Bad Customer Service Examples

"Customer is the king." The custompreneur or the entrepreneur who are customer focused, believe in rendering quality service to the customers, so that they get best experience from any source of the company. This means that the focus of the custompreneur should be on the commitment to provide excellent customer service and thus, customer retention. Though there might be a vast difference between what is intended and what the actual result is. We all know that in this competitive environment no company deliberately provides bad customer service, but unfortunately this is what we are experiencing. Many companies think that whatever is easy and convenient for them should also be in favor of the customers. But on the receiving end, we can mark the difference. So, it is our responsibility to inform those companies about the service which they render.

A Few Examples

1. A customer bought a washing machine, but unfortunately, that was not working the way it should have been. The machine was still in its warranty period. So, the customer rang the customer hotline which provided him a complaint number and was ensured that his problem will be fixed in a week. Now it is almost one complete month and he has been waiting for the technician to come and fix the problem.
2. A customer of an insurance company received a reminding letter to pay the remaining amount, but until that date he had not received his policy renewal documentation. So, he picked up his phone to call the customer care executive, pressed all options and waited and waited. No response of the call forced him to write, asking them to resend the document. After few days, he again received a letter on 29th February 2010, informing the customer that he had to pay the dues by 26th February 2010 otherwise his policy will be canceled.
3. A customer went for shopping and found that her card was blocked. She called her bank and got to know that it was blocked because some important post was returned from her address. When she asked that why didn't they inform her before blocking, bankers could not give any straight answer. Anyway, the card was unblocked after answering many security questions. Unfortunately, the same evening, when the lady went out in the evening she could not withdraw money from her card. Again, she had to call the bank and got the answer, "sorry madam, we forgot to activate your card, so you will have to wait for another twenty minutes to use it".

Isn't it the extremity of carelessness. I hate bad client service, it really drives me crazy! These examples prove that some companies really don't take pains to think about quality customer service. Now, the next thing that comes in our mind is, how can we resolve this problem. Here are some points that have to be kept in mind while dealing with bad service.

How to Deal with the Issue

1. Stay calm while talking to company representative.
2. Be very specific about your complaint so that your problem is not misunderstood by the company representative.
3. If possible, speak to the manager or supervisor because they have more solutions for your problem.
4. Be polite and offer any suggestion which might not be there in manager's mind.
5. If the problem is not resolved at this stage, write to the business owner and give all the minute details like, whom did you consult (with manes) for the problem, customer service complaint and your contact details.
6. If the matter is still not resolved, take a legal action with the help of your legal adviser.

In the environment of cut throat competition, businesses are paying more and more attention to customer relationship management and quality customer service. But if the firm is providing bad customer service, then you must take pains to inform them about the poor quality of service rendered by them.