Study: Customer service stinks and consumers are fed up

Remember the line from the 1976 film classic "Network," in which raving TV anchoman Howard Beale, upon learning that he’s about to lose his longtime job because of lousy ratings, urges Americans to shout, “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore”?

Well, apparently consumers are voicing similar – albeit not as raucous -- outrage over declining customer service across a broad spectrum of businesses, cutting their ties with companies that are unresponsive or frustrating to deal with, according to a new national survey.

The survey, commissioned by Atlanta-based Jacada, a consulting firm that works with businesses to improve their dealings with the public, concludes that even though consumers expect better customer service in the bad times, fewer companies are delivering it. Among the key study findings:

• Forty-three percent of those surveyed feel that customer service has gotten worse since the economic downturn.

• Sixty-nine percent say they are less willing to put up with poor customer service than they were a year ago.

• More than half of consumers (53 percent) said that they cut ties with a company due to a bad experience with

customer service.

• Forty-three of respondents have actually postponed dealing with a problem or issue because they didn’t feel like confronting customer-service reps.

Ironically, the gloomy news comes at a time when consumers are requiring more contact with customer-service personnel than ever. Compared to one year ago, nearly one-quarter of Americans have seen an increase in the number of urgent or serious issues that require service, the study reveals.

Half of consumers surveyed said they have at least one pressing customer-service issue to deal with per month. Usually, it’s about a billing mistake. The next most-common reason was to cancel a service or account.

Interesting, while many companies are opting for impersonal Web-based customer service support, the survey shows that the vast majority of consumers prefer telephone help. Seventy-one percent of respondents said they would have preferred to resolve their dispute by talking to a live human being. That’s no surprise to me. Results show that experiences with customer service Web sites often lead to frustration and annoyance. I’ll second that.

In fact, 62 percent of respondents reported feeling frustrated when having to resolve an urgent or serious issue using a company’s customer service Website. Barely one-third of Americans  said they feel online customer service is an efficient way to get answers. 

More than three-quarters of those who have used a company’s self-help Web site to resolve a problem use at least one negative term — “annoyed,” “frustrated,” or “confused,” for example — to describe the experience.

How do you feel about online customer service? Does it work better than talking with a real person?

Comments

[Greg]

Customer service is no longer customer service it is corporate protection plan. Somehow everyone had forgotten that the first rule of customer service is that the customer is always right, and the second rule is, if you don't believe that, reread rule #1. Deming and the Total Quality Management movement have been swept aside by purely money interest. It has been shown that a person satisfied will usually spend more with the company than the cost of the customer service problem, if fixed quickly, efficiently, and without hassle to the customer. Nordstrom's used to have such a free wheeling return policy that some women were member's of the panty hose of the month club, and would return their panty hose as soon as a run appeared. Nordstrom's would take them back, and for every dollar that that return program cost the company; the customer would spend more than $2. Chef Paul of K Paul's used to say that if a customer said a dish in his restaurant wasn't up to their likes, the wait staff was told to take the dish off the table and offer to replace it with anything else on the menu, and remove the charges for that item from the bill. The removed dish would be inspected in the kitchen, and if it was correct, it was the customer that didn't like it, and if it was wrong, they worked to fix the problem so another incorrect dish did not leave the kitchen. But his point was that the incremental cost of the food before the customer was less than 20% of the menu price, and it wasn't worth a few dollars to argue with a customer. Has anyone tried to return a plate of food in a restaurant lately? I did, and the wait person wanted to argue with me, than the head waiter wanted to argue, then the ass't manager argued. When the manager showed up, he took one look at my plate and whisked it away; and replaced it with another item. He later came back to let me know that I was right, and the dish had not been prepared correctly. However, he still charged me the full price of the item that I did eat. And in the meantime the entire restaurant witnessed me and the other staff arguing, sometimes heatedly, about what in fact I had ordered and how it should have been prepared. Think how many advertising dollars will have to be spent to fix that image in the other customer's minds? Though I eventually got some customer service, I have not been back to that restaurant since the incident. And we used to go there once or twice a month. As corners are cut in production of the goods, and the quality of the goods gets lower, as business and industry attempt to cut costs, the customer service complaints increase, and the customer service people I have dealt with lately are much more interested in covering the corporate rear end then they are in providing customer service. Also the customer service people forget that they are supposed to be an advocate for the customer and not a gate keeper for the corporation.

[Ann]

Although I'm willing to try web-based customer service first, I've been quite frustrated by poorly organized sites. Searches usually return hundreds of unrelated links without answering the question. I've been required to enter way too much account info on "live chat" just to try to get an answer to a simple question (obviously, the rep had a one-size-fits-all script to follow that was totally unnecessary for my question). And never can you find a phone number to call for those times when you just can't figure out where to go or what to do.

I agree, web-based customer service leaves a lot to be desired. For simple questions, a well-designed web site can be quicker and more efficient, but for anything more complex, a live person is better.

[Don]

I just wish that when I call a company, a real person would answer the phone and if a compnay is going to call me then have a real person do it. I think it is rude for a company to call you then put you on hold until they can answer the phone.

[Chris Gallagher]

Tod,

The results of the survey reveal a trend which began to take place several years ago. As the online market began to grow and online customer service began to become a part of companies plans, customers started desiring more personal contact than before.

This trend comes at a time when businesses are hurting because of economic times, businesses need to spend some time and training on enhancing customer and client relations.

I am seeing a vital need of discussions relating to client relations as businesses seek to step up their personal contact and grow their business.

For the reasons listed above, this is why I have seen the need and decided to step back into the Customer/Client Relations arena.

Just some thoughts...

Chris Gallagher
www.speak-better.com

[Regi]

Recently I got so frustrated at DirectV's automated around and around phone system after 10 minutes I was ready to hang up but before I slammed down the phone I said a few choice x$#@ words and immediately the automated system said "thank you I will connect you at this time". Now weather or not that was a coincidence or if the phone system was programmed to recognize naughty words I don't know - but it worked.

[Amber]

I read this a few days ago, and then was at Target and was asked if I needed help by 3 different associates...something which has rarely happened on other occasions. I guess some companies are actually trying to improve their customer service as the economy slumps!

[Cherie]

I had been trying to see if we could get our $90 a month bill for Dish Network (through ATT) reduced somehow and found that ATT no longer used them but had swithed to Direct TV. Long story short, I cancelled our service with Dish Network, effective May 28 (date our bill was paid to and one week in the future) and that evening found we didnot have any local TV programming. After a call to Dish Network, they told me because we had put in an order to cancel, they removed the local channels. A retaliation move that I would expect from children...not a business. I called ATT to register a complaint and tell them I was glad they had servered ties with Dish and their customer service rep immediately gave me a $25 credit because of the situation. I didnot ask or expect that to happen but it just goes to show how one company can be 'customer service minded' and another could care less.

[Ethan]

In general I would agree with the article. I think that makes it more important to let people know when a company does well. We recently had a very good experience with customer service. Here is a "thank you" to LEGO company for their help and friendliness when we called customer support. Our son loves the LEGO cars and trucks, and will spend hours putting them together. When we came up a piece short on his birthday this year, we called the 800 support number to see about getting the missing piece. We were treated like old friends on the phone, wishing our son a happy birthday, and they mailed us two of the missing piece "just in case".

[Ingrid]

I had such horrific customer disservice at one of the do-it-yourself stores (i.e. Lowe's, Home Depot) that I refuse to shop at any of them. I haven't been to one in about 3 years. I learned my lesson and now only shop at local hardware stores or specialty stores. The prices aren't that much higher and they know how to provide good customer service.

[Chris]

This is an interesting interpretation of the survey. What struck me most is how many people are interested in talking to live people rather than automated computer help. I recently wrote about this phenomenon in a blog entry I did at my blog, and what I find most poignant about these numbers is that automated help is supposed to make things easier on the customer, at least that seems to be the party line. However, and perhaps I'm just an old cynic, I can't help but get the impression that it's an excuse to downsize support staff, all the while insisting in an Orwellian manner, "No, really, this is better."

[Todd]

ATT has lost its glory. I spent 72 min on sat with several customer service reps trying to explain, that my phone had broken again, this is the second time that it broke and the first time I was given another phone just like this one a Nokia flip phone. After all this time and effort and after 7 yrs of being a customer with them, the refused to give me a credit of 99 dollars and allow me to get another phone. Stated that they sold the phones that the manufacturer handled the warranty. I even contacted the CEO office and spoke to Heidi and after telling her that I was going to go to another carrier she offered an address for me to write the CEO and stated that she would get the letter and make sure he got, and then offered to send me a refurbished phone just like I had, what they do take everyone else's phone that broke fix it and the give it to someone else? This is the worst customer service I have ever seen. ATT STINKS DON'T USE THEM