Just reading, talking with people, I’m just hearing more and more good stories.
Or maybe it’s just that people are speaking up more about good experiences.
Or I’ve just been lucky.
Of course… the cable company still sucks. 😉
Given how rare good customer service is these days, I do make a point to recognize it when I am exposed to it, and thank people for it – postive reinforcement might keep them doing what they were doing to get my attention.
I definitely agree that it should be the norm, but I will certainly do what I can to encourage it where I find it.
Yup. I like pointing it out whenever I have a good experience. Especially these days what with people turning to Google… it all adds up.